Ducky Feather Review – A DIFFERENT Gaming Mouse!

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Something really interesting from arrived in mail recently, the Ducky Feather, which the company’s first lightweight mouse. What is really interesting about the Feather is that this feels like a Ducky product. It’s not a copycat of some other mouse, and it actually brings some innovative and unique features to a lightweight space that we haven’t seen on any other mouse yet.

Prototype & Price

Honestly though, I feel like we are getting a bit overwhelmed with all the new mice releases, but this is Ducky we’re talking about and I know is going to be a good one. What I have here is a prototype testing sample, which means we can analyze this from a feature standpoint, from a shape perspective, but certain elements and the build quality are not completely finalized yet. Nevertheless, my initial impressions of this thing are completely positive. I really am excited to see the final production of the Ducky Feather, this is going to be a really popular mouse as long as the price point is competitive.

The price point has to be right for it to stand out because the market is so saturated right now. The proposed $59 USD price point sounds very reasonable, especially for a lightweight mouse that is driverless. However, to really determine whether it’s worth it I’m going to do a general overview and then highlight the unique features such as the cable angle and also the switches.

Build Quality & Comfort

First let’s start with the weight, because this is a 65 gram body and that is incredible since only a portion of the size is perforated. The top surface and the triggers are completely solid, which follows in the footsteps of Razer in giving us that slightly transparent top body with the illuminated logo underneath it. By the way, logo is illuminated in multiple sections, so the beak, the hair, and the actual body of the Ducky logo are all independently lit. The sides are textured with a slight rubberized coating, which helps with the grip. If your fingers are slightly moist they don’t slide around, which is nice.

This is a truly ambidextrous design, which means it’s good for both right and left hand operation because it has browser buttons on each side. The left-handed users will surely appreciate this because the only other solid alternatives are the Razer Viper and the Viper Ultimate, which actually this mouse reminds me of. When you put them side-by-side the Ducky Feather looks very similar to the Razer Viper, but fortunately they feel quite different to me. The Razer Viper feels slightly chunkier, especially with the hump at the top, while the feather feels slightly smaller in my hand because the curvature at the top is not as aggressive.

The front triggers on the Feather also don’t have such deep grooves for your fingers, so the front triggers feel slightly higher. Overall, I would say Ducky has a really good shape on their hands that should satisfy hybrid and claw grip perfectly, and for smaller hands palm grip too.

Accessories & Buttons

In the package, we get the user manual and additional Teflon PTFE feet, both large ones and small ones depending on how much glide you want at the bottom. And speaking of the bottom, this is really interesting to see because we have controls not only for the polling rate from 125Hz to 500Hz to 1000Hz, but there is also lift-off distance adjustment from low, to default, and then high.

Lastly, there is a DPI switch too, which is colour coded. Now, unfortunately the 7 programmed DPI steps are in 2X, so 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12000 and 16000. This means if I’m used to playing at 1000 DPI, I now have to choose between 800 and maybe 1600, so you don’t have that precise adjustment because there is no software. Now the sense here is the trusted Pixart 3389, which is a fantastic a performer all-around. It has no skipping, a great lift-off distance, especially because we have the lift-off distance adjustment. I put that to low and have absolutely no complaints. For me the lack of precise DPI adjustment is not a deal breaker, even though I’m used to playing at a 1000 DPI I put this mouse to 800 and it feels great.

I could see why people might choose a different mouse with drivers software, so you can play around with things. Thankfully, this mouse remembers your RGB settings, it remembers your DPI setting, it’s a plug-and-play device that you can move from one PC to another. Because there is no driver software you change the lighting with a button combination and you do the same thing if you want to change it from right-hand to left-hand operation.

The Switches & Cable

Now onto the two unique features about the Feather, the first of which are the switches. The Huano 50 million click micro-switches feel incredible, super tactile, nice travel distance, and quick rebounds. Double clicking the right trigger feels incredible especially in CS:GO when you are doing the double zoom with a sniper rifle. I have total control, I can exit the scope, and get back into it super fast. The main difference between the Huano switches and all my Omron switches is that these things feel sharper and more tactile. The Omron switches have a bit of softness when you bottom out. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the sharpness and the tactility here is just different and refreshing.

As for the cable angle, and this is something new. In all other mice the cable normally exits flat to the surface, whereas here it is angled just under eight degrees to give you a more bungee feel. Not only does this help to eliminate any cable drag that is immediately around the body, but it helps to also angle the cable precisely towards your bungee. If you think about it, it’s such a minor modification to the cable and the body, but it does help to eliminate that sharp angle from other mice. With this mouse it’s already angled up and goes towards your bungee. By the way, the cable is paracord and super lightweight, it reminds me of what the Razer is using so no complaints in that department. The USB port is orange, presumably just to be a little different than the norm.

Gaming Performance

Basically since the morning I received this mouse I have spent entire days gaming with a Ducky Feather and the experience has been great. I sat the DPI to 800, lift-off distance adjustment manually, and the polling rate manually as well. My CS:GO performance has not suffered, and I would say using the Ducky Feather for just a few hours today gave me an experience equivalent to a mouse I’ve been using for several months now. That is a major positive for Ducky, especially for their first gaming mouse.

Conclusion

I really hope that the price point will be competitive, and also that they have suitable amounts of these mice for sale. While the market right now is getting really saturated, but I feel like the Ducky Feather does bring something completely new to the table in terms of having that full hardware control at the bottom, the clicky switches feel different versus everything else that is available on the market, and the slight angle on the cable is a pretty cool feature. My two complaints are that if you press into the side mouse hard enough you can actually activate both side buttons, annd also the scroll wheel on my test sample has quite a bit of rattle.

Of course, Ducky will improve the quality control and eliminate any build issues for the mass production retail units, but that is something to keep in mind. That’s about it for this preview. Let me know if you’re excited. Personally, I think I’m going to be using this mouse from now on just to see if it holds up long-term until I receive my mass production sample.

Buy items in this article from Amazon & other partners below:

Ducky Feather (soon) – https://geni.us/DUCKYFEATHER
Razer Viper – https://geni.us/RAZERVIPER
Razer Viper Ultimate – https://geni.us/VIPERU
Glorious Model O – https://shrsl.com/24efs
Glorious Model O- – https://shrsl.com/1zezj
Logitech G203 – https://geni.us/G203LIGHT

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