Ducky ProjectD Tinker 75 Mechanical Keyboard

[VSG]

Ducky adds to its promising ProjectD keyboard line with the Tinker 75. This is more affordable than the Outlaw series thanks to the use of a two piece plastic chassis but otherwise retains the use of new Cherry MX2A switches as well as the gasket mount and open-source nature of the keyboard that impressed us before.

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[Chrispy_]

Nice to see TPU review a 75% for a change.

Quality looks high, but it's expensive with a short warranty.

The real headscratcher here is backlighting wasted on opaque keycaps. Who on earth thought that was a good idea?!

 

[cbb]

The real headscratcher here is backlighting wasted on opaque keycaps. Who on earth thought that was a good idea?!

Yeah, I just today got a keychron v1 with the same thing. The product page made it sound like the S facing LEDs would make the keys visible despite the opaque keycaps (spoiler: it doesn't. at all. the bright lights btwn keys just blind you making the unlit key faces even harder to see). I have a <$20 e-yosoo that types exactly the same, but has an unreliable usb connection; ima steal the shine-thru keycaps off it for the keychron, save myself buying a new set.
Opaque keys w/ backlite rly does seem silly to me.

 

[Synthwave]

Yeah, I just today got a keychron v1 with the same thing. The product page made it sound like the S facing LEDs would make the keys visible despite the opaque keycaps (spoiler: it doesn't. at all. the bright lights btwn keys just blind you making the unlit key faces even harder to see). I have a <$20 e-yosoo that types exactly the same, but has an unreliable usb connection; ima steal the shine-thru keycaps off it for the keychron, save myself buying a new set.
Opaque keys w/ backlite rly does seem silly to me.

Many of us prefer these types of keycaps and won't ever use the RGB lightning, but it gets implemented, so you can have it, if you decide on buying shine-through keycaps later on.

 

[cbb]

Many of us prefer these types of keycaps and won't ever use the RGB lightning, but it gets implemented, so you can have it, if you decide on buying shine-through keycaps later on.

yeah, I don't use rgb anywhere else, but being able to see the keyboard in low light is super helpful for me at times, and I knew I could just swap keycaps if needed (otherwise I wouldn't have gambled on the v1). It's not a huge deal, but it does entail another $15-30 purchase (unless u have some on hand, as I do) and fussing w/ compatible sizes in some cases (esp on 75% or 60% keybds). I'm curious tho, what is it about the non-shinethrus that you like? other than visibility, the several I have on hand seem kind of a wash to me? anything modern is far, far better than the old typewriter keyboards I learned on, where ur fingers get painfully trapped btwn keys; that set my expectations low, I suppose!

 

[Frizz]

Quality or not, it doesn't change the fact that it's plastic. Keychron is still a much better choice for your dollar provided it's full aluminum and can be customized at an enthusiast's level.

FYI quality keycaps are unable to show backlighting due to the thickness of the caps themselves. All the keycaps you're used to getting from gaming manufacturers are thin and are not going to touch even the amazon branded keycaps in terms of quality.

 

[Synthwave]

yeah, I don't use rgb anywhere else, but being able to see the keyboard in low light is super helpful for me at times, and I knew I could just swap keycaps if needed (otherwise I wouldn't have gambled on the v1). It's not a huge deal, but it does entail another $15-30 purchase (unless u have some on hand, as I do) and fussing w/ compatible sizes in some cases (esp on 75% or 60% keybds). I'm curious tho, what is it about the non-shinethrus that you like? other than visibility, the several I have on hand seem kind of a wash to me? anything modern is far, far better than the old typewriter keyboards I learned on, where ur fingers get painfully trapped btwn keys; that set my expectations low, I suppose!

They tend to have much better quality than shine throughs, but they also tend to look much nicer. Favs are probably the dye-sub PBTs/PBT-ABS blends (not 5-sided dye-sub tho), but I'd like to try out proper doubleshot ABS caps from GMK. They produce a bit higher sound, especially if they are just 1,2-1,3 mm thick.

More decent (full) sets are roughly starts from 40-50 USD (well, not GMK...). Like Aifei or Shenpo. The latter has a retro grey dye-sub PBT/ABS blend set with Cherry profile I'm maining now with 1,5 mm thick side walls, very mild surface texture, and the legends are also very thick and very readable by the light emitting from the monitor. I'm not looking at them during typing tho, but it's just pleasing to the eye, anyhow.