The point is that it is simply impossible to type on a traditional keyboard without some degree of discomfort, because you just can’t get your limbs into a pain-free position. With the Kinesis Advantage, you can. Then there's the giant space between the two keywells, and the massive palm rests. The keyboard tries to put your arms at about shoulder width to encourage a more open posture and help prevent shoulder problems. The palm rest raises your hand into a position where your fingers actually sit below your palms, removing some of the strain from flexing your wrists. The thumb clusters were such a game changer for me they get their own section of the review. Thumbs are an incredibly strong finger and well positioned to perform tasks on a keyboard, but the normal keyboard only assign them one key: the big-ass spacebar. What if that spacebar were smaller? What could we move down to the thumbs to make them more effective? What if we could reduce the load on the weakest finger (the pinky) and reduce the number of wrist contortions necessary to do actions like copy-and-paste? How much happier would your wrists be? The Kinesis Advantage 2 sitting at my desk last winter. Also just like other ergonomic keyboards, the Advantage has a “ tented” design. This means that both halves of the keyboard have a gently upwards slope starting with your little fingers and progressively rising as you move towards the index fingers. Again this allows for a more natural position of wrists and shoulders. The keys are arranged in vertical columns (rather than staggered) to better reflect the natural motion of your fingers.

If you are spending a large amount of your day using a computer you will invariably be using a keyboard to interact and fulfil your duties. Standard keyboards aren’t suitable for sustained use and can lead to various health and posture problems. Ideally, an ergonomic keyboard will be chosen to replace your standard computer keyboard so you can work in comfort, safely and efficiently. The Advantage2 is available with a standard US layout or German, Swedish, Japanese and UK country-specific layouts (see image gallery for layouts). The only programability feature that I have really used is the ability to switch between QWERTY and Dvorak keyboard layouts automatically. This allows you take your keyboard anywhere and type in Dvorak whether your employer feels like installing that keyboard layout on your machine or not.

Weight

Select your trigger key or key combination (lights will lights will flash slowly). Up to two modifiers may be used as “co-triggers” in concert) The Advantage 2 also lets you easily remap keys, define macros and much else besides. I haven’t had enough time with the latest iteration to play much with the new features.

But after you get your Advantage 2, there is quite a bit of key mapping you can do. If you want, you can rebind keys directly from the keyboard. It will then save off the modifications to its internal storage device and have it available to use going forward. I personally moved all the arrows keys around to one side of the keyboard, but left the rest of the keys untouched. It was extremely easy and intuitive to switch keys from the keyboard itself. If the Keypad LED will not illuminate, the keyboard is not getting power. First try plugging the keyboard in to a different USB port on the computer. If that doesn’t solve the problem, try a different computer if you have one available. Separating the key-wells positions the arms at shoulder-width to keep wrists straight and perpendicular to the home row. Typing with straight wrists is essential in avoiding injuries because it reduces abduction and ulnar deviation which can lead to pain and injury. In time I guess we will see non US versions of the 360 as well, but it seems that could be some time for that and patience might not be my best ability.Basic cleaning should be performed regularly by using compressed air to remove any loose debris in the key wells. The key wells have been scooped into a concave shape which means hands and fingers are able to relax into a natural posture, curled down towards the keys. Key heights are varied to match differing finger lengths which shortens keyboard reach and reduces over-extension. The home row of keys is colour coded and sculpted so you can find them without taking your eyes off the screen. The Advantage2 (KB600 model) utilizes the Cherry MX Brown stem low-force tactile key switches. “Tactility” is a slightly elevated force around the midpoint of the stroke of the key which lets you know the switch is about to be activated. A tactile response is preferred by many ergonomists, because it cues your fingers that activation is about to occur and can reduce the frequency of “bottoming out” the switch with a hard impact. Mechanical keyboards are stereotypically quite loud. They are certainly louder than most keyboards in offices these days, but that's because modern office keyboards tend to be made of rubber or silicon. Mechanical switches have plastic and metal parts that run into each other and typically come in larger chassis with larger keycaps. All of this leads to more noise.

And then there's my favorite feature of all: the home row keycaps. The main keycaps are made out of a smooth ABS plastic. The home row is not only a different color and shape from the other keycaps, but a different plastic altogether. The PBT they used for these is a very different texture from the rest of the keycaps and makes it trivial to find the home row without looking. For a company trying to get you to touch type, these kinds of features make things just that little bit nicer to adjust to. The blue home row keys are rougher and shaped differently. Comfort Thumb clusters are so amazing that I've spent quite a bit of effort trying to get more out of them. What if I could trigger the numpad from the thumb cluster and avoid the number row? What if things like the = could live closer to the homerow instead of living up in the corner of the keywell? The thumb clusters are so effective that I've tried to rethink everything I thought I knew about keyboard layouts in the past. And that's kind of it, as far as I'm aware. The only other competitors that I know of are custom-built by enthusiasts. And I only know of 1 of those designs, the Dactyl Manuform, that has concave keywells. The Kinesis keyboards are not for everyone. I would always wonder why people would use Advantage2. I've seen countless times in conferences or meetups people would bring with them. It was absurd, and I thought people were crazy. My thoughts on this changed dramatically when I started using Advantage2 last year. The moment I put my hands on the Kinesis Advantage2, I knew it was something I would use for years to come.

Manuals

Quantitatively, there's no real difference in typing speed between this keyboard and my laptop keyboard, or any other keyboard that I've tested in recent memory. I type at around 110 words per minute on Monkeytype with every keyboard I own (after an adjustment period for each), so I'm not setting any records but I'm also no slouch. Gaming The integrated palm supports reduce stressful bending of the wrists and provide a convenient place to rest your hands when you are not actively typing. Self-adhesive, cushioned palm pads (included) can be attached for maximum comfort. Just like lesser “ergonomic” keyboards such as Microsoft’s much loved, but ultimately very half-hearted attempts, the Advantage is “ split“, meaning that each hand gets its own separate area and both are physically separated.