Kinesis Advantage Keyboard (KB500USB-BLK)

I do like a lot of things about this keyboard, but unfortunately I can't use it. Others don't make mention of this so I must be somewhat unique, but the thumb positions on this keyboard make it unusable for me. The finger keys are down low, which I like, but the thumb keys are up high (as you can see from the picture). This is a problem for me. If you hold up your hands palms down, you'll see that your thumbs dangle down below the other fingers. On a regular keyboard, this natural position is maintained. On the Kinesis, they have to extend up to the level of the hand. I tried several orientations of the keyboard (low, high, palms resting on the board, palms suspended, etc.), but I could never make this comfortable. Over the course of a few weeks, this made my thumbs pretty sore at the base joint. I regrettably had to return it.Again, the keyboard has a lot going for it. I love the programmablity (saving you from having to alter the keys at the OS level), I really like that the keys are arrayed in line with each other rather than staggered like most keyboards, I like the idea of moving more keys to the thumbs, and I like the contoured keys. I liked the "click" of the keys too. But the non-contoured keys (i.e., the thumb ones) caused me trouble. This could be solved, as I see it, by lowering the thumb keys into their own "bowls" as the other keys are.Anyway, three stars. The concept is nice and it may work for you but be conscious of your thumbs and be ready to return it if it causes you trouble.

I'll keep this short and sweet:If you type a lot, perhaps on message boards, forums, and the like- or if you're a writer of sorts- this keyboard is for you.I am a Redditor who frequently writes long posts, and I LOVE this keyboard. And it has, to my surprise, made me an even better typist than I was before- which is pretty awesome, considering that I was already particularly adroit with a keyboard.You may be looking at other reviewers who speak about how the keyboard may not be the best for developers/programmers etc. While I am not one of those people, I will say that they are probably right. The one thing I miss about a regular keyboard is being able to peck keys with one hand if I was doing something else, perhaps laying back with my feet kicked up on the desk and just browsing. This keyboard is meant to be used with two hands because of its shape. But that's such a minor drawback; and you can still peck if you need to- but it's really not a pecking keyboard. It's for serious typists who don't want to feel their wrists going to hell anymore.Personally, I bought it for a particular purpose (to save my wrists and to type faster/better) and I've accomplished both of those things. It has helped me get out of some bad habits I had with a regular keyboard as well- particularly reaching for particular keys with one hand when it perhaps would have been better reached by the other- as well as properly using the shift keys instead of always using one shift key- among other bad habits I had picked up over the years (another has come to mind: reaching for keys with your ring and middle fingers are a lot easier with this keyboard, something I didn't find was the case with a regular board).The keyboard looks nice, but definitely intimidating; I could imagine somebody seeing it for the first time and going: "what the hell is that thing?!"But it's still a thing of beauty in it's own right, and I'm happy that I paid the $269 for it. It was an investment, but it was one of those things that I figured would save me in the end. There are just some things that you have to really invest in and spoil yourself with because of the amount of time that you spend with them: your mattress, your shoes, your car, and, if you're a modern computer user, your keyboard.I'm of the opinion that if you write a lot like myself, and you have the means to get this keyboard; buy it. If you're a gamer who needs hot keys, or a developer or programmer or heavy photoshop user- this keyboard may not be the right one for you. Then again, you can always have this keyboard attached for long typing jobs, which will save your wrists, and then just have a regular wireless keyboard to pull out when you need the plain-jane style key setup. In fact, that's what similar to what I have going on right now: I have my keyboard set up with the PC, and then I have the old, regular, wireless keyboard off to the side for anybody who can't use this keyboard properly.Well, there I've gone again- writing more than I needed to. But it's fun. Typing on this keyboard is enjoyable; and it helps you get your thoughts out quicker. That is one thing I love about typing is that it matches my thought speed more closely than say, writing does. And this keyboard only enhances your ability that you would have with a normal keyboard in doing such a thing. I find this ability is crucial when I'm trying to communicate and idea, or just get my thoughts out of my head; nothing is worse than trying to freehand write your thoughts down and not really being able to keep up.Conclusion? Worth the cost. It's an investment, but if you spend half the amount of time that I do in front of the computer, you won't regret buying this keyboard. Your wrists/forearms/fingers will also thank you.

I was having moderate RSI wrist pain, so I figured I'd go all out and try this keyboard. It took me a good couple of weeks to get up to speed on it, but after a month I'm faster on it than I ever was before, and my pain is 100% gone. I can type all day long, which I never did before, and I can do an honest 65 wpm. The two thumb pads are strange-looking at first but work very well: they put delete, backspace, enter, and spacebar all at your thumbs. Those are about the most common keys to use, and it makes sense to have them there.The layout of the main keys is very good, and I got used to them quickly. The outlier keys -- brackets, math symbols, arrows -- are all a bit weird and took longer to adjust to... it's an easy adjustment for writers, and a somewhat longer one for programmers. The keycaps can be easily moved around with the included cap-puller, making customization easy. I found the arrow keys to be frustrating: by default, up/down are controlled by one hand, and left/right by another. But editing code is often a one-handed thing (with the other on the mouse), and this keyboard requires two hands. Eventually I moved the arrows around so all four were on the right side, and that makes the arrows work a lot better. That left the various modifier keys -- Alt, Commmand, Control -- which I've moved around to various places and am eventually happy with, but it took a lot of experimentation. I do recommend reprogramming the Caps Lock to be a Control key -- perfect place and who needs a Caps Lock anyhow? Note that although it's advertised as being Dvorak-compatible, the home-row keys it comes with are a different color and shape than the rest, so it would look a bit funny in a Dvorak configuration.An unintended side benefit: I'm a much faster typist now since I now actually touch type. Your hands are kind of locked into the two 'bowls' here rather than sliding across the keyboard freely like on a standard board. It's harder to look at the keycaps, so I learned to touchtype without cheating. Very nice. I've heard this is common.Programmablity: In theory you can program new configurations into the keyboard itself, but this is very difficult, and according to others the keyboard will often forget the codings. I would instead recommend using a program like ControllerMate (Mac OS), which very easily lets you modify key mappings and much more.The board is missing the 'locator dots' on F/J that most keyboards have. I bought some stick-on dots from Hooleon that made a huge difference for me.This keyboard has been on the market virtually unchanged for most of a decade, and its age shows. Many new keyboards are wireless, backlit, have controls for CD & screen brightness, have thin profiles, have lighter-touch keyswitches, and so forth. Not this one: it looks and feels like a dinosaur. You have to press the keys a long way before they bottom out -- this is *not* like typing on a new Apple keyboard. Nothing light, thin, or sleek about it. That being said, if you have the room and don't mind the long key travel and the noise, it does disappear and just let you type.Pros:o No RSI pain! Totally gone. Of all the pros and cons, this is the only one that really matters.o Fast once you get the hang of it.o Price: Expensive on the surface, but seriously, it's the cost of one doctor visit, or a day of lost work. It's a real bargain.o Made in USA. I disassembled it and it's got this crazy flexible curved circuit board in there, with hand-soldered connections. No wonder it's so expensive.o Solidly built and comfortable.Cons:o Loud and heavy.o Rubbery function keys up top are a joke.o Need to pay extra for programming software (ControllerMate) -- the programmability included is very primitive and awkward.o No locator dots for fingers on home row F/J keys.o No AV controls (CD player, etc).o Backlit keys? No way!o No separate numeric keypad.o Not low-profile: I have to put my keyboard tray lower than I did with other keyboards, and now it knocks my knees.o Keys occasionally get sttttttttuck on auto-repeat. Might be an issue with the USB software inside the keyboard, since the keys themselves seem fine.o Another USB bug: the keyboard doesn't start properly on my Mac after I've put the computer to sleep and awoken it. I have to unplug the keyboard & plug it back in again to get it working.But none of these cons really matter. The keyboard is great, it's fast and comfortable, and if you're reading this, you probably need one.*** Update: I've just posted a diagram of my custom configuration under the 'Photos' section for this product on Amazon. I moved a lot of the keys around for programming on a Mac (arrows, brackets, Command/Alt/Control) and I really like how I have them now, compared with the stock configuration.