Year of the Snake 2025 Limited Edition Keyboard

I just got a new keyboard — the Ducky Year of the Snake 2025 — and I even got switches to swap the stock Cherry MX2A switches for pre-lubed Gateron Black Ink v2 Pros. I’m planning to use this keyboard for both college and gaming, since I game a lot on my PC. My main goal is a keyboard that feels great to type on but also performs well for gaming. I’m chasing that “thocky” sound, but I’ve also seen Hall effect gaming keyboards advertised as having features that supposedly give a competitive edge for gaming. I play some competitive titles like Valorant. And although I’m definitely not a pro, from what I’ve seen, many pros still use regular mechanical switches without issues. Reviewers like HipyoTech say Hall effect boards are mostly marketing hype, offering little real in game benefit and often feeling worse price to quality, feeling worse to type on and having a worse sound. On the other hand, reviewers like Optimum claims they’re a big advantage and that newer Hall effect switches can still “thock” and feel great. But he also partners with Wooting, so it’s hard to know if there is a bias in his videos. With all the conflicting reviews (and the fact that even HipyoTech does sponsored videos), I’m not sure what to believe. Should I stick with my Ducky build, or would you recommend something else entirely? Any suggestions are welcome.

I did more research into my options and decided I'm going to send back the Ducky and go with the keychron Q1 HE keybaord. The ducky is pretty and has good build quality but after looking into it more I realized the Ducky is pretty expensive for being somewhat outdated in features, especially how it lacks in just bluetooth support, and a lot of the cost is just on it being custom and limited rather than functionality and feature packed.

The Ducky Year of the Snake isn’t outdated it’s very modern, and not having Bluetooth doesn’t make it outdated. if you’re planning on playing FPS games competitively, I don’t recommend using Bluetooth feature, as it can cause input lag between your keyboard and PC.