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!?)

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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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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I heard good feedback that since firmware 3.0 for the KA360 the connectivity issues have been solved.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe I'm too late, but after looking at all of these options and a few more, this is what I've decided I'm switching to

https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

How is it?

I was interested in it also but, other than modules, it looks like a traditional split keyboard that I could get for way cheaper, but damn those modules look juicy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

IIRC, Xah Lee in his review specifically mentioned that glove80 are better suited for smaller hands than KA360 as it feels more compact. Having a different pinky column curvature probably also helps. I'd also be interested to know if glove80 is factually more compact (in terms of e.g. key spacing).

Take a look at u/noneagoninf 's reviews here for more first hand experiences.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a moonlander and generally really like it, however I would take a second look at the glove 80. I'm tempted to eventually sell my moonlander or start saving up for a glove 80.

The moonlander is pretty solid, and you can get used to the thumb cluster, but I have smaller hands too, and it's tough to reach across all of the moonlander while touch typing. I think a key well would help with that issue.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Taking a better look at the glove80, it's definitely appealing to me, since it also has the function keys on it. It's about CA$550 vs about CA$450 for the dactyl, which has less keys.

I'm trying to find one that I can use for years to come, since they are very pricey.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Please don't tell me about other keyboards! I got a Moonlander, am really happy with it and consider it my endgame board. Not like all the other endgame boards, I swear!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a Moonlander and find it works well for me. Took a little while to get used to, but really not long, and the longer I used it, the more I liked it. Not sure what you mean that it doesn't have many keys, as it has way more than a lot of ergo keyboards?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It has more than the ergo I saw too. I'm used to number row and function keys and wouldn't want to lose that. That would probably take some getting used to it but if I can still have those keys, no reason to choose one that doesn't.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know of almost no ergo boards that have dedicated function keys. Moonlander does have number keys though... and you can use layers to turn those into function keys...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I saw some mentions of layers but in all fairness, it's not appealing to me if I want to hit F6 to make the cursor go to the browser's address bar.

But thanks for mentioning! It may help others.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I get it. I say the same thing about boards with no number keys and people tell me I can just use layers. But for whatever reason, layers for function keys makes more sense to me. It's just like pressing "shift" except instead of "shift" you press a different button and the number/function key.