Technology

I’m running a 40% split at work, and I’ve noticed a massive difference in back pain at the end of a long day. Having the shoulders open and rolled back improves my posture and has made a world of difference to me.

Love split keyboards! After a few years of experimenting with them I settled on a Mistel MD770, which I've been happily using for about 2 years now. I played around with tenting, but found I didn't care for it as much as I thought I would. With a far enough split (~9 inches?) and a slight interior rotation, tenting doesn't really seem to add any additional comfort for me.

I have an Ergodox EZ that I use off and on. I used to use it regularly, as I mainly bought it because I was experiencing some shoulder pain.

When you bring your hands/wrists together to type on a regular keyboard, your shoulders tend to roll inward a little bit. Using the Ergodox or any split keyboard lets you open up your chest and shoulders to a more proper alignment and is much more comfortable in my opinion.

It only took me a couple days or so before I was typing at 80%+ of my normal speed on the split and ortho layout.

I haven’t used that keyboard regularly in a while since I wound up discovering that my shoulder pain was caused by my mattress (and just exacerbated by my regular keyboard). I had built out a layout that worked pretty well for me on the Ergodox, but then for the times I would travel for work I would get thrown off switching back to the normal layout of the laptop keyboard.

I personally don’t love split but I know keebio specializes in split keyboards and many with tenting as well.

I don't, but a coworker uses an ergodox and I've been eyeing it lately

I suggest the Moonlander by ZSA. It checks all the boxes for me:

• Ortholinear
• Fully programmable keys
• Programmable RGB lighting
• Hot-swappable keys (the keys are not soldered onto the board, allowing you to change the keyswitches)
• Built-in wrist support (can be detached or folded to hide it)

I've been happily using the Moonlander for over a year and can't see myself going back to a normal keyboard.

I would like to try one, but I have yet to see one that comes at a price that's even remotely tied to reality. If anyone can recommend a split keyboard (assembled, not a kit) that I can buy for under $200 I would be all over it.

I absolutely adore my kinesis freestyle 2. I have the 15° tilt attachments, and my wrists dont feel uncomfortable at all at the end of the day like they used to.

I have the Kinesis Freestyle Edge keyboard and so far I love it. The split definitely helps in allowing my shoulders to be more relaxed. And I feel like the tilt definitely helps as well, though I wouldnt set the tilt to be too high, as it may cause issues with typing.

I started off getting a Dygma Raise, as this is a staggered layout like a standard keyboard and you could even slot it together or separate it and use as a split.

I recently put together a Lily58 which is a columnar layout, which took a few days to get used to but I have been enjoying using it.

I've been using a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for 12 years. I broke my first one by spilling tea into it and immediately bought a second one after trying to go back to my previous keyboard. Now “normal” keyboards feel cramped to me.

One thing that's good is that it forces you to type more correctly, and if you're not a touch typer already, getting a split keyboard is a great time to learn since you're having to make adjustments anyway. I used typing.academy to learn.

My keyboard is flat on the desk and I never have problems with carpal tunnel or similar.

I use an Iris, a split ortholinear board. I also used a pack of differently sized rubber feet to tent the board a small amount. I love using it, I wish I could have one for every system I use.

I'm even keeping my eye on the Framework 16 inch laptop, since the customizable keyboard module will allow for a split board!

I have 2 ergodox EZs, a homemade redox that uses Bluetooth, and a homemade dactyl manuform.

For ergonomics, I'd say these are my priorities:

1. Split
2. Ortholinear with staggered columns
3. Tented
4. Mechanical switches

The arrangement of keys on the ergodox got me to start typing correctly, and I think the split helped a lot with my posture.

I had some bad luck with my dactyl manuform, the tenting was too aggressive, and the thumb cluster was angled in such a way that it put lots of strain on my thumb. I'm currently looking at replacing that with a Ferris Sweep.

Bluetooth was a mistake, the latency was unbearable. It led to one half of the keyboard being consistently slower than the other half, so I'd constantly make mistakes. I used nice!nanos fwiw.

My wife and I use the ZSA moonlander when we're not gaming. When we game we switch to regualr 60%s. I also have a custom built split keyboard that I don't really use.

For me, it saved my wrists. My wrist and forearms used to go numb after extended coding sessions while using a regular 60%. I no longer have that issue using a split.

I do recommend researching switches, as I found that using Gateron Red Inks, 45g actuation force, also added to relieving stress on my wrists. I lubed and filmed them too, which is overboard for most.

I also recommend trying different key layouts, I use Colemak DH, but Workman and regular Colemak are also good. They lower the finger movement needed to press the most used letters in English. Layouts can be changed on the hardware level on the Moonlander, allowing it to just work on any device.

https://colemakmods.github.io/mod-dh/ https://workmanlayout.org/

If you’re not looking to tinker, the Logitech Ergo K860 is a great keyboard. I had to swap to an ergo keyboard due to wrist issues and it really helped. However, I’m a sucker for mech keyboards (& clickies) so I ended up building an Iris. I don’t have it tented, the ortho + split is enough for me. It took some time to get used to swapping layers but after a while it all becomes muscle memory. I can definitely recommend a split keeb! Iris with KAT Milkshake and Kailh Box Whites

It makes a lot of sense to me, although I haven't jumped on one yet.

But I refuse to use anything but a 65%, I have a seperate numpad if I need one and having mouse and keyboard closer together is already a godsend ergonomics wise, I have no idea how I could stand full size boards back in the day.

A split keyboard is already great because your arms can be in a normal position and proper tenting and tilt makes sure your wrists are at a good angle as well.

That said, most of the more "advanced" split keyboards have pretty.. unique layouts and I don't know if I'll get used to them. I also really want to keep my arrow keys and don't want to rely on layers too much, for stuff like the F keys and other rarely used functions it's fine but I don't want layers for anything that's a regular part of my workflow.

Maybe I'll just get a quefrency and see how it goes.

I haven't tried one, but I probably won't like it, because I often type with one hand as my other hand is busy or dirty, and having to learn what's basicallly another layout is too much.

I got a Glove80 recently and so far I love it! It took some getting used to but it's very comfortable and seems to be helping with my RSI.

I personally have used a self built Dactyl Manuform as my primary keyboard for the last two years or so, and it's great as a programmer. I mostly pursued it due to wrist discomfort, which has essentially disappeared since I started using it.

I went from regular keyboards to split qwerty for a while. Which was nice but still felt a bit clunky. I then built a Lily58 and daily drove it for about 2 years. I did this mostly out of curiosity because I never had any pain issues, back or wrists or anything. What happens is now I noticed how uncomfortable regular keyboards are, when I have to use the laptop keyboard. It is very good to control tenting with the split form factor. I then switched to a Corne because it's smaller and I travel quite a lot. I also changed to a colemak layout and boy, that switch was hard (decades of typing qwerty, muscle memory, etc). It is much more comfortable to type though.

I have an Ergodox and I love it. I’ve used it for a little over 5 years at this point. Combined with an ergonomic ball mouse, better chair, and physical therapy, I’ve mostly eliminated my arm and wrist pain. My only complaint is it’s not topre key switches but there are very few topre keyboards as-is and Cherry browns are okay, I suppose

I've been using a Kinesis Freestyle 2 for a couple of years - between that and a trackball, my shoulders, arms and wrists have been far happier.

I used to have a Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic and recently upgraded to a Keychron Q10. Both are excellent keyboards. Both are splitted

The Sculpt is a membrane keyboard but a very good one at that. You can get the Q10 with either blue, brown or red switches. The only thing that bothers me compared to the Sculpt, the Q10 doesn't come with a palmrest. So in that regards, you need to bring your own.

I got my piantor yesterday and i really like it so far, it was a bit of a challenge to set everything up in a way i like. And my writing speed has deceased from 140 wpm to about 30. But that is just a matter of relearning to write on this keyboard and unlearning years of bad writing practices.