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we have had all sorts of bizarro

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keyboards through the lab lately from super ergonomic to super ergo no thank

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you but the one thing that all of them have in common is

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they're just not that cool to be fair

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the kinesis freestyle edge isn't uncool

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it just lacks the wow factor of the more flashy mainstream keyboard options that

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are out there so then introducing the latest iteration of the

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infamous ergodox easy keyboard a no

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compromises ergonomic keyboard that actually looks as good as it feels and

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for the first time ever now comes with user replaceable key switches

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today's video is brought to you by zotac zotac's zbox pcs are compact and they

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have different variants that are great for applications like streaming and

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gaming check them out at the link below

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looking at it the ergodox easy is kind of like a mashup of two boards from

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rival ergoboard maker kinesis it's a split keyboard like the freestyle edge

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but it has thumb clusters and ortho linear keys like the advantage ii

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it's a small 76 keyboard which lands it

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somewhere between a 60 and a 10 keyless so there's no function row but it does

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have navigation keys wherever you decide to put them

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now since ergodoc started out as an open source build your own board company

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customizability is in the easy's dna they include f and j keycaps that don't

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have tactile guides in case you plan on rearranging the letters in a dvorak or

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colemat configuration and even if you

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order your board with a legend on the keycaps which you're not even required

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to do some keys are still left unmarked so as

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to not be confusing after you customize your layout

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and customize you will because the default layout is

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pretty different for example the backspace is now more

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easily accessible over here beside the a key while the apostrophe

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is way down here under the z that is too far for me i'm very

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possessive of my apostrophe key

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now for his part james our writer actually went through nine iterations

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before landing on the perfect layout

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that sounds like a lot of work but that high number actually just goes to show

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how easy it is to tweak the configuration

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just use the online configurator tool and flash the firmware to save it right

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onto the board and while you're at it you don't have a ton of keys on this

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thing so you'll probably want to take advantage of at least a couple of the 32

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available layers which you can switch between in some pretty cool ways like

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switching only as long as you hold a particular key down or switching layers

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but only for a single key press kind of like how shift works on your phone all

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this customization does mean that yes this board

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can take some time to get used to especially if you're not used to

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ortholinear or non-staggered keys which

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i guess then brings us into ergonomics the split board lets you tilt each key

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module to keep your wrists from bending outward so that's good

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but if you want to cut out wrist extension you'll need the nice and solid

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but sold separately silicone buzz collector sorry excuse me uh wrist rests

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and same goes for battling pronation you'll actually need the tent kit for

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another 30 bucks extra it's not cheap

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but the legs are metal making them nice and durable the cute little dipped feet

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are available in white or black to match the color of your board once it's

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installed you can tilt each individual leg through ratcheted steps or using the

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included washers steplessly it takes longer to set up than kinesis

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is also sold separately lift kit but the

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end result is more versatile and feels

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more quality in fact overall build quality has a lot

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to do with the easy's cool factor it doesn't look like it was made in the

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90s like many other ergonomic keyboards

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and that beauty is more than skin-deep the keycaps for example are made by

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signature plastics the printed set is double shot injected abs plastic with a

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lower profile than most key caps and a

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rough and surface finish on the top so they don't get that gross shiny look as

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they wear out and the unprinted set is pbt with a special bonus as well

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since there's no reason to move them around they're sculpted meaning that

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each row has a differently shaped keycap for improved ergonomics

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then underneath the keycaps it gets real

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because you'll find one of 12 different switch types available right out of the

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box wait i'm sorry did i say one of believe

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it or not our board right here actually has five different switch types plugged

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into it right now the easy makes swapping them out

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well easy just use the included dual pullage

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tool to swap out some cherry mx browns for reds on the wasd keys maybe some

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blacks on the keys you don't want to strike accidentally like hue and

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overwatch um maybe some super crunchy kale thick gold for the

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number keys i mean hell yeah why not let's throw let's

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throw some cherry mx whites in here for

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i don't know these keys in the future you'll even be able to

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order small numbers of extra switches directly from ergodocs but for now their

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ordering system only allows you to buy a complete set

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which i guess brings us nicely to our gripes it wasn't easy to

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dox these marks but i have to talk about the cable

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i appreciate that these are detachable and therefore replaceable in theory but

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they stand out as the least premium aspect of the entire package not only

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are they not braided they've got like printing on them like they just went to

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a store and bought them next up is the lighting the underglow

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pretty freaking sweet it does contribute to the coolness factor there's lots of

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options for colors patterns and brightness but

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is this as good as backlit keys

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maybe that's a matter of opinion but i do hope to see that on a future version

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of the board as for the bottom line whether to buy

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that depends on what you're willing to spend just the board by itself without even

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switches is 225 us dollars a basic

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configuration then is 270 and if you add all the bells and whistles which to

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achieve proper ergonomic status we'd recommend you're sitting at 355 dollars

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as for any bonus key switches you want to throw in well that's gonna cost you

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two so is it a lot for a mechanical keyboard

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yes is it a lot for a programmable mechanical keyboard

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yep is it a lot for a programmable mechanical keyboard with RGB lighting

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it sure is but is it a lot for an ergonomic

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keyboard actually no

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so if you're looking for a board that's as functional as it is eye-catching then

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the ergodox easy might be worth making the switch

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purchase so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but it

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was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or check out the link to where to buy the

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stuff we featured in the video description also link down there is our

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merch store which has cool shirts like this one and our community forum which you should

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totally join