Advantage360 Professional Split Ergonomic Keyboard - Bluetooth | Quiet Mechanical Switches | Fully Programmable Open Source | Contoured Shape | Adjustable Tenting | Backlit

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.

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..

This keyboard is miles above the standard qwerty staggered layout keyboards. Typing on this for the last ~10 months has been extremely comfortable and has reduced my shoulder and wrist pain caused by regular non-split staggered keyboards. If you are on the fence just buy it and give it a solid try for at least 1-2 weeks. The process will be painful trying to learn the new layout. Do some typing tests and learn the proper home-row finger placement to take full advantage of this board. While I do highly recommend this keyboard if you are typing on a keyboard a lot, there are some issues to be aware of. The main annoyances of this keyboard are the Bluetooth connection, connection issues between the two halves of the boards, and double key-pressing issues. I ended up having to RMA my board because the double-pressing issue became so bad. I still have the same issue after RMA occasionally though Kinesis has recently put out a new firmware that claims to fix this. If this keyboard used a 2.4ghz USB dongle in addition to the Bluetooth, and the double pressing issues were fixed this would be the perfect keyboard. Update: Kinesis latest firmware has fixed the Bluetooth issues making this keyboard even better

Just get the wired version. It's a very cool and comfortable keyboard but it is not worth the headache of getting this thing to connect when it decides to stop working once a month. I've update the firmware several times and even sent it back to the manufacturer to try and fix the problems. I wouldn't mind the issues as much if I could use it in a wired mode but that isn't an option. The usb ports can only be used for charging. I also think there isn't enough clear documentation on how to configure the key customization with ZMK, let alone how annoying it is to use the github repositories to compile the files for the key configuration.

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.

Overall it’s a great keyboard. It takes time getting used to, but I can type much longer on it without issues than a normal ergonomic keyboard. Which matters a ton and was what I was hoping for. It is an adjustment. I hope you already know how to touch type correctly. I did, except I typed 6 and C with the wrong fingers. I was forced to learn the right way. No big deal. As a developer, I use punctuation more than most, and some punctuation isn’t placed great. But I’m getting used to that, plus I’ve customized the keyboard some. I love it’s got programmability. That’s quickly becoming a favorite feature. I do NOT like it’s done through Chrome. They had a real program, but gave up on it. Oh well. As a Mac user I was not happy with the process to figure out where the modifier keys should go. My keyboard works out of the box but since it has Windows keys on it the key caps need changing to make things nicer. You really want to use the Mac keycaps (included!). Unfortunately there isn’t a single bit of documentation anywhere explaining where they should go. I contacted support. You have to use their reprogramming tool and apply the default Mac layout. THAT will show you. I know the modifier keys work on the Mac without reprogramming. But it would be nice if there was a single insert anywhere in the box showing you which key corresponds to which so you can swap the key caps easily. I don’t use Windows keyboards enough to have what the windows key or the application key should be. Just document it. I got the quiet version of the switches. They’re not exactly silent but they’re certainly not much quieter than a normal mechanical keyboard. I’m quite happy with them.

I recommend this keyboard. It didn't take long to learn how to type on this keyboard, maybe just a week or two and once I got the hang of the thumb keys, I think it's a much more effective way to type. When I don't use this and go back to a regular keyboard, I find that my fingers/wrists start immediately hurting. The only thing to note with the blue-tooth version that other reviews have noted is the challenge sometimes with connection but as long as you turn the left keyboard on first and then the right, I haven't had issues. You will have to charge the keyboards fairly regularly so if that sounds like a hassle then maybe get the corded version of this keyboard. I don't use all the fancy key configurations, just the version straight out of the box so I'm probably not using it to its full extent but it is great for what I wanted.

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.