Kinesis Advantage2 Ergonomic Keyboard (KB600), Black top case, Cherry MX Brown Switches, QWERTY keycaps

Product Information

It's not cheap, but neither was my initial Advantage2. However, it's something I use daily, sometimes up to 8 hours, and I think purchasing and spending this kind of money is OK if it's part of your daily job. At least for me. Wireless Split Design The Advantage2 Quiet LF utilizes the newest Cherry MX Quiet Red stem mechanical key switches which have a linear feel, low activation force, and sound-dampening components to make them quieter than conventional mechanical switches. The MX “Quiet” Red is an ideal choice in open work environments where ambient noise is a concern. The two keywells are “ tented” at an optimal 20 degree angle moderately raising the thumb side of the hand. Tenting puts you in a more neutral, “handshake” posture and reduces the stresses caused by forearm pronation.

Just like lesser “ergonomic” keyboards such as Microsoft’s much loved, but ultimately very half-hearted attempts, the Advantage is “ split“, meaning that each hand gets its own separate area and both are physically separated. True Split design. The Moonlander could be adjusted to your shoulder width, providing another level of ergonomics. The keyboard surface is concave and the key wells are tented to an optimal 20° angle which elevates the thumb side of the hands to reduce the forearm pronation typically caused by flat keyboards. The point is that it is simply impossible to type on a traditional keyboard without some degree of discomfort, because you just can’t get your limbs into a pain-free position. With the Kinesis Advantage, you can. What these design choices amount to is what makes typing on the Kinesis Advantage such a great experience: you never have to move your hands away from the home row.My only complaint with typing comfort is with the F-key row. It's both very far away and poorly laid out (in my opinion). Every time I want to hit a key on the F row I need to look at the keyboard and very deliberately hit the key. I even find the keys to be too small for me to reliably hit only one; often I'll try to hit F9 and will accidentally tap F8, as well. Thumb Clusters

The idea is to minimize the distance your fingers have to travel. Theoretically, the extension and retraction of fingers causes extra strain, and so putting the keys into wells and switching off the standard, staggered key layout gets you a more efficient typing experience. If the keyboard still doesn’t power up, perform a Hard Reset by holding Program and F9 while plugging the keyboard in. Mechanical keyboards are stereotypically quite loud. They are certainly louder than most keyboards in offices these days, but that's because modern office keyboards tend to be made of rubber or silicon. Mechanical switches have plastic and metal parts that run into each other and typically come in larger chassis with larger keycaps. All of this leads to more noise. The Advantage2 is available with a standard US layout or German, Swedish, Japanese and UK country-specific layouts (see image gallery for layouts). QWERTY/Dvorak Switchable. All Advantage keyboard models can switch on the fly between QWERTY and Dvorak key layouts. Want dual legends? Buy a "QD" Qwerty-Dvorak switchable model, or get an upgrade kit later. Please note that Dvorak-only legends are not available.

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Wireless. I like a clean desk, and all the new Keyboards I had were wired. I've used the Apple Magic Keyboard wirelessly for years with no latency issues. How can you improve a design that has been out for almost 20 years? (The Advantage was released in 2002, which is also the current design of the Advantage2). People who used the Advantage2 loved their keyboards, most of which were nerds and geeks. They want more customizability, a sleeker and cleaner design that adapts to the latest trend. But they want all these without compromising on the well-established Design of the original Advantage2. The only reason you are considering this keyboard (likely) is for the typing experience. You probably don't care that people spend hours lubricating key switches and testing out different keycaps for their sound qualities. You want to type without pain. Basic cleaning should be performed regularly by using compressed air to remove any loose debris in the key wells.

Cables: Honestly, I'm baffled they sent us a USB-A to USB-C. I welcome the USB-C ports on the Advantage360; however, I wish it was a USB-C to USB-C cable. The cable quality is very lovely, though, and it's braided. The key wells have been scooped into a concave shape which means hands and fingers are able to relax into a natural posture, curled down towards the keys. Key heights are varied to match differing finger lengths which shortens keyboard reach and reduces over-extension. The home row of keys is colour coded and sculpted so you can find them without taking your eyes off the screen. Most, if not all, of these claims are unproven. But I bought into them hook, line, and sinker. Appearance

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Kinesis has gone a step beyond simply adopting a matrix layout in the search for the perfect ergonomic fit. Your hands in fact rest in a completely natural “ well” taking into account the length of your finger and their natural curvature. Moving your fingers up and down in a straight line always puts your finger tips straight on the keys with no reaching. The new Advantage 2 even has textured and molded home row keys that make it immediately obvious that your finger tips are dead center on their respective home row keys. Custom Keycaps, the Advantage2, came with shiny ABS keycaps. The Moonlander had better keycaps (PBT). The ability to create these dual-function keys is incredible. For me, it's taken the thumb cluster from a breakthrough idea to something truly irreplaceable. I can take things like the shift keys or the numpad actuator and move them under my thumbs, where they're out of the way but enable much nicer The Kinesis Advantage 2 helped me type again. That's the greatest endorsement I could give to any keyboard. Until I discovered the world of thousand dollar keyboards (I don't have one, but I do watch TaehaTypes), I thought the Advantage was the best keyboard money could buy. The Kinesis keyboard has the full range of function keys, but they are not much easier to reach than on any other keyboard. For almost two decades, the small function keys were rubber domed atrocities that served their purpose, but felt really cheap, especially when compared to the bank-breaking mechanical key switches used in the rest of the keyboard. In the Advantage 2 iteration these keys are now also mechanical, but while appreciated, this does not genuinely make a world of difference.