Ducky One X Keyboard Review

The Ducky One X has a standard full-size layout. It's quite large and heavy overall, with a fairly tall profile.

This keyboard is also available in a smaller compact size called the Ducky One X Mini, which has a standard 60% layout without a Numpad, navigation cluster, or function row.

This keyboard has decent overall build quality. Its mounting design uses small gaskets inside the case, which help produce a slightly softer typing experience compared to a standard tray mount. However, it still feels relatively stiff compared to some non-analog gasket mount implementations since—as is the case with Hall effect keyboards as well—too much flex or springiness in the mounting design can interfere with the accuracy of actuation setpoints. The case also contains multiple layers of material—including PET, EVA, IXPE, and silicone foam—which help further soften the feel and round out the sound profile.

The keycaps, which Ducky advertises as having a higher concentration of pure PBT content than most typical PBT keycaps, feel durable and have a pleasant textured finish. Both the switches and stabilizers operate very smoothly, with consistent factory lubing across the board.

Unfortunately, the switches are held very loosely in the PCB and plate compared to most Hall effect or mechanical switches. It's relatively easy to accidentally dislodge a switch entirely—and even easier to remove both the keycap and switch when you're only trying to remove the keycap. Additionally, if you press forcefully on the edge of a keycap, the switch can get stuck. See this video demonstration. While this doesn't cause issues during normal typing or gaming, some may feel it's a significant build quality issue of this particular board, and it's still an uncommon switch type—especially if you tend to be heavy-handed with your inputs.

This keyboard has a standard, high-profile design. There are a pair of flip-out feet on the underside for two additional typing angles.

Using this keyboard with a supportive wrist rest provides the best ergonomic experience. Unfortunately, there isn't a wrist rest included.

This keyboard has a hot-swappable PCB, but Ducky makes no indication that this keyboard is compatible with any other switches at the time of writing, and they don't currently sell these switches separately.

Due to the north-facing orientation of the LEDs, there's a small possibility of interference with some aftermarket sets of MX-style keycaps.

You can customize backlighting color and brightness through the software. Unfortunately, while the keyboard technically supports per-key backlighting, the software doesn't allow per-key customization. Instead, you're limited to setting solid colors or zone-based effects.

The backlighting isn't especially bright, but it displays a fairly pure white when set to white-only, with only a slight blue tint. The legends are generally clear with minimal obstructions, though there's more light spill around the edges of the keys than direct illumination through the shine-through legends.

We expect the backlighting to appear somewhat brighter on the white colorway, due to the additional reflected light.

This keyboard comes with a braided USB-C to USB-C cable that retains some kinks from its packaging. There's also an included USB-C (female) to USB-A (male) adapter you can use if your computer lacks a USB-C port.

Ducky doesn't indicate any advertised battery life or battery capacity on their product page for this keyboard.

However, the listing for the Ducky One X on mechanicalkeyboards.com suggests it has a 2500mAh capacity. If accurate, this is fairly underwhelming compared to wireless Hall effect gaming keyboards such as the Lemokey P1 HE or Keychron K2 HE, which have 4000 mAh batteries and advertise up to 100 hours (backlighting off, Bluetooth connection).

Reviewers such as Techpowerup and PC Gamer have indicated that Ducky rates the battery life somewhere between 11 hours (backlighting on) and 38 hours (backlighting off).

We expect this estimate is using a 2.4Ghz connection. Using a Bluetooth connection should provide significantly longer battery life. If you have this keyboard and want to share your experience with the battery life, we encourage you to share your thoughts in the Comments.

We've asked Ducky for comment on the expected battery life and capacity. If we receive a response, we'll update our review.

This keyboard has individual LED indicators for the Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, and Num Lock keys directly above the Numpad. 

There's a switch on the top edge of the keyboard to select between connectivity modes and hotkeys to toggle between paired devices when using a Bluetooth connection. For a list of supported hotkeys and connection instructions, you can reference a digital version of the user manual.

• USB-C to USB-C cable
• USB-C to USB-A adapter
• USB-A 2.4Ghz receiver
• 2 x Alternate black keycaps
• 10 x Alternate orange keycaps
• Ducky cleaning brush
• Switch cleaning stand
• Keycap puller
• User documentation

The Ducky One X offers excellent typing quality. It uses a gasket mount design that provides a slightly softer typing experience without being overly spongey. The switches and stabilizers are pre-lubed from the factory and feel exceptionally smooth and consistent with virtually no rattling noise, and the PBT keycaps have a durable, high-quality feel with a pleasant textured finish.

There are several layers of internal dampening material that further soften the typing feel and noticeably reduce and round out the overall typing noise.

The keys feel quite stable while typing normally. However, larger keys, especially the spacebar, are quite easy to wobble if you intentionally rock the keycap onto its edges.

This keyboard is very quiet and unlikely to bother those around you, even in noise-sensitive environments.

You can adjust the actuation point by 0.10 mm increments within a range of 0.1mm to 3.5mm using the configuration software.

We conducted this test with the following settings:

• Actuation: 0.1 mm
• Rapid Trigger: Enabled
• Rapid Trigger Sensitivity: High

We took additional measurements at various actuation points and confirmed that actuation settings are very accurate, typically within 0.2 mm of the advertised range.

Setting 0.50 mm: 0.53 mm
Setting 1.00 mm: 0.94 mm
Setting 1.50 mm: 1.41 mm
Setting 2.00 mm: 1.95 mm
Setting 2.50 mm: 2.35 mm
Setting 3.00 mm: 2.84 mm
Setting 3.50 mm: 3.41 mm

Note that there's a moderate amount of switch to switch variation, visible in the graph above. This is likely the result of the switches being held much more loosely in the PCB/plate compared to most standard mechanical switches or Hall effect switches. For more details, see the Build Quality section.

The Ducky One X maintains remarkably low single-key latency using a wired or 2.4GHz wireless connection, providing a highly responsive gaming experience across all genres and competitive levels.

We conducted this test with the following settings:

• Actuation: 0.1 mm
• Rapid Trigger: Enabled
• Rapid Trigger Sensitivity: High

The Ducky One X has excellent multi-key latency performance. It's well-suited for games that require pressing additional keys while you're already holding down multiple keys.

We conducted this test with the following settings:

• Actuation: 0.1 mm
• Rapid Trigger: Enabled
• Rapid Trigger Sensitivity: High

We also conducted supplementary Multi-Key Latency using a wireless receiver connection, which shows a small increase in key press latency.

• Receiver Key Press: 4.6 ms
• Receiver Key Release: 9.5 ms

The Ducky One X only supports NKRO when using a wired connection and 6KRO when using a wireless connection.

This keyboard delivers excellent chord split performance, making it well-suited for playing rhythm games or other titles that demand many simultaneous inputs.

This keyboard uses web-based software that you can access using a Chromium-based browser.

You can only use the software when using a wired connection. However, you can save your settings to the onboard memory, and they remain accessible in wireless mode.

The software is quite simple compared to some of the software options used by many other analog gaming keyboards, but it also appears to still be in active development.

You can adjust actuation settings and change RGB lighting color and effects, but there's no per-key RGB adjustment, no ability to create profiles, and no advanced features such as mod-tap, SOCD, or dead zone adjustment.

The software supports the following additional analog features:

• Multi-point trigger: Allows you to map up to four different actions to a single key based on actuation distance.
• Rapid Trigger: Lets you adjust the reset point of individual switches. This allows for faster follow-up inputs, which can be especially beneficial in scenarios like counter-strafing in FPS games. However, while many other keyboards with adjustable reset points allow you to set specific distances, this software only have the choice between High, Medium, and Low rapid trigger distances.

While all default commands work as expected across all major computer operating systems, the configuration software is only fully compatible with Windows and macOS, using a Chromium-based browser out of the box.

On Linux, the software doesn't work by default—even when using a Chromium-based browser. However, it may be possible to get it working by adjusting your udev permissions. If you own this keyboard and have found a way to use the software on Linux, we'd love to hear about your experience in the Comments.

Nearly all keys work as expected but the following behave differently when using mobile devices:

On Android, the media keys do nothing, and the Windows key minimizes any active Chrome window and sends you to the home screen.

On iOS and iPadOS devices, the PrtScrn key does nothing.