this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)

i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²

¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid

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I'm a complete novice to mech and ergo so I apologize in advance for any sins lol

The 3 I checked are Kinesis 360 (https://kinesis-ergo.com/keyboards/advantage360/), Glove80 (https://www.moergo.com/collections/glove80-keyboards) and the Moonlander (https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/).

These below are what I got from watching reviews:

  • Kinesis is difficult to customize and sometimes has connectivity issues
  • Glove80 feels cheap
  • Moonlander doesn’t have many keys and thumb cluster is on odd position

Considering the prices, the moonlander is about US$100 cheaper than the others, so feels like a better option.

I am interested in options with keywell, as they feel way more comfortable, but anything will be better since I use an conventional non-split keyboard.

The right menu links to a compare tool but there are so many.

My hands are small, so it may constrain the options I have. Or maybe not.

What are your opinions/suggestions/experience with these types of keyboards?

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[–] Robyr@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

FWIW I love my Kinesis Advantage 360 Pro. I did initially have connectivity problems but it's been solid since. There's also a beta 3.0 firmware which I am now running that is much, much more stable. The configuration is the same for any ZMK board, so I didn't have issues since I have been using ZMK for a while on other boards. It has a learning curve but it's relatively simple and for basic remapping the GUI works well.

[–] lfzs@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Had you used any non-keywell ergo keyboards before the 360? If so, how much better is the keywell option compared to them?

The gist of it is "is it worth $200 more to have keywells?"

[–] Robyr@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nope, but I had several coworkers that swore by Advantage2s. I broke my left arm for the second time in my life last year and one of them implored me to try their extra Advantage2 so they lent me one, and I haven't had wrist or shoulder pain since. I bought my 360 before I could even touch type on that borrowed Advantage2.

[–] lfzs@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for that. It makes me less resistant in spending more to have keyboard with keywell.

I hope your arm is fully recovered now!

[–] Robyr@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

It's never going to be the same, unfortunately. I do wish I had started caring about my ergonomics before I got hurt again though. I was a huge fool to think that a "good looking" keyboard was more important than a keyboard that was built for human usage for so many years.

Also, don't skateboard folks. At 15 I got some sick permanent titanium parts from the first broken arm, and then at 37 I broke the same arm doing the same crap and it sucked. 6+ months later and it still hurts and I will never regain the same range of motion.

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