Split Keyboard - Worth It?

Hey all!

I've been using a WASD Mechanical Keyboard for about 5 years now and I'm ready for an upgrade.

I want to try an ortholinear ergonomic split keyboard like the ZSA Moonlander or Boardsource Lulu.

They're definitely on the pricier side, but here's what I figure:

Pros:

• Hand/pain improvements
• More natural shoulder placement
• Potentially my Stream Deck can go in the middle of my keyboard for easier access
• Will take up less space overall than my current keyboard
• I can use my Stream Deck XL in the *middle* of my keyboard to make it more easily accessible
• Giving my right thumb something to do :)

Cons:

• Have to learn an ortholinear layout will be a learning curve
• Will be weird to change from normal to split if I have to go back and forth

Anyone have any tips / advice / experience with keyboards like this? Here's some photos of them:

I type with 2-3 fingers and have to look at the keys... so I'll vote no.



On a side note... they have split keyboards that are only... split. No keys relocated.
No learning curve?







Company is: Kinesis

davidvkimball said:

Anyone have any tips / advice / experience with keyboards like this?

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No tips, advice or experience, but, I do a lot of stuff with mouse in right hand, and 2 - 3 fingers straddling the entire keyboard in the left, simultaneously, especially in Affinity Photo..., the mouse in the middle would definitely mess me up!
I don't think I could get accustomed to such a setup..., I'd have to be Born Again!
Just sayin..., YMMV.

I touch type at stream of thought. I've used both and I can go seamlessly between split and normal keyboards. It makes no difference. I never look at my hands or keyboard. My eyes don't need to leave the screen.

I don't use a mouse. I use a touchpad at the bottom of the keyboard.

I've always used one-piece split keyboards since the 90s, starting with the old Microsoft Natural to my current Logitech Ergo K860, and I really hate using anything else. I don't know how I'd get on with two-part split keyboards as shown above; I suspect it wouldn't be much different depending on the placement.

Personally, I never liked the split keyboards. I found them to be too unstable and I often like to stretch my fingers to some non-standard reaches.

I learned to type when I was in 7th grade (1962) and have been using a keyboard on computers since around 1967. I have gone from having to mash the keys on the old teletype machines to some very nice laptop keyboards. Sometimes I look at the keyboard, when I need to shift my hands around, but mostly I just look at the screen to see what I'm typing.

I worked for the same company for 35 years and managed around 600 Unix systems. So I got plenty of typing time in. The newly minted engineers, fresh out of college, were always discovering some kind of new fangled keyboard. You can google "odd type keyboards" and see about 1 or 2 dozen. The new engineers would pitch it to management as "the greatest thing since sliced bread". And, of course, management would go out and buy it for them. But if you go by the engineer's desk 30 days later, you no longer see the fancy new keyboard. After that it just sat in a drawer. My guess is that they wore out the delete key.

As for a mouse, I use a Logitech M650 6-button wireless mouse. It's great for working with a browser. My son uses a Logitech G502 Light Speed Wireless at work/home. That's a few too many buttons for me. He doesn't do gaming, but does a lot of spread sheet work. For a mouse pad, I like the $3-$6 pads that I can get at the grocery store.

How about a nice chorded keyboard? CharaChorder One - Intelligent Keyboard Replacement with Chording Enabled 3-D Tactile Switches for Typing, Gaming, Coding, and Data Entry

Chorded keyboards are apparently used by professional stenographers. (The ones in courtrooms seem to prefer to be called "court reporters".) Bit of a learning curve, but some people can achieve amazing speed with one.

(Not me. I took a touch typing class in high school, on an old Remington manual typewriter. I got up to 17 WPM, and at least 2/3 of the characters were right. Some of the musicians in the class were coasting at 50 WPM after a week.)

Ghot said:

I type with 2-3 fingers and have to look at the keys... so I'll vote no.



On a side note... they have split keyboards that are only... split. No keys relocated.
No learning curve?

View attachment 92026


View attachment 92028


Company is: Kinesis

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Ultimately this was the right call. I ended up getting an Ultimate Hacking Keyboard v2.

I love it so far! It's got all of the ergonomic advantages of a split keyboard, the feel of a mechanical keyboard, the layers of a programmer keyboard, and a bunch of bells and whistles. But it's not ortholinear so the learning curve wasn't so bad!

I've been learning to use my right thumb to press backspace and it's way nicer, so less pinky usage overall and more use of my right thumb (instead of, you know, it doing nothing).

I recommend this if you're looking into one.

I like the built in track ball. I have a very old SubNote laptop with Windows 3.1 installed. It also has a built in track ball that was very handy. The laptop still works, but the battery circuit burned up, so it has to be plugged in to it's power supply. I still use it now an then for some old DOS mode programs.

I once had a lighted keyboard, on one of my laptops. I loved it, until my fingers wore through the lettering. Then all I had was a bunch of round lights. But that was OK. My fingers knew which key was which.

Good luck with your keyboard.