This is my detailed review for the Ergodox-EZ keyboard, one of the most comfortable keyboards I’ve had the pleasure of using in long history of experimenting with different ergonomic keyboards.
As Close to Perfection as It Gets
I had been on the lookout for a good ergonomic keyboard for more than 26 years. Now, my search for that perfect ergonomic keyboard may be at an end with the Ergodox-EZ. It gives me great pleasure to rave about the Ergodox-EZ in this review, the first review I ever wrote for a keyboard. This is how impressed I am with the Ergodox-EZ.
A Torrid History
To give you my glorious keyboard search history, I present to you a gallery of keyboards I’ve tried through the year. It starts from the most recent to the oldest, from top to bottom.
- KinesisGaming Keyboard
- Kinesis FreeStyle2 Keyboard
- Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard
- Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard
- Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard
- Microsoft Natural Elite Keyboard.
- IBM Model M Keyboard
- The one that started the entire personal computing industry
As you can see the progression goes from a rectangular form factor to split-style for ergonomics. There are of course the abominations, like the Dell rectangular keyboards that accompany new PC purchases. I refuse to even list them here as they are junk keyboards.
Companies I’ve worked in the past would try to stick these on me. I hate them with a passion and have always requisitioned better keyboards, like the ones you see in the galley.
Most Keyboards Are Not Ergonomic Despite What The Literature Says
While I like these split-style keyboard offerings, something has always felt wrong about them. I would stay with a rectangular (and non-ergonomic) keyboard (the Logitech G11) for a few years, until my RSI got to me.
At this point, I heard about how sitting is the new smoking. So, I started experimenting with standing at my workstation. I used shoe boxes to elevate my keyboard. That seemed to have helped a lot with my back problems, too. Working out with weights and spending time on the elliptical made the most difference in terms of removing the chronic pain.
During this period about eight years ago, I once again gravitated towards the ergonomic split-styles. I used a Kinesis FreeStyle2 for a bit but never did like it too much. It was just your run-of-the-mill rectangular keyboard split in half. It’s not as ergonomic as I thought it could be. Your middle, ring, and pinkie fingers curve downward as they go out to the sides.
Almost all keyboard designs miss this point when they put the keys at an uncomfortable angle. Instead, the keys should conform to the outward and upward curvature of your fingers. The Freestyle2 failed to address any of these areas.
The membrane-like key switches on the FreeStyle2 also drove me nuts. I would have to press hard and bottom out a key because that was the only way I knew with certainty when I had actuated a key switch. Several years later, I discovered that Kinesis made the KinesisGaming keyboard.
This was in essence the FreeStyle2 keyboard, but with mechanical switches. I decided to try it for the mechanical switches. I purchased a KinesisGaming with cherry brown MX switches.
I love mechanical switches! They brought back touch-typing. By the tactile feel, I can also tell when a key has been actuated, avoiding the need to bottom out. As a result, I can type much faster on a mechanical keyboard than I could on a membrane keyboard.
I would be (mostly) happy with this keyboard, using it for a couple of years. After all, I had tried for 20 years at this point to find that perfect ergonomic keyboard. Perhaps it just didn’t exist. So I settled my search, giving it up for a while. I would be content with the KinesisGaming.
After all, what else is there to do?
It’s funny how you find something when you stop trying. It just comes to you, almost without effort.
Over those years of keyboard experimentation, I would be paying more and more for keyboards. The Microsoft Natural cost about $79 back in the late nineties. The FreeStyle2 was close to $100 some eight years ago. It now runs about $150 in 2021 money. The KinesisGaming was $220 after including the tenting option.
I love spending time on my computer. It gives me a lot of joy, and I just lose track of time. That’s how you know you’ve found your joy. Still, my wrist, shoulder, and back pain drove me to adopt increasingly more expensive options. If I can be more comfortable by spending a few hundred dollars, I did it.
I also feel in love with the mechanical switches. I can now press a key without bottoming out because I can feel and hear when the key actuates. It’s a huge difference. You should consider mechanical switches if you’ve never experienced this joy.
QWERTY Vs Colemak
At this point in my review for the Ergodox-EZ, I will diverge a bit and talk about a different key layout. You’ll soon see why this is pertinent to the review.
The QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing because of the mechanical swing arm motion of typewriters. Typing fast means the mechanical swing arm of the current letter interferes with the return-to-home position of the mechanical swing arm of the previous letter. QWERTY causes a typist to go all over tarnation, just to slow down typing.
Enter Colemak, a variation of QWERTY with just 13 letter positional changes. Colemak typists move 2.2 times less than QWERTY. Put it another way. Let’s say I gave you a paragraph to type. You have to move your fingers the equivalent of 5 feet. With Colemak, you move just a little more than a foot typing that same paragraph.
In my keyboard searching journey, I started to learn Colemak. The statistics are impressive with the English language. Over 80% of English words can be typed in the home position. In QWERTY terms, your fingers rest on “ASDF” and “JKL;”. This is the home position. So imagine typing over 80% of words the English language in just this position with Colemak.
So cool!
Enter the Ergodox-EZ
As you will soon see in this review, the Ergodox-EZ is a rapid departure from the mainstream keyboards we all know. For RSI suffers, that relationship is love-hate. We’ve come to hate mainstream keyboards for their lack of ergonomics.
Yet, we have to adapt and learn how to use them, especially if we have to use another computer. After all, everyone else uses mainstream keyboards, too.
From the start, just one look tells you that the EZ is a premium keyboard targeted mainly towards coders. Each thumb operates 6 buttons. The EZ is designed for configurability in mind.
And configure it you will. Even though the KinesisGaming comes with a utility to let you remap the keys and add macros, I have never used those functions.
With the EZ, key real estate is a premium. This is a deliberate design decision to discourage and even reprogram bad body positioning. For example, a large subset of punctuation marks is absent from the EZ. This translates to less keys on the keyboard, which means your hands rest in a neutral position rather than having to do the Vulcan Death Grip to hit those extra keys. This also means you must use the Oryx configurator to add those characters.
To access the punctuation marks means one of several options. You can momentarily switch to that layer by holding down a modifier key, along with pressing the desired key. Layer switching can also be toggled, meaning you have to press another mapped key to revert back to the original layer. Or it can be a temporary switch, meaning you are only in that layer until you strike a key. Then you return to the original layer.
Tenting and Wrist Pads
No review for the Ergodox-EZ is complete without mentioning the comfortability options. You will want to include the tenting option and wrist pads. The tenting option contains 3 adjustable feet with rubberized tips per keyboard half. This lets you angle the keyboard to correspond with the natural splay of your wrists and the curvature of your fingers. Note that because you only have 3 rubberized feet, you have to angle the keyboard such that the fingertip side is higher the palm side.
You cannot angle the keyboard sloping downhill away from your palms. The absence of a 4th leg on the bottom right of the right keyboard split and bottom left of the left keyboard split prevents you from doing this.
The wrist pads support your wrist and elevates you hands a bit. If the keyboard were flat on the table, without the tenting activated, then the wrist pad is approximately the same height as the keyboard, minus the keys. This is why you can only slope the keyboard uphill away from your palm. If the keyboard can be sloped downhill away from your palms, then you will have no wrist supports.
What are the wrist pads like? They feel solid, just like the rubberized plastic armrests you find on most office chairs. The bottom of the pad is made with a non-slip material to minimize migration across your table top. To give you an idea of build quality, these wrist pads are solid and contain considerable heft. They can hurt someone bad if thrown at them.
Clean-up is simple. I wipe mine down once a week with a wet towel as it gets covered with dust (read: dead skin) in that time. Giving the wrist pads a regular cleaning also helps prevent discoloration caused by the oils and salt from your skin.
Hand Positioning
At this point in the review, I should point out the Ergodox-EZ forces you to use your new keyboard a different way. This is obvious if you’ve been using the rectangular keyboards. You position the two halves to correspond with the natural rest position of your hands.
One way I’ve found helpful in staying at the home position is to rest my thumbs on the longest vertical key switch of each half of the keyboard. Incidentally, these are my SPACE BAR keys.
Remember that I use Colemak. The Ergodox-EZ includes a ‘F’ and ‘G’ key without the tactile ridge. The reasoning is because they are not the home position keys for your index fingers. I, however, suggest leaving them intact for it’s still a good way to rest your hands in the home position by touch alone.
The reason is I still use QWERTY every single day for gaming. Of course most games controls are configured with QWERTY in mind. So it’s just easier to stick with the defaults in most cases.
Layers for the Lack of Keys for Punctuation Marks
We touched on this earlier but let’s now look at typing punctuation marks in more detail. Look at the picture of the Ergodox-EZ down below. Notice anything unusual about it?
The lack of punctuation marks. You will need to program them using the Oryx software.
I programmed mine to the standard 101 key layout, at least for the first 10 digits. If I want a ‘@’ symbol, I hold down the ‘2’ key (pressing shift-2) also works. For the ‘(‘ and ‘)’, I tap the left and right shift keys, respectively. You just read about another advantage of the Ergodox-EZ. A key can be programmed with one to four of the following functions:
- Tap
- Long press
- Tap, tap
- Tap, then long press
So, if you tap what we call the ‘2’ key, you can program it to get a ‘2’ character. Program ‘2’ with a ‘@’ when you long-press. Likewise, program ‘2’ to get a ‘[‘ when you tap-tap. Finally, program ‘2’ to get the right bracket (‘]’) if you tap, then long press. The configurability is impressive.
Likewise, you can program any key to be a layer modifier, either momentarily, a toggle, or a latch. Momentarily means you hold down the layer modifier plus the key you want. A toggle means the current layer changes to the target layer until you switch, usually using another key assigned to a different layer. A latch means you tap the layer modifier key. You can release the layer modifier key now. Then you press the desired key. After this, the layer reverts back to the previous layer. Again, it’s quite impressive how many functions you can do with a single key or combination of keys with the Ergodox-EZ.
You can check out my layout here.
Ortholinear Keylayout
Also, take a look at how your keys on your keyboard are arranged in the vertical direction. They are usually staggered rather than lined up in a column. With the Ergodox-EZ, the keys are aligned in a column. The fancy term EZ uses is “ortholinear”. This does take some getting used to, and even after almost a week and a half, I sometimes still press the ‘v’ key when I meant to press the ‘c’ key.
Why did Ergodox-EZ do it this way? Simple. Roll your fingers into a fist. Look at the movement. They move in a straight line, don’t they? Then why the heck do most keyboards stagger the keys? Again, it goes back to slowing down the typist in the early days, when the typewriter first came out. The mechanical swing arms took time to fall back to their home position. If a typist was fast, the next arm could potentially interfere with the previous arm still returning to its home position. By staggering the keys, the likelihood of jams was reduced, allowing the typist to type faster rather than spend time untangling swing arms (and cussing!).
The staggered keys on a mainstream keyboard also means you move your fingers more than you would on the Ergodox-EZ.
Other Cool Key Mappings
If you work a lot in Microsoft Office, then you are selecting whole words to cut, copy, or paste, often just a few inches to the left or the right. With the Ergodox-EZ, you can map a key to select the word to the left of the cursor. Likewise, you can map a key to select a word to the right of the cursor. That way, your hands never have to leave your keyboard, helping you to become much more productive. You’re also less apt to lose your train of thought because your attention isn’t diverted to looking for the mouse cursor to select that word you wish to cut, copy, or paste.
These little things will change your workflow and how you interact with the computer. It could be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse because if you have to use another computer without the Ergodox-EZ, you find yourself trying to perform functions that cannot be performed.
Transition Period
This is one of the more important things to point out in my review for the Ergodox-EZ. When you first start typing with the EZ, it is like you are learning how to type all over again. For one thing, your left thumb can press 6 keys. The same applies to your right thumb. In conventional keyboards, your thumbs’ only function is to press the spacebar.
My left thumb alone performs the following:
- Space
- Delete
- Windows key
- Escape
- Momentarily switching to layer 2
- Must hold down this key while pressing others to stay in layer 2.
- Cut
- Paste
My right thumb performs these functions:
- Space
- Enter
- Shift-Insert (same as Ctrl-V) or paste contents from buffer
- Switch to 2 (momentarily)
- Switch to 2 (toggle)
- Switch to layer 5
- Alt + Left Ctrl
When I first started on this keyboard, I kept wanting to press ENTER with my pinkie. It’s now performed with my thumb. You can imagine it took some time to reprogram my muscle memory.
Most people, including ZSA, the people who founded the Ergodox-EZ, say it takes about 2 to 4 weeks to learn how to type fast on this keyboard. When I first started, I dropped to 20 WPM, from my normal rate of 90 WPM. It was excoriating, trying to tell my brain to do one thing when my fingers wanted to do another because of years of muscle memory.
So, you can expect some frustration when you first start. If you’ve never used a keyboard which operates on the concept of layers by pressing a modifier key, then prepare for another thing to add to your learning curve. It took me several weeks before I got comfortable with the layer modifier keys.
You’re probably wondering how long it took me to get back to a fast typing speed. It took about 1.5 weeks. That’s because I was practicing at least 20 minutes every night, more than the 10 minutes that Ergodox recommends. Having challenged my brain when I switched to Colemak some 8 years ago also helped a lot with adapting to the unconventional layout of the Ergodox-EZ, as indicated earlier in the review.
When I first used this keyboard to code in Python, I was slow. For one thing, I realized at one point I never programmed the ‘\’ and ‘|’ symbols (backslash and vertical bar, respectively). I work in Linux and you Linux guys are probably laughing right about now.
This is what I meant when I say you can expect to spend a lot of time those first few weeks using the Oryx configurator tool, along with Wally, which programs the keyboard with your custom layout. I must have gone through about 45 layout iterations before I was finished with programming all the keys I needed for my daily functions.
This includes coding, blogging, manipulating the Linux terminal, and report-writing.
MacOs Layers
If you’re a MacOs user, this keyboard will also work on your MacBook. The control, alt, and Windows keys map to control, option, and command, respectively. Of course, if you would prefer to not think in PC keyboard terms, the Oryx configurator tool will detect you’re running MacOS and provide the proper names for the key mappings. I also have a key called hyper, which is mapped to shift-control-option-command. And of course if you’re used to the delete key on PC, you can program that, too, for your Mac in lieu of pressing fn-delete.
Overall Consensus: Get the Ergodox-EZ!
If you can’t tell by now in my review, I love my new Ergodox-EZ. Though the price tag is high, at close to $400, I think this is money well spent. You will have to suffer through several weeks of relearning how to type at a keyboard. This is in part because you’re undoing years of bad habits that have lead to wrist, shoulder, and back pains.
I suggest getting the tenting option, along with the wrist pads. While you’re at it, you may want to pick up some spare key switches to change the tactile feel on different parts of your keyboard. For example, you may want W, A, S, and D to be cherry black switches while the rest of the keyboard is Kailh brown box switches.
The only down side is you cannot get the glow (backlit keys) with the shine (LEDs are located on the bottom of the keyboard). I would have liked both.