The Ducky Shine 7 is a great keyboard with exceptional gaming performance, amazing customization options, and a superb build quality. Its doubleshot PBT keycaps feel durable, and the key legends are clear and legible. The Cherry MX Brown switches on our unit provide an outstanding typing experience, with great tactile feedback and responsiveness; however, you can get the keyboard with the switches of your choice. The keyboard's settings are easily accessible without the need of its companion software, including customization for the RGB backlighting. There's no USB passthrough or dedicated media controls, but its premium build and sublime typing quality more than make up for it.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a great keyboard for most uses. The Cherry MX Brown switches offer a comfortable typing experience with excellent feedback, and it's quiet enough for use in any office setting. The keyboard is highly customizable, as all the keys are macro-programmable, and its full RGB backlighting is perfect for late-night gaming.
The Ducky Shine 7 is an excellent gaming keyboard. The Cherry MX Brown switches on our unit feel light and responsive, and you can reprogram or assign a macro to any key. However, there are no dedicated macro keys for MMOs, and it lacks dedicated media controls as well. The RGB backlighting is great for dark room gaming, and with its outstanding build, it should last for years.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a wired-only keyboard and can't be used with mobile devices.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a good office keyboard. It's decently comfortable to type on for an extended period, but some may find it uncomfortable due to the lack of wrist rest. With the Cherry MX Brown switches, typing feels light and you get great tactile feedback, assuring that each keystroke was registered. Typing noise shouldn't be an issue, even in the most noise-sensitive environments, and the keyboard has decent compatibility with most desktop operating systems.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a great keyboard for programming. Typing feels very responsive with the Cherry MX Brown switches. The key spacing and the excellent PBT keycaps make it easy to type with high accuracy, but some may find it a bit fatiguing without a wrist rest. You can reprogram or set a macro to any key, and all customizations can be done on the keyboard, including the RGB backlighting.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a large, full-size keyboard. It's also quite heavy, mainly due to its rigid zinc alloy top plate. For a smaller keyboard, check out the Ducky One 2 Mini or the Obinslab Anne Pro 2. If you need a compact board but still need arrow keys, take a look at the Ducky MIYA Pro.
Build quality is superb. The bottom is plastic, but it has a zinc alloy top plate that feels solid and hefty. There's no flex at all and the keyboard doesn't slide around. It has high-quality doubleshot PBT keycaps, similar to the ones on the Ducky One 2 Mini, and the fonts are well-defined. The keys are very stable, with no sign of wobbling or rattling. The main downside is that the included USB-C cable feels a bit cheap, as it tends to retain kinks that are hard to straighten out.
The Shine 7 has decent ergonomics. There are two incline settings and the keys are well-spaced. It doesn't come with a wrist rest, which can cause a bit of fatigue for some. For a similar keyboard with better ergonomics, take a look at the Das Keyboard X50Q, it has a lower profile and a wrist rest is included.
This keyboard has full RGB backlighting and the keys are individually-lit. All customizations can be done directly on the keyboard, as the customization software is optional.
Do note that the etching on the spacebar may look different depending on the edition, as Ducky often sends an extra spacebar with a random theme. In the case of our unit, the art that's etched into the spacebar represents the Year of the Pig in the Chinese calendar.
The keyboard comes with a rubberized USB-C cable, with cheap-looking printing on it. It is removable, though, so you can replace it with a higher quality one if you want. Unfortunately, Ducky doesn't sell replacement USB-C cables separately.
This is a wired-only keyboard and can't be used wirelessly.
The Shine 7 is a very customizable keyboard. All of the keyboard's settings can be accessed directly on the keyboard, as it has onboard software. There are switches on the underside of the keyboard, similar to the Ducky One 2 Mini, which lets you change the location of the Windows key, the FN key, caps lock, etc. You can also access media controls through a combination of the FN + Windows key + the corresponding alphanumeric key. All of the various settings and hotkeys are detailed in the user guide. Additionally, all the keys are macro programmable.
If you want to lock the Windows key to prevent accidentally minimizing a game, press and hold FN + Alt + Windows key simultaneously for 3 seconds.
If you want a keyboard with dedicated media controls, check out the Razer Huntsman Elite. If you'd like a keyboard with a USB passthrough, consider the Das Keyboard Model S Professional.
The Shine 7 can be purchased with your preferred type of switches. Our unit has standard Cherry MX Browns, but there are 6 other types, including Cherry MX Red, Blue, Black, Silver, Silent Red, and Nature White, which will all result in different typing experiences. The Brown switches have a satisfying tactile bump to indicate the actuation and they require a moderate amount of force to actuate. The pre-travel distance matches the 2mm advertised by Cherry almost perfectly. If you'd prefer having the freedom of easily swapping out your switches, check out the Glorious GMMK instead.
The typing experience on the Shine 7 is simply outstanding. The PBT keycaps feel great and the keys are extremely stable. The switches provide a good amount of feedback and the keys are well-spaced, which helps with typing accuracy. Some people may find it fatiguing without a wrist rest, but the additional incline setting does help quite a bit. It's nearly identical to the Ducky One 2 Mini but in a full-size form.
Typing noise with the Cherry MX Brown switches is quiet and shouldn't be bothersome to others around you. It's different depending on the type of switches that you get.
The Shine 7 uses the Ducky RGB software for customization. This is optional and only for customizing the RGB backlighting, as all customization options are accessible on the keyboard itself. Furthermore, all macro programming is done on the keyboard. If you want a keyboard with software that allows for macro programming, check out the Corsair K70 RGB MK.2.
Do note that the given score only reflects the onboard software, as the Ducky RGB software only allows for customization of the RGB backlighting.
This keyboard has decent compatibility. It's fully functional on Windows, and while all keys work on Linux, there's no software. On macOS, in addition to not having software support, the calculator, scroll lock, and pause/break keys don't work.
The compatibility score is based on the Ducky RGB customization software.
The Ducky Shine 7 is available in two colors: blackout and gunmetal gray. There are several switches to choose from and they're all genuine Cherry MX switches, including Red, Brown, Blue, Black, Silver, Red Silent, and Nature White.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a great keyboard for most uses. When compared to other similarly-priced keyboards, it feels undeniably better built, and the typing experience it offers is among the best. However, it lacks some features like a USB passthrough and dedicated media controls. For other options, check out our recommendations for the best keyboards, the best gaming keyboards, and the best RGB keyboards.
The Ducky Shine 7 is better than the Ducky One 2 for the most part. The Shine 7 is better-built because it has a metal frame. It also has dedicated software. Both keyboards are available in a wide variety of Cherry MX switches, and even though our unit of the One 2 doesn't have backlighting, it's also available with full RGB backlighting.
The Razer BlackWidow Elite is slightly better than the Ducky Shine 7. The Razer has more features, such as dedicated media controls and a USB passthrough, but the Ducky offers a better typing quality when comparing the Cherry MX Brown against the Razer Orange switches, though this depends on the type of switches you like. The Ducky has a better build quality, but Razer's Synapse 3 software offers more options.
The Ducky Shine 7 is slightly better than the Corsair K70 RGB MK.2. The Ducky is much better built, the typing quality is significantly better, and it's available in more types of Cherry MX switches. However, the Corsair comes with a wrist rest and the iCUE software is available on macOS.
The Ducky Shine 7 and the Corsair K95 PLATINUM have similar overall performance, but they offer very different features. Build quality is much better on the Shine 7, but the K95 has dedicated macro keys, media controls, and its customization software has more options and better compatibility. Typing on the Cherry MX Brown switches feels much better than the Cherry MX Speed on the K95, though both keyboards can be purchased with different types of switches.
The Glorious GMMK and the Ducky Shine 7 are two great full-size keyboards. However, the typing quality on the Ducky feels a bit better, and its software allows for more profiles. If you like dabbling with different switches, the Glorious' hotswap board will be better for you, allowing you to find the best switch for your needs.
The Ducky Shine 7 is marginally better than the HyperX Alloy Origins. The Shine 7 is significantly better built and the Cherry MX Brown switches offer a much better typing experience. However, the Alloy Origins' companion software has more features and its backlight can get much brighter.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a better keyboard than the Das Keyboard Model S Professional. The Ducky has a much better build quality, full RGB backlighting, and offers a better typing experience, along with being compatible with the Ducky RGB companion software. That said, the Das Keyboard has USB passthrough.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a much more versatile keyboard than the Ducky MIYA Pro. The Shine 7 is a full-size keyboard that feels extremely solid and features full RGB lighting. It also has a much more complete software and it features a NumPad. On the other hand, the MIYA Pro is much more compact and still has arrow keys.
The Ducky Shine 7 is a bit better than the SteelSeries Apex 5 Hybrid Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Build quality is significantly better on the Shine 7, and the same can be said of the typing quality when compared with the Cherry MX Brown switches on our unit. The Apex 5's software has more features, though, and it has other features like its OLED screen and dedicated media controls.
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