Review of the Kinesis Advantage2 Ergonomic Keyboard

Working from home starting to cause discomfort to your hands, forearms, or shoulders? If you're considering upgrading your home office to maximize comfort, Kirkland Chiropractor Dr. Frank Wen reviews the Kinesis Advantage2 Ergonomic Keyboard.

Time Stamps:
0:00 - Introduction

0:40 - Unboxing the Advantage2
I open up the Advantage2 box I got from Amazon and pull out all the contents.

2:03 - First Impression & Thoughts
I share my first impressions about the design and keyboard layout, plugging it in, going over the quick start guide and typing on this keyboard without any practice and acclimation.

8:17 - Side-By-Side Design Comparison & Ergonomics
In this section I let you get an overhead view of a standard keyboard next to the Advantage2 so you can see the difference as well as talk about the ergonomic goals of the Advantage2.

15:36 - Typing Test ComparisonI do a simple online typing test and talk about the difference between using a standard keyboard and Advantage2 without any acclimation.

19:07 - Final Thoughts
I summarize the pros and cons of my experience from typing with the Advantage2 for 2 weeks, the programming application that you can use to remap keys, discuss the Kinesis Freestyle model, and is it worth it for you?

Homepage: www.integrity-dc.com
Kinesis Advantage2 Info: https://kinesis-ergo.com/keyboards/advantage2-keyboard/Kinesis
Freestyle Pro: https://kinesis-ergo.com/keyboards/freestyle-pro-keyboard/Kinesis
Freestyle: https://kinesis-ergo.com/keyboards/freestyle2-keyboard/

Check out the blog post to read beyond the first 3 days of use: https://www.integrity-dc.com/post/kinesis-advantage2-ergonomic-keyboard-review

Day 1, 5/26/20
Today is the day I unboxed the keyboard. In the video I was only able to achieve a mere 12-13 words-per-minute, but I played around with it some more that day to acclimate to it as using it cold out of the box would is a bit of an unfair true baseline. I was able to achieve 33-35WPM today on typing.com with 95-96% accuracy. My training was to perform a few typing lessons each day on typing.com or typingtest.com.

Day 2, 5/27/20
I tend to want to use my left thumb for hitting space which is where the backspace now rests under my left thumb. I also want to hit Enter with my pinky which is not there anymore so I have to think about using my right thumb which slows me down.

It’s also easy to experience really brief moments where you feel confident typing like you always have, only to have your ego quickly checked.

As someone who uses my hands a lot to work on patients, I feel having to use my thumb to push down on the Enter key at the current moment requires for effort compared to a quick swoop over to hit the Enter with my pinky.

The tenting on the innermost wall of the bowl they keys now rest in feels very aggressive and currently feels like it takes some effort to hit those keys. Before, I would dart the finger over to get to T and Y but now it feels like I have to reach a little extra.

Movement at the wrist on the other hand feels very minimal which is the goal, but I think my conscious effort to tell myself they don’t need to move much is tiresome. I expect this to improve over time.

I’m used to using left shift for capitalizing letters. I feel tired having to use my left pinky to reach for it on the Advantage2 though. I would probably consider reprogramming the caps lock to be the shift key.

Completing a sentence has not felt so satisfying in years.

Day 3, 5/28/20
Firing up the keyboard for the first moments feels tricky. The only I can compare this to is having to get used to a different clutch on a manual transmission car.

I went straight to the typing tests as was able to achieve typing speeds about 33-35 WPM again with 95% accuracy. I exercised extreme patience and tried to type slower, and felt more confident.

It is apparent that this keyboard will really help you improve your home key technique and that if you have certain habits, they will not serve you well here. Hitting the left Shift with the left pinky and O, P, ;, /, ?, \, and - are driving me nuts because my habit has always been to move my hand over and hit them with the 2nd-5th fingers depending on the word I'm typing.

A very obvious struggle in C,V,B keys today because in the standard keyboard I preferred using the 2nd finger to poke them quickly whereas here I must use the middle finger to drop down and hit C.

The tenting of the keys presents a bit of a challenge to get the T, G, B, Y, H, N keys because in the standard keyboard your finger makes contacts above the key as you approach whereas in the Advantage2, the key is tented toward you so you’re coming in at an oblique angle toward the key which feels somewhat incorrect and makes you question yourself when reach for those keys.

Mistakes take longer to correct as well I have to think about consciously using my thumb to delete or backspace.

https://www.integrity-dc.com/post/kinesis-advantage2-ergonomic-keyboard-review

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