KINESISFreestyle2 Ergonomic Keyboard w/ VIP3 Lifters for Mac (9" Separation)

It seems I type all day, and have gone through keyboards, have broken keys, and have particular criteria I need in a keyboard, and specific things I don't want.Important to me: ergonomic is #1. And part of that includes NOT having a numeric keypad attached. It means I have to over-reach and take my hands off the keyboard to use my mouse which slows me down. I've used the Microsoft Sculpt and loved it -- that is, until the doggle (?, the USB thing you plug into your computer) stopped communicating to the keyboard. So I bought another one. Except the new one had the same problem the old one developed after several years of great use. So I returned it.And the search was one. I got another one which had the same problem (the lag time between hitting the keys and it typing was either terribly slow, or the keys I typed never showed up. And then I started reviewing the reviews much more thoroughly, and it seemed NONE of the reviews of the ergonomic keyboards without numeric keypads had unanimously positive reviews.Except 2: one of them was about $200 + an additional $150 or $200 for the lifters. Well, if this thing works best with the lifters (which all reviews say it does), why would that not be included? Plus, it had features I didn't like and didn't really want, including bright red, blue and green lights on the keys, and keys you could program (largely for programmers, which I am not).Another feature I want is for the caps lock key to be backlit so I can tell at a glance if it's on or not.And then a friend sent me the link to this keyboard. It had all the features I wanted, none of the features I didn't want . . . at a fraction of the price. And the reviews were ALL positive.It's still costs more than the average run-of-the mill keyboard. But, when my friend compared it to when he buys a guitar.... he doesn't mind spending the money on a Les Paul.Well, my keyboard is how I make music!, and so I decided to go for it. It's my Les Paul!It was instant plug-and-play, I have the lifters in the halfway position, and am totally in love with it.It took zero time to get used to. So what that it has a cord.This keyboard is a dream. I'm so grateful to have found it!!!!!! You won't be disappointed.Oh, one more little thing. I use the little bumps that remind my fingers when they're on the home keys (or not!). These little bumps were rather little, and hard to sense. So I just added a little thing (a textured tape) to make the bumps bigger, and now my fingers find the home keys without my having to look!

I'm a court reporter, and I either type on a qwerty keyboard or write on my steno machine every day. With that being said, I abuse and work my hands to the bone. I had been using an ergonomic Microsoft keyboard for years, until it finally died on me. I very last-minute bought a cheap normal keyboard until I could figure out what I really wanted. That was such a mistake, since I'm always typing. It took a toll on my hands, and I was starting to feel pain ALL the time, even when I slept. So I started searching until I came across this Kinesis keyboard. OMG. What a dream! The keys are so soft and comfortable. I love the split keyboard so I can position my hands and adjust as I get tired. I was skeptical at first, but we also have this style of steno machines, and people swear by them. So glad I took a chance and got this for myself! The pain subsided as soon as I started using this keyboard. It was a little strange at first, but I just told myself to not think about it and just type. It literally took me about 10 minutes to get used to it. I would recommend to anybody who types all day long!

I've been using this keyboard for the past week, and it has its pros and cons. Overall, I think it's a good product and it's a lot more comfortable than the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, that I had used for many years before switching to this model.Pros:-I ordered the keyboard with all the extra extensions – feet, wrist pads, etc. – and it came with all the parts already assembled, which I liked very much. It saved me the pain of handling all the parts and trying to figure out what goes where.-The 9inch gap between the two parts is wide enough for my arms (though I'm a pretty skinny person so perhaps bigger people will need the 20inch) and definitely minimizes the movement of the hands.-The option for three different angles is nice.-It took me about a day and a half to get used to the separation, and now I can already type on it in three different languages. Typing is very smooth and the keys feels nice under my fingers. However, I'm used to split-up keyboards, so if it's your first keyboard of that kind, it might take you a little longer to learn how to type smoothly and without mistakes. My wrist-pain-free coworkers who'd never used ergonomic keyboards in their lives sure struggled with it when I let them try…Cons:-It's pretty unstable. If I move the keyboard just slightly to adjust the position of my hand, the feet slide down and I have to lift them back up. I'm sure Kinesis could go with a little more stable design. Adjusting the height each time is really annoying and affects the flow of my work.-There are some shortcuts on the left side of the keyboard (copy, paste, delete), but not the arrows or the page-down/page-up buttons. These are only on the right. Which means that if I want to scroll down a page using the keyboard and not the mouse, I can use only my right fingers, and it puts a lot of stress on my right hand. I wish I had the option to scroll up and down with my left hand without moving it all the way to the right side of the keyboard. Considering most people are using a right-handed mouse, I think Kinesis should have taken that into account and put all the shortcuts on the left side, or on both sides so we can choose which hand to use.