If you have been using an ergonomic mechanical keyboard for more than year, let us know which keyboard it is, and whether you plan to keep to keep using it for at least another year or if there’s another keyboard you are considering trying instead.
Keyboardio Model 01 since release until Model 100 came out, then I switched to that asap for the nicer switches and have been happy with it ever since.
Love them both. Very reliable, especially the newer model, the 01 needed some occasional switch de-dusting.
The only downside is that there is no way to get custom labeled keycaps except for manufacturing them yourself somehow.
I got my Sofle V2 in 2022 as a job change present for myself. I’ve since changed jobs again, but the Sofle V2 continues to be the keyboard I bring into office.
For a long time I was just bringing it into work in the box it came in, but during the job change period, I bought some fabric, an Apple TV (gen 2) travel case and replaced the moulded foam with a fabric base. Had to do a fair bit of sewing but the result has been pretty great.
It gets a lot of curious comments in the office, and I’ve gotten fairly proficient at Colemak DHm. I’m planning on upgrading the microcontrollers so I can enable tapdance soonish.
I’ve been using Zilpzalp basically exclusively for over a year, at this point I don’t think I’ll ever find a more comfortable board :)
Now that you’ve been using this for awhile, how is your typing speed? Or is your preference for it more about comfort and enjoyment?
It’s definitely about comfort, but i’ve also never been faster on any other board. Gotta admit I’m not a fast typist, with around 80wpm.
that’s what your board should feel like, right. also same, except for splaytoraid of course. I don’t use anything else anymore.
I’ve used it for a few years and don’t plan to change unless something with an integrated trackball comes along at a decent price. Maybe the Naya but $700 is too much. 💰💸
It moves the micro controller to the pinky zone to free up more pointer finger keys. I love the Choco thumb clusters too.
I also use a Cornish Zen for when I’m in the office or away from my battle station.
This looks similar to the Corne V4, which supports 4 additional interior keys.
Yeah pretty similar indeed. Might have been a tough choice if v4 was available way back when I built mine.
I do hope more keyboards offer choc thumbs too. It’s pretty comfy to rest them just a bit lower.
- I was a 60% guy until I borrowed (stole? I still have it) a Kensis Advantage from a coworker.
- Not long after I built a couple Ergodox (Hotdox). I used all 76 keys for about 5 years.
- I built a beautiful wireless Ergodox with a metal case and solar charging (SliceMK) that I have basically never used :/
- For the last year and a half I’ve used a dactyl manuform (Wylder) that I soldered with ameba king per key pcbs. 39 keys (I don’t use a few) + a trackball.
I don’t see myself changing anytime soon, auto mouse layer is amazing. I have a Draculad PCB and case but no real reason to build it since I wfh.
The only keyboard that solved all my wrist pain was the Kinesis Advantage Pro, which I learned alongside Colemak. Love the keyboard, and if it broke I’d buy it again tomorrow without hesitation.
I used an ErgoDox for years. I wasn’t thrilled with the switches, and I wanted more stagger.
For the past few months I’ve been using a Piantor. I’ve learned:
- Thin is sexy, but I still haven’t found anything I loved as much as buckling springs, and maybe I should have opted for less sexy, but more tactile, than what’s available in Choc
- I really need to focus on a bat-wing style, connected keyboard next time. While the sides don’t slide around much, it really bugs me when they aren’t exactly where I expect them to be.
- I need more tenting; the tenting option(s) on the ErgoDox was good.
- 42 keys is just a few too few for me.
I’m a fairly fast touch typist, and while I loved the chording for, eg, the num pad, I have to have too many keys under layers and I can’t quite get the QMK settings tuned such that I’m either not getting a layer switch fast enough, or I’m getting them unexpectedly.
I think part of my problem is something the author of kanata found out and corrected for: I sometimes type a following key before fully releasing a previous key, which gets interpreted by QMK and kmonad as a layer switch (and, with 42 keys, almost every key is doing double duty). I suspect I can make QMK do what I want, but there are a lot of knobs and it can be hard to tell what to adjust.
Anyway, I think next time I’ll go for less thin, max tactile, more connected halves, at least a couple more keys on each side; I miss those center thumb keys on the ErgoDox. Same stagger. I’m going to have to solve the QMK programming either way.
You might like cocot46plus, although only one vendor in Japan seems it have it.
Also check out the Vulpes Majora by Fingerpunch.
Thanks! I thought you asked your question for a different reason.
Why did you ask your OP? Just curious.
There are a lot ZOMG posts about just-built keebs. That’s a moment worth celebrating, but I was curious which designs people actually stick with.
I’m enjoying seeing the differences and similarities in what people are posting.
I’d been wanting a new keyboard for a while, mainly to get better tactile switches and more aggressive stagger. But I tried to swap some keycaps on my ErgoDox and broke a switch, and that was enough to justify a new keyboard. I’m sticking with the Piantor for a while because I don’t want to afford to drop $250 on keyboards every few months. So, in my case, I’m sticking with it for financial reasons, not “in love with” reasons.
I do like the better programmability, tho. Definite win, although kanata certainly filled that need adequately.
(Yah, I’m answering twice)
cocot46plus looks fantastic; I do like to have that extra pinky column. Plus, I recently forced myself to convert to a trackball, and having one in the middle there is appealing. I also have a PowerMate that the knob could replace - just about perfect!
The Vulpe Majoris might be even better, since I have large hands and the more aggressive stagger is not comfortable for me. And also a trackball option; these are both fantastic suggestions, thank you!
I’ve been using a moonlander for a couple years now. I love it, but I’ve been toying with the idea of building my own with a trackball in the thumb cluster
I’ve been rocking a technik with purpz and mbk legends for about 2 years now, will probably stick with it until it gives out and replacement parts are no longer available. Low pro, hotswap, metal case, LEDs (never use them though), etc, it’s great imo. My raise and lower layers are heavily riced for both my wm (bspwm) and having all my common programming symbols easily accessible.
I’ve been wanting to switch to a staggered low pro split board for ergo reasons but haven’t had much time to look unfortunately
I built a Sofle RGB a couple years ago, and loved it so much I built a second for work.
Then I made a dactyl manuform mini (6 x 4) because I could make the key layout pretty much match the Sofles.
I didn’t really like dactyl at first, with Amazon’s cheapest XDA keycaps, but when I replaced them with something more interesting, CSA they were called, I was a lot happier.If I had used quieter switches on the dactyl, that would be my work keyboard. But as it is I’ve got my work Sofle tented to maybe 15 degrees or so and really love it!
I don’t see any good reason to change, and wind up swapping between the Sofle and the Dactyl at home depending on the application. Dactyl is terrible for gaming, but way more fun if I’m doing a long coding session.
I’ve been using the Piantor by Beekeeb for over a year now. I started with the 42 key version, but after a time broke off the outer columns and am using 32 keys.
I’d really only change my daily driver to go wireless, with something like the Chocofi.
That’s not to say I don’t dabble with smaller keyboards just for fun 😊 I use a 16-key on and off, but I’m not very fast on it yet.
I’ve been using a Kinesis Advantage for over a decade now. I’ve tried most of the ergo options out there and I keep coming back to the Advantage. It’s the only one that gets the thumb keys right in my opinion.
I currently run a heavily modified version done by the guys at Upgrade Keyboards.
Been using a Matias Ergo Pro for several years now. Love the chonky CTRL, OPTION, CMD and Spacebar keys.
Before purchase, I read reviews that some of the keys would tend to stick. Indeed, after a few months, the ‘F’ key decided that it was going to work according to its own plan. So the reviews were right. A good keyboard if they would just fix their d*mn key issues.
Working on building a new custom keyboard to replace it.
Are you able to pop off the keycaps and see what’s going on underneath the sticking key?
I’ll try that.
I use a moonlander absolutely love it. Been using it for ~3 years. I have no plans on changing this keyboard. Ive macros on it to manage a lot of my tmux and ssh sessions which makes server admin a breeze. Only minor problem I have with this keyboard is I have never used the left big red button, could probably add a macro there for something though.
I’ve been using my 34 key ferris sweep for a couple of years now and I love it.
I have a charybdis nano that I need to wire up, it makes me really appreciate the tighter choc spacing on the sweep, that and the low profile keys are doing a lot for comfort IMO
