I’ve slowly been going down the rabbit hole of ergo keyboards and want to replace my current “normal” full-size keyboard, but the sheer amount of variation there is, even disregarding the usual differences like rgb or some extra macro keys or whatever, is kind of giving me decision paralysis, so I’d like some help.
I know what I definitely want:
- Split
- Tentable
- Ortholinear
- Supports QMK
But that still leaves a lot of questions open.
I like the look and portability of heavily vertically staggered 42-key keyboards (three rows and three keys per thumb cluster), and while for programming that’s definitely enough, especially for certain games that seems like a questionable choice, since you’d need a lot of layers for a good experience.
Then I looked further into keyboards with four rows, which definitely seem more appealing, but at that point I’m wondering if for convenience’s sake, it might be better to just get something like the Moonlander which has more than enough keys, but is also just really big and leads to a lot of finger movement which isn’t necessarily a problem, but also just isn’t really… well, neat.
What kind of keyboards do you all have and what do you use them for? Are there any you’d recommend? Should I just go with something akin to the Moonlander or are there any tangible advantages to something like the Piantor apart from portability?
I am signed up for the ZSA newsletter. They just sent an email with the subject line called “The Ergo 58.” In it they discussed why they are are no longer making the compact Planck EZ, but said:
>“In response to my original announcement about the Planck EZ going away, we got a whole bunch of people professing their love for compact keyboards and wondering if we’ll ever make another. To which I can say — we love small keyboards too, and… stay tuned. :)”
They didn’t discuss anything about the keyboard in the email body. So maybe waiting a bit would be a good option if you are looking for something more compact and portable. Not sure if they will be making a compact ergo split key keyboard, or something more in line with the planck.