I have used several split keyboards. The matias ergo pro, the ergodox ez and finally the Kinesis gaming k975. Honestly the kinesis so far is hands down the best. Matias was great at the start but the pads are expensive to replace and repairs were difficult. Not only that but the non standard switches meant that as soon as one went I had to buy expensive switches from matias and look at opening up the keyboard myself.
Couldn't get used to the layout of the ergodox even though it was very nice.
The kinesis hits all the marks an is incredibly programmable.
> Couldn't get used to the layout of the ergodox even though it was very nice.
Different tastes I suppose. Coming from having previously been using a TypeMatrix 2030 USB for many years, the ortholinear key placement of the ErgoDox EZ, which on top of that is also similar in having two big buttons in the middle that I could use as backspace and enter like I had on the TypeMatrix 2030 USB, is the exact reason that I chose the ErgoDox EZ when in 2017 I decided to switch to a mechanical keyboard.
The programmability of the ErgoDox EZ meant that I was even able to create a layout that closely resembled the Dvorak layout of the aforementioned keyboard that I had previously been using. Over time I have made additional tweaks, moving a few keys around to be more comfortable and removing keys that I weren’t using.
One thing I am still looking to improve is how I do with numeric input. Also my brace keys still have potential for a better solution.
Even if I don’t figure out an improvement for those two things it’s pretty damn good though.
Last time I commented about this someone talked about chording, and I think they might be correct that going that way would be a good way to further improve things. Just haven’t taken myself the time to work out how I want chording to be like and when to set of time for looking into that.
Couldn't get used to the layout of the ergodox even though it was very nice.
The kinesis hits all the marks an is incredibly programmable.