By splitting the keyboards can't you put a mouse functionality under both keyboards so you can have two mice?

About a week ago, I got my first sudden flare of RSI. My right hand is so sore, the muscle on my inner hand running up to my pinky is numb, and it feels like pins and needles. Also, the "power" to my thumb, pointer, and pinky is so low (sometimes I can barely move my pointer). Aside from the obvious pain, I noticed that when I type, I place my thumb at the base of my laptop right by the trackpad for some weird reason, and try to maximally stretch to get to keys (so, really bad typing habits). I actually had to tell my engineering manager that my productivity was gonna drop a lot this week because I literally cannot type. I spent like 5 minutes trying to type a sentence, gave up in a fit of internalized rage, and just signed off for the day at like 11am. It was awful. And now my legs are starting to go numb too 🫠. I'm in my late 20s and have been programming (contract work) for a few years, but the last year or so, I've been working at a startup and have become so sedentary (I used to be very active). This experience made me realize I'm not prioritizing my health, so 2 days ago, I semi-spontaneously got a health-centric watch to help with stuff (Apple Ultra 2, too early to see how it helps, but I like the periodic health pings). I've decided to get the Kinesis Advantage 360 Pro as well, seems like people with RSI get better after switching to it. I write a ton of code (for work and contracting) so this feels like an essential thing for my long term health overall. Apparently most of my team uses some sort of ergo board, but we're all remote so I never knew lol. Also gonna have to get a good chair (I sit on basically a wooden dorm chair for 8+ hours a day... yikes). To any newer programmers like me, please look into this stuff soon, suddenly having a repetitive stress injury is not fun. This was my wake-up call. I can tell it's not permanent based on how the pain level has dropped in the last few days (due to taking it easy at work) but this stuff is probably damaging long-term. Thanks to the RU-vidr for making the video, and to the commenters here and other parts of YT for helping me quickly figure out what to buy. My hair is figuratively on fire rn so I needed to make a decision. These items are really pricey but pain sucks, and long-term threatens my ability to be employed as a software engineer, which is unacceptable. Best wishes to you all ☮

Such a comprehensive review. Thanks for making this!

Been rocking the Zsa voyager and love it. Got ambient switches, put some heavier springs in, and it’s a dream to type on.

voyager gave me horrible rsi and had to sell it after two months. My hhkb type-s is my preferred board

I want Wooting to make a Hall-Effect split keyboard, maybe they can even add modular thumb clusters or a TMR HE Thumbstic for analogue movement

I understand it's in good faith when you say that this is the "best keyboard on the market", but I take issue with broad statements like that in that your board line-up shows that you simply don't really recognize what exists in the market. For example, the Charybdis and other Dactyl Manuform type keyboards exist that have various subjectively superior characteristics to all of the keyboards you demo'd.

Dygma is the most transparent company I've ever seen, but I also find it amazing that they continue to have problems with their products. I witnessed in the launch fiasco (deadline missed by +12 months) and saw a lot of reports from the lucky ones that got it first about defects in the final hardware and even more in the software. Dygma provides really good support, but their issues seem neverending because “they are trying things that no one has done before”. I ended up cancelling my order after a year waiting for it to be delivered and I've been a happy Voyager user since then.

Great advice all around! Great highlights of the main choices too! I'll definitely recommend it for ppl who are thinking about getting into this hobby or forced to consider it because of RSI.

A tutorial on how to do glove 80 on that layout editor would be incredible

I have a piantor, advantage360, and a dygma defy...by far the best is the dygma defy (wired)..there is no magic to the advantage360 keywell, it actually makes some keys awkward to reach..mx switches are way better than choc...the additional thumb keys and number row make keyboard way more usable....the piantor works fine, and you can certainly get by with the reduced number of keys, but the additional thumb keys and number row make using the keyboard much more fluid...the defy build quality is great, tenting is great, the software works great...no issues at all...

Hi. Thanks for this video, it is really helpful and it makes it not so overwhelming to deal with this keyboard. I am facing a strange issue where I try to enter in boot mode on my Mac, the lights are flashing white and they don't turn green. I also don't see a mount volume. Is there anything prerequisite that I need to do?

How does the comfort and typing force compares between the advantage 360 quiet pink and glove80s cherry blossom switches? Which is more comfortable and is it a big enough difference to nitice after a long coding session?

I am also planning to build a split keyboard myself. What I don't understand is that there are controllers with 2MB and some with 20MB. When and where does the controller with 2MB reach its limits? What can I not realize with it that is possible with the 20MB controller? I mean, it's just a keyboard.

For those looking in the comments. While I have 2 dygma keyboards and love and use them daily. I also build my own 40% boards. I want to mention Mistel keyboards. They have good split and similar layout. This was one of my first into the split keyboards and would recommend it as it is typically cheaper than others.

+1 for the linear red pro switches! I swapped both of my ferris sweeps to this. Made a huge difference.

I still can't decide between the GLove80 and the Voyager. I love your channel, please continue with the awesome content. It doesn't have to be perfect; so don't kill yourself trying to make content.

Just really don't like buying things I don't enjoy, so end up just browsing and browsing, and never trying any.

This channel has a lot of potential

I'll say in regards to whether to spend more money to get the kinesis pro programmable keyboard over the cheaper option, Epomaker sells a USB dongle that you can plug in any keyboard (even a membrane one) and have QMK/VIAL capability for $20. It's been so nice for me, and I want to share the news with folks. :)

I don't have RSI or any discomfort while typing. But that's mostly because I've been avoiding it :). Stuck with a corsair K95 rgb (that I just hate somehow) for years now, because just nothing else appealed to me. I hit one of your vids last saturday night, my head just exploded, I wanted a next gen keyboard IMMEDIATELY. Ordered a fully loaded Defy now whoop whoop and fml that shipping time is very very painful for an impulse buyer like me... Can't wait to up these typing skills again.

Not just the keyboard it’s the choice of switches … I just got my glove80 and chose the pro red’s after trying my sons non split mech keyboard with 45’s and thought I’d try something lighter. I find them too light as I’m bumping additional keys. Other than that, loving the g80

Also it's not that your not giving an informed opinoin. It's just that there are SO MANY options its so difficult to weight the pros and cons and for everybody its going to be different. if it was a 30$ entry it wouldnt be difficult everfyone would just try it and move onto the next if it didnt work howrver this is such a invenstment that it takes a significant amount of confidence in opinoin to purchase such an exppensive investment. nobody wants to be wrong but the fract of the matter is you can nevber kow until you try. Im leaning towards glopve 80. i hate buying chinese stuff but wheatever. the kinesis looks like ti would be best but damn is it expsensive.

You've been a significant resource in finding a keyboard. Thanks, subbed. This is a new space and your one of the first. stick around!

Shouldn’t it be if coding was natural?

I'm nervous to hear if going from a split ego to a Charachorder is worth it... i really shouldn't, but I'm tempted. I don't care about RGB, but i really can't imagine getting a split keyboard without tenting.

Dactyl Manuform. Ultimate customization, never going back. PSA: for gaming, you don't need to remap every game to match your keyboard. You can make a layer on your keyboard that shifts the keys over, and it all makes sense again for every game without further modification.

I love my Kyria but I wish I could get a number row and still keep my 2u thumb clusters - maybe add bluetooth >_>

Super helpful video! I was wondering if you’d be interested in trying out a split keyboard under $200, the NocFree Lite, for viewers who are looking for their first split keyboard.

Got the Glove80 in January after watching you videos and I was not lost in the overall reality -- the Glove80 was the choice. I think you do/did hold back in terms of trying to seem fair to the competition, and in an earlier video you weren't clear on the Glove80 being your daily driver I think. But I was clear on the order and the specifics that were said that mattered. Your biggest critique of the Glove80 was tenting wasn't "super easy" but that was something I knew didn't matter because once you set it and do it right, you forget it. I have lock nuts on mine and they are super stable and sturdy, and even if I remove them for travel, the lock nuts won't move so putting the back on is just directly screwing them in again. I don't need to peform any measurements again. I watched a ton of other videos by others too, to get a real sense of the product space, and to filter out some biases and personal preferences that weren't how I likely would end up using it. I have been extremely happy since. I can reach an ungodly amount of keys including the entire F1-F10(F11/F12 are layered on F9/F10) with my palms at rest in typing position with only a slight rotation outwards needed for F1 and F10 and using the ring finger as the pinky just doesn't stretch comfortably and isn't even long enough. I've only moved the control key on my left hand to be a little easier to hit than the delete key which is far less useful for me. And as a neo/vim user, I swapped up and down as well -- and this is something only the Glove80 can do well -- this makes J/K vim motions line up perfectly with the same two fingers, two rows down for all other things not vim. I hope I'm not the only one who noticed this; I can't be because we all look at these keyboards because we care and notice these things right? Anyways, normal sized hands are going to have no issue reaching all of the number keys which are stretches and more difficult to find for most people. This is why anyone who says "curved keywell is a gimmick" is out of their mind. I don't know about the Kinesis Advantage, but I think sometimes people just do a basic "let me put my hands here and see if it feels right" for 2 seconds, and because they're 20+ years deep into flat keyboards, if they don't instantly get it, they think it isn't right. Also, we can blame a lot of not-so-really-ergo curved keyboards out there that aren't doing much. Those keyboards usually barely offer a substantial ergo benefit, and simultaneously are so much worse at being a basic keyboard in terms of tactile options and just quality/usage. Eventually tech reviews caught on and a lot of legacy ergo keyboards that were known from Microsoft and Logitech are known to be trash tier; that is not the case with the major players in the split keyboard market, but unfortutely there are some chimera-esque "ergo" keyboard options out there at very high prices. Taking a look with a serious eye, one can see how poorly designed they actually are, but how they suck people into their advertising B.S.

If you are like me, and you are just interested in the "software-side" of mechanical keyboards (Home Row Mods, Layers and so on) you probably also don't need to buy an expensive split keyboard. There is software like kmonad, kanata or xmk that can convert any keyboard into a customizable one. For trying out and fiddling around, this might be a good start too.

i have a dygma defy (but i love watching videos on other split keyboards anyway), which i just bit the bullet to buying because i didn't have the funds to test out a bunch and it seemed to have the most features that i wanted, and i just really liked your comment about how if you like your keyboard, you'll want to learn it i got mine fully speced even though some of the extra features like underglow and wireless weren't necessary per se, it definitely makes me want to use it more everyday and made the learning process much quicker i also 100% agree on the key switch weight ... i used to love tactiles and used them for so long, but one day tried a lighter linear and was blown away by how easy it was to type?? and then realized i never really tried other types of switches, so i ended up buying gateron whites which were 38g and it made such a difference that i bought 30g springs that i'm waiting to arrive, and will replace them to see if it gets even better and yes tenting is also a huge game changer - although i love the tenting on my defy, i also love going on reddit and seeing everyone's creative solutions to tenting that can really start at a few dollars ... almost makes me wish i had another to play around with i did borrow one of them to also tent my trackpad though, which has actually made it a lot easier to use as well

Im completely new into the mechanical keyboards,.bit for what i have been watching, i would love to build one or two keyboards, but lost on what i could buy and what i should use. I would only want to buy on ali express for ex, to be a cheap but good keyboard, but there's one other issue, the keycap layout since im from portugal and the few ones i find are PT-BR (portuguese-brazilian)...

i don’t care if your channel is “dying” (as you put it). i’ll keep watching whenever you put something out. sometimes view counters and analytics make a really hard sell about making something grow fast (im sure you’re aware already) in order to be relevant enough to reach anyone specifically instead of just the deep void of posting anything into the big canyon a new user craves an echo from. what i’m saying is that i’ve got notifications on for you and am following

The matias linears are crazy light. I am more of a razer opto-linear dampened reds myself.

Thanks to your videos I just switched to a Glove80 (Cherry Blossom switches) this week and I'm very happy with it. Coming from Kinesis Freestyle II, there is for sure some getting used to the concave key-wells and the thumb cluster, but I've been positively surprised on how fast the mind and hands have been able to adapt. Some nitpicks: furthermost thumb key is not easy to reach and no ridges on F and J keys. I didn't have RSI or any major hand discomfort, I just wanted something that is programmable and also comfortable to type on. Had Kinesis a more standard delivery option to Europe, one of their 360 models could've been a stronger candidate. All in all I'm glad that your videos pushed me in the Glove80 direction, thank you for that and keep it up!

0:18 that kind of blur is non-destructive. Someone could reverse the effect with relative ease; use black boxes instead.

My biggest problem with all those keyboards is that I want to 1. type in my lap, so all of those tenting options will dig into my legs and 2. i absolutely require a full layout minus the numpad, no layer bs, i need a separate escape, f1-f12, cursor keys and the keys above them. And if the keyboard had macro keys on the left that would be even better. The point being that it's all just those micro reduced layouts and it's annoying. The kinesis sort of has that but the function keys are so diminutive they're annoying and the remaining layout annoys me too.

What are your glove80 screw setup/heights?

I got the glove80 a couple months ago based off of your recommendation and I love it!

Been using a Kinesis Advantage 360 since the first pre-sale shipped and have no complaints. Best and only keyboard ill ever use. All my wrist pain has been gone for a few years now and I’ve got back to things like rock climbing and lifting. The price is worth it if you have wrist pain.

I've been wanting to try a split keyboard for a long time. But it was hard to justify paying over 400€, especially since I don't have wrist pain and I had no idea if it would bring any benefit in terms of comfort or if I would even be able to use it. I finally bought a pre-built Sofle keyboard for 200€, which is still steep for a keyboard that don't even have a case. But I'm glad I did. Having modifiers keys in the thumb cluster is a game changer for me since I use a lot of shortcuts with key combinations. I would never go back to a traditional keyboard. So I think the hobbyist / open source keyboards can also be a good way to test the waters. There's variety of shapes and layouts to choose from and as long as you don't go for the wireless, full rgb options, they're generally more affordable.

Got my cherry blossom glove80 yesterday and I can confirm that they are fantastic and worth the ridiculous expense

Having had RSI issues for over 20+ years, channels like yours are a breath of fresh air. I found the Microsoft 4000 keyboards really great, a lot more like a traditional keyboard, but really comfortable curve. Then I tried a kinesis edge keyboard but I found that my RSI came back due to not having a Curve for fingers. Worked out flat keyboards are not good for me long-term. Then, after watching your videos, I ended up getting kinesis advantage 360 and being extremely happy with it. Also found switching to a 36 key layout made a massive difference in comfort. Tempted to get a glove 80 for work remote. Currently using a corn 42 keyboard when working remote, but the flatness isn’t great . Hoping one day they will release a glove 42 and I’ll buy it the next day. Is the Glove 80 very portable? Would it easily fit in laptop bag?

I highly recommend the if ergolite keyboard, I bought it for around 200$ with switches and keycaps. It's bigger than the most, and that's great for experimentation

What made my transition to the Glove80 way more interesting (and difficult) is ditching qwerty for engram, or should I say byou';.🤣 Id also mention that lower force switches are particularly useful for any fingers that you have not trained and haven't used properly, aka: the pinky. I got the red pro, by far the softest switch I ever owned, my problem with them is I can't rest my fingers on it without accidently typing. Maybe I should mod mine to have a few tactile keys for thumb + index...well see. Ty for the video! make more

Plant in the 3d-printer! Is that a HL2 reference? 😁

Got the Glove 80 about two months ago and I am loving it. It has made a huge difference in my comfort levels when typing. No regrets...

awww your dog is so good looking. what breed are they? also jus tvery unintersted in being involved in the video just like "Dad what are you doing "

Dude, if you only want to do informal, one:take videos from now on, ill still tune in. Please do make sure to include your sog, however.