Kinesis Advantage360 Split Ergonomic Keyboard - USB-C | Mechanical Switches | Fully Programmable | Contoured Shape | Adjustable Tenting | PBT Keycaps

I'm a software engineer on Mac and really dig this keyboard. I basically have started with it everyday and would change it out as I got used to it, today is 13 days since it was delivered and yesterday was my first full day with it. As an eng the bracket keys were a bit of an adjustment, and still are, so was the tilde but after stopping to look it starts becoming easier muscle memory, even for me in my mid 40s. On Mac I used the software from their site and setup the Mac layout template, then I added mappings for volume up / down, brightness up / down and play / pause. I just use the extra few keys in the middle, it's seamless. The ergo on this keyboard is fantastic, I have big hands and don't feel squished with my hands resting pretty naturally. I wish more switch and enthusiasts options were available as a previous Keychron had a nicer key press and feel but it's nowhere near a deal breaker. I love the layout, on my older OEM Apple style keyboards and slim keychrons I'd leave home position to hit modifiers or volume up or down, on this keyboard everything is accessible from home position so my fingers never really leave it. At two weeks it's good enough to code with all day, hopefully in the next two weeks my brackets get that much faster.

Life saver. Over 1 year and I still agree, hands down best keyboard. I type all day for work and my palms started burning and wrists were hurting a lot! Now, I have zero palm, wrist, or hand pain. Reviews are correct it takes a month to type on it. It’s a long process but also a long lost memory a year into it. My fingers/hands are small so at times I thought it would not work for me, I can’t easily reach some of the keys and my hand rests or fits more on the palm pads than they likely should. Must get palm pads. For the first two weeks I switched back between this key board and the old one, I would go as long as I could and then I just had to move faster for work so I would switch it back and forth. By week three I was progressing. Now I love it even if my tiny hands feel small for it. Zero pain. One qualm is it’s not clear how to use the functions. A couple of times I pressed a button and all these codes came up and I had to guess how to take it off…

I have been using this for over a year now. Bought it because I work with a computer for 40+hrs a week and wrist pain was building despite other ergonomic devices. The wrist pain is much less now with this keyboard. Caveats: I added about 1/4 inch of height to the wrist pads by placing magnets underneath them (very easy as they attach magnetically on two sides) and a bit of dense foam in the middle. I also added tall stickers on some of the pinky keys I use a lot ( I have small hands) so I do not have to reach as far to depress those keys.

i went from 100 WPM to 10 WPM. the keyboard didn't sound good, didn't look good, and didn't feel good. i got the USB version and the flippin USB was 3CM long so the two pieces are pretty much glued together. its also not a full keyboard, buttons like printscreen, insert, etc are missing. i'd say be prepared to spend 100 hours to get use to it, 200 hours to be at proficient speed. and NO amount of hours to ever type faster than a normal keyboard. impossible to play games with, its just not possible. by the end, i was screaming at the top of my lungs. sorry, im sure this could deserve a 2 star, but im just that frustrated.

So, I actually own 2 of these. Probably like anyone reading this review, I was trying to handle the severe pain in the wrists (as well as elbow for my case). I have several wrist problems other than carpal tunnel, so this was pretty much my only option. Has it worked? Yes, but that does come with getting used to a pretty strange layout, which takes some time to go back and forth still (although, I am getting faster. Why do I have to go back and forth? Every now and then I have to use a laptop, so the pain will come back whenever that happens, which is a reminder that it was working in the first place.) Is it hard to get used to? The first few weeks will be difficult. You'll be looking at your hands/keys pretty constantly trying to figure out what is where, as several keys are all over the place. I used to use my left thumb on the spacebar, so it was annoying at the start hitting the backspace key thinking I was hitting the space. Likewise, on the other hand, space is still used with the thumb, but enter is right beside it, and when you have huge hands like I do, you hit the enter by accident as well. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. I nearly have 1k in these things now, and could see getting another one if I ever have to go into an office somewhere. Just completely worth while, but then again, I live behind a keyboard. If this sounds like you, I'd suggest it as well. Something unexpected about it: the included spacer bar, which is there to keep the keyboard at a specific link, has actually been a major help for me, as it also prevents the sides from wondering slightly when you are tying hard and fast.

Background - I have been using Macs since 1986. I-do-not-code! I just run my business with it. I Love my Advantage keyboards - I have been using them for 20 years and currently have 3. They quickly solved my carpel tunnel issues and enabled me to touch type without looking at the keyboard. I can even finish typing a sentence while listening to my office manager's question as she walks in the door. 6 or 7 years ago, I bought an extra one as a spare just in case the company did not survive. All of them were very easy to convert to the Mac Keyboard. BUT - I have had the Adv360 since early December and still have not figured out how to convert it to the Mac configuration. They have great introduction videos and even mention the ability to convert to Mac layout … but they never explain it. Good news - they have an excellent support team. Bad news - they are swamped with all the new orders - and questions. So one has to submit a tech request and wait in line to get a response. While I am delighted that they are finally getting the recognition they deserve, I am running out of time to be able to test the new layout. Tyler has been trying to help. "All you need to do is remap the keys to the positions you are used to. You can do this with onboard programming tools pretty quickly. Rules of remapping: 1. Remaps always pull from the default layout. 2. You cannot remap a remap 3. You cannot lose access to a key 4. Remaps only go in one direction, if you want to swap two keys, that is two remaps. 5. You can move in/out of any layer during remapping. Layer keys are immune to onboard programming. Think of remapping as Copying/Pasting an action. To “Remap” any key on the Advantage360 to a new location: 1) Press and hold the SmartSet Key, then tap the Remap Key. 2) First select the source key (i.e., the action you want to “copy”). 3) Then select the physical destination key (i.e., where you want to “paste”)." Did I mention that I do not code? I am sure that the above will tell an experienced Windows and Macintosh coder how to convert the keys - but to me, it is greek. Example - the above #2)"First select the source key (i.e., the action you want to “copy”).” - WHERE IS THE SOURCE to copy a "Mac Command” or “Mac Option” on the all-Windows keyboard? ONCE I HAVE THE SOURCES FOR THE MAC Left COMMAND, OPTION, CONTROL, Right COMMAND, then I suppose I can follow #3) “paste” that in the exact locations as the “Windows Ctrl” or the “Windows Alt” keys. So unless I can get the keyboard to type Macintosh, I will have to return it and stay with my tried and true, very old Advantage keyboards. Sign me as very disappointed...so far.

I bought the Advantage360 to upgrade my Kinesis Advantage2. I bought the wired version, and the hardware and build quality are fantastic. I haven't had any connection problems (not that I'd expect them with USB). The cable linking the halves was on the short side, but I haven't had any problems swapping in a longer one. At first I was disappointed by the lack of function keys, but it's not too bad in practice. I had to remap some custom shortcut s because they were inconvenient with an extra key, but overall I like the trade-off. Function keys on the Kinesis2 weren't great, and I always had problems hitting them in the dark. One annoyance is the (apparent) lack of a Pause-Break key. I know it's not popular, but it wouldn't have hurt to hide it away as a combo with Fn. Maybe it is, but I don't see it mentioned in the manual or online anywhere. The new placement of Esc was also annoying, but I got used to it eventually. Update: After a few more months, I'm tempted to drop it to 3 stars, but think I'll keep it at 4 for now. Anyway, the problem I ran into has to do with macro playback. The default speed is just too slow for me. In this case, I was writing a macro (Fn-P) to toggle paredit-mode in Emacs. Recording was easy enough, but the default speed is so slow that it's faster to just type in "alt x paredit-mode" by hand - otherwise I'm stopping to *watch* the characters appear, which is kind of silly and counter productive. I'm on Linux and don't have SmartSet installed, so I needed to edit the layout files on the built-in vDrive to change the playback speed. It seemed straightforward, but the documentation isn't great, and the implementation seems buggy. The Direct Programming Guide, for example, never bothers to mention that you need to Refresh before any changes take effect, and at one point my macro was playing back each character 3 times *very* slowly. A lot of times refreshing just doesn't seem to do anything. I eventually got it working, but it felt lucky more than anything.

I have firmware issues with both this non-Pro and more so the Pro model where the board would hang every few weeks. Support is super responsive but issues remain (and I ended up returning the Pro model as result). They don't make the version that I would really want which is a wired board with ZMK firmware. The link cable was too short for me, and I didn't like the strain of straight vs angled connectors. It's a standard USB C cable so super easy to replace. I think the winning move is to dual-link it the host and it's partially works already. Partially as it doesn't propagate led signals between sides, and not sure if could without driver or a USB hub type hardware. To me, it's a solid upgrade over the Advantage2. Quick update: With the non-Pro on latest firmware (1.0.69) the only issue I have is that the left board dies once in a rare while (>30 days). Kinesis just swapped it under RMA and I have yet to experience it with the new board.

Best purchase of my life. Solved my issue. And does so with outstanding quality and support. Even improving productivity by forcing better typing habits. The huge macro and mapping memory on the device make the work experience perfect(no need to bother IT for software as you can set it up off prem and bring it in with your setup stored on device!). You can really tell that a lot of RnD and thought has been put into this over the years! My wrist issue is pretty much all gone, thanks to this. If you aren't disciplined enough, like myself, and use the keyboard without hovering your wrists, I'd highly recommend also picking up the magnetic wrist rests. If purchasing to cope with a specific injury, you could diagnose the issue and get a keyboard that targets that specifically. Whereas this keyboard targets everything. No that it's a jack of all trades and master of none, it genuinely is perfect. Just rather pricey. Would buy again, regardless. And might if I ever also have to do any serious typing from home...

自分のタイピングについてしまっていた、ミスタイプの原因になるくせに気が付かされます。 正しい指でタイプしないと打てない、、という配置なので、慣れるまでは時間がかかりますが、正しい共生なので、それはいいとして。 ただし、強制が終わったとしても、最速でタイプできるかというとちょっと微妙です。 特に小指でタイプするキーは、私だとかなり指を伸ばさないと届かないのできつい。 そこだけ手首を返して薬指で打つ、としてもいのですが、結構厄介。 しかも、指に若干のマヒが出ている人だと、さらにきつい。 エルゴノミックは、ユニバーサルデザインとは別の概念なんだな、、と気が付かされました。 また、それ以外のキーも、結構しっかりと打ち込まないといけないので、指に力がかかります。 1日作業していると、結構指が疲労していることに気が付きます。 高いだけあって品質はいいのですが、自分に合う最適解かというとちょっと微妙かもしれません。 小指が長い人ならいいのですが。

Sehr komfortable :)

Points positifs : - Son poids, oui il est posé sur mon bureau et ne bougera pas de sa position, même si les touches sont massacrées de toutes forces. - La programmation avec l'application SmartSet, pouvoir re-mapper les touches des charactères spéciaux des petits doigts pour les doigts les plus habilles avec le système de couche, c'est excellence. Surtout que la configuration est sauvegardé sur le disque dure du clavier, donc on se retrouve chez soi même si l'on change d'ordi. - Les touches ortholinéaires + le setup concaves et le split, allègent les efforts pour écrire, réduisent les mouvements de bras non nécessaire, maintiennent la bonne position des poignets et bras. L'ergonomie est làlà. - Le feeling du contact avec le plastique, qui vient avec le temps, surtout quand on trouve la bonne position de main. On ne glisse pas. - La documentation, pour le re-mappage des touches, surtout que le logicielle n'est pas nécessaire. On peut le faire directement depuis les fichiers dans le disque dure du clavier. Qui, à mon avis est bien plus simple. - Le changement d'angle est solide et bien stable. - Puis le design. Points négatifs : - n'est pas hotswappable, mais bon... - ça prend quand même de la place sur son bureau, puis pour le déplacer pour le télétravail par exemple... - l'application SmartSet sur MacOs est buggy surtout pour la configuration des macros. Lorsqu'on est en mode re-mappage toutes les LEDs clignotes, on ne voit plus sur quelle couche on est; alors le clique sur la touche n'est pas toujours à celui que l'on pense... mais bon, je préfère utiliser la méthode manuelle : modifier les fichiers comme indiqué dans leur documentation, et on a vite ce que l'on veut. Les difficultés, au début, pour ce genre de clavier sont : - Les touches ortholinéaires : il faut se donner le temps, pour construire sa mémoire musculaire. Il faut juste pratiquer. Sur mon ancien clavier, ferry sweep 2, il m'a fallu 2,5 mois pour retrouver ma vitesse de croissière habituelle. Sur le kenisis, 1 semaine. - La position de sa paume de main : oui, il m' a fallu chercher un moment pour comprendre et donc trouver la position idéal. Le but dans les claviers dit ergo, est que la main elle-même ne bouge pas de sa position. Mon pouce doit toucher la touche la plus haute des touches à pouce et le petit doigt doit toucher aisément la touche la plus haute, opposée, du clavier. Cela donne la position de la paume de main. - Le split : mais bon en même temps on l'achète pour ça non ? Apprendre à taper du clavier, en utilisant la totalité de ces doigts est un game changeur ! De plus les splits keyboards, sont la garantie de ne plus avoir mal aux poigners et au coups... Conclusion : Il m'a fallu au moins une bonne semaine, le temps de retrouver mes marques pour que je puisse enfin dire. Je l'aime ce clavier.

Steep learning curve - I bought this during a flare up of tendonitis in my new job caused by having to use a latop for a week, so I can't speak yet for preventative qualities, but I also have shoulder issues from arthritis and immediately from day one I could feel my shoulders were far more relaxed. After a few weeks of use I am becoming more proficient, it starts to become easier to use as you train yourself to let more fingers share the load, and it definitely feels more natural. It is expensive, but so is being unable to work. It's that simple.