Veteran viewers know that I have a bit of a history with ergonomic keyboards
But it all started with the Kinesis Advantage 2. This is the Advantage 360
Professional there's also a non-professional which is basically a souped-up version of that same keyboard
I saw back then so the question is what's new what does it come with and will I switch to it?
I do currently use and have used for several years a similar but different
Ergonomic keyboard inside the box We have two key modules with bubble wrap for the children as well as a box of accessories
You get a key cap puller, but not a key switch puller more on that later
You get a USB A to C cable for connecting the keyboard to your PC. They even have
Advantage 360 branded cable ties pretty cool. Maybe six feet long. I'm not six feet tall
So, you know, I can't grab that wide a bridge connector
Basically a piece of plastic says 360 on it and it holds the two key modules together more on that later
Some extra key caps with this model. These are shine through ABS caps on the non professional
They're actually double shot PBT caps weird that you get different key caps
But that's what the $30 difference gets you a baby and a quick start guide. Let's look at the modules
Don't give these to your kids to play with but they're so fun
These are so awesome. They have a great weight to them. They have very high quality plastics
They don't feel 3d printed at all. Like they look pretty modern
I remember the advantage to was like had a great ergonomic innovations
But it's kind of just a weird like 80s feeling keyboard even though it wasn't but this is nice
Now let's talk about the features first of all It's split and that gives you a lot of flexibility because you can put them close together
You can put them far apart and this allows you to have whatever kind of ergonomic setup for your shoulders that you need
So you can turn them like that Have it like that, which is nice and that's gonna reduce what's called all-in-one deviation
Which is when your hands go like this if you're like squished in on a cordy keyboard kind of like that with a split keyboard
You can tilt them in Put your elbows on the table
That's great It also gives you the freedom to put your mouse where you want believe it or not
Some people may choose to spread the modules like this and put the mouse in the middle
And what that does is it prevents them from reaching way over here for their mouse
Which can cause shoulder and neck strain. That's the name of the game ergonomics
We're trying to reduce prevent or heal from repetitive stress injuries
And there's a few different ways you can get them all in deviation shoulder strain another way you can develop in
RSI's from having too much brisk extension. This is flexion. This is extension and that hurts
And normally it's because your hands are on your desk if your keyboard has those little legs on the back that make it tilt up
I used to always use those once I got educated I stop because that's extension these you have the option of extending your wrist because the wrist pad is built onto the key module itself
It just like forces you look how neutral my wrist is there
It's just straight and not only that they sell an optional sold separately accessory for $25 and
It's attaches on with magnets. It's so awesome and slick
It's very cushy and plush and I actually recommend getting it if you're in the market for this keyboard
I probably would get the wrist pads. They're awesome The next thing is pronation which is when your hands are like this the two bones in your ARM the radius and the ulna
They scissor and they pinch tissue This is the one that I feel the most and this is also the way that this keyboard has improved probably the most like I've used
Keyboards from ergo docs which are really cool, but their tending system is so much more finicky
You have these little legs kicking off every direction that you turn and tighten on these
they just have this one big stand with a button under it and
What that allows you to do is you press the button and you can increase the angle or lower it just like that
There's only one dimension to it You you know the extra jank of the ergo docs allows you to put all sorts of different angles
But this is just up and down this way which is
Unpronating your arms
Unpinching that tissue so I would probably just tent it to the max look at that looks cool
So that's a cool profile if you guys could see what I see from this way like
It's neat and finally
What's the deal with these contoured key wells?
Well, that is because Your fingers don't have to sit on the keyboard like that
They get to rest in a natural state like this and not only that look out look at the variation in
the key heights What they're trying to do there is have it so that the keys are at a consistent distance
From your finger as it sweeps in its range of motion. It should be able to touch all those keys
They're all right there. See like this number keys farther away, but it's also sticking out more
So my finger doesn't have to reach a crazy amount to get to it. It's just awesome
They thought it through if you're someone who's suffering from an RSI or trying to prevent one and that is your number one thing
This is probably or at least this brand is probably the ergo keyboard to go with they really thought it through
That doesn't mean I don't have problems with it, which we'll get to in a bit, but first let's continue the
Journey of discovery here. You can see there's a power on switch for each one
There's also a USB-C port for each one if you're running with that bridge accessory does I think he'd click it onto the
tent boy
And then you've just got one unit that's pretty cool
But I like it to be a little turned in so I probably wouldn't use this
Yeah Keyboard does not come with a dongle. It's Bluetooth, which is okay. I
Do like to have a dongle a little lower latency and just kind of simpler setup. You just leave that thing in your computer
Keyboard is available with multiple different switch types from the store. However
They're not hot swappable which is
Sad you can't put any keys which you want on here
So you do have a little bit of a selection these ones that comes with these browns. They're not cherry MX browns
Or Gateron Browns It's one of those things these keyboards ergo keyboards often have a hefty price tag
And you kind of just wish that you got everything under the sun for that price like and hot swappable
Key switches is just cool to have and if I'm spending so much for a keyboard be nice for it to be not just my
Ergo keyboard, but also my enthusiast keyboard like let me put freaking pandas in here
But alas, I would say that's a through line of my criticisms for this thing overall
During filming Kinesis added the advantage 360 signature to their lineup where an aftermarket outfitter called upgrade keyboards calm
We'll build you a 360 or 360 pro with purportedly any switch you want and
Cool other upgrades as long as you're willing to wait up to six months
One thing that I love to have in an ergonomic keyboard is thumb clusters, which is what you have here
Their philosophy at Kinesis is why let your little pinky do so much heavy lifting on a keyboard
When your thumbs are way stronger let them do repetitive tasks like spacebar back speed space delete and
Why not chuck in some other lesser-known keys like paging up and home and end. I really like that approach
I will not use an Ergo keyboard that doesn't have thumb clusters. It's just so sweet the keyboard that I have in my desk
I personally use space and Backspace and delete and enter all on my thumbs and having backspace in particular on the thumb rather than I used to use my pinky up here
Like reaching over there so much better highly recommend. However, you will see that there's other elements of this
Keyboard layout that are non-standard for example. Where's the caps lock button? Is it right here beside a no that's escape
The philosophy of Kinesis is like they're trying to make the most ergonomic keyboard possible
They want to have everything within reach of the home row and if there's keys that are not within reach then they go
Into a second layer you hit some key press and then you're on a layer that has all your numpad for example
If I show you the K key, there's a second legend on the bottom of it indicating that it's the number five
Which is super cool got your F keys on a layer underneath the number keys and that's all gravy if you get used to it
I don't want to get used to it. I never ever want to switch layers. I want more keys
And that's because I don't have an RSI. I'm using ergonomic keyboards to prevent RSI's and
Because I don't actually have an injury. I'm willing to like sacrifice some ergonomics for extra productivity
So my preference would be if they made a I would love for them to make a keyboard that also had F keys up here
And just maybe it's just a couple more keys So they don't have to do things like move escape down to over here and caps over here
What were they thinking and I hate these arrow keys that are divided you see they've got
You're supposed to go way down here and use these fingers for the left and right arrows and use your whole other hand for the up and down
Arrows, I don't like that I want to see all the arrows in a normal cluster in a normal orientation
Because you spend years working in retail getting muscle memory for the arrow keys gaming getting muscle memory for the arrow keys to
Re-learn stuff like that is brutal in the case of hotkeys. I want to use the same muscle memory
I already use on my laptop, which I might be using
While I also have this keyboard in my life, you know, we're multi-device people
You got to switch between and I have no problem switching between
Ortho linear keyboards like this with the up and down keys and using my thumbs and then going to my laptop
It's different enough that I actually don't have a problem switching between but switching the muscle memory of hotkeys is a big deal
So why not just reprogram the keyboard? That's easy to do on most keyboards, right?
Indeed, you are right except for this keyboard this specific keyboard if you get the advantage 360 non-pro
That's a USB version you plug that poppy in it actually has a different and much easier to use
Keyboard reprogramming software with this particular pro board. They're like, hey, you're a pro
You're such a pro that instead of having a nice gooey
That's just like on our website for you to reprogram your keyboard like a or a docks might you actually have to go to their
GitHub and fork their GitHub in order to reprogram this thing, which is doable and they have an instruction guide on how to do it
It's just not like I just don't get it on the one hand
Is there customer people who are like are not keyboard enthusiasts, but just need ergonomic keyboards to service their injuries if it is
Why are you expecting those people to go and be power users on your get repository?
That's two different users. I don't get it. I think that all their keyboard should have easy remapping
Since it's so important on a on a smaller non-standard layout where you're gonna want to customize it your way
Especially with thumb clusters make it easy for us guys another issue. I have is that
It's not RGB Seems like a stupid thing again. It's an Ergo keyboard. Why does it need it?
It does have a backlight on the pro model. There is a global white
Backlight which you can turn it up and down you hold down the mod button and
Error down and up, but you see that going off and on. Yeah, I can see it up here
But why not have that RGB for a price of
$480 Yes, it's $480 the non-pro model is $450 so that's my thing you guys
It's very expensive and you can't put a price on health and that's their aim is solving your health problems
It's almost a medical device. You could probably write it off. So it's cool
I just wish it was be it went beyond that and could be also my enthusiast keyboard
so for those prices like yeah throwing some RGB and
Like cuz why not? It's cool that you can have five different profiles for attaching Bluetooth
It's cool that there's multiple layers of keyboard
Profiles you can connect to it or program into it beyond just the standard three
Profiles that are included. It's cool that it has
this easy to use tenting system and it's cool that it's like the most ergonomic thing ever
but I just wish they had like a Middle ground keyboard that had all these benefits
But just like an extra row keys over here Maybe some macro keys on the side and and let every user have the cheap and easy
non-power user reprogrammability And then it would be my perfect keyboard and I would put it on my desk
But until that day I'm stuck using the truly ergonomic cleave keyboard with its optical switches and you know, it's flat
It's not everything I want. I want it plus this smashed together and like an external
Keypad, I'd probably put like a little keypad in the middle here or something like that, but
Anyways, thanks for watching guys If you like this video, maybe you go down memory lane and check out all the other weird ear girl keyboards
We've covered over the years