Ergodox EZ vs Kinesis Advantage

My thoughts between the Ergodox EZ and the Kinesis Advantage series.

My First Advantage

I had been active in the IT industry post-university since about the year 1999, writing training materials and doing Linux-base teaching. I used my keyboard a lot, I was young and it’s fair to say didn’t pay much attention to ergonomics back then… until increasing discomfort drove me to think otherwise.

It was serious enough to require me to make significant change, but not so serious that it needed medical intervention. Because of this I was going through my own career-crisis, wondering if I should change jobs and become a gardener or such. After doing some research into the matter I made some changes:

• First, I decided to change to Dvorak in about 2010. I don’t care about speed, but the ergonomics are what drove me to try it, and I’ve stuck with it every since, but I still type QWERTY on my laptop; I don’t use any software translation as I used to, but that was a good place to start.
• Remapped the Caps-Lock key to be another Control key (and other similar experimentations, including repositioning the Escape key)
• I also removed keyboard incline, and at some point I had even adopted a slight reverse incline. Keyboard incline is a real ergonimic mis-feature.

With those few changes I could feel my career coming back to me. It gave me confidence to invest in more improvements.

• I got a Microsoft Natural keyboard and experimented with different pointing devices.

Eventually I change my role, staying in IT and pivoting out of the education space and into the enterprise. With a greater income I could eventually afford to get a Kinesis Ergo Advantage MPC USB/QD. It was proper expensive but I managed to get refurbished model, and I had done a lot of research into different ergonomic keyboards. This keyboard was switchable between Mac/PC and can configured to be QWERTY or Dvorak at the stroke of a key.

It also had keyboard macros, room for a whole bunch of them; I only used a few, but because I didn’t really have much idea how I would use them, I thought it useful to give you some inspiration:

• Cheers,\nCameron – for email sign-off
• {noformat} – for Atlassian Confluence and Jira
• subdomain.domain.co.ex – domain name I would frequently type
• dig +short -x – used for frequent DNS reverse lookups
• dig +short +search -t any – similar
• o=domain.co.ex,dc=domain,dc=co,dc=ex – LDAP component I would sometimes type, but was a pain to type correctly.

Remember, this was the days when programmable keyboards were barely heard of, open-source keyboard firmware wasn’t widely available and small-scale keyboard production was still much too expensive. Properly ergonomic keyboards were very much a specilist item, and Kinesis Ergo had been in this business for a long time; I admired their ability to think differently and without too much constraint.

You’re perhaps wondering how long it took to learn the keyboard. From memory, the letters were easy, the numbers not so bad. I should say I’ve never used the embedded keypad, but I don’t do data-entry. Easily the longest thing to get used to were the arrow keys. Some keyboard shortcuts become a bit more awkward.

The worst thing about that model of the Advantage was the spongy function keys (including Escape). This was the least reliable part of the keyboard, and as I’m typing this in 2023 I can report that the Escape key is getting less reliable. I was very happy when I learned the new model uses a more appropriate keyswitch for the function-key row

There were some firmware issues too… I had one laptop at one point that would have trouble with it. Now, in 2023, I still occassionally have issues with a USB mouse dongle that I plug into the keyboard’s USB hub, which can make the keyboard hang when I plug it in. I have also seen occassional stuck keys (I think the Alt key, but it doesn’t happen frequently enough to notice) I was very happy when I learned that the new Advantage series uses a different firmware.

Despite it’s occassional quirks, I do love my Kinesis Ergo Advantage MPC USB/QD keyboard.

When I purchased the keyboard I also purchased some palm-mats which stick to the surface, although I only started using them after the first five years or so. I removed those recently because they were caked with… me; my dead skin cells. I had scratched one with a fingernail thinking about cleaning it… and then ended up removing them. I do rather miss them however because it was more comfortable than the worn-down smooth plastic that my sweaty palms had created over the preceeding years.

I’ve just now decided to reach into the first-aid kit and get creative with some adhesive gauze tape and strapping tape, and have now improvised some replacements. What it lacks in colour-matching style it makes up for in comfort. When those run out I might try some double-sided foam tape and some leather; should look better at least.

Ergodox EZ

I needed a second keyboard; it was during the whole Covid thing and remote/hybrid work and I didn’t want to be carting my keyboard with me to and from the office.

Sure, I would have loved to get the new Advantage Kinesis 2, but the keyboard is expensive enough by itself, and they don’t sell direct to New Zealand (although that’s how I got my refurbished model previously). To get it through a distributor…. aww, pricey!

But by this time there was a lot more choice in the market, made possible by the rise of gamer keyboards making a viable mass-market for mechanical switches where before they had been a specialty item with very few participants. I’m no key-switch weeny, but I like the Cherry Browns in my Kinesis, and it’s stood the test of time with my office mate (although to be fair, he did complain at the start).

I wanted a ergonomic keyboard that had Advantage-like things to to say about ergonomics. The Ergodox EZ shared a number of design features with the Kinesis Advantage, such as split halves, columnar key layout, separated thumb keys as well as introducing other useful features such as adjustable tenting. The Ergodox seemed to be solidly constructed with a good all-round customer experience. It helped that it was about half the price of the Kinesis Advantage and I could get it direct from the vendor, customised to my wants and needs.

Compared to the Kinesis Advantage, I do miss the curved keywells. The Ergodox keys do feel a little more spread out compared to the Advantge; you might find this more of an issue if you have small hands perhaps?. The adjustable tenting and the fact that is split are the biggest advantages, plus since I choose to type Dvorak the programmable layouts are a nice touch. This was also why I got blank keycaps… not just to flex on my office-mates.

The Ergodox does have a very pleasant solidness to it and high build quality. Even the wrist-supports are well engineered and have a pleasant weight to them, although I will say they have a design deficiency of not tenting with the keyboard. I made some foam cutouts that help to resolve that.

One of the things that annoyed me the most about the Ergodox is that the keyboard macros are deliberately very short (to prevent people from using them as a password store, which would be wildly insecure and would reflect poorly on the product). But if you want macros for that kind of use-case, you’d be well-served using a software solution. The macros would be good for gaming I suppose… that’s another benefit to having multiple layers, which is something my older model of Advantage doesn’t have.

I’ve also learned that I much preper having the keyboard as one rigid body; I could do this with the Ergodox EZ if I were to to attech the pieces to the board. I have a nice lapboard I made from recycled wood and stained. It’s 700mm long and about 230mm wide; for the Ergodox EZ plus wrist supports it should be a little wider. It’s great for working in a comfortable armchair with keyboard at the right height and laptop on small table. Certainly much better for your shoulders than using a laptop at the dining-room table! I find it doesn’t take long at all to feel the shoulder tension when working at the dining room table.

Kinesis Advantage2 QD

When I last changed roles I came back home for a full-time remote position. Naturally I used by Kinesis Advantage keyboard. The Ergodox EZ was, and still is, a good product. But it ain’t an Advantage.

Alas, I can see that my current Advantage is showing signs of its age… namely the unfortunate spongy Escape key and some potential firmware incompatibilities. I’m still happy to use it for my day-to-day though.

But now I’m starting a new role, and going back into the office. I’ve learned that it’s not good for me to use a laptop/flat keyboard for long and it’s still important for me to invest in the long-term career health. So, despite the cost, I’ve bought by second Kinesis keyboard, which is the new Advantage2 model.

I can’t tell you much more about it at present because it has just been shipped. I’m looking forward to the mechanical keys in the function row and the improved firmware. The biggest potential annoyance will be it’s corded — mostly the annoyance is to toroid on the keyboard end of the cable — and that I’ll need to continue to use a USB-C adaptor, the leverage of which makes me a little fairful for my laptop.

Hmmm, I just realised I didn’t order palm pads, darn it!

I’ll update this post when useful to do so. I hope this helps you with your purchasing decisions.

Cheers, Cameron