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Keyboards · ZSA ErgoDox

ZSA ErgoDox EZ

7owners with an opinion
83%of verdicts positive
3/1positive/negative since 2024
7 yrslongest happy owner
1happy after 3+ years

Praised for ergonomics and performance; criticized for reliability.

What owners wrote

Likes itOwned 7 yearsStill going
Personally, I found the perfect keyboard in Ergodox [0][1]. Ortholinear, split, programmable (and open-source) keyboard with hot-swappable switches. I've had my Ergodox EZ [2] for ~7 years now. The biggest problem that happened was that some of the switches started malfunctioning - fixing which was a matter of literally 5 minutes. I don't think I would want to go back to non-split, non-ortholinear keyboards nowadays. 00Key looks cool though, that's for sure! :) [0] https://github.com/Ergodox-io [1] https://www.ergodox.io/ [2] https://ergodox-ez.com/
Doesn’t like itOwned 2.17 years
I didn't know Kinesis made an Ergodox layout, that's probably what I'll buy when my Ergodox EZ quits. Again. Which it will. The first one died after 26 months. Sounds weirdly specific, why would I remember that? Two-year warranty. The owner of the company was shockingly rude to me, accused me of threatening to trash his reputation if he didn't give me free stuff. I had sent him some links to times I had praised and recommended his product (they're all on here, feel free to Algolia it if you're curious). Well, Erez Zukerman, you deserve to have your reputation trashed. The product itself is decent. Unless it randomly dies on you right after the warranty expires, in which case, fuck you.
Recommends it
My ErgodoxEZ: - nearly made me cry. - solved my back pain. When you didn't learn to type properly, relearning to type can be a very difficult task; re-learning on a split keyboard is particularly unforgiving. Around three weeks into re-learning I was convinced I would never learn properly and that I'd wasted a lot of time and money (I was freelancing at the time) on something that wouldn't help me eat, never mind sleep. Two weeks later I was back up to normal typing speeds, a month after that I was faster than ever. Two months or so after that, my back pain was gone. Of course, my back pain was caused by sitting lopsided - something an overdominant hand on a standard keyboard pushes you towards. No amount of exercise and posture correction was solving it - but when the true cause was resolved it cleared up (with exercise) very quickly. I'd buy this keyboard again in a heartbeat.
Neutral
On my MacBook I map the right hand command key to “ctrl” and the right hand option key to “meta”. Since the command keys are right next to the space bar that puts the ctrl key on a thumb position most of the time, and for the times when that isn’t a good key for a given combo I still have caps lock bound to “ctrl” as well. Seems to work reasonably well and lets me keep the usual command and option keys on the left side for “super” modifiers and for typing accented and other characters. For my desktops, I use an Ergodox EZ keyboard and mapped ctrl and meta into the thumb clusters there.
Recommends it
I’m also very happy with my Ergodox EZ, and a trackball mouse. The configuration of the keyboard is highly flexible and super easy, and no software on the pc is needed (only to flash the updated config). I’ve also used a Kinesis Advantage in the past, which was amazing. But that was my boss’s, so I had to leave it. Apart from that I’m using the Dvorak layout, which gives me a much better typing experience than querty; way less fingerstreching.
Likes it
I ditched regular desk chairs for an Ikea Poäng many years ago. But then one day I realized that the Poäng was giving me lower back pain, so I ditched it. Now I sit on the footstool that came with the Poäng. (for the past 4 years now, I'll do cross-leg, squat, any kind of sit you could do on a floor) My keyboard is an ErgoDox EZ with the lightest key-switches I could find (bought them separate, soldered them on), and my mouse is placed in the middle. I'm happy with other keyboards though, my general keyboard requirements are: * ortholinear * as many modifier keys on the inside as possible (eg CTRL/SUPER/SHIFT for pointer and thumb, instead of using pinky) * split layout I use a 3M adjustable keyboard tray (atk91le) screwed into my desk so I can easily adjust position for whatever posture I'm in. If you sit too long without moving you will hurt, so I make a point to switch up how I sit, or get up from my desk frequently. I really like the footstool as a chair because it's like an elevated floor, there are many ways to sit on it. If my lower back is tired (no backrest on a footstool), I have a Nada Chair that I'll sometimes strap into. I have scoliosis, so I think I've had to deal with lower back pain much more than the average person my age.
Recommends itHasn’t owned it
Any keyboard that is two pieces and can easily tent/tilt upwards (like the Ergodox-EZ). You may get genetically lucky, but most of us run into tendon problems eventually. Keyboards that don't contort the angle of our wrists and rotation of our forearm can make life a lot more bearable. I use a Kinesis Freestyle for now, but will change to an Ergodox Infinity once I get around to building it. The 30 degree angle of the keyboard along with being able to spread the halves apart by 6 inches is what lets me type without pain. If I go on a trip with just a laptop, I can feel discomfort come back within a week. I also use a vertical mouse, the Evoluent. There are cheaper alternatives that are just as good.