> It should be noted that pretty much the only mechanical keyboards meeting my requirements were the Kinesis Freestyle Pro ($210 with tenting kit), the Kinesis

> It should be noted that pretty much the only mechanical keyboards meeting my requirements were the Kinesis Freestyle Pro ($210 with tenting kit), the Kinesis Advantage2 ($330), and the Ergodox EZ ($350). All of these are beautifully-designed tools, but do they really justify a price multiple of up to 5x a non-mechanical Goldtouch keyboard? I think not. All of the keyboards mentioned offer something that the goldtouch does not. The Freestyle Pro and Ergodox both have fully split keyboards. the Ergodox and Advantage have ortholinear layouts for their keys. The Advantage has a scooped keywell. These all contribute a lot to the ergonomics of the keyboard which is the point of purchasing them over a conventional keyboard. They all will also last a lifetime of use, which is rarely the case for membrane keyboards, where the rubber membrane acts as a single point of failure that can rarely be replaced. Then again, you can buy 5 of them for the price of the other. Another point this post highly encourages is buying used. While this is often a good option inside the US in suburban/metropolitan areas, the used market is not as good in rural areas and availability of used computing hardware in Europe and other parts of the world is often sparse at best. Still, if it is an option in your area I agree that it should be seriously considered.