Pair it with an Evoluent mouse or similar vertical mouse for a great setup.
Yes I need to move my hand to it, but much less so than with a traditional mouse on the side setup.
Maybe you are aware, but it is possible to configure a layer to include mouse controls directly on the keys: https://i.imgur.com/5x3YTg6.png
I use this a lot and this prevents me from having to reach for the mouse to do trivial stuff.
TLDR: I think the most important part of my setup is that it's easy to navigate to and from the mouse layer. The EZ has two large thumb keys on each hand, and I use one on the left hand to get to the mouse layer and one on the right to get to the home layer. I don't use these keys for anything else, so there's nothing confusing about this. With this as the foundation, the muscle memory to tap each one depending on which layer you need to be on quickly becomes second nature. The mouse layer is central to my configuration, not an afterthought!
I'll list a few of the strategies I use:
- Have the mouse navigation keys basically on the home row or WASD-like configuration on the mouse layer.
- Have a dedicated mouse wheel layer with the same navigation layout (getting to this one doesn't have to be as serious as the mouse layer itself; I use a TO on the mouse layer).
- Make sure you can apply modifiers to mouse clicks and wheel movements. You'd be surprised how often you do this.
- As far as configuring acceleration, speed, etc.: It's a balancing act of tweaking. The defaults are a good place to start. Don't forget to include the operating system's speed configuration in your tweaking. It helps a lot if you can read code. The corresponding file/section in the QMK firmware is short.
- Make use of speed-clamp-acceleration-keys for detail movement and high-speed monitor switching. MK_COMBINED makes the slowest acceleration key as slow as possible.
Ultimately, I think it's "better" than a mouse because you don't have to context switch between the keyboard and a mouse. There's a split second of cognitive load replacing your hands on the keyboard that breaks down whatever mental architecture you've built to solve your problem-of-the-moment. Avoiding this load is a compounding benefit. I used to keep a mouse around in case I needed it; this has never happened.
YMMV but getting those hands spread apart to push the shoulders back and getting 30% less finger travel were major helps for me. My wife made the same switch and says similar.