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Comment by robk | Hacker News Reader

This keyboard style is absolutely amazing. I had pre-carpal style pain in my hands for years and tried every other keyboard out there, including all the ergo ones that came highly recommended. This is the only one that actually stopped the pain for me. 10+ years of satisfaction here - I've got one at every PC I use regularly now.

The new non-mushy F-keys are a nice improvement, but honestly not sure that's worth replacing my existing ones since they're built like tanks already.

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> built like tanks

I got mine 12 years ago, still have the same one as my primary keyboard. I replaced the enter key about 3 years ago, because I'm pretty hard on keyboards, frequently breaking space bars, etc., within a year before I got a kinesis. 2 weeks ago, I was having an issue with a row of keys going unresponsive intermittently. I emailed support and they sent back detailed instructions for checking inside the keyboard, despite the product being 12 years old. The issue went away before I could try to fix it.

I don't have any other computer equipment that's as tough.

Similar here. My oldest Kinesis I've had for 14 years and it was used when I bought it (this was before they were USB). My daily use one is from 2003 and I don't see any reason to think it won't last another 13 years.

The F-keys are poor, but I don't use them all that often, so it hasn't bothered me much; that's the only feature on the "what's new" that seems a big deal.

Kinesis keyboard is some of the best money I've spent on computing over the years. One downside: I now look like a moron when I go to type on a regular keyboard in a conference room or at someone else's desk.

On the plus side, it's a nice way to keep people from using your terminal. They sit down then get a scared look on their face and quickly give you back control of the machine ;)

Yeah, this is actually really funny and a good way to keep digital "peeping toms" out. Even my wife refuses to use my workstation beyond the bare minimum because she's not good with the Kinesis.

While I'm pretty new to the game (only been a user for about 4 years), I still love my Kinesis. Prior to getting a Kinesis, I was buying a fresh MS Ergo 4000 once every 6-8 months because the etchings in the keys would wear off, the membranes would get gunky, certain keys would get sticky or soft-to-the-press, etc. The Kinesis has permanently resolved that class of issues for me (and more than paid for itself just in the cost of replacement keyboards, not to mention heretofore staving off the need for carpal tunnel treatment).

I convinced a friend to get a Kinesis last year. I did a thorough cleaning of mine around the same time and was pleased to see that after a little elbow grease, the brand new unit and my aged unit were practically indistinguishable.

Kinesis keyboards are tough and one of the few buy-it-for-life-priced devices that actually seems like it'll never wear out.

The F-keys seem to be the part that aren't built like tanks. I had to replace my Kinesis because my Esc key was wearing out from 6 years of using Vim on the keyboard. (Sure, it convinced me to bind Esc somewhere more convenient, but having Esc not register when you press it is quite frustrating.)

I swapped Del and Esc the first week I got my Kinesis. But even with it there I still sometimes use Ctrl-[ to press Esc.

These are now mechanical, though I prefer having it remapped.

Same here. I thought I'd have to change careers. This keyboard makes it possible for me to continue coding.

I am wondering, does anyone here use the foot switches that kinesis makes and in what configuration?

I use the 3 pedal foot switch. Left pedal is escape. Right pedal is move to the end of a line in vim. Haven't decided what to do with the middle one yet.

Three pedal one here. Bought by accident but now happily use it with middle one to switch modes using Karabiner and outer two either Cmd/Mouseclick or pgup/down, left/right, scroll, space left/right etc.

someone made an arcade button mod, positioned on the wrist rest, to function as extra buttons acting as the foot pedals. might be an interesting way to go instead of having to have another peripheral device.

Some of my F keys gave out, and I emailed Kinesis and they told me that the new mechanical F keys can't replace the old ones, because the circuit board is different.

I broke my original, and have been considering a new one. 50 dollars extra to fix those rubbery keys... not store its worth it. Then again I am on windows now, so I end up using the function keys more.

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