Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Matias makes excellent keyboards , and this one is no elision . But any ergonomic keyboard can be tough to adjust to , so do n’t be afraid to return it if it does n’t work for you .
The Matias Ergo Pro is the late keyboard that tries to help computer users with a well - make love problem : keyboards are n’t designed for hands . or else , typists since the former 1800s through the present have had to adapt themselves to the need of , first , mechanically skillful layout and , later , the restraint of one - size - conniption - all arrays of galvanic or electronic switches .
So - called ergonomic keyboard are designed to split and remold a keyboard to better fit varied constraints , so that we can exercise some choice in matching the keyboard to our particular fingers .
I ’ve been test ergonomic keyboards for more than 25 age , go steady back before one of my dearie , theApple Adjustable Keyboard(1993 ) . Its list price was $ 219 , or $ 356 in today ’s dollar . It was bruit that Apple killed this keyboard under the notion that if they offered a keyboard design to easily help substance abuser avoid repetitive var. injuries ( RSI ) from carpal - tunnel syndrome and other conditions , it meant the even keyboard must be a endangerment . The keyboard were prostrate to failure and the subject of patent and innovation lawsuits , and perhaps the gentle tarradiddle is that Apple was distracted in the mid-1990s , and just killed it off .
I have a clear memory of determine Stewart Cheifet’sComputer ChroniclesTV program , a show that combined coverage of the data processor diligence with insistence - tour - like visit from product makers , in which the Creator of achorded keyboardtalked about “ antique keyboards , ” refer to the standards . Suffice it say , chording keyboards did n’t take off , though they arguably are faster input methods and serious for your hired hand . ( Listen to this 99 % Invisible podcast sequence , “ Of Mice and Men , ” for more . )
I ’ve used a stock Matias keyboard since nearlytheir entry over 11 years ago , using the primal molds and switches of the original , dear Apple Extended Keyboard . I put the Ergo Pro up against Matias’stactileproandQuiet Pro , which for my 100 Christian Bible - per - minute typing needs , I consider the gold standard .
Clever and odd compromises for a two-half keyboard
The Ergo Pro comprises two musical composition , separate across the contact - typewrite water parting ( 5/6 , T / Y , G / H , etc . ) . It ’s not a full - sport keyboard , as it miss a standalone numeric keypad , but it incorporates all the items one typically require . The left half has dedicated Undo , Cut , Copy , and Paste winder .
The veracious one-half has mini - sized , but easily accessible domicile , End , varlet Up , Page Down , and pointer buttons . There ’s even a forward - delete key hidden at the far upper right , and F13 , F14 , and F15 do double duty on top of [ , ] , and . ( the bracket and the menses ) . A Num Lock key fruit nuzzle to the left of the N key turn a storage-battery grid of letter into the computer keyboard . ( The model I receive had a slightly different organization of numbers that Matias says it reworked based on feedback for the next production run this calendar month . )
The spacebar is duplicated across the split , and is extra tall — the combining weight of nearly two key ’ peak . The Option key ( leave alone side only ) and Command keys ( left and veracious ) are also extra deep . The Control samara is huge ! It ’s as across-the-board as a Shift key and as tall as the spacebar .
The cardinal military action seems a touch less solid than Matias ’s other keyboards , meaning a lilliputian crocked or less fluid than the keyboards I ’ve used day by day for a decennary . However , I was testing a freshly made building block , and raw keyboards often need a piece of break - in time . The key activity is still superscript to nearly any other keyboard I ’ve used , even with that proviso .
I was capable to get used to the keyboard apace and type nearly at my normal pace . ( This inspection was written with the keyboard , naturally . ) Within a few hour of use , I rarely had to look down for special samara . I did regularly tap the Num Lock tonality by fortuity , and I suspect I ’d get used to that over time .
The strangest aspect of the keyboard is n’t its split or nature . Rather , the association . The society connects the two halves with a cable typically used with peregrine phone for sound recording and distant control : a four - music director , 3.5 millimeter TRRS cable . Matias supply a flat cable television in a bounce - loaded retractable spool , although any similar cable can be used ; it ’s not proprietary . It ’s sticky and bulky , though , and does n’t accommodate the design esthetic .
The keyboard connects to a computer via micro - USB , and Matias supply a short and long cable , each with a correct - slant connector . It also feature three USB Type A ports . However , because full USB ability is fed just into the right one-half , the three ports are all on that keyboard slice . One of them is on the left edge near the top , making it unuseable in many configurations , as it will be too close to the odd one-half of the keyboard .
His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking
An ergonomic keyboard has to clear three kind of offspring concern to how script officiate : extension and flexion , ulnar divergence and stellate divagation , and supination and pronation . Each of these is a dissimilar form of twist or twisting .
propagation is how the deal bends up at the wrist joint , and flexion how it bends down . Ulnar and radial deviation are how the bridge player bends leave and right at the radiocarpal joint . Supination and pronation are rotating the carpus palm up and handle down .
Like snowflakes , no two masses ’s deal situation across all those rotations and extensions will be the same . Regular keyboards require that everyone deviate outward , extend or flex bet on the keyboard ’s height , and pronate towards the middle . get hold a relaxed status of comfort puts the least strain on one ’s tendons .
This pee an ergonomic keyboard impossible to refresh generically , quite honestly . have that I ’ve been writing about them for more than half my life , I come back to the same point : they have to be build up in such a way that there ’s a very broad sort of positions and opportunities , both to allow pas seul among people , and to let people choose different positions over time .
On that score , the Ergo Pro is too limited . The keyboard is two altogether disordered objet d’art , and you’re able to not make the angle between them stay put , despite rubber pad and foot . In normal enjoyment , I found it easy to bump around one or both half , and then have to tamper to restore them to the way I wish . There ’s also a fair amount of surround and edge where the two halves “ meet , ” so you could not push the sides close together to make an easy tent in the center .
The split admit you to adjust ulnar and radial deviation , but the other factors rely alone on three kickstands on each keyboard half . In various combinations , you could elevate ( or “ tent ” ) the keyboard in dissimilar incline . But there are no fine - tune up elevation control .
The keyboard amount with two deep , soft palm tree rests , which some people like . I do not , and they can be taken off by bump off three prison guard on each keyboard half . However , polish off the palm relief also removes two of the elevating kickstands .
Bottom line
The hassle is that it ’s going to be backbreaking for you to screw whether this keyboard works for your picky hand before trying it out . Matias is currently ramping up output and is acceptingpre - ordersnow for a tidy sum that will embark in June ( including worldwide free shipping as a pre - order incentive ) , although they hope to get them out earlier . Matias offer a 30 - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. full - repayment restoration for its direct sale , and while the company is based in Canada , American emptor can ship back to a New York warehouse to avoid international shipping chages . The keyboard will also be available throughresellers , which should reserve either an opportunity to assay one out in person or to send a rejoinder back even more inexpensively .
Ergonomic keyboards that allow for extremely all right degrees of use of angles and rotation typically cost far more and hail with many more trade-off than the Ergo Pro . Matias has sculpture a keyboard with its distinctive quality and care that fits better in the budget for a serious typist with existing repetitive motion issues or concern about developing them . For those for whom there ’s a match between hands and keyboard adjustment , it ’s a bargain for what it offer .
