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Comment by kross | Hacker News Reader

Originally bought because of wrist pain, I've had the kinesis advantage for 16 years, I'm on my third one and I've worn out keys on each one from so much use. Luckily they shipped me new switches for free and allowed me to switch the myself (at my request due to timing). Fantastic service and product. I really do wear them out.

With that said, all three exhibited the sticky modifier problem. I'm used to it but it always made me wonder if the internals were going bad.

In March I preordered https://shop.keyboard.io

I'll be very interested to compare, and if it isn't as good or better, I won't hesitate to order the updated kinesis advantage.

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That looks sort of interesting, but as a programmer, the awkward positioning of tab and return, and the need to use modifier keys to get the directional arrows, {}, and [] just completely kills it for me.

No modifier keys necessary for the directional arrows, if you mean the ones that move the cursor? They're under your pointer and middle finger on each side. Having return key (and backspace, space, and mod keys) always directly under your strongest fingers ends up feeling really natural and efficient, in my experience.

I was talking about the https://shop.keyboard.io thingy.

The firmware is open source and you should be able to remap the tab, return and any other key you'd like anywhere you please.

My experience with remapping my mind to the Advantage2 keyboard was that it took a week to be reasonably usable, and a month before I was back to my normal flow. All wrist pain gone. It is really nice to have many of your most used keys on your thumbs instead of your pinkies.

All keys are remap-able. I have moved the arrows to the left.

And yes it takes time getting used to. I am faster on regular keyboards.

But with this one I don't have pain.

I'm in the exact same situation and have been pondering that keyboard also. Do you plan on doing a write up after you get it?

My experience is the same. Their firmware is terrible but the keyboard is good, if not very overpriced.

They're certainly expensive ($350), but no-one who finds it helps with their Carpal Tunnel (like me) would say it's overpriced. Think of its price in the context of medical devices :)

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