Introduction

Taiwan-based peripherals brand Ducky has been around for longer than the vast majority of other keyboard outfits, to the point where we also see some larger companies collaborate with Ducky to put out special editions. We've covered plenty of Ducky products in the past, including its foray into the custom keyboard world with the ProjectD series. Before that, we saw the entry of "Quack Mechanics," a sorely needed feature set that helped bring Ducky keyboards on parity with the highly competitive Chinese keyboard scene. You'll notice a common theme with Ducky keyboards has been early adoption of new Cherry switches, and Ducky has remained one of Cherry's prized partners over the years. All this is within the realm of mechanical keyboards though, and things are rapidly changing with magnetic switches and Hall effect keyboards taking over the enthusiast gaming keyboard market. Today we look at Ducky's answer to magnetic switches with the brand new One X inductive switch keyboard series that releases the day this review is published.


Ducky first showed the One X at Computex this year, and we found out then that this was shaping up to be the world's first announced inductive switch keyboard. This differs from magnetic switch keyboards in that these inductive switches do not need a dedicated sensor per switch, with inductive coils in the PCB helping cater to all the switches collectively, as well as on a per-switch basis. This is new tech that has greater potential than HE switches thus, allowing keyboards to offer similar features including customizable actuation, rapid trigger, multiple functions per switch etc. at a lower cost. There's also more room for experimentation with other features thus—literally—including different forms of lighting and even finer control over analog switch output. This isn't to say the Ducky One X will be the keyboard to do everything, yet Ducky has already laid a solid foundation by adopting a web-based configurator for easier user-based customization and adding feature updates over time. The One X comes in two sizes—100% and 60%—as well as two colors each in black and white. Ducky has kindly provided a review sample of the 100% size One X to TechPowerUp at my request, and let's begin our review with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

The Ducky One X comes in a traditional cardboard box wrapped with decorative banderole, with the photos taken at an angle since the shiny gold Ducky logo looks dark and hard to discern looking directly. On the front is the product name, a render of the keyboard in the 100% size I have here, as well as salient features including a listing that suggests we might well see other languages/layouts supported too. The brand logo is on the sides as well, just in case you forgot who makes this keyboard, with more features called out in the back with illustrations and in multiple languages too. Two double flaps help keep the contents in place during transit, and opening the box reveals the keyboard inside a wax paper wrap and under a hard plastic dust cover. The various accessories are seen underneath and in separate compartments to the top.


Ducky is usually generous on the accessories front, and it's almost a given now to expect spare keycaps too. One of these continues a long tradition of Ducky's special Year of the Chinese Zodiac space bar keycap, with the One X getting a Year of the Dragon version as seen above. Additionally, we see some replacement keycaps in Peach Fuzz—Pantone's color of the year, as well as a black Enter keycap suggesting the one preinstalled is in the Peach Fuzz color already. We also get a USB Type-C to Type-C keyboard cable in addition to a Type-C to Type-A adapter, as well as a branded keycap puller—but no switch remover tool. Rounding off the unboxing experience is a cute Ducky cleaning brush that comes in a rubberized bottom base to be a collectible toy on your desk if you so wish.