Reviewing the Ducky Miya Pro Panda Edition: for fans and newcomers alike
12/2/2021
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
Pandas are great. Mechanical keyboards as well. And when these worlds collide, you get something wonderful: the Ducky Miya Pro Panda Edition.
The giant panda – hereafter only referred to as «Panda» – belongs to the Ursidae family; bears. Time to tell the tale of how I encountered its mechanical cousin, and more importantly, why this crafty keyboard is so deserving of our attention.
Out of necessity came the panda
I'm downsizing. I recently retired my midi case and built myself a mini-ITX PC. The reason: with a second kid on the way, our 4.5-room city apartment is slowly running out of space. Our sons share a bedroom and we all share an office. That leaves me with about two square metres available for a PC, 3D printer, monitors and all the test equipment that piles up in the home office. Alright, I know things are even tighter in Hong Kong, first-world problems and all that. Which brings me to China; Hong Kong – China. I'll probably be beheaded by opposition members from the Special Administrative Region for that connection, but I'll link the two anyway. China is in many ways the home of pandas. And these furry friends recently came to my rescue.
65 per cent concentrated Panda power
I've been toying with the Ducky Miya Pro Panda Edition for quite some time now. The periphery is the illegitimate child of the Taiwanese brand and Varmilo, a Chinese «Keyboard Artist». Taiwan – China, another link to the territorial claims inherent to the People's Republic. In any case, the Miya Pro Panda Edition builds bridges, bringing together mainland and island manufacturers.
The keyboard is a 65 per cent model. These lack a number pad, the F-key row and a few navigation keys. In terms of size, it corresponds to 65 per cent of a standard keyboard. Unlike 60 per cent models, however, it has dedicated arrow keys. At around 34 centimetres long and 11 centimetres wide, the keyboard is on the smaller side. But even pandas aren't the biggest bears out there, around 190 centimetres in height. Still, the Miya Pro Panda Edition is one key column longer than other 65 per cent keyboards. The four navigation keys at the top right are arranged in a square. Most other keyboards of this size organise those keys in a column and are therefore one key-width shorter.
Meanwhile, I can still make do without the number pad. Not so with my DIY keyboard. By the way, that one is now attached to my test bench at home. Thanks to my downsizing project, I finally have an excuse to buy the Miya Pro Panda Edition. However, at over 200 francs, the keyboard is quite costly, which is why I have refrained from using it so far. Okay, still cheaper than a real Panda. You can't buy them anyway, but the Chinese government will «lend» them for up to one million euros per year.
A little over 200 bucks is a bargain. Especially since you don't just get the Miya Pro Panda Edition, but a cuddly panda plush as well, which my older son immediately snatched up. At least I still have the oversized – 90 × 40 centimetres – mouse mat; as you'd expect, emblazoned with a panda. It looks great adorning my desk. Pure kitsch, but I love it.
Of porn and pandas
Then there's the keyboard itself. Varmilo and Ducky are «Keyboard Artists» in the truest sense of the word. Although I don't know exactly how Ducky is involved in the process, since all the components come from Varmilo. The cooperation seems to be more of a symbolic nature. Be that as it may, the lovingly designed subjects and fonts on the 1.4 millimetre thick PBT plastic keycaps are made using the thermal sublimation printing process. This allows imprints to stay beautiful as long as possible.
The space bar is an eye-catcher: there's a panda chasing a dragonfly, and the same scene is reflected in a pond at the front. Ingenious! This is keyboard porn, pure and simple. Kind of ironic, as pandas are so lazy they often forget to reproduce. Females are only ready to mate for about 72 hours a year. To get them in the mood, they're sometimes shown videos of other pandas making love at the zoo. Speaking of sex: the keyboard has 69 – nice – keys using the Cherry OEM profile.
Pandas need to eat 18 kilograms of bamboo per day to get enough nutrients. This is probably why the font on the keycaps is in bamboo. A nice touch. In addition to the already mounted keycaps, there are also ones in panda print, which I immediately put to use. Using the included key cap puller, I removed W, A, S and D and inserted the pandas, although they don't exactly fit in height. This may be because adult pandas are solitary. They probably require their own territory – even on a keyboard. Joking aside: they don't fit because the keycaps per row are shaped differently in the Cherry OEM profile for ergonomic reasons.
Since pandas really go crazy when eating bamboo, I choose the keyboard with Cherry MX Blue switches. With these, the trigger point can be heard and felt. Other switches from Cherry are also available. However, I enjoy noisy typing.
Typing on this thing is a real pleasure. Cherry MX Blues are still the best switches for me, even though other manufacturers have caught up. There's also the perfectly designed keycaps, fingerprint-proof in addition to their great design. What particularly stands out are the ingenious stabilisers. They usually give longer keycaps the necessary support and ensure that even long keys trigger everywhere at the same time.
Of small fries and heavyweights
Although a panda's diet consists of 99 per cent bamboo, they're actually predators. They only evolved into vegetarians around 2 million years ago. Keeping this in mind, I'll forgive the Miya Panda Pro for having a case made from plastic and not aluminium. The keyboard is based on the Varmilo VA68M. That case is made of the light metal. Nevertheless, evolution cannot be halted, and plastic has its upsides: no fingerprints are visible on the casing with a five millimetre thick frame, even after longer use. And it is lighter. At around 750 grams, the keyboard weighs about 5 times as much as a baby panda. Amazing, since pandas can weigh up to 160 kilograms.
Already at five months of age, pandas learn to climb. Climbing isn't in the Miya Pro Panda Edition's area of expertise, but it can at least be adjusted in height thanks to the folding feet.
Thanks to their enlarged carpal bones, pandas can grasp things as if they had a thumb. The keyboard interfaces with the PC using the included USB-C cable.
An acquired taste
Even with these enlarged carpal bones, it is impossible for pandas to operate the Miya Pro Panda Edition. Even as a human, you'll need some prior knowledge to do this. The Fn keys take you to the secondary key functions, such as «Home», «End» or the F-key functions.
The keyboard has several white LED lighting zones. Since there's no software, you also control it with the Fn key. Settings range from dimming to the selection of up to five lighting profiles. For me, the lack of RGB isn't a problem, since I'm not a fan of it anyway. Nevertheless, the illumination does leave room for improvement: the lighting shimmers through the green keycaps.
Conclusion: too much to bear?
You just have to love pandas. This includes, in my opinion, the Ducky Miya Pro Panda Edition. Thanks to it, I now not only have a concentrated load of pandas on my desk, but also 35 per cent more space.
The keyboard only offers the most necessary features. However, it is excellently manufactured, equipped with Cherry MX switches and an absolute joy for panda fans – and who doesn't adore them? My only criticism concerns the case material, I'd prefer aluminium, and the green translucent keycaps. The high price is justified by what's included for free: the mouse mat and the panda plushie would probably cost over 50 francs alone. In short, I definitely recommend it.
Oh yeah: pandas poop up to 40 times a day. Had to be said.
Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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