Review: Kinesis Advantage Keyboard

Thursday, May 6, 2010

kinesis_advantage.jpg

I recently replaced my work and home keyboards with the Kinesis Advantage. These are my collected thoughts on it after two full months of daily use.

Adjustment Period

Adjusting to the Kinesis Advantage layout took some time. It is not a typical ergonomic keyboard, and the differences are more than the separated hand positions. It spaces and aligns the keys differently. Many non-alphanumeric keys have different positions. Even if you have perfect typing habits, you will suffer during the break-in period.

The good news is that the pain ends quickly. For alphanumeric keys, I was back to my normal speed within a week. For special keys (chiefly command, option, control, tilda, backspace) it took me two to three weeks to reach full speed. The arrow keys were particularly difficult to adjust to; they required a full month.

Comfort

My previous keyboard was a standard Apple chiclet model. I’ve always had minor wrist discomfort, but the Apple Keyboard brought out the worst of it. It became unbearable. I had to rest and flex my hands after only 20 minutes of typing. Using a computer had become unsustainable. When I heard about the Kinesis, I read as many detailed reviews as I could find online (not many). I then talked to my friends @zapnap and @nirvdrum, both Kinesis owners, who had nothing but nice things to say about it. I took the plunge.

What a world of difference. Two months later my wrist pain is gone. Not only does it feel better when I type, but also when I play guitar and piano. There were certain discomforts that I had grown accustom to over the years, which I had accepted as common or inevitable. Yet after just two months with the Kinesis they are gone. I began feeling relief within a couple of days. My wrists gradually felt better for a little over a month until the pain was entirely gone. In hindsight I cannot believe I waited so long to do something about it.

Typing Speed

My typing speed has also benefited. Part of this is because my hands are more relaxed and I can hit the keys faster, but mostly it’s because my hands don’t travel as far for routine tasks. I don’t have to move my right hand to use arrow keys; I no longer have to place my pinky, middle finger and thumb into an awkward position to hit control+command+3; I no longer need my pinky to press backspace (overuse of the pinky stresses tendons, which can lead to wrist pain). The Kinesis layout, once I became used to it, proved much more efficient than a traditional qwerty layout.

Macros

The Kinesis takes an optional footswich ($35), which I highly recommend. It allows you to activate the number pad in a hands-free manner. It also gives you quick access to your custom macros.

I did not expect to use macros, but they have proven very useful for inputting certain keyboard shortcuts. For instance, I have an app called MercuryMover that moves windows to preset locations. It is activated by pressing control+command+up. This is awkward and difficult to remember. Instead, I have a custom mapping to footswitch+w, which triggers that series of keys.

Quirks

There are a few things about the keyboard that I would change if I had the chance:

  1. It’s loud. Clickety-clack is unavoidable when using it.
  2. Macros cannot be listed, backed up or restored. If you overwrite them, they’re gone. If you forget one, there’s no means to recall it.
  3. There are no finger placement indentations on the “f” and “j” keys. The Kinesis has a unique feel to it that in my opinion renders these unnecessary, but I missed them until I fully adjusted.

Answers to Anticipated Questions

  1. Dvorak legends are available.
  2. If you don’t like the default layout, you can map any key to any other key.
  3. Look for refurbs! I saved $60 per keyboard by choosing this option. It looks brand new and carries the full warranty.
  4. In my opinion the Pro model is not worth the cost difference. The memory provided for macros on the standard model is plenty.
  5. The foam wrist pads (included) are a nice touch. They are definitely more comfortable than the bare plastic.
  6. I have no issues switching between a Kinesis and a traditional keyboard. I routinely use my MacBook’s built-in keyboard when I travel.

If you’re considering buying a Kinesis, feel free to ask questions in the comments of this post and I will respond to them.

Now you go:

7 comments:

  1. Thursday, May 6, 2010akahn says:

    I've been experiencing hand/wrist/arm pain lately, and have been thinking about purchasing this keyboard, which also comes highly recommended from a friend of mine. But I am concerned about throwing $300 at the problem without examining the ergonomic (including posture) problems that are causing the pain. I'm curious if you can describe what you think were the causes of your pain, and how this keyboard solves them? My pain, I think, comes from rotating my wrists inward and also flexing my wrist (on the horizontal plane) outward. These problems are not caused, but are are exacerbated by a bad habit of resting my left arm on the armrest of my chair when typing.

    Another keyboard I've considered, is the GoldTouch adjustable: http://www.goldtouch.com/p-133-goldtouch-for-ma…. My wife has one and I find the adjustability really helpful. I can set the bend and height to the precise angle that is comfortable for my body, and this can be somewhat independent for each hand. And I bet slightly changing the angles throughout the day could reduce strain.

    Another issue I have is the clawlike position my hand takes when I'm doing frequent Command-Tabbing (which is a lot of the time). A macro or some more healthy hand position for doing this would be helpful. I think using a foot pedal for the command key might help me here.

    Thanks for the review!

  2. Thursday, May 6, 2010zapnap says:

    Great post man. I largely feel the same as you do about the Kinesis and you hit all the important points.

    People often freak out when I tell them how much the “weird keyboard” cost but I always bring up the mattress analogy: you spend 1/4-1/3rd of your life sleeping, so cheaping out on a mattress that will give you long term back pain is just plain stupid, even if it is 1/10th of the cost for the cheaper option.

    Same thing with the keyboard. As developers we usually spend 6-8+ hours a day hovering around a keyboard. The cost of surgery of long term discomfort is almost definitely more expensive than $300 for an ergonomic keyboard (with a great warranty, fwiw).

  3. Thursday, May 6, 2010freerobby says:

    I haven't used the Goldtouch so I don't have a basis for comparison, but
    these are the specific ergonomic/posture issues that the Kinesis addressed
    for me:

    The most obvious is the form factor that all ergonomic keyboards share.
    Instead of a traditional keyboard where your arms are pushed inward and your
    wrists are pushed outward, both arms and wrists lie in a natural position.

    Unique to the Kinesis, however, is the shape. Instead of a flat surface,
    which forces wrists to bend upward, the Kinesis has has a contoured surface,
    allowing my fingertips to rest beneath the plane of my wrists. This too is a
    more natural position. If you hold out your arm in mid-air, your wrists will
    naturally drop down, not spring up.

    Finally, and what surprised me the most, is how much the Kinesis reduces
    awkward stresses and “clawing” like you allude to. For instance, put your
    hands over your keyboard as if you are typing. Now try to trigger
    command+control+1. There isn't a graceful way to do that on a regular
    keyboard. It requires physically moving your hands and/or making awkward
    stretches with your fingers. Maybe it doesn't feel awkward because
    you're used to it, but if you're like me it still causes discomfort with
    repetition. There are certain shortcuts that would be difficult on the
    Kinesis (e.g. command+control+down), but they are much less common. With the
    Kinesis, you also have the option to create macros to work around them.

    You're welcome to swing by oneforty and try mine if you want to get a quick
    feel for it before ordering. I'm not sure how useful it would be given the
    adjustment period, but it might give you a sense of what you're in for that
    first week. ;-)

    Also worth noting: when I called Kinesis with questions before my purchase,
    they reiterated that they provide a money back guarantee.

  4. Monday, August 2, 2010jseliger says:

    I wrote a longish review of the Advantage too and would emphasize the “adjustment period” comment: I didn't realize how much I liked the Advantage until I went back to a normal keyboard for a week after adjustment.

    Then I went, “Ah ha! This is better.”

    It’s loud. Clickety-clack is unavoidable when using it.

    It's definitely quieter than the IBM Model M or Unicomp Customizer, however, which were my points of reference.

  5. Thursday, January 27, 2011bmackay says:

    I was literally burning through cheaper keyboards (MS Natural and Logitech) in less than a year and they weren’t really solving my carpal issues. After switching to the Kinesis, I was symptom free in a few weeks. It took me a few weeks to adapt to the Kinesis keyboard as I had switched to DVORAK at the same time.

    Yes, the keyboard is a bit noisy, but I believe that’s just the sound of quality. I’ve been pounding on this thing for about eight years now and it works as well today as the day it was unboxed. I’ve had to pull the keycaps a few times to clean out the garbage that invariably falls into keyboards and I’ve had to replace the palm pads about every 18 months.

    I finally gave up on DVORAK as it caused too many problems when switching to laptop keyboards, but now that I’m fully adapted back to QWERTY, no problem at all using other machines. I only wish it were easier to travel with. It no longer accompanies me on the road.

    Great keyboards. Well worth the investment. I’ve used both versions and perhaps its all in my head, but I like the feel of the Pro better. Have also used the foot pedal with my Pro, but not sure it’s worth the investment unless you have very special needs.

  6. Thursday, May 19, 2011Jason says:

    A month into my first Kinesis board (and the first keyboard with proper Cherry switches that I’ve used) I hauled out my old Microsoft 4000 Elite today to see how it felt. Ouch! Who put glue under the keys? I can’t believe that I used to think the Microsoft board had easy action, but I guess it did, compared to one of those truly awful dimestore “keyboards” that get included with off-the-shelf computer systems. I can identify with everything other reviewers say about the adjustment period; it’s real, and it’s a pain. But in my case, so far, it’s also very much worth it. I also wrote my own Kinesis Advantage review, in which I discussed a number of these points.

  7. Friday, October 7, 2011Chip says:

    Found your review when searching out use of Kinesis keyboards on Macbooks. (I’m about to get a Macbook so I’m not chained to my Mac desktop.)

    I’ve been using the Kinesis keyboards for 14 years. I have two of them, one I bought in 1997 and one about 4 years later. Both still work perfectly… so when you look at the cost over time, it’s hard to argue that it isn’t a fantastic value.

    Like you, I got the keyboard to deal with developing wrist issues. And like you, within a month, all my wrist problems were gone. This keyboard is simply amazing and I don’t understand why more people haven’t heard about them.

    BTW, I don’t know what their current arrangement is, but my keyboards both came with lifetime warranties. They charged me $35 to repair one of my keyboards after I dropped a smoothie into it, but that included completely replacing and upgrading the existing logic board (which wasn’t damaged by the smoothie). I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Kinesis :)