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A Mechanical Experience This is my review on the Ducky Shine 3 Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Red switches. The feel of the click and the clack is indescribable! My fingers float above the keycaps eagerly waiting to press them in a satisfyingly quick motion. The response my fingers receive from the Cherry MX Red switches is immediate and orgasmic! Ahhh this keyboard is amazing!!!!! I love writing on it so much. This is my first mechanical keyboard ever and I have to say I am glad I bought one! I was on the verge of buying the Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth, but watching the video from Linus Tech Tips changed my mind and I began my hunt for the best mechanical keyboard. One of the reasons I chose the Ducky Shine 3 is the fact that no software is needed out of the box. Managing the Blue LEDs is all done on the keyboard itself. I’m also not a fan of this ridiculous RGB craze going on right now in the keyboard market. I love the fact that my keyboard and mouse have LEDs, but it’s not the sole reason I bought them. Their performance and build quality were the main reasons. LEDs were just a bonus to the amazing package. This was also why I didn’t buy the Razer Mamba 2012 immediately after it was released. Yes the DPI was increased a bit and yes it did come with an improved sensor system, but it wasn’t enough for me to spend another $130.00 on another mouse. My 5 year old Razer Mamba was still working perfectly (for the time being at least) and I wasn’t even going to close to the 5600 DPI max on that, so the DPI increase didn’t motivate me too much. Also the mouse was the exact same physically, except for the RGB lighting. It wasn’t until this past November that I finally became fed up with my old Mamba giving me issues. And when I say issues I mean big problems. My mouse’s sensor wasn’t tracking properly at all and would skip VERY often. And this was only after I managed to turn it on and get it to work at all. Sometimes the sensor was so bad that I wouldn’t manage to get it to even start tracking period. I even tried a new battery for it thinking that might be the source of the problem, but nope. I gave in and bought the Razer Mamba 2012. The RGB lighting is nice and all, but I still don’t use the sensor’s max DPI setting of 6400 at all. The most I use is 4600 and that’s on Skyrim. Overall I’m glad the mouse functions perfectly and all, but if my old Mamba hadn’t failed I would probably still be using it to this day. Now as for my Alienware M15X’s keyboard, I love it! It’s been great and hasn’t failed me in the 6 years that I’ve been using it. The Alienware FX lighting is also really nice, but like I said before it isn’t the sole reason I love it. The texture of the keys is really nice! Almost like PCB keycaps. Also the tactile response I get from typing on it is great. It’s definitely one of the better keyboards made for a laptop. After watching many videos on keyboards, I finally decided to buy a mechanical keyboard. I first looked at Razer’s own Blackwidow Ultimate since I loved their Razer Mamba gaming mouse. But after almost buying it on Newegg, I watched another one of Linus’ videos on keyboard reviews. This was actually the Corsair K70 RGB keyboard review. One of the “Recommended videos” on the side of the video was Linus’ review of the Ducky Shine 3. It blew me away! Finally a keyboard that isn’t obsessed about RGB lighting that, at least according to Linus, had a phenomenal build quality. I looked further in to the keyboard itself and after finally making up my mind about Cherry MX switches vs Razer’s own Razer Switches, which many reviews said were worse, I decided I was going to buy the Ducky Shine 3. It finally arrived today in the mail and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling (although this tends to happen to me when I am eagerly awaiting a package delivery). I took great care in un-boxing it and took my time appreciating the box in which it came. I read the box’s description many times and glided my fingers over the textured lettering on the cover of the box. I finally opened the box and slowly took out the keyboard and the rest of the contents. I laid the keyboard to the side while I appreciated the small wire keycap puller Ducky provided. I also looked at the extra “WASD” orange/red keycaps that were also provided before setting them back in the box as I knew that I was going to keep the black keycaps already on the keyboard. I gave the manual a read or two, but I was already fairly familiar with the keyboard seeing as how I had spent many days prior to its arrival watching both in depth reviews and un-boxing videos on the keyboard, as I tend to do with most things I take time purchasing. I gave the warranty card a quick read and then set both of the paper contents back in the box. I grabbed the keyboard with both hands and immediately felt the weight behind the keyboard. I love this as it gives a true physical measure of an item’s “premium” quality. The keycaps are gorgeous and I love the layout. I was also happy to find that the keyboard itself fit in the keyboard drawer of my desk. I used the included wire puller to pull one of the keycaps to double check that my keyboard had Red MX switches, as the Amazon webpage I bought it from was slightly confusing. It claimed in the “title” that the keyboard was indeed Blue LED lit and that it had Red MX switches, but further reading led me to believe that the keyboard might actually have Black MX switches. I assumed as it was the actual description that I had made a mistake and bought Black MX switches, but I gave in to the idea anyways. It wasn’t a huge deal to me. I watched many videos and written reviews on comparisons of the many different switches Cherry offered. Seeing as how the Red switches were made with gaming more in mind, that’s what I wanted to buy. Further inspection though revealed that Brown MX switches are the preferred switches for most gamers as the switches provided a tactile bump that gives the user a physical indication that the actuation point in the keyboard has been achieved, whereas the Red switches made for gaming are linear and provide no tactile bump. The benefit of the Red switch though is that the switch’s actuation point requires less force to reach and as such lets players effortlessly press multiple keys with little to no fatigue. Anyways, after using the keyboard now for a day I can say with complete certainty that I love the keyboard and the Red MX switches. A little getting used to is in order and that will develop over time and usage, but even after just a single day I love the feeling of typing on this keyboard! I actually opened this Microsoft Word page with absolutely no intention on writing a 4 page document that would turn in to a full review of my experience with the Ducky Shine 3 and the research that went into buying it prior to clicking that “buy” button. Ultimately I figured after writing sentence after sentence to try out the typing experience of the Ducky Shine 3, I might as well double check my grammar and spelling errors and finally post it online with the only intention being to give possible buyers of this phenomenal keyboard a more “personal” kind of review and not a strictly detailed review with facts and numbers that might only give a reader so much understanding on the usage of the keyboard. I know that at least for me, reading the facts on the “actuation point” and “tactile bumps” only gave me a theoretical understanding with no prior history on mechanical keyboards to help me better understand what I was getting myself in to. Finally, if this quaint little review helps you out in any way then great! If not and you managed to read all the way until the end, then my bad bro! There are plenty of more in-depth reviews on the Ducky Shine 3 though, including the wonderful review Linus made. Regardless, thanks for reading the words from someone who rarely feels like commenting on practically anything, much less writing pages about it! Haha Take care everyone!

Hi, I have got a ducky shine version.. laying around for a while. It was gifted to me by a friend who spilled milk over it. I cleaned it fully with alcohol (98%) and it still won’t work. I want to ask you guys if its still fixable or is it for the trash? When you plug it in all lights flash for 1 second and then only W A S D stay on and F5 stays on for about 4s. You can see the footage below. hope to hear some tips Regards Mats IMG_3547.MOV

HOW TO MAKE SHINE my CPU HEATSINK again? ... Help.. sorry for my bad english :-)

So i just watched Razer's SDK trailer on their youtube channel (the snake game). is it possible on other keyboard? specifically on ducky shine 5 keyboard that i will get in the coming week. like if you programmed the firmware to add a new profile/mode that would be great and i would like to learn how to do it. maybe you can programmed the RGB lighting to react to music or something like that.i mean ducky really advertise their ARM M3 MCU quite heavily and i thought its possible. this is just ideas that i have as iam going to learn programming after i have my new keyboard. the hopes is still high on me ( probrably it's going to sink after i understand programming and i know what can you do on programming and what i cannot )

Hey sooooo, the Ducky Shine 3 Yellow is arguably one of the most handsome keyboards ever (IMO). I looked everywhere, I didn't find it online. How would one obtain such?

Hello there, I have a Ducky SHIN3 Red Led MX Red. Had it for a good 6 months or so and its been working very well until this morning, I accidentally spilled some juice on it and now it stop registering my keybuttons after like 5-10 min of usage. It was only alittle juice i spilled and it got over like 2 buttons, L Ctrl and L Alt (alittle on the windows key aswell), I instantly turned it upside down on some paper towels to get most of the juice out, I then removed the keycaps and cleaned it with some damp paper towels. The odd thing is that keyboard works perfectly for alittle while if i just unplug it and plug it back in <_< . Now I've experienced some annoying things with the Ducky Shine 3 keyboard and their wierd key combination mode and shit, so im thinking maybe i managed to hit some wierd key combination to trigger some mode that dosent register key pushes. But i checked that in the manual + i reset my keyboard to factory setting, but ye, same thing there. Been using the keyboard now for about 20 minutes without any problem so im hoping it stays O.K until dreamhack so i can buy another keyboard on site. Anyway I appreciate if you would share your thoughts on this matter of mine. Thank you!

so i just got my ducky shine 4 however i have a problems, i cant for the life of me find an option to change the colors, of scroll lock, num lock, and caps lock. it seems like they are forever stcuk as pink... does anyone know how to change them please someone help!

Just as the title says. I'm kind of split on the two keyboards. I really think I would enjoy having colors like yellow, white, and other brighter colors that the K70 has to offer, but I hear the Ducky has amazing build quality, especially when compared to the K70. I have read around that the K70 has LED burnout issues. Does anyone have first hand experience with this happening? Also, on a side note: Cherry MX Reds or Cherry MX Browns? I play a lot of CSGO, so I would think Reds would be good for me, but I'm concerned about the Reds feeling way too...squishy? I'm using some HP keyboard that came with my PC five years ago and the keys just feel very squishy and not responsive, I suppose. Thanks.

I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of a well built mechanical keyboard with clear cherry mx switches? Also I would prefer a white backlight too if it exists. I have found the "Code" Keyboard but it seems way to expensive for what it is. Any other options?

Hey guys I'm trying to get keycaps for my Ducky Shine 3 in the Dvorak layout. As you may know I cannot simply move the keycaps that come with the keyboard because of the slanted shapes of the keys. I would like to get keys with the same shape and slant as the ones that come with the keyboard but slanted correctly to be in the Dvorak layout if it is possible. Any help would be appreciated greatly. Thanks in advance, Nick

NCIX: http://bit.ly/1pfv35d Amazon: http://geni.us/e4g Massdrop: http://dro.ps/ducky-shine-mini The Ducky Shine Mini 60% keyboard took us by surprise - we could not believe how many features they packed into such a tiny keyboard!

Hey linus tech tips members Today my Ducky shine 3 just came in the mail, and i was very pleased with the product but i have a few issues, the first one is that the F1 and the F5 key are always on, how do i turn them off? the second problem i have with this is that the F2, F3, F4, and F6, F7,F8 keys are always off. Are they broken and can i fix it my self or do i have to send it back, because i just got it today and to ship it back to mechanical keyboards.com isn't cheap. I live in Canada. thanks guys, any kind of help is greatly appreciated.

This thread to to just spread the word and include any type of new information on the upcoming Ducky Shine 4. Being a Ducky fan, i feel like this may actually be good In a recent email to mechanical keyboards.com they told me that in the new ducky shine 4 which will be a horse to replace the snake, it may not have a rgb color changing or strobing leds on the spacebar in the new addition. But I'm not totally sure

Hi, i bought a ducky shine 3 (mx brown, blue led) from ncix.com the other days and looking at it i see that there is some keys slighty darker than others, for exemple ESC, F1, F2 are pretty much equaly as bright as each other but then the F in F3 is silghty darker while the 3 in F3 is slighty brighter, same thing for F5 (F slighty brighter) and again the same for F8 (8 slighty brighter), F9 (F slighty brighter) % sign is darker on it's right side, brighter on it's right side, the rest is mostly equal in brightness, it's slight though, it's less noticable while it's at full brightness, it's my first mechanical keyboard and i'm wondering if it's normal for backlit mechanical keyboards to have slight variation in brightness like that or if i should RMA it. Thanks!

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ducky-shine-3-gold-edition/ My brother wants to buy these for his first mechanical keyboard if it reaches its cheapest price, also comes with wrist rest

So any of you guys interested in any of the Limited Edition NZXT Shine 3's? I haven't joined the #mechanicalkeyboardmasterrace yet but I think the black/red one might be my first Limited Edition NZXT Shine 3 Picture gallery of the keyboards thanks to:

Hello: I am now in the market for a new Keyboard as my Logitech G19 is running on it's last limbs. I've been considering a few things from the Ducky Shine 3 to the K70, but I'm trying to compile a list of several MX Blue (or similar switch-- I'm looking at you Razer) keyboards on the market. I want to know what options I have before I go making a purchase on a keyboard as to I'll probably be using this one for another three years, like I have used my G19. The Criteria for the keyboards are: I would prefer it to have Backlighting of the sorts I would like the Key Switch to be MX Blue (or similar switch) USB Passthrough would be great- but it isn't very important I would prefer the Backlight to be Red or Blue Here is the list I have so far (in order of preference): Corsair RGB MX Keyboard (IF it is released before June 30th) Ducky DK9008 Shine 3 Corsair K70 Cooler Master Quickfire (TK/Ultimate/Similar) Cooler Master Mech That's all I know of (or that I can think of). Do any of you have any other recommendations for me? Which one would you get?

Hey Guys I really want to purchase a duck shine 3 for my upcoming rig however, there is a question that i really want to know "does it support n key rollover or anything equivalent to that? and if not would it be better for me to just purchase a filco?

When can we expect to see the Blue, Red, and Brown switches back in stock at places like mechanicalkeyboards.com and tigerimports.com ?

Hello fellow Linusians, As you all may know, the limited edition Ducky Shine 3 YOTS is already sold out from all the North American retailers, or at least up to my knowledge it is. I was thinking, "man, if I can't get my hands on the alluminum bodied version, I'll probably just settle on the regular with full custom white key caps from wasd keyboard." Then, I've been starting to think that might not be bad at all. Also, I hear the limited edition isn't actually a full alluminum shell as the bottom is plastic. That might actually be a setback for me as I was hoping it was fully alluminum. I also really like black on white with white LEDs, so it'd be pretty badass if there were a way for me to get one in a white body, plastic or not. What do you guys think? The white key caps can be had for $40 as well as $150 for the regular Shine 3, so I'll be saving $15-$20 in that part of manner vs $210-220 for the limited edition. I could also probably powder coat the alluminum shell into a white color, but that'll probably prove to be too expensive since I don't even know anyone that could do that for me. Regards, John Le

i am really exited because i finally saved enough to but the new ducky shine 3 bu i just realized the one i want to buy dosen't tell me what key layout it has. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-056-DK&groupid=702&catid=2705&subcat=2707 dose anybody know if thi keyboard is in the the UK (ISO 105) layout?

I have been looking into mechanical keyboards for some time and I have a good idea about the whole concept of how they function, different switches and so on. So far my favorite in terms of looks and overall reviews around the web are: Corsair K70 and Ducky Shine 3. I don't want the Razer Blackwidow, my friend has one and I don't like it. I've been looking for a keyboard to go well with my Corsair M65 mouse and Corsair SP2200 speakers. So far I will be able to afford one of these keyboards. Which one would you pick over the other and why? If you have any other suggestions please feel free to let me know. Things I want in a keyboard: Backlight (preferably blue) A Mechanical keyboard (not sure on the switches yet but I don't want MX Black for sure) Best quality possible A full sized or a tenkeyless, I don't mind Don't really need macros or media keys but I wouldn't mind them either until they don't extend the keyboard too much (have a limited space for a keyboard) Needs to be in UK layout. Needs to be easy to get in UK. Thanks.

So im in the market for a new keyboard with cherry mx blues as thay are my favourite keys and was wondering out of these 2 keyboardes witch one is better? and why? i need to no the pluses on them that the other one docent if that makes sence. thanks for the help.

Massdrop is selling Shine 3 Gold edition keyboards. These are pretty rare and really well built. It uses an aluminum frame, and has all the perks of owning a Ducky. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ducky-shine-3-gold-edition I REALLY do not need another mech board. I just got a Nighthawk X8... I joined the drop... I need another set of Zinc keycaps... HELP.

Hey Guys and Girls, I bought a Ducky Shine 3 with green LED's and blue Cherry MX switches back in June of this year from the Australian retailer pc case gear. Since then the LED's have slowly been dying every few weeks. I now have 8 LED's that don't work. I was wondering if this is a common Ducky problem or if I was just unlucky? Will this kind of thing be covered under warranty and if anybody has had prior experiences with pc case gear and their warranty services. Thanks in advance, Hodge22