
Product Review: Kinesis Advantage ergonomic keyboard - jseliger
http://jseliger.com/2009/07/20/kinesis-advantage
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vomjom
I own one and can't tolerate regular keyboards anymore.

The main disadvantage is that it's incredibly expensive (note that you can
find it for as low as $260 if you search the web). I spilled water on my first
one and had to buy a second one because I just can't get used to normal
keyboards.

It also has some minor bugs:

1\. If you hold down = and press certain keys (as programmers often might),
you get put into different input modes which may confuse you.

2\. Shift and Ctrl get stuck sometimes (not the keys, but the input).

3\. The Esc key is tiny and inconvenient, especially since I'm a Vim user. The
function keys are also tiny, which is terrible if you use them for gaming.
Some games where you have to reach to the right side of the keyboard with your
left hand are impractical to play.

If another company makes a keyboard with the same shape, but at a cheaper
price, I'd buy it in an instant.

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lallysingh
I bought one for home, and another for my machine @ work.

Firstly, it's a pretty fantastic keyboard in general. Second, it's even better
if you're a pretty heavy emacs user. Third, the keyboard remapping means that
Caps Lock = Control, no matter what program or what OS you're using.

The thumb-locations of page up/down and home/end are brilliant. The
keyswitches are satisfying, and overall, the keyboard is far more comfortable
than your normal $70 off-the-shelf ergo.

Highly recommended. A hacker's hands are pretty important, and it's not
something you want to mess around with. Also, the keyboard is very comfortable
and really helps my typing rate -- I'm faster on this thing than on any other
keyboard I've ever used -- and the programmability means I don't have to
fiddle with keymapping hacks on Windows, Mac OS, or X11.

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russell
Excellent review. I wish more were of this quality.

A colleague of mine uses the Kinesis because of stress and it worked for him.
He is a really fast typist. I would guess something in excess of 80 words per
minute. He types with it resting in his lap and his arms resting on the chair
arms.

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jseliger
I wrote the article and would note that the review sprung from this
discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=666809> on Hacker News. Might
be interesting background reading if a discussion gets started here.

