Today we're going to check out a collaboration between two big guns in the mechanical keyboard
industry, Ducky and Varmilo.
I truly found this interesting that these 2 companies would make a keyboard together,
Ducky being from Taiwan, and Varmilo from China, but here it is, this is the Ducky / Varmilo
Miya Pro - Sakura edition.
The box has some nice pinky artwork on it, and inside the box, we have the keyboard itself.
A user manual, and warranty card.
Now this stuff is pretty cool, we get a pink wire keycap puller.
A pink USB C cable, with matching cable strap.
And we also get an extra blank white spacebar, and a lovely escape keycap.
And here it is.
And they aren't messing around with the Sakura theme.
This is quite the pink keyboard, but not to the extent of the some of their older stuff,
or like the Filco pink keyboard.
What I can say straight away, is that this is essentially a plastic cased version of
the well known Varmilo VA68M, which is made from aluminium.
So the case being made from pink plastic is the major difference.
It's a nice slightly textured surface which doesn't pick up any fingerprints, and stays
reasonably clean.
And it's a pretty pastelly, paly kind of pink.
It keeps that simplistic rectangular design of the VA68, with pretty minimal 5mm bezels.
It is a high profile design, so the keyswitches aren't exposed.
And looking at the side profile, it has a slight inclination to it, with a slightly
curved top edge.
Back to the top, and this is regarded as a 65% keyboard, and has 68 keys.
So it's very much like a tenkeyless keyboard, but without the function row keys on top.
But we also lose a few dedicated nav cluster keys, and the dedicated menu key.
However of course with smaller keyboards, we have these keys on the secondary function
layer, with the F1 to F12 keys on the number row, menu on the right control, and the rest
of the nav cluster on these keys here.
And this allows us to have a much more compact keyboard.
However Varmilo's approach on a 65% keyboard, isn't the most compact.
It's only 1 column shorter than a standard tenkeyless keyboard, and this is because they
have kept a 4 key nav cluster in the top right, rather than squeezing everything together
like on the TADA68 and many other 65% keyboards, which are 1 column shorter than this.
Although one advantage of this, is that the keycaps are completely standard, and are very
easily replaceable.
Although I would argue that you wouldn't want to replace these keycaps anyway.
And these are indeed nice.
These are Cherry profile keycaps, which are shorter than the typical OEM kind, and are
generally preferred in the enthusiast community.
The keycaps are dye sublimated, with this kind of hot pink coloured legends, so they'll
be quite durable over time.
And the legends like other Varmilo keyboards, are simple and slightly italic.
I like that that haven't gone all out pink, and have only kept the modifiers pink, which
is the same colour as the case.
The spacebar is a nice touch, and is also dye sublimated, looking quite sharp and clean.
Although we do get that extra blank white spacebar in the box.
Unfortunately the lighting does bleed through the pink keycaps which doesn't look great.
But the white keycaps are pretty solid, but will bleed with the room lights off.
The lighting is a different kind of pink to the case, and also to the keycap legends,
so really, it's like there's 3 shades of pink on the keyboard.
And this just acts as underglow for the keycaps, as these of course aren't backlit keycaps.
And the lighting does shine off that pink backplate, really accentuating that pinkness.
There's a couple of different effects, which are always just a bit of fun.
And these are on the Q to ] keys, via the FN key.
And there are 4 brightness levels for all, but you can't turn it all the way down to
off.
So to turn off the lighting, we have to press function and X.
We can also make custom lighting profiles with FN and tab, with 5 profiles on the 1-5
keys.
Probably the most annoying thing with this lighting is that the Page up or page down
LEDs cannot be turned off.
Page up signifies that we are using the number row, and page down signifies that we are using
the function row instead.
Taking off the keycaps, and these are made from 1.4mm thick PBT plastic, and have a slightly
rough texture to them, which should be quite shine resistant.
Looking through the manual I saw that it said that there was software on the Varmilo website,
which I thought was odd, because I can't recall them ever doing this before.
But it's on their Chinese website, and, it's just the MIYA Pro on the list.
And I did not find anything related to the MIYA on the Ducky website.
So yeh, there's actually software for this, which is cool.
We have the 3 main sections, the keys, macros, and lighting.
The key section is where we can customise each key.
Now this is where it took me a really long time to figure this out.
The first thing you can do is assign a key to a different key.
So say I want to change the W key, to the up arrow key.
We select W, and then we have to actually drag the desired key, which is the up arrow
key, into the box that says 'KEYS'.
And then hit the tick.
And if we want to reset the key, we press the button next to that.
So yeh, I spent a heap of time trying to press the keys in the software and on the keyboard
itself, but nothing worked, so it was good to finally figure it out.
The combo key option is the same thing, but with 3 keys.
We also have a bunch of media options.
And the macro option, which is empty right now because we have to create them in the
macro section.
It doesn't do real time recording, so you have to do it manually.
But you can still do you delays, and customise it as you wish.
So these can be useful for various work programs, or just more general use applications, to
carry out a task or action quicker.
And finally the colour section is just the LEDs.
This keyboard is not RGB, but it's pretty simple to use, but I'd say it's easier
to just use the on board keys to change the lighting.
It's not the most intuitive piece of software to use, but at least it's here, and it is
a start, and perhaps this may spread to other Varmilo keyboards in fthe future.
The main thing is, is that it does give us a decent amount of customisability, that previously
was never there.
And it is pretty hidden, in the manual, and only being available on their Chinese website,
so I'm not sure if everyone will see it.
For the keyswitches, I have Cherry MX Silent Black switches, but the other variants are
of course available.
And we can also see our pink rectangular LEDs.
Interestingly, these are north facing LEDs, meaning that they are on the top side of the
switch.
And this can result in the LEDs and keycaps clashing, but it's not the case here, as
they're perfectly fine.
But back to the keyswitches, and these are pretty much Cherry MX Black's, but the silent
version.
I've covered the MX Silent switches in the past in detail, but essentially, they have
these dampeners on the stems, which as suggested, dampen the upstroke and downstroke of the
keyswitch.
Being Black's, these are a heavy linear switch, meaning that there is no tactile bump,
and obviously no click.
And as we can hear, they are nice and quiet.
Perfectly suitable for any office environment.
MX Silent switches aren't known to be smooth, and yeh, they're kinda scratchy, but you
kinda get distracted by that unique dampened feeling.
If you think they may be too heavy, then there's also the Silent Red keyswitches.
But I think these are fine, and I personally find them enjoyable to use, however some may
find them mushy in comparison to the standard linear sharpness.
Another thing that Varmilo has been getting right with all their recent keyboards is the
perfect stabilisers.
These have zero rattle to them, and are generously lubed.
And this is especially important for Silent keyswitches, because I have had Silent switch
keyboards in the past which have had rattly stabilisers, which completely ruins the board.
On the bottom we have a couple of flat rubber feet for non slip, and 2 flip up feet that
are also rubber tipped.
It's also a nice touch that the rubber is pink as well.
And this again is exactly the same design as the standard VA68.
In the middle we have our metal ID plate, and it seems to have been manufactured by
Varmilo in China, which makes complete sense.
And finally on the rear we have a USB C port.
There are no screws on this keyboard, so to take it apart, we have to release the plastic
tabs.
Here's the plastic top shell, and it's not too bad at about 2.5mm thick, and it's
of course pretty flimsy when it's on it' own.
The bottom shell has some familiar foam on the bottom, which does make a big difference
in how the keyboard feels and sounds, making it feel more solid, full, and satisfying to
type on, rather than hollow, which can be felt with other boards.
And there's a bit of ribbing on the bottom surface for reinforcement.
And Varmilo are still using the good old screw in feet, so they can be removed, and I guess
replaced.
The mounting plate is made from 1.5mm thick steel, which gives the keyboard it's bit
of weight.
And it seems to be powder coated in pink.
The PCB is very clean, with perfect solder joints.
Not that it matters, but the right and left arrow keys are labelled the other way, and
also the 5 key for whatever reason.
But more interestingly, this is branded as a Varmilo PCB.
There is no Ducky branding on here whatsoever.
So that brings up the question.
What did Ducky even do?
It clearly just looks like a plastic version of the Varmilo VA68 or 69M.
Everything about it is the same, the keycaps are definitely Varmilo's, and both the box
and ID plate on the bottom of the keyboard say that it has been made in China by this
company here.
So it is a bit of a weird collaboration to me, especially since it's pretty much known
as the Ducky Miya Pro.
But disregarding all that.
This is great keyboard.
The build quality is great, and is what you expect of Varmilo.
While the enclosure is plastic, it still has the internal steel plate, it has great quality
PBT keycaps, and great stabilisers to accompany the Silent keyswitches.
We get that great compact 65% form factor, and I bet if you can use a TKL, you can use
this no problem.
And one of the big surprises was that there is software available, giving us some decent
customisability with key swapping and macros, although it is kind of hidden.
It is also cheaper than the VA68M by a good amount.
But if you're seeking metal, then they are basically the same keyboard.
In terms of off the shelf ready to go 65% keyboards, there isn't a great deal of competition.
The main one of this class being the Leopold FC660M, which is another great choice.
If you can go custom and build your own, there's a bunch of options.
But I guess the Sakura theme will play a big role in whether someone will get it or not.
There's not many keyboards that look like this, and it is special.
I've also seen the new Panda themed version, so perhaps there may be even more themes in
the future.
So it's nice to see a bit of variety in the pre-built market, and perhaps this can
make a nice gift to someone.
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