ErgoMechKeyboards
Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Rules
Keep it ergo
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
No Spam
No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.
No Buy/Sell/Trade
This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.
Some useful links
- EMK wiki
- Split keyboard compare tool
- Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
- Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/
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Update
Ok, I've dug into each option! I think I'm leaning toward trying out the Ergodox EZ! My only hurdle know is, I love cherry mx speed silver switches after having used them for years, but the Ergodox EZ can't have back lit keys and cherry mx speed silver switches. It looks like that might just be down to what Ergrodox has access too because cherry mx rgb speed switches definitely exist and can be purchased.
So I might buy a backlit Ergodox EZ and buy a set of cherry mx speed silvers and swap them. I'm still mildly concerned about getting used to the keyboard, but the idea I can just keep my old keyboard hooked up for work is reassuring. I do a lot of navigation and cursor/selection using arrow keys, hold shift, home, end etc and those muscle memory movements won't work with the Ergodox EZ.
Thanks to everyone for the helpful information!
The muscle memory movements take a while to retrain. It took about a month of daily usage (45mins of straight typing a day on average) to get to where I was on a “normal” keyboard. The Epistory game was a fun way to train on it
I think I'll do okay with actual typing, but sightless pressing of the arrow keys to move a cursor around, hold shift, and tap end to highlight a whole sentence, that'll take a long time to retrain. I placed my order, so I guess in 2 weeks I'll find out!