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Kinesis Advantage 360

kinesis-ergo.com

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Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#71

Post by thebean11 »

linsomniac wrote: post #36
endisneigh wrote: post #24

If you're seriously thinking about buying this go try the other Kinesis keyboards first. After you get in the ergonomic territory I find the comfort increases to be very marginal. IMHO assuming you have no ergonomic setup at all you're better off buying a Kinesis Freestyle, a used Steelcase/Herman Miller chair, and a VESA mount for your monitor/laptop to make it eye level - all of which can be had for the cost of the…

FWIW: We had ergonomics consultants in 3-4 years ago and they recommended displays be lower because having them higher makes your eyes open wider and dry out more. If you have problems with dry eyes, maybe try lowering your display?

That's super interesting I have never heard or thought of that. I wonder how that compares to tilting your head back slightly to get the same eye:monitor angle?

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#72

Post by Sholmesy »

FullyFunctional wrote: post #47

Base version gets PBT keycaps (yesss!) and Pro gets ABS (buuuh) Sadly not a typo. Hopefully the PBT set is available separately or (pretty please) PMK will make a custom run of the Ice-Cap.

Agreed, should just be an option in the cart. The PBT vs ABS conflict is the keyboard equivilant of Vim vs Emacs

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#73

Post by ianai »

jagger27 wrote: post #56
ianai wrote: post #28

What are the odds the pre-orders will be robbed by bots in a few seconds?

That seems unlikely, and it's not really how Drop usually works. They collect pre-order payments before manufacturing. This is probably an unlimited group buy. Pre-oders on Drop.com usually stay open for a month or longer.

Oh, awesome, that's a relief! The bluetooth version does seem pretty couch surf friendly...maybe I'll get one.

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#74

Post by johanvts »

tcoff91 wrote: post #18
MrPowers wrote: post #15

Kinesis Advantage 2 is great, but it's massive and hard to travel with. Looks like the 360 might be a bit easier to travel with. The Kinesis Advantage 2 fits a Magic Trackpad perfectly right in the middle of the keyboard. This lets you perform mouse actions with you right and left hands. Emacs keybindings never made sense to me till I tried them with the Kinesis. I feel like Emacs sucks on a standard Mac keyboard and…

I bet the kinesis foot pedals would take emacs to the next level too. I use spacemacs in evil mode so I never bothered having to learn all those key chording things for emacs.

I got the pedal for my Advantage, but it is too small/light to really be useful, I tried mapping it to Ctrl but went back almost immediately.

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#75

Post by FullyFunctional »

jerlam wrote: post #5

I like how they added inboard macro keys. It was odd before how the Advantage had all this programming capability but you had to come up with some new keystrokes. Is it me or the price difference between the two makes the Pro model a no-brainer? Wireless, backlighting, better keycaps, and better programming model for only $40 more?

You find ABS (soft and light plastic that wears down with even moderate usage) to be superior to PBT which is heavier and FAR more durable?

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#76

Post by FullyFunctional »

thebean11 wrote: post #71
linsomniac wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW: We had ergonomics consultants in 3-4 years ago and they recommended displays be lower because having them higher makes your eyes open wider and dry out more. If you have problems with dry eyes, maybe try lowering your display?

That's super interesting I have never heard or thought of that. I wonder how that compares to tilting your head back slightly to get the same eye:monitor angle?

This is all getting into personal preference, but AFAIK, ergonomic standards do not exactly recommend eye level, they recommend that looking in a straight line you should see over top of edge of the monitor. There's definitely some tradeoffs to be had as having the monitor too low can put stress on your neck (which translates to neck pain after a while).

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#77

Post by ebruchez »

dsr_ wrote: post #26

I don't understand the surrounding decisions. Differentiating by wired/wireless makes sense. Using two different programming systems? No. ZMK instead of adding BT support to QMK? Why? RGB underglow but not individually programmable key backlights? For the money they are charging, all of these things should have been extremely easy decisions. Anyone have insight?

> ZMK instead of adding BT support to QMK? Why?

QMK is licensed under the GPL, which disallows linking with proprietary Bluetooth stacks. That might be one reason.

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#78

Post by gbrown_ »

simonsaysso wrote: post #55
gbrown_ wrote: post #43

It's a shame they couldn't get hot-swapable switches to work [1]. I have an ErgoDox with MX Browns which hasn't seen the light of day for a while. If I were to make a large outlay again on a keyboard I'd want to buy with the switches I now know I want or no switches and fit them myself. TBH I could take a soldering iron to my ErgoDox I just haven't had the motivation. As an aside I've always wondered why the Katana60…

If you're looking for something small but more ergonomic than a Plank, take a look at the Atreus (either as a DIY or in a kit from Keyboario[1]). I also had issues with the Plank but the slight angle of the keys on the Atreus has been extremely comfortable for me. [1] https://shop.keyboard.io/products/keyboardio-atreus

Yeah I'm pretty familiar with most keyboard offerings. I'm just not keen on the Atreus' lack of a surrounding case/the key caps themselves being the edge. I know it's only an atheistic quibble but I guess I'm fussy like that.

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#79

Post by swinglock »

Sholmesy wrote: post #72
FullyFunctional wrote: post #47

Base version gets PBT keycaps (yesss!) and Pro gets ABS (buuuh) Sadly not a typo. Hopefully the PBT set is available separately or (pretty please) PMK will make a custom run of the Ice-Cap.

Agreed, should just be an option in the cart. The PBT vs ABS conflict is the keyboard equivilant of Vim vs Emacs

No one that knows of PBT prefers ABS.

Re: Kinesis Advantage 360

#80

Post by vladvasiliu »

simonsaysso wrote: post #62
db65edfc7996 wrote: post #30

Sadly, no dedicated F-row. I would even settle for a subset of keys that aligned with the columns. I do not consider layers an adequate replacement. Happy to see they are moving away from their own software configuration. Not a fan of the software interface on the Freestyle Pro. More than once I have gotten myself into a loop where I am unsure which function mode is activated and how to switch back to what I want. I…

I would imagine you can add an F key layer pretty easily so this shouldn't be a big deal. I found it impossible to touch-type the F-row on my Advantage 2, and it's awesome to be able to move keys closer to your fingers. That being said, I don't see a reason to upgrade. I've ordered replacement key wells so I can install my own switches, and since the Advantage is my desk keyboard I'm not worried about portability.

> I would imagine you can add an F key layer pretty easily so this shouldn't be a big deal

That may be the case, but the issue I have with this is that I need, often enough, to press random F keys while not actively using the keyboard. Like for example refresh HN while eating an apple (F5). It's a pain to have to press multiple keys.

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