Kinesis Advantage2 Ergonomic Keyboard (KB600), Black top case, Cherry MX Brown Switches, QWERTY keycaps

This might sound extreme, but I think this keyboard literally changed my life. I say "think" because I'm not sure what could have been. I am a software engineer. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time at a keyboard. Over the years (I'm 39 by the way) my hands and wrists have progressively got worse. I would hear cracking, and constant aching in my hands and wrists. I just assumed that was par for the course with my job. As time went on, it got worse, and I decided to look into keyboards. I've had the split wrist ergonomic keyboards in the past and I liked them, but I thought I would look into something else. After reading tons of reviews, looking at and seriously considering every crazy keyboard style out there. I looked at all the start ups, oldies, etc. I had some criterion: - Nothing but the best ergonimics - mechanical keys - programmable I finally settled on the Kinesis Advantage 2. Setup was as expected. Now that's because I was already aware that there are KVM switches often have compatibility issues for keyboards like the Kinesis. This prevents you from being able to use the keyboard input on the switch. I have a KVM switch (IOGear Miniview DVI 4 port USB KVMP Switch). When reading the reviews from both companies, I knew it wasn't going to work, but I already had a workaround. Basically, because your keyboard has the multimedia controls (like a lot of other of your cool keyboards) and some other advanced features, KVM switches don't recognize them. That doesn't mean that you will have any drivers on your windows PC (or Mac/Linux/etc) or anything like that. It's just a keyboard to everything else in the world... but your KVM switch. This problem was easily solved by using one of the standard USB connections on the switch. I just have to push the button on the switch now. I also hooked up a standard keyboard for the rest of the people on this planet that don't know how to use my keyboard... so I just use that to actually control the KVM so it's really fine in the end. If you are planning to use a KVM switch have a look at the Kinesis web page, they have identified some that do work, sometimes only in a partial manner. As any other review of the Kinesis will tell you, it takes time to get used to. Plan on that. I spent a lot of time on Type Racer practicing in my down time. I completely stayed away from standard keyboards for about 2 months (mostly). I made a lot of mistakes and made a lot of mistypes, hitting double keys, etc. It was obvious from the start how much better the ergonomics were. I was able to easily program some macros into the keyboard. As I mentioned, I'm a software engineer. There are a lot of patterns that I type many times a day, I can do this with a single keystroke now. So far, I haven't found a need for it yet, but the keyboard has different layer settings so if I'm switching between editors that have different auto completion features (i.e. how {} and () brackets are written out and tabbed... developers know what I'm talking about). The Cherry keys are all they are cracked up to be. It's my first mechanical keyboard set so I don't really have much to compare them to, but the keys are wonderful. They are clicky, but not too bad. People I work with have not mentioned much about it so I assume that it is not too bother some. Now, on to the real reason you would buy this keyboard. The ergonomics... As I mentioned, it was obvious immediately how much more comfortable this keyboard is. I'm not sure exactly at what point it was, but my wrist pain went away... and I'm talking about a 2 months... probably less. I didn't have any diagnosed carpal tunnel or anything like that, but the pain was constant. It's also important to note that I have reduced shoulder and neck pain because my arms are in a more natural position as well. I carried my keyboard back and forth to work gladly every day until I got one for my work. At that price my work wanted a doctors note, which I gladly went for. At this point, I have had the keyboard almost a year. I will now switch between "normal" keyboards and the Kinesis pretty easily enough. It literally becomes painfully obvious how much better the Kinesis is after typing at a "normal" keyboard for more than 5 minutes for me now. My wrists will start to hurt almost immediately and I think that I've been doing this all my life. I'm seriously considering switching to Dvorak now that I have one at work and one at home. I was thinking that it might help me separate my brain more from the "normal" keyboard so switching would be easier. I did get the Dvorak version for work to plan for this and will likely buy the keys for my home keyboard. Have a search on Youtube for a review on the Kinesis Advantage 2. There is a very good one that is about about a 15 minute in depth review of the "Human Keyboard". Pros: - Ergonomics - Program-ability - Ergonomics - Build quality - Ergonomics - Actually smaller than it appears in pictures. - Ergonomics Cons: - KVM Switches... but a lot of other high end keyboards will suffer - It's completely different from all other keyboards (but that's why your buying it right?) so switching between "normal" keyboards can be awkward, but it's not as bad as I expected. - Fatter and taller than a "normal" keyboard but slightly shorter. It might not fit well in those desk drawer keyboard trays. - could be considered loud, but nothing louder than any other mechanical keyboard. In the end, this keyboard does exactly what it says, every other review I read is spot on. If you are serious about your ergonomics, are experiencing pain in wrists and shoulders. I'm not saying this is going to cure you... but it might. In conclusion, I "THINK" this keyboard changed my life, because I will hopefully never know, but I was quite certain that I was developing some long term chronic problem with my wrists and hands. As of a year later, I don't worry about this nearly as much.

I've experimented with so many other keyboards before landing on this one. Started with a Typematrix before college, switched back to regular keyboards like keychron Q1, then got a Moonlander (which is also split, ortholinear, and has thumb clusters). The biggest thing all of those other keyboards miss that the Kinesis gets right is the keywell - it's convex so it encourages a natural wrist position, and all your fingers rest perfectly on each key. The column of keys for your pinky is slightly higher up and the column of keys for your middle finger is slightly lowered... because your fingers are different lengths. The thumb clusters encourage using your thumbs for super common keys like enter and backspace rather than your weak pinky. And these thumb clusters are way more natural to use compared to the Moonlander. When your fingers are on the home row, you can access all the thumb cluster keys without moving your hand because of the varying heights and angles of each of the thumb cluster keys. Clearly a lot of thought and research went into the design of the key layout. Also, it's super easy to remap keys. It's onboard - you press the remap button, press the key you want to move, and the destination key, and you're done. Makes it really easy to experiment with different positions; for instance, I switched the shift key with the one above it on both sides so that my shift keys were on the home row since it's one of the most common keys. When it comes to build quality and premium feel... Yeah, it's plasticy, yeah it has abs keycaps that will get shiny over time, yeah it has no backlight, and yeah it's wired, but clearly the money was spent on making the most comfortable keyboard, not the most flashy or premium feeling. Even though it's plastic, it feels super durable and I don't think it'll break very easily. If you can't do wired connection, the Kinesis 360 Pro is wireless and very similar, but honestly I prefer the simplicity of the wired connection on this one. No worrying about charging. I also like that it's one solid unit rather than distinct halves. Less to keep track of, less positioning to adjust, but that also means it's less flexible since you can't change the distance between each half of the keyboard like you can on the 360. I think this one is easier to have in your lap though than the 360 with its two distinct parts. All depends on your needs and wants. Speaking of having it in your lap, one downside of this keyboard is that it's raised higher than a lot of other keyboards. The actual keys are lowered down into the unit, but to enforce that, the actual body itself rises up quite a bit. You'll need to make sure you have a chair that can go high enough or a keyboard tray that makes it lower so you're not hurting yourself by scrunching up your neck and shoulders to reach the higher level. I find placing it in your lap is a super comfortable way to use it that gets around this, but consider getting a drafting chair if you need your chair to raise up higher than your current one does. Also, just a small thing, but I love having dedicated function keys (F1-F12). Might be silly, but I've never had a keyboard before where you can just press a function key - without holding down a separate "fn" key or other layer shift. If you use VS Code or develop in general, there's often a number of super useful shortcuts tied to the F1-12 keys, and it's very handy to access them at the press of a button without any key combos or anything else. Highly recommend this keyboard if you experience any sort of pain in your wrists, arms, shoulders, or neck from sitting at a desk typing all day. It's so so worth it. My pain went away so fast. Just make sure the rest of your setup is ergonomic as well. The Kinesis Advantage 2 User Manual has a whole section on how to make the rest of your desk setup ergonomic. Make sure to follow it.

The BEST keyboard on the market!! I own 2 of them ... one for each computer. I LOVE my Kenesis Advantage Keyboard!!! I have retired 2 others over the past 20 years... one got urped on by kitty cats and the other finally just gave up the ghost after 16 years. LOL. I have used a Kinesis keyboard since the mid-90s. Could not live without it. Just lay it across my lap and go. No more carpel tunnel syndrome. Literally. I was in deep pain transcribing notes from a director (197 single-space pages) and the pain was terrifying through my arms and back. I was either going to go to the hospital or find an ergonomic keyboard. I went online and found this keyboard. Bought it... spent a few days getting used to it.... and never looked back. ALL the pain left while I kept typing. (I have clocked in on an old Selectric typewriter at 111 wpm @ Kelly Girl Services.) Everything else is primitive to this. It's definitely worth the few days of getting used to. I LOVE being able to sit the keyboard in my lap, rest the pads of my hands on the keyboard and just clatter away. Keyboard quality: Fabulous. A+++ Typing speed: Fast. And faster than fast. Easy peasy. Literally NO PAIN because of positioning of keys and use of thumbs for heavily used keys like Backspace, Shift, Delete, etc. Build quality: Fabulous. Top quality.

BACKGROUND: I have used Macs since 1986 and, therefore, many of their keyboards. I have also tried several other brands over the years - but none can compare to the ease of typing on my Kinesis, which I have used for 15 years. I don't remember when I got the first one, but the original keyboard was the white model, and, over the years, it has gradually turned a dull yellow. The first one took a little time to get used to it, but it was/is fantastic once I did. I'm 6' 1" and broad-shouldered, so I had to squinch my arms together and bend my wrists. And I used to wear wrist braces for carpal tunnel issues. After using the Kinesis for a while, I stopped wearing the braces and have not had wrist issues for a loooonnnnggg time. :-) Also, I can touch type on the Kinesis keyboards. I say boards because this purchase was my 4th one: upgrading the office keyboard, home, and 2nd home. In December, after waiting for six weeks, I was excited to try one of the new 360 models - and frankly LOVED both the flexibility of adjusting each hand's key's angle and elevations together with the feel of the keys! But unfortunately, despite all of Tyler Sullivan's (in their tech support department) efforts, I could not conquer the programming skills needed to make it operate as a Mac keyboard. His efforts were much appreciated, but although I have used Macs for all these years, I have never done any coding. It was literally Greek to me! Since I liked the keys on the 360, I decided to try the Advantage 2 model to see how it feels. It arrived yesterday. The new model keys are so silent and touch-friendly. A tiny detail - the home keys are slightly more cupped, so one's fingertips tell you instantly that they are “home.” :-) Overall: WOW! Nice! Smooth! And Quiet. Worth updating! (Even without my carpal tunnel issue, I’d update just for the superior feel and quieter typing!) And consider that the A2 is one-half the cost of the 360 (which I had just returned), so there is that. And finally, FYI - I will likely upgrade the other two keyboards. Considering the extra cost of replacing two more keyboards tells you how much I like the A-2 model. Nonetheless, I will wait awhile with my fingers crossed - yep - it is challenging to type that way ;-) I am hoping that, once the original demand for the 360 has been caught up, Kinesis will consider making the 360 available ready to use as a Mac Keyboard! KINESIS, ARE YOU LISTENING? So, I strongly recommend you give their technology a try. I hope you find it as appealing as I do.

The closest one has gotten thus far to ergonomic perfection. Reduces repetitive strain injury by separating the keywells to about shoulder's width apart, opening up the chest and slightly unrounding the shoulders by eliminating the need to bring the two wrists together--which inclines towards the fetal position. Takes some time to getting used to as the space, enter, ctrl, alt, del, and backspace keys have been relegated to the thumbs. Wouldn't know exactly how long as I integrated it into my setup around the same time I switched over to Dvorak (3-4 weeks ramp up time) but I'd say the keyboard itself take maybe 3 days to get used to . The keyboard already comes with built-in mode switch buttons enabling hotswapping from DVORAK to QWERTY with two key presses. The keys themselves are height-offset in the wells so that they are never out of your fingers reach. These ergonomic wells, and distance they are spit across, are the main innovations that make the Advantage the best, as well as the only example I've ever seen for 20+ years in the keyboard market. Overall, the keyboard seem to be made of rugged material and durable contruction; albeit only time will tell. The only improvement I can think of is that the keyboard apparatus still limits the user by a pronation. Though the keywells open up the finger move to 3-dimensional space, the kinesthetics of linking, or the kinetic chain, stop at the wrist. The design of the keyboard encourages wrist resting at he base of the board which may lead to wrist extension at an angle which, if extended, is the exact movement which pinches the median nerve resulting in carpal tunnel syndrome. This example, of course is based on the height of the keyboard relative to the users torso but as most people place the keyboard at below shoulder level, the hand is forced into the horizontal position, parallel to the ground, to maintain contact with the keys; which, again, due to the kinesthetics, have an impact on the rest of the chain by abducting the elbows, and further up, extending the shoulder cuff, cumulatively pronating the torso, and overall leading to what one holistically observes as bad posture. Of course this is still leagues better than the normal keyboard. I can't think of anyway around the horizontal hand problem without liberating the keyboard from the 2-D plane to 3-D space, which is what the keywells started to de but didn't finish. However, the logical conclusion and execution, of this line of thought would result either in a torso support apparatus or an elliptical "key-cave" that would completely redefine human-computer i/o as we know it. Thee keywells are a bit too close together for the broad shouldered--better than the smushing of the conventional keyboard, of course, but it would have been nice if the keywells were width adjustable.

So yes it is ergonomic in a way that all the others (Ergodox EZ, Ergodox Moonlander, Keyboardio Model 01, Keyboardio Altreus, Kinesis Freestyle 2, etc. etc. etc.) can never be but it seems to be completely from the 90s. Like the insides don't even use flip-chips- Google some pics of the inside. This isn't a design issue, they are simple chips after all, I just mean to highlight that this thing hasn't changed in 20+ years. They updated the Windows logo on the Windows key for Windows 10, so that's nice, but alas it's out of date again as Windows 11 just came out. This is the most comfortable keyboard I have ever used, and the keys feel very high-quality (thanks Cherry!) however the locations of some of the keys seem to make this keyboard less ideal for software developers. I wonder how ergonomic it really is when someone like me is reaching for those { } and [ ] keys all day (remapping is an option though). I think for software developers, you want to go with something like an Ergodox Moonlander- you get more tilt (and adjustable tilt) versus the Advantage 2, the Moonlander is thinner, has more key switch options to choose from, and the keys are backlit (for $350 Kinesis can put some RGB LEDs on this thing, come on guys). The Moonlander also has much better software for remapping keys if that's your thing. I wish I got the Moonlander, if that isn't obvious. Anyway, on the Advantage 2 there are three function keys printed with "media" icons- mute, volume down and volume up. You press the "keypad" button next to them to activate them (and shift to the numpad layer on the right half of the keyboard), but you have to press again to deactivate the layer. I just remapped these keys (normally print screen, scroll lock and pause/break) to be the volume keys by default. What's odd is that these are the only "media" keys. None of the others have "previous", "play/pause", "next" etc. prints on them, probably because there isn't room for more text/icons on the other function keys, they mostly all serve a secondary purpose already. Still, it feels strange to have dedicated volume keys. On the Keyboardio Model 01 for example, you just hit Fn and then N M < become the volume control keys. Even though these keys don't have the volume icons on them, I still find this flow easier than the way the Kinesis Advantage does it. The software you use to remap keys looks awful and appears to be written in Electron. The process for remapping keys involves performing multiple key combos on the keyboard to get it to mount its 4MB "flash drive" where key remaps are written to a TXT file. It gave me a random error once, and I'm not sure why, but after that it wouldn't actually write the key remaps to the TXT file, so I guess I have to figure out what's going on there. The instructions look like they were printed off of an office printer, on office paper folded in half. This keyboard seems more like a college student's senior project than a $350 piece of "professional" equipment. I assume they own the patent to the shape and just milk the profits from a 30-year-old design. Finally, I bought this from Amazon expecting to be able to return it if I didn't like it, but nope, no returns on this guy, only exchanges. This is typical for a $300+ keyboard, but I assumed buying from Amazon this would not be the case. It might be that buying from Amazon directly you can return this keyboard and I just bought from a third party seller as they had the lowest price. Anyway be careful of that...

I bought this keyboard a few years ago and had to come back to leave review because it’s that good. I have carpal tunnel and cervical spine issues and typing on regular keyboard was extremely painful. I tried the Kinesis Freestyle Edge but it’s too big for my hands and the split keyboard was too awkward to use. So after reading and watching reviews, I bought the Advantage2. What a great keyboard! The layout and key well keep the my fingers tips from burning. It took a few days to adjust to thumb clusters but now I type considerably faster than I did before. Moving keys to the thumb area reduced strain on the pinky from hours of copy/paste. I have not used any of the remapping or macros but intend to. It’s expensive but the ROI is worth it if you are online all day. I bought second used one so I can leave it in the office. Cons: it’s a weird shape so traveling/commuting is awkward. I wish Kinesis would offer glow-in the dark keycaps to make up for not have an LED keys. The Advantage360 looks amazing but I prefer a stable keyboard I can use in my lap if I wanted and the Advantage2 has the stability I need. One last wish: gel pads. The Advantage2 palm pads are flimsy pieces of foam that I supplement with improvised cushions. All in all it’s a great upgrade.

I've had this keyboard for about 8 months now. At first, I was kind of skeptical about whether if this would be worth the price, but oh boy this keyboard is amazing. Once you get used to it, it's super comfortable to type with. The best part about it is that the space, enter, backspace, and other control keys are all in the center where your thumb is located at. Would have been nice if they made the escape key a little bigger, but you can always remap it to somewhere else. I used Apple's magic keyboard before this and I would constantly feel pain in my wrist after typing just for a little bit. After getting this keyboard, I almost never feel the pain now. This keyboard has a pretty steep learning curve and it took me about a month or two to get comfortable typing with it. But, I was learning a new keyboard layout at the same time (Colemak) to fix my bad habit of typing with two fingers, so if you aren't learning a new keyboard layout at the same time, it'll probably take even less time to get used to it. Pros: - Very comfortable to type with. - Relieves wrist pain - The keys you use the most are typed with your thumbs instead of your pinky - Remap program is easy to use - Gives you a comfortable palm mat - Comes with extra keys for Mac (ex. alt option instead of Windows key) - Great tactile feedback, makes a lot of noise (if you don't want a loud keyboard you can get their red "silent" version) - Easy to clean (all keys can be removed easily with a little remover tool and cleaned) - Easy to switch between Mac and Windows mode (when I use Windows Bootcamp on my Mac I just need to press a single key) Cons: - Ugly (the logo on the center looks pretty bad lol) - Steep learning curve (takes at least a month to get used to it) Conclusion: Definitely worth the 300 dollars if you are willing to put in the time to learn how to use it.