Ducky Year of The Goat – Review (Basically a Shine 5)

Testing

I have used the Ducky Year of the Goat for a short while now, both using it to write-up this review and other posts whilst also using it for a few rounds of gaming.

One feature I omitted earlier is that Ducky now has a bit of on board memory to be able to save macros. Like the lighting, this is controlled fully through the keyboard itself. The section takes up a bit of space in the manual itself which is quite chunky.

There are 6 profiles that can be accessed by pressing Fn and the corresponding number. With number one being the normal layout. You can configure the macros to run when the key is pressed which is again the default, you have the option to keep it running until it is turned off or you can have it repeatedly run when the key is pressed.

Included is the option to change the timing between key presses for the macros, which by default record the real time taken between each key press during typing. Again this uses the Fn + a number to set which can be a bit confusing.

Now I did mention some changes earlier during the photos but there are a few more, which I am going to mention below.

Firstly, those familiar with Ducky keyboards of old will note that the Num Lock, Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and Macro Lock are now wedged between the volume controls, and the number pad. These are also lit by RGB LED’s, which means that depending on your lighting mode these can be a bit hard to see as they are not any brighter than the rest of the keyboard.

Ducky have also taken the virtual mouse controls from the Ducky Mini and implemented them on the number pad of the Year of the Goat.

Lastly, there has been a change in the font used for the Year of the Goat, with some characters featuring gaps in the lettering. A change that doesn’t affect the keyboard itself but may be a bit marmite to some.

As said way earlier in the review, I have had the Ducky for a while now and is actually something I spent my hard earned money to get a hold of. I have used it to play games and type up this whole review and a couple of other items.

During all of this I set up a number of small macros, which to be honest I didn’t use all that much. After getting used to them they become a bit more painless to record, but it still takes time as they have to be recorded key press per key press, with no option to reset if you make a mistake.

The lighting modes are also a bit more complex than previous Ducky keyboards which is due to the RGB nature of the lighting, but it was nice to have as many different configuration options. Some are of course a bit for show such as the marquee mode, which would have little purpose in normal day-to-day use but there are a nice amount of options included.

I have to say that the new double layer key caps do provide an improvement in typing feel when compared to the previous models key caps with a more pronounced thunk and a rougher key cap face which is a nice change.

During my tests I experienced only one glitch, which seems to be a firmware problem that Ducky have a beta firmware to fix.  It’s quite a weird issue in itself but one that can cause a bit of annoyance.

During the single colour palette select (Fn+Space) if you select a colour option from the bottom row and then immediately hit the space bar, the space bar will act as though it is repeating until you hit it again. As said earlier If you tell Ducky, they will send you a beta firmware to fix it.

Apart from this glitch in the firmware the Ducky Year of the Goat performed really well and handled my heavy hands just as nicely. In games it was nice and responsive and I never experienced a point where any key press was missed. The below Aquas key test shows what was registered when I pushed down across the board itself.