4 ms·

My highly customizable split mechanical keyboard. Not naming the product because it's my fault that I regret it. It's very high quality and does exactly what it

by qwerpy 2y ago

My highly customizable split mechanical keyboard. Not naming the product because it's my fault that I regret it. It's very high quality and does exactly what it claims to do, and I'm sure many users are happy with it. It cost nearly $400. It's a ~60% keyboard, which means it's missing a lot of keys. Notably the F keys and the navigation keys (pgup, pgdn, ins, del, etc). There are ways to remap the blank keys to what you really need, and of course there are all the key sequences and chords you can use. But you have to memorize this stuff, because many of the keys are unlabeled by necessity. I use it on my PC, Mac (work), and Linux (steamdeck). It's a lot of cognitive burden remembering shortcuts and which modifier keys do what on which OS, with the added headache of having to remember which unlabeled or remapped keys are which modifier keys. I love the feel of it and for normal typing it's great, but anytime I stray from the basic keys (A-Z, numbers, etc) it becomes difficult. I end up doing embarrassing things like using right click on my mouse to do things like copy/paste. If I was on exactly one OS all day long, I think I could make it work. But juggling 3 is annoying. If I could redo it all over again I'd realize I didn't need a split ergo keyboard, and would have gotten something more traditional.

bogdan 2y ago
My experience has been a bit better than yours. I had the same concerns you've raised here and opted for a more standard layout and got a Mistel MD770, a lesser known brand but it was important to me that the layout is familiar and it has F keys and honestly it's been great, had it for about a year now. I use it on all 3 OSs too. I'm now looking to buy another one for the office as it's too much of an effort to carry it and I've been looking for other keyboards but there aren't (m)any that have standard layout (no columnar stuff), split, pre-built, F keys and ideally hot-swappable switches. The closest is probably dygma raise but it doesn't have F keys which is unfortunate. I think I'll end up buying another MD770.
- ciberado 2y ago
  If you spend the day working with F-based applications, this may not be a solution. But if you require those keys for tasks like renaming files, etc it may be enough to configure SuperKeys on the Raise: keeping the key pressed for 250ms can trigger any other symbol, including the Fs. It might be more natural than switching layers.
vikingerik 2y ago
Keyboards are easily replaceable - why not just leave off from the sunk cost here and get one that's more to your liking?
culebron21 2y ago
I also bought this not naming split mechanical keyboard that costs nearly $400 :) Not entirely dissatisfied, but disappointed. Functional keys, cursor, home/end/pgup/pgdn are painful. The default layout is complete garbage. I made 3 iterations with functional keys over 4 months, still struggling. I connect the kbd to the laptop via the monitor, and recently noticed myself switching to the laptop to get things done quicker.
- satvikpendem 2y ago
  What is this keyboard? I am looking for a split keyboard as I already use a 60% with no issues.
  - culebron21 2y ago
    Ergodox EZ.
  - culebron21 2y ago
    How do you navigate in text? In particular, I use very much Shift+Home/end/pgup/pgdown and shift+(ctrl+)cursor keys. This is doable in my current ergodox layout, but only once -- alternating becomes very inconvenient. Example: shift down (to select text), go a line up, up, up, then to the home, then release the shift.
    - sio8ohPi 2y ago
      I'm not the parent commenter, but I use a Dygma Raise (60% split kb). It has some issues but navigation hasn't been a problem. I use two of the thumb buttons as momentary (push-and-hold) layer shifts, with hjkl (and asdf) becoming arrow keys as long as that navigation layer is active, and qerf/yuio becoming home/end/pgup/pgdown in that navigation layer.
    - satvikpendem 2y ago
      I don't use shift with page up or down as I don't select pages of text at once, but for the Anne Pro 2, page up and down work normally due to being accessed via modifier keys, same with arrow keys.
freeCandy 2y ago
I've been a split ergo keyboard user for many years now. Seen a lot of people decide to go from a traditional keyboard to a split ergo keyboard only to end up hating it. This is too big of a jump to make in one go, and the sudden overhead in the amount of new information your mind and fingers need to get adjusted to ends up overwhelming a lot of people. When you switch to a custom keyboard like the one you did. It's not just a split keyboard you're switching to, you also move to a smaller form factor that has lesser keys, and an ortholinear layout which has column stagger instead of row stagger. It's most effective to transition by gradually moving to the next form factor only after you're fully comfortable with the previous ones. In your case, something like the Kinesis freestyle would have been a much better choice for you.
huevosabio 2y ago
Oh, man, word by word my experience. I bought a fancy, customizeable, ergonomic, mechanical keyboard. It feels great! But it's too much hazzle to learn, customize, OS changes etc. I bought it because I was having wrist pain, and my old keyboard was one I got for free from the college surplus back in 2011. So I thought it was a sensible purchase. I'm back to cheapo surplus keyboard.
- swah 2y ago
  Same.. you won't see a single person on the many subreddits saying that its too hard to adapt, they tried for days and and quit. Either they are all 15 year olds with infinite time and better neuroplasticity or... more likely, people that quit are a bit embarassed about it.
softwaredoug 2y ago
I am happy with the apple Magic Keyboard with touchid. The Touch ID itself would be hard to part with.
smikwily 2y ago
I think the big thing is "you got less keys" not "you got a split ergo keyboard". I tried a 96% keyboard, but realized that I missed and used the few keys that I lost. I have since decided I want "all the keys" and found a 100% keyboard that I'm more than happy with. If you are thinking of moving to another keyboard with fewer keys, you may want to to do something to keep track of if or how often you are using those keys that you'll be missing. Force yourself to use key combinations on your current keyboard instead of those keys specifically on your current keyboard and find out if it is doable before making the purchase.

by qwerpy 2y ago

bogdan 2y ago

My experience has been a bit better than yours. I had the same concerns you've raised here and opted for a more standard layout and got a Mistel MD770, a lesser known brand but it was important to me that the layout is familiar and it has F keys and honestly it's been great, had it for about a year now. I use it on all 3 OSs too. I'm now looking to buy another one for the office as it's too much of an effort to carry it and I've been looking for other keyboards but there aren't (m)any that have standard layout (no columnar stuff), split, pre-built, F keys and ideally hot-swappable switches. The closest is probably dygma raise but it doesn't have F keys which is unfortunate. I think I'll end up buying another MD770.

ciberado 2y ago
If you spend the day working with F-based applications, this may not be a solution. But if you require those keys for tasks like renaming files, etc it may be enough to configure SuperKeys on the Raise: keeping the key pressed for 250ms can trigger any other symbol, including the Fs. It might be more natural than switching layers.

vikingerik 2y ago

Keyboards are easily replaceable - why not just leave off from the sunk cost here and get one that's more to your liking?

culebron21 2y ago

I also bought this not naming split mechanical keyboard that costs nearly $400 :) Not entirely dissatisfied, but disappointed. Functional keys, cursor, home/end/pgup/pgdn are painful. The default layout is complete garbage. I made 3 iterations with functional keys over 4 months, still struggling. I connect the kbd to the laptop via the monitor, and recently noticed myself switching to the laptop to get things done quicker.

satvikpendem 2y ago
What is this keyboard? I am looking for a split keyboard as I already use a 60% with no issues.
- culebron21 2y ago
  Ergodox EZ.
- culebron21 2y ago
  How do you navigate in text? In particular, I use very much Shift+Home/end/pgup/pgdown and shift+(ctrl+)cursor keys. This is doable in my current ergodox layout, but only once -- alternating becomes very inconvenient. Example: shift down (to select text), go a line up, up, up, then to the home, then release the shift.
  - sio8ohPi 2y ago
    I'm not the parent commenter, but I use a Dygma Raise (60% split kb). It has some issues but navigation hasn't been a problem. I use two of the thumb buttons as momentary (push-and-hold) layer shifts, with hjkl (and asdf) becoming arrow keys as long as that navigation layer is active, and qerf/yuio becoming home/end/pgup/pgdown in that navigation layer.
  - satvikpendem 2y ago
    I don't use shift with page up or down as I don't select pages of text at once, but for the Anne Pro 2, page up and down work normally due to being accessed via modifier keys, same with arrow keys.

freeCandy 2y ago

I've been a split ergo keyboard user for many years now. Seen a lot of people decide to go from a traditional keyboard to a split ergo keyboard only to end up hating it. This is too big of a jump to make in one go, and the sudden overhead in the amount of new information your mind and fingers need to get adjusted to ends up overwhelming a lot of people. When you switch to a custom keyboard like the one you did. It's not just a split keyboard you're switching to, you also move to a smaller form factor that has lesser keys, and an ortholinear layout which has column stagger instead of row stagger. It's most effective to transition by gradually moving to the next form factor only after you're fully comfortable with the previous ones. In your case, something like the Kinesis freestyle would have been a much better choice for you.

huevosabio 2y ago

Oh, man, word by word my experience. I bought a fancy, customizeable, ergonomic, mechanical keyboard. It feels great! But it's too much hazzle to learn, customize, OS changes etc. I bought it because I was having wrist pain, and my old keyboard was one I got for free from the college surplus back in 2011. So I thought it was a sensible purchase. I'm back to cheapo surplus keyboard.

swah 2y ago
Same.. you won't see a single person on the many subreddits saying that its too hard to adapt, they tried for days and and quit. Either they are all 15 year olds with infinite time and better neuroplasticity or... more likely, people that quit are a bit embarassed about it.

softwaredoug 2y ago

I am happy with the apple Magic Keyboard with touchid. The Touch ID itself would be hard to part with.

smikwily 2y ago

I think the big thing is "you got less keys" not "you got a split ergo keyboard". I tried a 96% keyboard, but realized that I missed and used the few keys that I lost. I have since decided I want "all the keys" and found a 100% keyboard that I'm more than happy with. If you are thinking of moving to another keyboard with fewer keys, you may want to to do something to keep track of if or how often you are using those keys that you'll be missing. Force yourself to use key combinations on your current keyboard instead of those keys specifically on your current keyboard and find out if it is doable before making the purchase.