Installing The Ducky DK9008G2

Since this is a USB keyboard, installing it is just a matter of plug and play - you plug it into any available USB port and you are ready to go! Windows will automatically detect the keyboard.

While there's no need to install any custom driver for this keyboard, it comes with a detachable USB cable. However, I do not see a genuine reason to make the cable detachable. Even if you go to LAN parties, there's no need to detach the keyboard's cable. The detachable cable also makes it easy for you to lose it during transitions.

The DK9008G2 features three grooves underneath for cable management. However, the badly located mini-USB connector makes cable routing a bit difficult. Some bending of the cable at the connector is usually necessary.

The Ducky DK9008G2 In Action

I have briefly tested the Cherry MX Blue switch on the Razor Black Widow. I didn't like the clicky switch and since then, I didn't think too highly of mechanical keyboards. Thankfully, Cherry actually offer many key switches that suit my preferences which are tactile feedback without the audible clicks. The Cherry MX Brown key switch fitted my preference perfectly, so when I started looking for a replacement keyboard, my priority was to look for keyboards using the Cherry MX Brown keyswitch.

Incidentally, the MX Brown switch is not only quieter than the MX Blue switch, it is also not as stiff. On the Ducky DK9008G2, all the key switches are based on Cherry MX brown switch, except for the MX Clear/White switch under the space bar, which is slightly stiffer than MX Brown switch.

Even though the key switches themselves do not emit any clicks, most typists will find the Ducky DK9008G2 to be noisy. The actuation force is really low so you will keep bottoming the key switches, causing an audible "clack". This is mostly due to habit as we all are used to smashing the keys on dome switch-based keyboards. So you will have to adjust your typing habits to properly utilize these mechanical key switches.

While there's some tactile feedback, it is barely noticeable - actually less than my old dome switch-based keyboard. Despite the lack of tactile feedback, these MX Brown switches are excellent to type on, but I'm not too keen on the MX Clear/White switch under the Space bar. It is a tad stiffer, which makes it slightly unbalanced. However, this is ultimately not a big issue as our thumbs are usually much stronger than our other fingers.

Although the multimedia keys work fine with most Windows applications, you will need to hold the "Fn" button and press the F1-F7 keys, just as you would on many notebook keyboards. Incidentally, pressing Fn+F9 will light up the red LED and disable the annoying Windows key, which is great if you play a lot of FPS games - it will help avoid you getting kicked out to Windows when you inadvertently press the Windows key.

Modding Possibilities

"A moddable keyboard? Are you kidding me?" Yes, you better believe it - the Ducky DK9008G2 is a moddable keyboard.

Cherry MX key switches are very popular among mechanical keyboard enthusiasts because of their moddable capabilities. There are tons of options available - you can get key caps of various materials (e.g. ABS and PBT plastics); with a variety of key cap prints, from the common cheap pad printing on most keyboards (that tends to fade off after long term usage), to the expensive double-shot injection molding.

Using the provided key cap remover, you can remove the key caps very easily, and replace with the included key caps, or third-party key caps of your choice.

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