6 ms·

I've had Ergodox EZ for 5+ months, and not loving it at all! It's unnatural and uncomfortable. Tried changing switches a few times, armrest changed, angels and

I've had Ergodox EZ for 5+ months, and not loving it at all! It's unnatural and uncomfortable. Tried changing switches a few times, armrest changed, angels and keyboard layout adjusted many times and it's not any better. I feel I have to force myself to keep trying to use it because of the cost! I'm not sure if it's worth it at all, none of the parts are that expensive but I guess novelty cost money. I bought it because of the reviews, I now realize no reviewer is ever 100% honest because candid honesty doesn't get you free samples from manufacturers to review! I will be getting rid of it soon. I definitely DO NOT recommend! I played around with Keyboardio 001 and it's better, but my play time was too short to judge more accurately, didn't like the switches at all. I want to consider Kinesis Freestyle Edge but again the key switches are not my favorite, I like heavier tactile switches, Cherry MX Clear or similar. My full CODE keyboard with Clear switches from 6-7 years ago is still the KING! EDIT: LOL, people are down voting because this comment "hurt" their feelings. There's a small niche group that love ergodox, but it's not for general population. I code a lot and absolutely HATE it when missed key hits, looking for keys and typos distract my train of thought. I'm still in the hunt for a proper split keyboard but ergodox and family are not it!

ledauphin 6y ago
I purchased one two years ago and I still love it and use it nearly every day. It took about a month to get used to the linear (non-staggered) layout, but since I did it's been great. I attribute the major improvement in RSI mostly to the split-ness, which keeps my shoulders properly spaced.
bovinegambler 6y ago
I'm not going to accuse reviewers of dishonesty but I very much agree about the discomfort. I've tried all sorts of placements and tilts and layouts but it's always awkward. I'm guessing that the discrepancy may be people with different sized hands. I find it such an awkward reach from the home position to hit anything on the middle columns or outside the two large bars in the thumb cluster. Also the 'wing' wrist rests are worthless to me, they're too low for a keyboard so thick. I keep trying it every week or two because I have such immense buyer's remorse but really I hate it.
- simias 6y ago
  The Ergodox's thumb cluster is pretty widely considered suboptimal, I personally manage to use all three bottom keys but the other three are pretty unusable with the thumb (I tend to use them for media keys that I rarely use with the index and middle fingers). Hand size definitely matters, the Ergodox is pretty crap for people with smaller hands in particular. Now I'm lucky enough to have large enough hands to use it comfortably and I really enjoy the experience. I also don't use the wristrests at all, but that's true for any keyboard, not just the EZ. I just don't like them.
urmish 6y ago
I was in your boat, and I have small fingers. Here are the things I did to change that: I had a keyboard tray at work, so decided to get one of those from M3. It seems like a no brainer now. Removed the side rests from my chair, and lowered the keyboard height so that the lower wrist rests easily on my keyboard tray's wrist rest. I use the 'timed' shift functionality of the ergodox EZ. Check the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rj9ZSBggg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rj9ZSBggg I use vim extensively, and changed from hjkl to jkl; to keep touch typing in vim consistent with typing outside of it. I use the layer 1 extensively, and have mapped my thumb keys to enable those on a long press. My layout configuration is here: https://configure.ergodox-ez.com/ergodox-ez/layouts/BN33O/latest/0 https://configure.ergodox-ez.com/ergodox-ez/layouts/BN33O/la... I still struggle a bit due to small fingers. I am currently in the process of ditching my pinky for typing, but 95% of my complaints are now resolved. I also don't have the default keycaps, the ones I have are a random assortment of SA/DSA keys I got for cheap from a grab bag, I want to switch to cherry profile which aren't as deep and would hopefully work well for my small fingers.

ledauphin 6y ago

I purchased one two years ago and I still love it and use it nearly every day. It took about a month to get used to the linear (non-staggered) layout, but since I did it's been great. I attribute the major improvement in RSI mostly to the split-ness, which keeps my shoulders properly spaced.

bovinegambler 6y ago

I'm not going to accuse reviewers of dishonesty but I very much agree about the discomfort. I've tried all sorts of placements and tilts and layouts but it's always awkward. I'm guessing that the discrepancy may be people with different sized hands. I find it such an awkward reach from the home position to hit anything on the middle columns or outside the two large bars in the thumb cluster. Also the 'wing' wrist rests are worthless to me, they're too low for a keyboard so thick. I keep trying it every week or two because I have such immense buyer's remorse but really I hate it.

simias 6y ago
The Ergodox's thumb cluster is pretty widely considered suboptimal, I personally manage to use all three bottom keys but the other three are pretty unusable with the thumb (I tend to use them for media keys that I rarely use with the index and middle fingers). Hand size definitely matters, the Ergodox is pretty crap for people with smaller hands in particular. Now I'm lucky enough to have large enough hands to use it comfortably and I really enjoy the experience. I also don't use the wristrests at all, but that's true for any keyboard, not just the EZ. I just don't like them.

urmish 6y ago

I was in your boat, and I have small fingers. Here are the things I did to change that: I had a keyboard tray at work, so decided to get one of those from M3. It seems like a no brainer now. Removed the side rests from my chair, and lowered the keyboard height so that the lower wrist rests easily on my keyboard tray's wrist rest. I use the 'timed' shift functionality of the ergodox EZ. Check the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rj9ZSBggg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rj9ZSBggg I use vim extensively, and changed from hjkl to jkl; to keep touch typing in vim consistent with typing outside of it. I use the layer 1 extensively, and have mapped my thumb keys to enable those on a long press. My layout configuration is here: https://configure.ergodox-ez.com/ergodox-ez/layouts/BN33O/latest/0 https://configure.ergodox-ez.com/ergodox-ez/layouts/BN33O/la... I still struggle a bit due to small fingers. I am currently in the process of ditching my pinky for typing, but 95% of my complaints are now resolved. I also don't have the default keycaps, the ones I have are a random assortment of SA/DSA keys I got for cheap from a grab bag, I want to switch to cherry profile which aren't as deep and would hopefully work well for my small fingers.