Ducky X Varmilo Miya Pro

 Ducky X Varmilo Miya Pro Moonlight

Is this really a "Pro" model?

Time to upgrade to a better keyboard. After countless hours on Youtube, I have finally decided that the Miya Pro is the one for me. The main selling point for me is that it has dedicated arrow keys and the layout uses a standard bottom row, making the keycap replacement much easier.

Unboxing

The packaging has a premium feel. This entire thing is heavy. The outer box may be familiar to you as I've seen this countless of times in YouTube videos.

Getting rid of the brown box, we get to the real box. Very solid box. It'd nice to get but who cares about boxes. The shop where I got it from told me to keep all packaging and contents as it will be required to present it when claiming for warranty. I don't understand why but it is their policy so I have to follow.

Not evident on the photo, but there is a silver-y "PRO" witten after MIYA on the box.

Opening the box, you'll see the faint colors of the Escape, Space Bar, and Enter keys. I'm already excited.

Okay first up, we get a regular stock USB Type C Cable held together by some sort of Velcro. It has the Varmilo name at the ends of the cable. Nothing fancy, just pure functionality.

We also get a converter. Plug it on the other end of the cable and slap this thing to your mobile phone and type away. I've tested it in the shop before leaving and it works. There's some problems getting to type on Facebook's Messenger but for regular sms, Samsung Galaxy Note 8's messages app works fine with this keyboard.

Okay, we have a very tiny certificate that came along with the keyboard. This is about 1cm X 1cm. I felt proud of this. Might have to frame it.

We get the paperworks. We don't really read that. But I did. Just to validate all the effort by whoever did this. Imagine being a Chinese company making English instructions and getting it right (almost).

Chucked in the box is a Caps Lock key with a small shine through window. The keyboard I've used before does not have this and I've always wanted something to indicate if the Caps Lock is engaged so this is a welcome feature.

Insights

I've been using it for about 2 weeks as of this writing and I'm enjoying it. The height is just comfortable, it makes alright sounds to a Mechanical Keyboard beginner, the Keycaps are fine to the touch. I would definitely recommend this keyboard to people who would like to move up from stock membrane keyboards.

This Keyboard has the Cherry MX Reds, which is something I've never tried before, or any switch for that matter. These Reds felt great but as I go along, I feel that they are soft. There was one time my finger was just (practically) hovering over the Enter key and it sent messages in the chat box. Now I'm looking at Gateron Yellows or Blacks just to counter my heavy fingers. Again, I have no Mechanical Keyboard enthusiast friends and just getting into this thing alone, so I am just imagining that Yellows or Blacks will work for me.

The main downside for me is the lack of programmability. This is not a huge deal breaker as I've spent almost two (2) decades going through Autocad with regular keyboards. It would definitely benefit my work flow if I can setup macros, but from where I came from, I can manage without.

That KBDFans Niu Mini sounds mighty fine for a dedicated Number Pad and Macro Pad right about now.

The Moonlight model is subtle looking. It is not as flashy as its siblings. I like this and the Rainbow model with the RGB lights. They have simple Keycaps and you won't feel guilty about swapping them out.

The case is not black, but a very deep cool gray. The finish has a mild shimmer, mimicking a metallic look. 

You can light up the LED at the switches. This keyboard has the bare minimum lighting styles, which I guess people mostly use. The only keys that don't follow the lighting are the Caps Lock, Page Up and Down keys. They have their own mind and doesn't want to get on with the rest.

The pictures show a very light arrow keycap color. Do not be fooled. The camera tried to compensate for the dark keyboard and bumped up the exposure.

It has the Legends for Apple stuff at the sides. I don't really care for these as I don't use Apple stuff. If ever I do, I don't even want them printed on the sides. I want them on top. If only there is a way to get rid of these legends as it just looks clutter to me. I am already trying to simply my keyboard already.

Peeking under the keycaps we have the Cherry MX Reds. Everyone probably knows about this. Most branded pre-built keyboards get these together with the blues and browns. We are not here to learn switches.

These are south facing switches mounted on what seems like a powder coated heavy metal plate.

At the bottom of the case, you have this plaque thing with all the labels, numbers, and compliances. This just says "Miya" and not "Miya Pro" as most online offerings suggest. The Model name does not even have Pro in it. In the Sakura Model of the Miya Pro, it says there "Miya Pro." What makes this not "Pro?" I want "Pro."

Opening It Up

Now for the good part. Taking a look at what's inside.

This keyboard does not use screws at all. To take it apart you have to unclip the top part of the case to the bottom part of the case. Check it out on Varmilo's official YouTube channel.

You would need some thin plastic cards to pry inside and some elbow grease.

The PCB, together with plate are positioned at the bottom case just as in a Tray Mount. But there are no screws to secure it in place. To hold everything together, the top frame sandwiches it with the bottom frame. The PCB and Plate are pushed up by the stand offs and side edges of the bottom case and pushed down by the top case, like in a sandwich mount case.

Bottom case

We have screw in feet.

Same thing but on the other side. We have a hole for the USB C and some support.

The arrows point to November 2020. Still fresh, I guess.

These stand offs are there and the only use for it is to guide the PCB and the plate.

Top Case

If you are reading this, you are probably thinking about opening your Miya Pro to modify it. Awesome for you and I wish you luck.

Forgive the dirt inside the bezels. These are actually shavings from the plastic card I used to pry open the keyboard. It's clean now.

Miya Pro PCB

The PCB of this Ducky X Varmilo Miya Pro. It is labelled "Varmilo VA69MAC-V2.1 (A).

Suddenly, there is no "Pro" now.

The PCB is partly held into place by these things. There are four of them and one is soldered.

Branding and model name of the board. A probably stands for Ansi but I am not sure as this has key positions for ISO. But as a newbie in this hobby, don't quote me on that.

Neat work. This PCB looks different from the actual Miya Pro I've seen on YouTube.

Some PCB detail shots:

I am hoping this is not a typographic error. It is for the Right Shift anyway. But the switch mount on the Left Shift just says Shift (as seen in the photo above).

I am no expert, but the LEDs look like 2x3x4 LEDs.

Keycaps are thick and consistent. I like how it feels on my fingers. There is nothing mentioned in the package about the material used in these, but as someone who used cheap keyboards with ABS Keycaps, I can deduce that this is PBT.

In some YouTube videos where they opened this up, there are shots there that show the factory lubed stabilizers. Here I can't see the lube. Maybe there is, I just don't know where to look.

Maybe that white translucent thing is the lube.

To End This

This is an excellent keyboard if you are starting out in this hobby or are looking for a step up from your basic keyboard. I love how it is 65% but still uses standard keys. Eventually I will have to swap switches further down the road. In the mean time, I'll perfect my soldering/desoldering skills in preparation for this. There are only two instances I may have to consider replacing this is if Varmilo makes a programmable Miya Pro and if I get a boat load of money to get those shiny boutique ones.*

*I may have to eat my own words.