Review: Ducky Zero 6108, a tri-mode keyboard that misses the mark in some areas

This is my second encounter with a Ducky keyboard. Last year I reviewed the One TKL, a nice keyboard overall but with some flaws that really should not be flaws given the launch price. Now, in 2024, we have the Zero 6108 which doesn't have the exact same issues but does create a few new issues on its own—You win some, you lose some.

The 6108 is a full-sized keyboard that weighs in at 1.2KG, an absolute chonk of a keyboard in both thickness and weight. Thankfully, the materials used are high enough quality to warrant this heft, thought the keycaps don't have that premium look to them like the double-layered caps found on the One TKL which is a shame, the upside of this is that the RGB print shines through clearly in the dark, though more on this a bit later as it is one of the negative quirks of this keyboard as it turns out.

This review sample was sent by our friends over at OverclockersUK, who simply asked me to give an honest opinion of this new model and nothing more.

So, to that end, let's get to it.

Specifications

Construction

The keycaps are PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate), which resists skin oil and wear better than standard keycaps.

There is a course texture to the surface, and they do feel very nice on initial touch, but the edges are sharply cut downwards, which, at least to me, feels a bit sharp if my finger misses the centre of a key during touch typing and applies pressure on the edge. Over time this repetition gives a feeling of discomfort.

It would have been nicer if these edges were even slightly more smoothed out, like on the Melgeek Made68, which feels amazing to type on.

A decorated spacebar is also included in the box, though the material of this is not PBT and feels/looks cheaper.

The base of the 6108 is white which gives a nice contrast to the otherwise stealthy face, and the print on the keys is once again a little too dark amongst the blackness, meaning the lettering is harder to see in dim lighting.

The RGB must be used, which adds an additional annoyance, which I will cover in the quirks section below.

The underside has some nice touches, though, such as the cabling routing channels running off in three directions depending on how you wish to charge/use the keyboard over USB:

However, the Type-C port is in such a position that you must flip over the 6108 to get to it, unlike other boards that put a port on the outer-facing backside.

The two-stage angle adjustment legs have rubber feet for anti-slip, although the feet themselves are not damped in any way and do rattle or collapse if you push the keyboard forward on the desk.

Switches

The 6108 uses Cherry's latest generation of a switch, the MX2A, and on this model, the line is available in Speed Silver linear, Blue clicky and Brown tactile. I opted for the Speed Silver as it boasts short actuation and only needs a light force to actuate. I've also used the brown, red and blue switches before in the Cherry MX line so this is something new to me.

I also have a switch kit, the heavier sprung MX Black, but found that these switches are too twangy on each press which got annoying rather quickly, back to the Silver...

A keycap and switch puller tool are included in the box, though bionic arms should also be in there, as most of the switches from the factory are seated so tightly that I ended up cutting my hand trying to lift one switch out as the tool slipped off the switch:

The 6108 is compatible with two and three-pin switches, so future proofing is not really an issue, though it's unknown if magnetic switches are a possibility down the line since there's no software to accompany the Zero series to allow tweaking of magnetic actuation levels as seen on the Made68.

The Silver Speed are aimed at gaming primarily, though they feel excellent for typing too. These might just be my favourite switches for multi-use.

Personally, I am not bothered about needing a tactile feel on key travel, what matters is the key travel feel, and the Silver Speeds feel like well-oiled switches that require only a touch to actuate. They are also very comfortable on the fingers, not too light, but also not too heavy.

Performance

Here's where everything nearly is very positive. The 6108 has four Bluetooth pairing profiles for multi-device use. I have been using it via my work laptop and desktop editing/gaming PC without issue. The Bluetooth latency is low enough that I can play Doom Eternal without a single problem:

Then, visually measuring the latency between 2.4GHz (dongle included) and Bluetooth shows that there's no noticeable difference in press-to-screen activity.

This was tested on a 240Hz OLED monitor (0.03ms pixel response) with Eternal running at over 200fps and the screen captured using a 240fps 1080p camera, then slowed down to 14 speed:

My experience of this is that if it takes a 240fps capture, which is then slowed down to notice any latency difference, then there's no way the human eye notices the difference in real time.

Quirks

Having spent some time with the Zero 6108 now, there are several reasons why I would not choose to use it as my main keyboard:

• The RGB brightness resets if you touch the Fn key, you then must double tap Fn+RALT to recall your chosen brightness.
• The RGB brightness memory cannot be recalled if you set a static cuastom colour for the RGB instead of using the presets.
• The lighting has very long inactivity timeout, if left on overnight, then you'll wake up to find the lighting off, so nobody is quite sure as to how long this default timeout is exactly.
• The battery level can be checked by pressing Fn+RALT, but the meter itself bounces wildly within a short space of time. It does not seem to be accurate: connecting the 6108 over Bluetooth to Windows shows the battery percentage in Windows, but again, the displayed level might show 35%. Then within 5 minutes of plugging in a USB cable for charging, it will suddenly show 67%.
• The battery doesn't seem to last very long if I baseline the reported level remaining after a full charge and then a day of use. For example, I charged it last night, and today it shows 65% - This should not be possible for a 2500mAh battery. It isn't a defect with this unit either, as I have now had two of these, as the first one had a dead 2.4GHz dongle.
• The battery also charges very slowly, I checked using multiple chargers and measured on average 2.4W of power being drawn from any given charger at 5 Volts. At this rate, it would take several hours to charge 2500mAh.
• When switching from Bluetooth back to the 2.4GHz dongle, the delay to reconnect is a few seconds, hilariously it seems Bluetooth reconnects quicker than the 2.4GHz dongle. In 2024 this should not be a thing!

Purely as a gaming keyboard, however, it's excellent whether wired, 2.4GHz or Bluetooth in this area which is welcome to see.

The surface quality of the keycaps feels nice, just a shame about the sharp edges, though aftermarket keycaps are available should you really want to change them, so this isn't really a deal-breaker, though it does add to the total cost.

Going back to the RGB lighting, I was notified by a member on reddit after this review went live that Ducky does allow you to set a static colour for the lighting, though this is not documented anywhere for this keyboard, you have to have knowledge of it. Pressing Fn+SPACE puts the keys into RGB selection mode, and simply pressing one of the keys that corresponds with the colour you want sets that colour for all keys, so as I want to have all white lighting, I press enter key on the numpad:

Doing this has its own problem, though, because now if you use a brightness level that is not the default, such as brightness level 1, then recalling this level after pressing Fn is no longer possible:

Conclusion

The Ducky Zero 6108 follows a standard keyboard design aesthetic, and this is what I like about it when the RGB lighting is off, though not being able to see the characters in dim lighting with RGB off is an issue.

It's a shame that the battery reporting and drain is an issue. I will continue to monitor it because there could be chance it just needs time to settle over a few more charge cycles, or need a firmware update, I'm not sure, and I've yet to see any other review mention this or any of the other issues I have experienced on both 6108 boards I've had during the test period, so either other reviewers don't check for this sort of thing, or just don't care.

It is a very nice quality keyboard. It looks and feels premium but is let down by its execution of both firmware and some strange decisions in hardware such as the awkward location of the USB port, since I find myself needing to charge it way too often whereas the Logitech MX Keys S I have lasts months on a single charge with 1000mAh a smaller battery.

In short, I am hyped about the build quality and typing/gaming experience of the 6108, as well as the multi-device connectivity, but a number of things need improvement.

It is a high quality keyboard, only let down by some odd design decisions and feature execution on a keyboard of this class and price.

Previous Ducky keyboards came with a Ducky ESC key, which had the Ducky logo on it (shown above); I liked that, so it's a shame that this no longer features in the box, although the decorated space bar is an odd omission really.