KINESIS Gaming Freestyle Edge RGB Split Mechanical Keyboard | Cherry MX Linear Red Switches | RGB | Ergonomic | Detachable Palm Support | Fully Programmable | TKL | Available Tenting

After a month with this keyboard, Im really in love with it. I came from have a Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop keyboard, and this replace that keyboard nicely. However, the 6 key is on the wrong side of the keyboard!!! Its not too bad relearning how to touch type, but man is that annoying and really making that index finger hammer our 666,666,666.666. The second is the tenting costs another $35 dollars, and thats the main feature that makes this competitive with other cheaper ergo keyboards, well and the silver switches which feel nice. I do love how the #6 macro key is close enough to the Caps that my pinkie is close to it. As a big vimmer, the escape key is a bit further away, so Ive mapped the macro key to ESC, which I use alongside Ctrl+[. I swapped Right Ctrl to Caps, but on the OS side, not the keyboard software. That remap seemed to cause the caps lock light to just get stuck on. Normally, I would buy two matching keyboards, one for home, and the other for the office, but at the price this keyboard and necessary tenting accessory sit at, Ive just resorted to shoving the keyboard in my backpack. The fact that its split does slightly help with portability, but its not even close to competing with a 60% in that category.

Its counterintuitive but springy mechanical keys can lead to more ergonomic typing for some people. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that each key pops your finger back up as you touch-type(?) Im using the MX Brown, and honestly would probably be happier with even less resistant keys (i.e. MX Silver). I cant imagine using MX Blue but maybe you want a forearm (and eardrum) workout... The bigger advantage is probably the split design. Combine it with the tenting kit (Id recommend the one that lets you keep the wristpad supports). The ability to shift the keyboard segment distance and angle makes for much more comfortable typing. There are some drawbacks: Of course, mechanical keyboards are noisier. I dont find this to be a problem in a home/small office, but you might not want a bunch of these clacking in the same room as you. The other drawback (unless you have really long fingers) is that you lose comfortable access to some keys that are common for coding & technical typing. This is a LARGE keyboard and Control, Backspace, Home thru PgDwn, and the arrow keys are a bit of a stretch. And there is no numeric keypad (which Ive always preferred for arrow key and Home thru PgDwn use). There isnt really a solution to this that still leaves room on your desk to use a mouse though. This keyboard doesnt magically solve that problem but Im not aware of one that does. Finally there is the fact that mechanical keyboards are sold as gaming devices--which I dont understand. Sure, the RGB lighting and key programming abilities are top notch. But Im not sure why youd want to use a mechanical keyboard for gaming--or any activity that requires you to press-and-hold keys. The added force required to hold down keys makes this slightly uncomfortable. A final comment: my keyboards onboard memory got corrupted at one point--I could type but not use the software or lighting. The fix is easy but NOT documented on the website or the manual which is a shame. The solution--which you will get if you contact tech support--is to reformat the little 4MB onboard drive (K in this command-line example): format k: /fs:fat /a:512 /q. Then unplug and replug in the keyboard. Kinesis probably doesnt want non-technical types formatting things, but do many non-technical people buy $200 keyboards? Bottom line: if you like mechanical keyboards, this is a great one. Id honestly recommend it for conventional touch-typists as much as gamers. If youre coding, it will take some getting used to and you might even want to add a separate keypad if you can figure out where to fit that on your desk.

Programmer here, writer of design docs, etc. Not a gamer. My old Microsoft Natural 4K encountered some coffee one day, and I had to get another ergonomic keyboard. This was one of the few ergonomic & mechanical keyboards on the market; one of the extremely few from a reputable company. I chose the Blue variant, along with the lift kit, etc. This keyboard is very nice. I do miss the curvature of the MSN4K, but other than that, it provides almost the same experience. The feedback provided by the Blue keys is much nicer than most of the membrane keys on the market; I dont regret purchasing it at all. I did have a customer support issue (PEBCAK, turns out), and their Twitter rep was very helpful. I appreciate that, a lot! The RGB system is mostly tacky, I found a reasonably pleasing pattern. I havent gone deep into the macro system: its not something I care about generally speaking. I do note that the split design is a bit funky, I have to adjust both sides of the keyboard just so, or I wind up with a host of illegible characters. The primary ergonomic issue with this keyboard is the location of the arrow keys; my hands have to force down to manipulate the arrows. Ive appropriately remapped my editors to handle key actions, but its pretty frustrating having keys that arent sustainable to be regularly and at speed. I anticipate that this will be my daily driver for a long time.

I bought this keyboard not for gaming but for its ergonomics, as someone whose wrists had become sore from typing a lot every day. I should say right away that a big plus of this keyboard is that the soreness in both wrists and some fingers disappeared almost immediately upon my using this keyboard, so its ergonomic design definitely helped me. I use the keyboard with its optional lift kit set to a 10 degree angle. (I think anyone using this keyboard for ergonomics needs to buy the lift/tilt kit.) I also place the two keyboard halves about a shoulder-width apart so my arms and wrists are about perpendicular to the edge of the table. I find the large palm rests sturdy and quite comfortable and I have no trouble typing for many hours without strain or pain. So a great job to the engineers for making a well designed, comfortable to use, reliable keyboard. But the big plus is balanced by a big negative which is that, even after two months of steady use and despite a lot of tinkering with the Kinesis software that lets one remap keys and adjust responses of keys (see below), my typing speed is still way below (about half) of my typing speed on my previous keyboard, and I continue to make many typing errors that are mainly related to having mapped the Ctrl modifier key to a long-press of the thumb keys. I should point out that, before using this Kinesis keyboard, I have used Thinkpad keyboards for many years as my favorite keyboard. I am also an experienced and fast touch typist on standard keyboards. I feel that four changes, in decreasing order of priority, would change this good keyboard into a great ergonomic keyboard: 1. Split the large space key of each keyboard half into two separate keys, giving four keys altogether that the thumbs could type. It would also be better to place the split thumb keys along a short arc of the thumb so one thumb key is a little bit to the right and closer to the wrist pad on the left keyboard half, and similarly for the right keyboard half. (Just splitting the thumb key in half as it currently exists would not be as ergonomic.) Two of these four thumb keys could then be mapped to modifier keys like control or shift, and perhaps the delete key could also be mapped to one, leaving a remaining thumb key for space. Having just one key under each thumb is a greatly missed opportunity to make the keyboard more ergonomic since the ctrl, Shift, Del keys are badly placed on most keyboards (activated by the weak pinky finger). I use emacs heavily for writing and coding and so having quick easy ergonomic ways to touch ctrl and to hit the Esc key are especially important for me. 2. Use half-height short-travel non-mechanical keys or even a mouse-click switch under the four thumb keys so that the thumb keys can be activated as rapidly as possible, with the least amount of travel. (Thumbs are strong but slow.) This is crucial for fast accurate typing if modifier keys like ctrl and Shift are to be activated by the thumbs. My most common error on the Kinesis keyboard is not pressing the thumb fast enough to ctrl or Shift another key. 3. Offer a version of this keyboard that uses half-height non-mechanical shorter-travel silent dome-based switches (similar to what Lenovo uses in its Thinkpad keyboards) for ALL of the keys. After trying several different mechanical keyboards like the Kinesis, I found that I simply type faster and more enjoyably with high-quality non-mechanical low-height quiet keys. (And it doesnt hurt that dome-based keys are nearly completely quiet, no clacking of the mechanical keys that can bother other people or that are heard while talking on the phone.) I think the ergonomic keyboard market is big enough to justify this choice economically, although I would guess many gamers would prefer mechanical keys. 4. Modify the Kinesis software to allow long-press overloading of keys for all keys (see below for more details) and to allow simple chords (say press 2 keys simultaneously to create a letter or to emulate Shift, Alt, Ctrl). Right now, the software allows a secondary long-press only on non-alphabetical keys like the space bars, Shift, CAPS, etc. But it would be extremely useful to allow long-presses on letters under the stronger faster fingers (letters d and f on the left, j and k on the right) so that, say, long-pressing an f on the left would be a ctrl modifier for the right keyboard letters, long-pressing a j on the right would be a ctrl modifier for left keyboard letters, and similarly long-pressing d or k would Shift the letters on the opposite keyboard half. If well implemented, this software fix would also get rid of the need to have multiple thumb keys. Since I believe the keyboard can be completely remapped configured in software, I just dont understand why Kinesis wont provide more flexibility for remapping, including providing some simple chords. The user can simply decide whether or not to take advantage of this more greater remapping capability. Here are some other miscellaneous comments: - To avoid making it too hard to switch back and forth between the Kinesis keyboard and my laptop keyboard (or using another desk keyboard when traveling), this is how I remapped just a few keys of my Kinesis keyboard (using the SmartSet app that works on MacOS or Windows but not Linux), especially to make it fast and easy to use when in the emacs editor: I used the Tap-and-Hold feature to add a secondary feature (long-press) to left space bar: short tap is space, long-press is ctrl right space bar: short tap is space, long-press is ctrl CAPS: short tap is Esc, long-press is ctrl (because I remap CAPS to ctrl on my regular keyboards) ;: key: short tap is Esc, long-press is Shift (so I dont have to move my right pinky for Shift) right Shift: is now the ;: key (a lower frequency key) But, again, using a long-press under the thumb keys for ctrl makes the timing difficult for activating the ctrl key quickly so is a major source of typing errors. This would be avoided by splitting each current thumb key into two separate keys (four thumb keys in all) since ctrl could be directly mapped to two of these thumb keys, also use a much shorter stroke to activate the thumb key. Or use simple chords for Shift, Alt, Ctrl like the original Fingerworks keyboard. Note: the SmartApp and the programming language allows one to adjust the number of milliseconds that have to pass for a long-press to be detected instead of a tap but I could not find a timing that removed my typing errors. I am using 250 ms for a long-tap detection. The extra thumb keys would also allow DEL to be mapped to a thumb, or simple chord like f and j pressed simultaneously could be mapped to DEL if the software were slightly modified. The DEL key on the Kinesis keyboard is really badly placed, far from the main row. - The IOS version of the SmartSet app works only on a large screen Mac, not on a Mac laptop, which is quite frustrating and should be fixed. - change firmware so lighting doesnt turn on and stay on when FN key is used, rather annoying. - redesign the plastic key caps so that the secondary characters are more clearly visible and readable when keyboard lit. Currently, secondary characters are dark when keyboard is lit. - add a 2nd B key to right side of keyboard so B can be typed with either hand. There is room for an extra B key on the right keyboard half. - a warning to future users: the Kinesis keyboard takes up a lot of desk space when the two halves are spread apart at shoulder width, there is little room to refer to documents on the table. Also tricky is where to place a mouse. Between the keyboard halves works but it is awkward to reach in between the keyboard halves over and over again. Maybe implement a Thinkpad-like finger mouse, so one can do some mousing without moving hands off the keyboard? - The tilt kit is overpriced as two simple pieces of plastic, although it is well designed. If Kinesis is finding that most people are buying the tilt kit at the same time as keyboard, include the tilt kit and reduce the total price.

The w and the s keys simultaneously, and randomly, would quit working on my first one. Ive had bad switches before, and that happens, but never two at the exact same moment, so I didnt immediately suspect hardware. Sure enough, cycling the keyboards profiles would bring the keys back for a few seconds. Clearing the keyboards memory (with shortcuts on the keyboard) would bring them back for a few seconds. But theyd always fade back out... indicating this isnt just a switch needing to be replaced, but something within the components of the keyboards PCB/electronics. If it wasnt for this, and the fact the tenting hardware was $20 and separate - and looks like something you could easily 3d print, Id give it 5 stars. As a unit, its amazing. Ergonomics are perfect, especially with the aforementioned tenting accessory. Wrist pad feels great - I ended up throwing out my old one after this one came with its own. I adore this keyboard. I just dont trust it, yet. Few months later update: this ones still doing fine. no repeating keys, no issues. still easily my favorite keyboard, ever. Id love if they had a less glitzy LED splattered version with less crap to go wrong, but whatever. The split design has been fantastic for ergonomics, and Im quite addicted to it. Typing on anything else feels quite unnatural. The key positions DO take some time to adjust to, but once thats done, its just nearly perfect. A slightly cheaper, Cherry MX, non-64 trillion useless color version would be nice, but whatever. Raising from 3 to 4 stars.

There are not many split-staggered, TKL, tentable, RGB-backlit, mechanical keyboards, and if thats what youre looking for, this is absolutely the top of the heap. The wrist rests are really comfortable, youre getting the consistent Cherry MX quality that the switches promise, NKRO works very well (I upgraded from the Microsoft Sculpt which I also quite liked, but had *several* un-pressable key combos that actually practically limited the functionality and I have seen _zero_ of that with this board), and the remapping functionality is absolutely world class; software available but not required, lots of profiles, lots of custom keys, macros, scriptable via plain text files... really there is no better keyboard from that perspective. But the case is fairly pingy even after I installed O-rings, it seems like theres no foam or anything keeping the switch springs from reverberating mightily, the split spacebars are an incredibly weird form-factor (3.5u) so custom keycap sets are not usable, the double-shot ABS keycaps get worn and shiny after only a couple of days, the forehead is inexplicably huge, theres no wireless functionality, the tenting kit is sold separately (and it REALLY should be included, for how much this costs), and the layout places the modifier keys *way* underneath your thumbs so youll probably want to remap at least one spacebar to avoid making a cramped claw gesture on every hotkey. So if youre a mechanical keyboard enthusiast this is an intriguing model for a few reasons, but you should expect to have to *heavily* mod it to get anywhere close to enthusiast-grade typing feel regardless of switch type. Plus, you know, no hotswap. Overall Id still say 4 stars because its almost exactly what I wanted, but its a little disappointing that it is not more premium in terms of sound and feel (ahem, PBT keycaps with a softer edge next time plus some case foam and maybe a weight please Kinesis) at this price point.

As a developer, or someone who uses a computer a great deal, you may go through the efficiency transition of removing the wasted time moving your right hand between the keyboard and the mouse and for 98% of your work, removing your dependency on the mouse in order to maximize your effectiveness. Using editors like vim, browser plugins like vimium, and being effective with the command line or short cut keys, it is possible to work far more efficiently without your hands leaving the keyboard. I mean a lot more effectively than using the mouse. I want to cry now when pair programming and watching someone slowly interact with their system moving at 1/4 impulse power. The side effect of this significant improvement in productivity is that your hands are locked together and if you are a full sized adult (I am 64), keeping your hands next to each other for long durations of typing adds stress to your shoulders and upper back. A split keyboard like this puts the distance between your hands back to the far more physically comfortable distance between your hands as you would with your left hand on the keyboard and your right hand on the mouse. Further, Because this keyboard lacks the 10 key-pad and the section of keys that normally sit between your right hands home position and the mouse, transitions to and from the mouse are still quicker when necessary. But alas, there are still issues. Power users of applications like vim will find the need to use the escape key or other key combinations and if you look at the location of the escape key on this keyboard, it is too far to reach to not hit an efficiency bottleneck. Also, the button for simulating the right click is missing here. BUT, with this specific keyboard these are not an issues. This keyboard is a smart keyboard and retains its key mapping and programming on board. Additionally it allows full control over the coloring of the keys. What does this mean to you? Well, in my case I mapped the cap locks key to the escape key and moved the caps lock key just left of its old position. I added the common buttons and combinations like locking the computer and the missing right click context menu button to the quick access buttons. Now here is where the back light color control comes in. While this is a cool feature for gamers to watch their keyboard breath, you can also use this as memory retention model for your individual key mappings. Mine show me which keys map to escape and which items I have remapped so I can easily recall what I did in the past. My keyboard is hooked up to a KVM switch. You might be thinking that you could just remap your keys inside of your OS. Retaining the key mappings on the keyboard is far better as the key mapping is maintained by the keyboard. So once programmed, it works the same everywhere on every computer I connect this to through the KVM. I even carry this keyboard between computers on the weekend so I can have the same efficiency on my home computer when doing projects. The MX brown switches are reported to provide a faster typing experience. I cant comment on that more than telling you that since getting this keyboard my typing speed has improved by 20 wpm. But that might also be due to focusing on typing speed after getting this keyboard. If you are learning how to be more effective with your computer by keeping your hands on the keyboard, I strongly suggest you consider this keyboard or a similar one. The next level up keyboard, which looked interesting had the brackets in a weird position and some reviews complained about an inability to consistently hit the brackets after using the keyboard for some time. You also keep your ability to use a standard keyboard with this one. That is except for the escape key not being where your caps lock key is ;).

I got tendonitis from work due to typing on a great mechanical keyboard that was unfortunately straight. This two piece set up with tenting has really solved that issue, and I don’t get pain from typing anymore. I will say that the forwards-backwards angle is not quite ideal. I use maximum tenting, and when that happens, the front of the keyboard is a bit too high compared to the back (it’s very flat, and I would prefer it slope down a bit towards the front, since the tenting already lifts it up quite a bit off the table). My solution was to stick little felt furniture pads onto the bottom of the keyboard to create that slight slope.

I got this to replace a Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic keyboard that was failing. Id been wanting a mechanical keyboard for a while, and this Kinesis was basically the closes I could find to ergo in a mechanical keyboard. Ive not been a PC gamer in years (and years and years), but I am a software developer and having absolute assurance of when a keypress registers helps me avoid typos. The way this keyboard stores settings by emulating a USB flash drive is unique to say the least. Ill be honest, RGB lighting isnt a priority but its neat and some of the profiles like rain or responsive are really cool. I doubt Ill use the software too much, but it is nice that it requires no install onto my computer (you just run the portable EXE file, which downloads from their website in a 7 MB ZIP file). I didnt realize it lacked the Windows Application Key (the key thats usually to the right and opens the right-click menu on a PC). But I can use the alternative Shift-F10 keystroke for that and its rare enough that I dont think Ill care about the omission of that key. I dont believe the top-left key (with the Kinesis logo) does anything by default, but I used the software to reconfigure it to act as Escape (using a macro that only runs that one keypress). The sound takes some getting used to, but then again thats precisely why I purchased a mechanical keyboard :)

My previous keyboard was a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard. I wanted a mechanical keyboard for a while. I cannot use the regular keyboards as it hurts my wrists. Since I work from home I use this keyboard about eight hours per day. I also bought the lift kit to help angle the keyboard. I only use the white light on the keyboard, so I can see it in low light at night. You can turn off all the lights with the press of one button, and the lights turn on with a one button press. You can use the keyboard with the lights off. The only issue I do not like is it does not have an integrated keypad. I wish Kinesis would come out with a matching keypad. I see a lot of keypads on Amazon, but the keys just do not look like it matches this unit. It did take a little getting used to for the placement of the special keys (arrows, home, end, etc.) but I got used to it after a while.