ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

Rules

Keep it ergo

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

No Spam

No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.

No Buy/Sell/Trade

This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.

Some useful links

EMK wiki
Split keyboard compare tool
Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/

founded 1 year ago

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Question for the Ergo Mechanical Keyboard community (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hello adn welcome to my plea for help! I've been PC gaming for a very long time, and in the beginning I used a split dome keyboard, it was fine for what it was. I switched back to standard keyboards though and have been using them for years. I've been a fan of corsair mechanical keyboards for the last 15 years, the last 4 with rapid fire switches.

My issue is, due to the angle my left hand tends to rest on WASD my pink is at an angle when I press shift or control, it never bothered me over the years. But it's starting to cause pain in the joint, probably do the pinky not lining up straight with the movement of the key press, so that the joint in the pinky and getting stress in a direction it isn't supposed to get.

When I joined Lemmy I saw a lot of posts from this community, but after the pinky problem I started wondering if a split mechanical keyboard would help, I think a more ergonomic position for my hand helps with the pinky placement.

Which brands are worth checking out? Do they have "rapid fire" or "silver" switches available? I got used to the very short key travel before it activates and I'd love to try out an ergo mechanical with the same type of switches.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, this problem is pretty damn distressing, I don't want to be hobbled in relation to my favorite hobbie.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Update

Ok, I've dug into each option! I think I'm leaning toward trying out the Ergodox EZ! My only hurdle know is, I love cherry mx speed silver switches after having used them for years, but the Ergodox EZ can't have back lit keys and cherry mx speed silver switches. It looks like that might just be down to what Ergrodox has access too because cherry mx rgb speed switches definitely exist and can be purchased.

So I might buy a backlit Ergodox EZ and buy a set of cherry mx speed silvers and swap them. I'm still mildly concerned about getting used to the keyboard, but the idea I can just keep my old keyboard hooked up for work is reassuring. I do a lot of navigation and cursor/selection using arrow keys, hold shift, home, end etc and those muscle memory movements won't work with the Ergodox EZ.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful information!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The muscle memory movements take a while to retrain. It took about a month of daily usage (45mins of straight typing a day on average) to get to where I was on a “normal” keyboard. The Epistory game was a fun way to train on it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I think I'll do okay with actual typing, but sightless pressing of the arrow keys to move a cursor around, hold shift, and tap end to highlight a whole sentence, that'll take a long time to retrain. I placed my order, so I guess in 2 weeks I'll find out!