Technology

I was the IT Director for a company that had a lot of data entry people. I had noticed that the keyboards that they were using were mostly plain jane, mismatched, membrane keyboards. After a bit of back and forth with purchasing I convinced the company to purchase a ton of mechanical (cherry reds), split ergonomic keyboards.

Within a month RSI reports were down by 95% and after 2 months were essentially nonexistent. I also noticed that people had stopped wearing wrist braces as well. I paired this with good, well shaped mice that would hopefully lead to less fatigue with repetitive motion.

My sample size is tiny, but there are 30 some odd people who if asked, would back me up on this. So while not thoroughly scientifically proven, I am willing to say that ergonomic keyboards do make a big difference. I think mechanical makes a pretty big difference too. Cherry reds activate with very little pressure and, imo, make typing long documents or notes much less annoying/stressful/painful/

@improbablynotarobot I own several split keyboards at this point and very much prefer them. I have RSI and it's much more comfortable to type and helps keep my wrists at a comfortable angle.

As for tenting I haven't experimented with it much, but I know that a lot of people swear by it.

I've been usung a Moonlander for a couple of months after a friend at work lent me his Ergodox EZ. The learning curve for someone who'd been trying freestyle for 30 years was tough, but I definitely prefer it now I'm accustomed.

Most ergo keyboard users are somewhat zealous, so if you know someone who uses one, they may be happy to lend you one on a temp basis.

While I do not use tenting or physically split keyboards, I have been using ergonomic split keyboards for ~16 years. Not sure if that exactly fits the category you are looking at.

The specific keyboards have been the Microsoft natural ergonomic keyboard 4000, Microsoft Sculpt, and Logitech ERGO K860. I've been gaming on the PC since the early 90s and have been in IT and software development for ~26 years.

I have had no issues with carpal tunnel or RSI. While I obviously cannot say it was 100% due to the split keyboard design I believe it has likely helped to keep those issues at bay. Once you are used to a split keyboard design you can feel the pitch and stress on your wrists when using a standard keyboard. I have also always used the riser that rises the wrist end of the keyboard so you fingers are sort of "falling" down toward the keys.

I used that Microsoft 4000 keyboard for years, cleaned out the membrane on it 2 or 3 times before I had to replace the entire keyboard. Then was left hunting for something to replace it; I tried a lot of keyboards. In the end I've settled on the Logitech K860.

I'm not a big fan. I am somewhat of an outsider with a preference for trackballs over mice, though. MX ERGO FTW

I've been using a Microsoft natural keyboard since 1998. I switched over to the Elite when they came out and I have several spares stockpiled. They helped a lot with the wrist comfort and honestly they improved by typing by enforcing which fingers press which keys.

I have a hard time using a straight keyboard, not because I can't adapt but because they're just plain uncomfortable. So when a thing hurts when you do it then you stop doing it. You'll see.

I printed out and mostly built a Dactyl keyboard but never got around to finishing it because work is super picky about what USB devices can be hooked up to our machines and QMK firmware will absolutely look like a mouse jiggler to their security scanning software. I had to unplug a frickin' volume knob because it was alerting every day as a security risk or something.

Have the Moonlander, love it. Watch Ben Valleck(spelling)‘s Videos.

I have a ReDox keyboard built by https://falba.tech/. It took a month of getting used to but once I did I can’t go back. My wrist pain is gone and the layers I built make me faster in practice than I was on a standard layout.

My first split was a Moonlander which I still have and use, and I love it. Then I got a Rollow and a Waterfowl (both on group buys) and I absolutely adore them.

It does take some reprogramming the muscle memory to get used to a split ortho, but it's been worth it. I can type longer without my wrists hurting, and the freedom in key customisation is awesome.

Using a split lets me keep my hands further apart, so my shoulders are back in a more natural position. That has helped quite a bit with upper back pain.

I tent the Moonlander, but not my other two. Tenting is really comfortable, but I'd recommend starting flat and increasing angle gradually since the split ortho is already a lot to get used to.

Switching to a split is also a good time to switch to another layout like colemak if you have any interest. Your fingers will be slightly confused anyway. Doing that helped me keep my QWERTY muscle memory for normal keyboards.

I’ve built several. They are worth every penny. Not only reduced pain in the hands, wrist, and forearms. Also in my shoulders. I’m a fairly wide human and split tented allows you to place the separate parts at a more natural distance for shoulder/arm width.

My mother eve ended up stealing my last build. She’s not complained since and travels with it for work.

I had an ergodox for a while. It was nice but it also did hurt more at the start but then I felt way better than with a normal keyboard. Are you experiencing RSI?

I started off with the quefrency, a split 'normal' keyboard, then started making my own (3d printed handwired) orthos.

Then I saw the alu case for iris and got tempted but am unwilling to drop >$300 on a layout I've never used before, so designed my own case with tilt and 3d printed and handwired that (all for ~£30 only!! split orthos CAN be cheap! - my first post on Lemmy was on this :D) And have been daily driving it so far

Column staggered is defo the way to go

I think they're very good if you use your computer for a whole lot of typing and nothing else. Using a DVORAK keyboard instead of a QWERTY one will also improve your WPM and QoL when typing, once you're used to it. If you're a writer or a programmer, it's worth considering.

But much like DVORAK vs QWERTY, any non-typing tasks become affected. It's awkward playing PC games, for example, when some of your shortcuts for inventory/map are far enough from your kb hand to need your mouse hand. You also don't have much range to choose from, so may have to make compromises on things like keypress feedback, simultaneous presses, unit price, etc.

I learned to touch-type on a tented keyboard with a mild split. When I replaced it, I got a 'Wave' keyboard - not split, but slightly tented, and had depressions and curves to match the wrist and the finger lengths at rest on the home row. Both of them were membrane keyboards (full-depth keypress). Despite being a membrane keyboard, the Wave was still as chunky and loud as most mechanical keyboards.

But now, I'm just using a generic full-length mechanical keyboard (partial keypress) with relatively quiet switches, one chosen as a good compromise between gaming (sensitivity) and typing (feedback). I've changed my resting position a little so that my wrists are still in an A shape (not an H shape), but I'm finding the keys much more comfortable.

The old ergonomic keyboards didn't give much choice and in hindsight the feedback on the keys on the Wave felt AWFUL compared to what I use now. A split/tent mechanical keyboard might be different, but then price becomes a consideration. Swapping to a mechanical keyboard made the biggest difference to my comfort typing. (And don't let tall/loud keys fool you - not every chunky keyboard is mechanical.)

I bought a moonlander by ZSA about a year ago.

I found the split allows for a much more relaxed position while writing, and being able to adjust the halves individually when I reposition myself is very comfortable.

They also have the benefit of having thumb clusters, giving more work to the strongest finger of the hand.

Another benefit I find is that most split keyboards are fully programmable, which makes customizing it to your needs very nice.

The only drawback I find to this keyboard (apart from the price, which is not cheap) is that it is hefty, and not easy to transport. The fact that it is wired clutters a bit the desktop, if this is something that concerns you.

I recently built a corne low profile yo have something more transportable and wireless, but this is much more involved, as the configuration goes through writing code and not a nice UI.

However the comfort of this new board is very nice.

There was a whole subreddit dedicated to ergonomcal keyboards, ErgoMechKeyboards, which is very interesting to browse, as what I have done is seen as extreme by my coworkers, but tame compared to what some people are do.

It takes a little getting used to, but once you're flowing on a split with colemak-dh it feels very natural.

I can’t get by without my lineages advantage 360 pro. It’s a ridiculous keyboard but the only one I’ve ever tried that hasn’t caused my arm to get inflamed after a days typing.

I’ve been trying so hard to get one, sadly where I live, this category is basically nonexistent.

More anecdata, but 10-15 years ago I started getting RSI/carpal tunnel symptoms in both hands. I switched to tented keyboards (mainly Kinesis) and vertical mice (Anker among others) and the symptoms went away. I was able to finish out a programming career until I retired a few years ago. So thumbs-up from me. If you're on a Mac, the Kinesis Freestyle is perfectly plug & play. I would recommend checking out a vertical mouse at the same time.

I've used the ergodox ez for a couple of years, great device. Doing more with thumb is surprisingly convenient.

The small poles didn't do a lot of tenting. I came from yogitype (vertical keyboard), would have liked more.

A few months ago i switched to kinesis 360. Love the tenting of that, the keys are also a pleasure to type on.

Biggest downside is that my laptop keyboard is now even more horrible.

I want a split, but I cannot yet justify buying another mech board. I've got three currently, and I use one at work, one on my personal PC, and one on my workstation/server machine. I may be able to justify it in the future if my arms/hands start hurting.

It makes a lot of sense to me, although I haven't jumped on one yet.

But I refuse to use anything but a 65%, I have a seperate numpad if I need one and having mouse and keyboard closer together is already a godsend ergonomics wise, I have no idea how I could stand full size boards back in the day.

A split keyboard is already great because your arms can be in a normal position and proper tenting and tilt makes sure your wrists are at a good angle as well.

That said, most of the more "advanced" split keyboards have pretty.. unique layouts and I don't know if I'll get used to them. I also really want to keep my arrow keys and don't want to rely on layers too much, for stuff like the F keys and other rarely used functions it's fine but I don't want layers for anything that's a regular part of my workflow.

Maybe I'll just get a quefrency and see how it goes.

I have the Dygma Raise, helped alleviate shoulder issues and RSI

I built a wireless Kyria keyboard late last year and love it. I went with LEDs and OLEDS (not recommended, I basically have to leave both halves plugged in if I want to use them).

They are a lot more comfortable to use than a standard keyboard IMO.

I don’t have experience with either, but I find a keyboard tray with negative tilt very helpful ergonomically. (That is, the space bar is elevated relative to the F-keys, in contrast to the “normal” tilt of keyboards.) It’s far easier for me to keep my wrists in a neutral position with one. It might be a great compliment to a split keyboard if you opt for one.

Getting comfortable with the ZSA Moonlander was a painfull process, you lose all muscle memory. But once you are comfortable with it, you'll never want to go back to a non ergo keyboard again.

I've used a variety of split keyboards for a good number of years now, and it has made an enormous difference to the hand pain that was just starting before I switched, and also to my posture. I tried tenting too, but never really got comfy with that. I found that tenting helped me more when using higher profile split boards (i.e. with MX switches), but I preferred not tenting with low profile (Choc) switches. It's worth getting a board with the potential to tent though, as it is a very individual thing and you never know what will work best for you.

For reference, I am not a gamer, and try to avoid using the mouse as much as possible.

My personal experience and opinions on split keyboards is a bit different than those that have already commented.

I daily drove a Lilly58 for about two years. Switching to the ortho layout took some effort, but not enough to be a deterrent. And with capable and customizable firmware, any keys that were missing on my layout were made easily accessible with layers.

Having a wider shoulder stance felt nice. And being able to adjust the rotation of the boards on any given day to accommodate my posture felt good too.

However, there were a couple of factors that eventually got to me and caused me to switch back to a TKL.

First was the dynamics between mouse and keyboard. I use a mouse with my right hand. Grabbing a mouse then quickly switching my left hand to the right split was awkward. And hovering my hand over the center of the keyboard was not possible. I tried adding a trackball between the two halves and switching hands as needed, but getting my left hand to cooperate was a much bigger hurdle than I expected.

Second was the lack of hand movement. (I think what most find to be a benefit.). Over time I found that my hands would get tired and I would start making a lot more mistakes while typing. It took a while to figure out, but stretching my fingers to reach things like the function row and using my pinkies to reach for the standard modifiers actually gave me a reason to move my arms and wrists and not hold them in the same position for long periods of time. For me, maintaining position and the lack of movement was far more fatiguing then the stretching.

I don’t doubt for a minute that splits are great and that there are benefits to using them. I just think that how much benefit is very personal to the individual using them.

I use a BFO-9000 and I love it! Although its an ortholinear layout so if you went for it it'd probably take some time to get used to.

I started off getting a Dygma Raise, as this is a staggered layout like a standard keyboard and you could even slot it together or separate it and use as a split.

I recently put together a Lily58 which is a columnar layout, which took a few days to get used to but I have been enjoying using it.

I use the Logitech ergonomic keyboard at work and love it. It does take some getting used to but it is definitely a more comfortable typing experience.

I built a Lily58 keyboard a couple years ago, and I love it. Coincidentally enough, I posted about it today on another thread about mechanical keyboards on yet another server.

But I love how it turned out. It’s super comfy, and I actually enjoy that I can put that keyboard around another keyboard I use for my ipad. So during the day while working I can still use my ipad easily. Super nice.

Here’s a link to the image I posted with that thread:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9184e3ce-60e3-443c-921b-8302d2a46bfb.jpeg

I built myself an Iris (v6 iirc) and I love it to pieces. I painted mine rainbow!

I’m running a 40% split at work, and I’ve noticed a massive difference in back pain at the end of a long day. Having the shoulders open and rolled back improves my posture and has made a world of difference to me.

i have an ergodox and its good, but my kinesis advantage is noticably easier on my hands

I went from regular keyboards to split qwerty for a while. Which was nice but still felt a bit clunky. I then built a Lily58 and daily drove it for about 2 years. I did this mostly out of curiosity because I never had any pain issues, back or wrists or anything. What happens is now I noticed how uncomfortable regular keyboards are, when I have to use the laptop keyboard. It is very good to control tenting with the split form factor. I then switched to a Corne because it's smaller and I travel quite a lot. I also changed to a colemak layout and boy, that switch was hard (decades of typing qwerty, muscle memory, etc). It is much more comfortable to type though.

If you’re not looking to tinker, the Logitech Ergo K860 is a great keyboard. I had to swap to an ergo keyboard due to wrist issues and it really helped. However, I’m a sucker for mech keyboards (& clickies) so I ended up building an Iris. I don’t have it tented, the ortho + split is enough for me. It took some time to get used to swapping layers but after a while it all becomes muscle memory. I can definitely recommend a split keeb! Iris with KAT Milkshake and Kailh Box Whites