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Head to head · Prices checked Nov 11, 2026

Ducky Year of the Horse vs GDK Lab DK1

Get the Ducky Year of the Horse for hot-swappable and via.

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Quick verdict

Which one should you get?

Get the

Ducky Year of the Horse

Hot-swappable

Build quality in the top 20% of 100% boards under $200.

Rules this board out

  • South-facing LEDs. Shine-through legends stay dark, and some sculpted keycaps can clip the LED.

Get the

GDK Lab DK1

Rules this board out

  • Switches are soldered. Swapping them means soldering.

What actually differs

The differences that matter

Skip the 40-row spec sheet. These are the specs that change how each board feels, sounds, and fits your desk.

Ducky Year of the Horse

GDK Lab DK1

  • Layout size

    100%

    87%

  • Hot-swappable

    Yes

    No

    Switch changes without soldering

  • Case material

    ABS, Aluminum

    Copper

  • VIA

    Yes

    No

    GUI remapping without compiling firmware

  • Backlight

    RGB, south-facing

    None

    RGB for looks and low light rather than speed

KeebFinder scores

How we score
  • Ducky Year of the Horse
  • GDK Lab DK1
Performance
78
46
Build quality
68
50
Productivity
59
44
Customizability
68
40
Portability
52
41
See every spec side by side

Full specs

Ducky Year of the Horse vs GDK Lab DK1 specs

Every tracked spec, side by side. Rows marked with a dot differ between the boards.

8 of 18 specs differ

Ducky Year of the Horse

GDK Lab DK1

Typing & switches

Switch options

Linear
—

Hot-swappable

Yes
No

Mount style

Plate Mount
—

Layout

Layout size

100%
87%

Layout standard

ANSI
ANSI

Ergonomics

Standard
Standard

Display

None
None

Connectivity & battery

Connection

Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz, Wired
—

Max polling rate

1,000 Hz
—

Battery

4,200 mAh
—

USB-C

Yes
No

Build & materials

Case material

ABS, Aluminum
Copper

Plate material

Aluminum
—

Keycaps

PBT
—

Backlight

RGB, south-facing
None

Firmware & software

VIA

Yes
No

N-key rollover

Yes
No

Extras

Released

2026
2025

Where to buy

Compare prices

Live prices from the stores we track, cheapest in-stock offer first.

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GDK Lab DK12 stores

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