Looking for some testimonials on these setups as I’m due for a keyboard upgrade. I like the thought of spreading my arms a bit more and the external wrist rotation from the tenting. Any suggestions?
I have a ReDox keyboard built by https://falba.tech/. It took a month of getting used to but once I did I can’t go back. My wrist pain is gone and the layers I built make me faster in practice than I was on a standard layout.
I read the first sentence and was like “wait, I haven’t been here yet” :D
I started off with the quefrency, a split ‘normal’ keyboard, then started making my own (3d printed handwired) orthos.
Then I saw the alu case for iris and got tempted but am unwilling to drop >$300 on a layout I’ve never used before, so designed my own case with tilt and 3d printed and handwired that (all for ~£30 only!! split orthos CAN be cheap! - my first post on Lemmy was on this :D) And have been daily driving it so far
Column staggered is defo the way to go
I’m going down that rabbit hole as well - I’ve already built a handwired 3d printed keyboard and my current project is a split with a 4-way switch as a thumb cluster - inspired by the Fulcrum and in case I need a different cluster, this part of the case is modular.
My next build was (probably) going to be a remix of the iris and I wanted to include a joystick so I could use it 4 ways (towards left, highlight words to left; to right, layer; up down, vol controls).
I’d never come across 4/5 way switches before so that’s definitely something I’ll be looking into! Thanks for sharing!!
What CAD program do you use for designing your cases?
Ah you’re right, it’s a 5 way switch - forgot the “push” action. I’m using realthunders’ branch of FreeCAD - it is really convenient to use compared to the normal release.
Oh I might have to take a look at that, I also use FreeCAD! Damn look at all these things you’re introducing me to 😂
I bought a moonlander by ZSA about a year ago.
I found the split allows for a much more relaxed position while writing, and being able to adjust the halves individually when I reposition myself is very comfortable.
They also have the benefit of having thumb clusters, giving more work to the strongest finger of the hand.
Another benefit I find is that most split keyboards are fully programmable, which makes customizing it to your needs very nice.
The only drawback I find to this keyboard (apart from the price, which is not cheap) is that it is hefty, and not easy to transport. The fact that it is wired clutters a bit the desktop, if this is something that concerns you.
I recently built a corne low profile yo have something more transportable and wireless, but this is much more involved, as the configuration goes through writing code and not a nice UI.
However the comfort of this new board is very nice.
There was a whole subreddit dedicated to ergonomcal keyboards, ErgoMechKeyboards, which is very interesting to browse, as what I have done is seen as extreme by my coworkers, but tame compared to what some people are do.
Fellow Moonlander + Corne user here. Once I accepted that I was never realistically going to take my Moonlander on the go, I sprang for the Platform kit. It’s a huge improvement over the stock tenting legs.
Column stagger and ortholinear keyboards are an ergonomic wonder. Everyone’s hands are different of course, but I find them really comfortable.
Another big plus for ZSA products is their software. The graphical configurator is really powerful and nice to use. It adds a lot of features on top of what’s natively available in QMK. I’ve only manually tweaked my firmware once, and that was for a particularly niche and convoluted use case.
I can vouch for the moonlander too. I had an Ergodox EZ for ~3 years, then got a Moonlander, and I’ve loved them both. Really comfortable to use, and as someone with some chronic wrist issues, honestly a career saver. The Moonlander is also slightly easier than the Ergodox EZ regarding transport as it folds a bit tighter and came with a carry case.
I imagine a split keyboard requires you to at least type properly?
I’m a software engineer with wrist issues, and would love to use an ergonomic keyboard, but I never really learned to type properly. I often have my hands overlapping the opposite sides of the keyboard. I’ll use all finger on my hands, but mainly it’s my pointer, middle, and ring finger doing the typing. I feel like this would be impossible on a split kayboard, and would take a crazy amount of time to get back up to speed typing properly.
The way to learn to touchtype is simple but annoying. Figure out how to hit backspace every time.
From here all you do is never look down. You hit the wrong key? Backspace. Try again. You can look at the keyboard sometimes, but not while typing.
It will take a while but eventually your error rate drops very quickly and you are good.
This process works very well on split keyboards.
I’ve used the ergodox ez for a couple of years, great device. Doing more with thumb is surprisingly convenient.
The small poles didn’t do a lot of tenting. I came from yogitype (vertical keyboard), would have liked more.
A few months ago i switched to kinesis 360. Love the tenting of that, the keys are also a pleasure to type on.
Biggest downside is that my laptop keyboard is now even more horrible.
More anecdata, but 10-15 years ago I started getting RSI/carpal tunnel symptoms in both hands. I switched to tented keyboards (mainly Kinesis) and vertical mice (Anker among others) and the symptoms went away. I was able to finish out a programming career until I retired a few years ago. So thumbs-up from me. If you’re on a Mac, the Kinesis Freestyle is perfectly plug & play. I would recommend checking out a vertical mouse at the same time.
I started off getting a Dygma Raise, as this is a staggered layout like a standard keyboard and you could even slot it together or separate it and use as a split.
I recently put together a Lily58 which is a columnar layout, which took a few days to get used to but I have been enjoying using it.
I use a BFO-9000 and I love it! Although its an ortholinear layout so if you went for it it’d probably take some time to get used to.
I personally have used a self built Dactyl Manuform as my primary keyboard for the last two years or so, and it’s great as a programmer. I mostly pursued it due to wrist discomfort, which has essentially disappeared since I started using it.
I got Lulu Keyboard that’s split. I was having a lot of pain from typing and this has really helped me. I think I would upgrade and get an even nicer one to be honest
Boss bought me a UHK, I love it. The split and tent is great on my wrists and fingers. And it’s extremely programmable.
It’s awesome with a workplace that cares about ergonomics
They are ok, they helped my tennis elbow. The split ergonomic keyboard took up too much desk space though, so I switched back to my Perrix ten-keyless after six months.
I can vouch for a split keyboard. I am using moonlander which I find highly comfortable to use instead of the keyboard on my laptop - moonlander does have a steep learning curve but I find it worth it.
I got a Glove80 recently and so far I love it! It took some getting used to but it’s very comfortable and seems to be helping with my RSI.
I got my piantor yesterday and i really like it so far, it was a bit of a challenge to set everything up in a way i like. And my writing speed has deceased from 140 wpm to about 30. But that is just a matter of relearning to write on this keyboard and unlearning years of bad writing practices.
I use the Logitech ergonomic keyboard at work and love it. It does take some getting used to but it is definitely a more comfortable typing experience.
