Kinesis Advantage360 Split Ergonomic Keyboard - USB-C | Mechanical Switches | Fully Programmable | Contoured Shape | Adjustable Tenting | PBT Keycaps

It's been about twenty years since I first used a Kinesis and haven't used one since. For the past 14 months I've been using a Moonlander split keyboard. It's a decent keyboard, but the options for tenting are very poor unless you invest in more hardware purchased from their site. They do offer excellent support, though. I'd had the keyboard for about six months when the right side thumb cluster hinge broke. They sent me a replacement for free. Back to the Kinesis. I write A LOT. I'm a full-time author so I bang out hundreds of thousands of words per year. I'm in my mid-fifties, and fingers and wrist hurt all the time because of poor ergonomics and cheap keyboards. The Kinesis Advantage 360 is kind of amazing. It has true tenting, and the concave nature of the pieces means you can comfortably rest your palms on the outside and only move your fingers. Since I have used a split ortho board for over a year, this was not a huge learning curve. The keys are laid out well, but I had to change a few. I like the CTRL and ALT on the left side on the bottom row. I moved those keys using the ZMK software which is not really friendly. You have to have a Github account, fork builds, and then use the key mapper to generate new firmware. Each piece of the keyboard them must be connected via USB. Copy the corresponding builds to each piece and then swap key caps. I'm happy with the four or five keys I moved and have this looking almost exactly like my Moonlander layout. Bluetooth has worked perfectly on my PC. I've had zero issues so far. I hit a key in the morning and my PC wakes up. I leave the backlighting off. After two weeks of heavy use, the batteries are still going strong without a recharge. I purchased the palm pad separately. Why aren't these included with this very expensive keyboard? Come to find out, they might not be needed depending on your hands. I find them okay, but I will probably switch back to using the palm rests without the pads. They are comfortable and all, but I'm making more typos with them installed. This is a very expensive keyboard, and it will not be for everyone. There is a learning curve. When I initially switched to a Moonlander, my WPM dropped to about five words per minute. I'm a slow and not very accurate typist, but after this short amount of time I'm up to about 70 WPM with a 98% accuracy rate. This is fantastic for my old hands. Overall, this is a technical board that requires an understanding that the interface software is far from user friendly. Remapping keys will be challenging. I find that the key caps get oily from my fingers rather quickly, which is a weird thing to write, but it's true. So far this has not affected my typing, but I feel like I need to wipe them with a cloth a few times a week. Lightly textured key caps would have been perfect on this thing. Even with these negatives, I feel this keyboard beats the Moonlander by a mile. This is a true ergo keyboard and so far I love typing on it. The Gateron brown switches feel really nice. Negatives aside, this is the best keyboard I've ever owned. I look forward to many years with this thing.

This is an excellent product, the build quality aligns with its price and surpasses it. The typing experience is incredible once you get used to it. You can achieve a "flow state" typing that is so pleasant is incredible. Not to mention my wrists pain got away from two weeks of using it. The Bluetooth problems are a thing of the past and the programability is super easy with clique and the latest update which already came with the shipped product from the factory. The pink switches are amazing, I was afraid that they would be too easy to press but they are not.

So obviously this keyboard is an insane purchase, and is hard to justify. So what made me buy it? **The Build up** I am a 22 year old software engineer. In college (about 2 years ago) I started to notice my wrists were hurting a lot after long periods of coding. I was only 20 at the time and I was thinking 'I am WAY too young to be getting pains like this". Thus started the rabbit hole. I first bought a zsa moonlander. The software is great, I love that you can mod it (more on that later), but something about the amount that you have to reach to hit the top and bottom of each column, it was pretty uncomfortable. Then I went for a corne variant, which has much less keys. This did reduce finger travel, but the reliance on layers didnt feel right to me. In comes the kinesis. **Kinesis vs Glove 80** I had to debate for about a month (again, large purchase, it just how I am) between the glove 80 and the kinesis. Two things seemed to lean in the kinesis' favor for me. 1. MX keys. I personally dont like low profile keys at all 2. Better chasis. From all accounts I have read, the glove 80 feels light. This can be nice for travel but my kinesis stays at my desk all the time and I much rather would prefer to have it not move on my desk rather than it be lighter. **The results** I absolutely love this keyboard. The first day I got it I actually thought about returning it because I couldn't get ZMK to work. Then I realized there are web editors for this stuff! The keywell makes more of a difference than i could have imagined. I have almost the same amount of keys I did on the moonlander but I barely have to move my fingers to hit all the keys. I havent had wrist pain once using this keyboard (and I currently have wrist pain typing this on my laptop). This is an amazing product that I PROMISE you will not regret if you are experiencing wrist pain from typing.

I purchased the Kinesis Advantage 360 keyboard a few weeks ago, and I am confident that it will be my go-to keyboard for a long time. The keyboard is incredibly comfortable to use, and I was able to easily customize the keys with the Kinesis graphical keymapping tool. Although the build quality is decent, I felt that the default ABS plastic keycaps that came with the purchase were of low quality. Fortunately, replacing them with Kinesis PBT keys made a significant difference. Initially, I had a Bluetooth connection issue, but after troubleshooting, I haven't experienced any problems since. Although the keyboard comes with a higher price tag, I believe that it's worth the investment. If you work on a computer a lot, just like with investing in a high-quality chair, it's essential to prioritize ergonomics and comfort. I recently started feeling a tingling sensation, soreness, and sometimes minor pain in my wrists while typing on a regular keyboard, which led me to research ergonomic keyboards. I'm thrilled that I found the Kinesis Advantage 360 because it has significantly reduced my discomfort and improved my typing experience. But even if you don't have any problems with your wrists/hands, I still think this is a great keyboard to consider. It took me about a week to get used to the keyboard layout, but with daily practice, typing at least thirty minutes to an hour each day, I was able to return to my average typing speed of 90wpm. Three weeks in, I feel like I am in total control of this keyboard, including all the special symbols, without even looking at the keys. I have never felt this level of control with a regular keyboard. While I changed the mapping for the hotkeys, I left the key mapping alone for the majority of the keys. Some of the special symbols, such as equal/plus, back tick/tilde, and curly brackets, were challenging to get used to, but with plenty of practice, I have significantly improved. It's worth noting that it's normal to experience some frustration when using a keyboard like this, but I believe that anyone can come to appreciate it with practice. There is a good chance that you might run into Bluetooth connection issues with this keyboard at some point, but be aware that this is a normal thing for any type of bluetooth electronics. For me, after troubleshooting, the Bluetooth issue has not returned yet, but it is very infrequent and minor enough that the benefits of this keyboard outweigh the potential downsides.

First of all, you will need to read user manual on how to pair this keyboard through bluetooth. Manufacturer could either rename keys in more obvious way or provide sticker with cheat sheet so users can just plug and play it.l in USB mode. There is a switch where usb cable plugs in but it does not have any marking whether it is general on off switch or USB vs Bluetooth switch. This is confusing because sometimes my keyboard disconnects via BT and it does not work if I simply plug in usb. I really would have prefferred a keyboard with typical layout out of the box. There is no benefit of having ESC key swapped with Tab key. There is no battery level indicator. My keyboard every now gets disconnected from computer. Either because of kids who accidentally press some buttons while I am away or because of battery level getting low or because something happened with my computer. Because of the issues mentioned above the troubleshooting process is painful to restore.connectivity because it is not clear what is going on.

I really liked this keyboard overall. It was extremely comfortable to type on and I had basically zero hand or wrist discomfort using it. That part absolutely lived up to the hype. My biggest issue was the reach to the upper pinky letter keys. I have pretty average-sized hands for a man in the US, maybe even slightly above average at around 7.8 inches, and I still could not comfortably reach those keys with my pinkies when my hands were sitting where my palms naturally wanted to rest. If my palms got even a little sweaty, they would kind of stick, and I would have to peel my hand up to reach those keys. A lot of the time I ended up using my ring finger instead. I did not buy the optional palm rests, so I can’t say whether those would have helped. I also was not a huge fan of the Kinesis Clique software. It felt a little too limited for what I wanted, so I ended up going the older route and manually flashing the firmware so I could set up combos and custom timings. That process was not great. The documentation was not very clear, and it took me a while to figure out that you have to use the “no Clique” firmware version. If you use the Clique version for manual flashing, it does not seem to work right. Until I figured that out, the whole experience felt kind of buggy. The other downside for me was gaming. For regular typing this keyboard was great, but for gaming it felt basically unusable unless I wanted to remap a ton of keys. If you play WASD games in the usual way with your ring, middle, and index fingers, the layout just does not feel natural. Aside from those issues, I really did love the keyboard. I ended up returning it because the price is high, and for that kind of money I needed it to fit my needs a little better. Still, for pure typing comfort, I can absolutely see why people love it.

Great product, learning curve is 1-2 weeks before getting back to your pre-kinesis typing speed, build quality is very high, Bluetooth connectivity is great w Apple products (using MacBook Pro M1-M4), curiously kinda sucks with windows though with random intermittent disconnects (easily fixed by plugging in USB cables) I purchased these in a last ditch attempt to help my carpel tunnel and was pleasantly surprised with almost immediate relief. Even w the weight and size of these I find myself making excuses to bring this with me on business trips due to how much they help/correct my wrist and finger pain and numbness. The only downside is as a coder you will feel the unavoidable draw to NeoVim..

First things first - the concepts behind this keyboard are great - comfortable key wells that were a proven design with the Advantage line, split so that you have the flexibility of placing the halves at a comfortable distance apart, and tenting so that your wrists are at a more natural angle are brilliant. What befuddles me is how some details just got in the way of making this the best ergonomic keyboard ever. Just to lay the groundwork, I am a Kinesis fanboy. I have been using keyboards for nearly four decades, and about 20 years ago, I started feeling the discomfort most long-term computer users inevitably encounter in the wrists, forearms, and fingers. After using relatively cheap but effective solutions from Microsoft and Logitech, I finally found the Advantage keyboard which was an epiphany. After surviving the initial two or so weeks relearning to type with an ortholinear, welled keyboard with thumb clusters, all of my niggling hand/elbow/arm pain disappeared and I became a true disciple. I used the original Advantage for over a decade, and upgraded to the Advantage 2, keeping the original for a spare for when I need one for offsite consulting engagements. Since the Advantage and the Advantage 2 were single block keyboards, I migrated to a ZSA Moonlander I as my primary about a year ago since it was split, ortholinear, and supremely and easily customizable - you can easily hot swap keys AND switches, and the keys are also RGB, enabling custom colors that are easily programmable. Since it is a flat keyboard, it was a little less comfortable, but paired with ZSA's platform accessory for superb tenting, it was hard to beat. When Kinesis announced the 360 last year, it seemed like the perfect solution. Keeping all of the wonderfulness of the Advantage line coupled with very simple tenting and a split design had me yearning for it. Reviews were generally positive, and I was able to determine that the wired solution would work best for me - I didn't want to have to deal with charging, bluetooth, etc. so I settled for the SmartSet version rather than the wireless, and ordered it once I found availability at a relatively good price point. I was excited about its potential. The first issue I ran into was the unnatural feel of the keys. My fingers felt like they were slipping off, and my accuracy suffered. The PBT keys felt artificial and cheap. I tried different separation and orientation tactics, different levels of tenting, and different table heights. It just didn't feel right. I compared it to the feel of my old Advantage 2 - it felt so comfortable compared to the 360. One of the reasons it felt comfortable seemed to be cupped home keys of the Advantage 2. So, on a lark, I swapped the home keys on the spare Advantage with the PBT home keys on the 360, and voila, the feel issue disappeared. Users who are first time Kinesis users are likely never encounter this situation, but I definitely felt it. With the old cupped keys, the 360 feels great. The second issue is the length of the cord that connects the two split halves. The cord is 10 inches long, but because you have to curve it to insert the USB-C connectors on both halves, you effectively get a 6 inch maximum separation, which limits possibilities. The Moonlander has a long cord that connects its halves and does not have this limitation. I guess for most, 6 inches is enough, but there have been times when I have separated the keyboard halves on the Moonlander by nearly 20 inches comfortably. The third issue has to do with the indicator lights just above the thumb clusters. I have noticed from time to time that the RHS lights don't come on as expected. Disconnecting and reconnecting the keyboard usually fixes that, but it shouldn't be happening in a keyboard this expensive. I'll continue to keep an eye on it to see if there is a pattern to the issue, and I'll reach out to tech support if it continues. The final recommendation to make this keyboard pop is to get the wrist rests. Some YouTube reviewers have indicated that they aren't necessary, and they are not required. But your hand positioning is far enhanced with them on. IMHO, they should have been included with the package, considering the cost of the unit, but it is what it is. So, Kinesis, if you're listening, add the cupped keys to the home keys, provide a larger connecting cable for the halves, and consider including the wrists wrests by default. Also, you could take some notes from ZSA who have taken user-friendly customization to a new level - would help make this good product great.