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

TL;DR: I was very hesitant to spend the money and risk the loss of typing speed, but Im really happy with the keyboard and strongly recommend it for ergonomics. Im work exclusively from home at my computer, and I bought this keyboard after realizing I was spending too much time in a pretty bad posture for my upper back, neck, arms and wrists. My concerns before buying it were that Im a fast typist (+100WPM) and am a writer/editor, so a shift to my writing set-up could be really bad for my work and efficiency. I mean, Ive been writing on a standard keyboard for 30+ years! Its well beyond muscle memory at this point: its ingrained deep into my brain how my hands go on a keyboard. Also $200 is nothing to sneeze at. Even after 2 weeks of habitually missing the b key, Im happy to report Im VERY happy with the product. My hands, wrists, arms and upper back feel better, and my typing has not only returned to its previous speeds, but has probably improved. Im still working on my accuracy, but its improving rapidly. (the location of Delete, Home & End is particularly hard to get accustomed to.) For gaming, I thought that the recommendation to put the mouse in-between the two halves of the keyboard was a silly one. I was wrong. Its a huge improvement and lets me position my wrist at a 45-degree angle thats much more natural and accurate. Also: strongly recommend the (separately sold) tent/lifters. I was also very hesitant to purchase those and am really glad with them. But seriously: why not have B on both the right and the left half of the keyboard?

My biggest complaint about this keyboard is that the lights on it only have two settings - rainbow strobe effect, or off. I usually prefer to make my keyboards a dim blue color but couldnt find any settings to lower the color, make it solid, and stop the pulse effect. I also really wish it had a numpad because I like to use alt keys to type in special characters, and while there are buttons on the side that can have those keys bound to them, they arent shaped like a traditional numpad so it doesnt work as well. Mostly a great keyboard, I love using it. I do wish it had those features though. Also, I didnt know when I first bought it but this version has VERY loud keys. Great for gaming since you know for sure if you hit something or not, but you will get yelled at in voice chats.

Keyboard was easy to use and onboard but more than that I like their web interface where it is easy to get product support through videos, and easy to interact with customer service very quickly. I got my keyboard 6 months ago and this morning had an issue with a key not working. Thankfully, i found the support site, FAQ, and contact link in a flash; it was then easy to get test data to send to Kinesis, and I received extremely quick customer service response on my question — including clear directions on how to remap to fix the an accidental key remapping I had made. I clearly haven’t worked to get the most out of this keyboard - I really only bought it for the ergonomics, but based on the quality of the keyboard, the service, and my accidental experiment, I am looking forward to more effectively using its programmable features! As for ergonomics, the keyboard is a joy to use. I did get the lifts which make it much better for me. I like that the keyboard separates which allows me to have a clear space to place a snack while I am working, and I can work with a very comfortable arm position throughout the day.

I _really_ wanted to love this keyboard for there are numerous design flaws that make this keyboard 1/5: === The Ugly === * It does NOT have n-key rollover (NKRO). For gaming this makes this keyboard completely useless. * The symbols are on the bottom of the keys instead of the top?!?!?! Who the heck thought this was a good idea??? When you reach for a number your fingertips cover the bottom half of the key _completely_ obscuring the symbols!! * The palm wrists are TOO short. I always feel like my wrists want to fall off instead of properly being supported. === The Good === * Split keyboard is very, very nice for your hands. * Keys feel very comfortable. * The Brown MX keys feel good. * Extra function keys on the left side are great. * Can individually customize the color of EACH key. Want to have WASD in a different color? No problem! * Dedicated profile button to switch profiles on the fly is great. * Can program any key to turn the keyboard RGB lights completely off. * Cables are heavy braided === The Bad === * ESC key is TOO far away. If you use this for Vi/Vim get used to Ctrl-C. * Ive never seen an ergonomic keyboard that doubles up the two middle keys. Ideally, the YHN would also be doubled up on the left, and TGB would be doubled up on the right. This is yet-another-keyboard out-of-touch with a gamers actual needs in spite of calling itself a gaming keyboard. * Lacks dedicated INS key. Having to press a FN+PAUSE for insert is annoying. * Lacks classic 3x2 Ins/Del/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn layout. Instead the keyboard has the standard vertical line of Del/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn -- which may feel awkward. I never could get used to this vertical strip. * Lack of a dedicated numeric keypad. If you are paying $200 for a keyboard why do you have to spend even more money to get a numeric keypad? === Misc. === Build quality is OK. It doesnt feel cheap, nor expensive. The braided cables are positive build quality, the the short and flimsy wrist pads are negative build quality. (I have a DAS keyboard that is solid and built like a tank.) The sound is not quiet, but also not loud. This didnt bother me but if you work in an office with others this may be a consideration. Ive used this keyboard for 11 months doing hard-core programming and gaming with it because I really, really, wanted to love this keyboard. The comfort and split keyboard are why I kept using it but the numerous design flaws are the straw that broke the camels back. I ended up going with a DAS Keyboard 4 Professional after test driving it for work. === Ratings === Ergonomics: 3/5 Gaming: 0/5 Build Quality: 3.5/5 Final Scores: 1/5 If Kinesis could fix the issues and lower the price they would have a real winner on their hands but until they do look for another keyboard that has all the features you need.

Firstly, I really like this keyboard, and love the clacky blue keys which feel really good. Also, Im a big fan of the lighting - I cant believe I went 25 years without a lighted keyboard. The only complaint I have is there is a steep re-acclimation curve to get used to where the Del, Home, End, Pg Up, Pg Dn, arrow keys, and number keys. I am a computer programmer of 25 years, and with my MS Natural Keyboard, I NEVER had to look down and search for ANY of the keys mentioned above. I didnt even think about it... However, with this keyboard which Ive had for a month now, it is slow-going getting used to the new key-locations. Whoever said its an easy transition mustnt use those key listed above very much. For what I do, I use them a lot. For gaming, there are no problems whatsoever, and I really appreciate the lighted keys then. With all that said, I do recommend this if youre looking for a lighted keyboard, and as a bonus, the keys feel and sound so crisp as you type!

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.

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.

I bought this primarily for the split keyboard design, and I love this aspect. Im never going back to any other sort of keyboard. Moreover, the keyboard looks great. The chromatic backlighting is also a good aspect of the keyboard. BUT The ease with which you can set macros is a drawback. You do this by pressing the Macro button. Which is right next to the Profile button used for switching the backlight settings. Which you cant see if you are typing in the dark relying on the backlight settings, because the special keyboard keys have no backlighting. My point is that it is VERY easy to accidentally press the Marco key. Ive hit it by accident several times, a bottle of aspirin falling over has hit it, my cat has hit it ... And when it gets hit, you will suddenly have a macro of whatever you are typing linked to, say, the S key. And then you cant type an S anymore, because this initiates a macro text dump. Try even searching the web for this problem without needing to type an S. So as long as this macro is in place, your keyboard is no longer functional. You should be able to solve this problem in a few ways: the SmartSet app, a soft reset, a hard reset. Lets go over these: The SmartSet app seems like the best course, since you may have actual macros you want to keep, and resetting the keyboard will nuke those along with the one you want to get rid of. To use the SmartSet app, you have to pair your keyboards internal flash drive with your computer. To do that, you are told to press the SmartSet key + f8. But this doesnt work. So you cant pair your keyboard to your computer. So you cant use the SmartSet app to do anything. Strike 1. Next, the soft reset. This clears the macros off one profile, but not all of them. To do a soft reset, you must hit SmartSet key + Shift f12. But this doesnt work. Hitting these keys will simply not do anything. The soft reset isnt an option. Strike 2. And the hard reset. This one resets the keyboard to factory default, so youll get rid of the macro that is preventing you from using the keyboard, and everything else, if you have any macros. For this one, you press SmartSet key + f12 while plugging the keyboard into the computer. This one does work. About 1 in 50 times. So you have to do it over and over and over and over and over ... and eventually it will work, and you can use your keyboard again. Id like to disable the Macro key entirely, which may be possible via the SmartSet app, but since the SmartSet app doesnt work (or rather, the keyboard flash drive pairing key sequence doesnt work), I cant use the SmartSet app, so I guess Ill never know. In sum, the Freestyle Edge RGB keyboard is excellent for its ergonomic design, very good for its RGB lighting (the special keys should be lit too), BUT doesnt give you the macro functionality it promises: accidentally set macros can and will render the keyboard useless until got rid of, and two out of the three ways of fixing the problem just dont work. So be warned: if you get this keyboard, you WILL have periodic incidents where the keyboard stops being usable due to bad macros, until you can manage to clear them, which is a long and frustrating job of work. UPDATE: The one option that prevents the keyboard from destroying itself with its own macro function stopped working. No hard reset either. My keyboard is now unusable since several critical keys now trigger macros instead of their correct function and there is NO WAY to undo this. Here are five right-arrow strokes to demonstrate: 55555 Yes my right arrow key is dead forever, because it is the number 5. Dont buy a keyboard that is build to destroy itself.

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.

One of the best keyboards in the market and rated #1 for ergonomic keyboards by PC Magazine and NY Times Wirecutter. Simply, an amazing keyboard. Macros can be challenging to use because there is no software integrating them with the operating system- but that also means they are computer independent and work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you like multicolor backlights, this keyboard has you covered. I just use white backlighting myself. It doesnt come with the keyboard lifts (~$25) or a numeric keypad. I found the Qisan Mechanical Gaming Numeric Keypad/Keyboard 21 Keys Mini Numpad with Cherry MX Brown Switches White Backlight for iMac/MacBook - Black works well with this keyboard and has the same key switches and white backlighting. The Kinesis keypad *isnt* backlit. If you want a similar wrist rest to the keyboard for your keypad, get a Kensington ErgoSoft Wrist Rest for Standard Mouse, Black (K52802WW). It works well.