Quest for an ergonomic keyboard - part 1

_posts/2024-06-08-quest-for-an-ergonomic-keyboard-pt1.md

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+---
+published: true
+layout: post
+title: "The quest for an ergonomic keyboard - Part 1"
+description: I bought a low profile sweet looking split keyboard that hurts like the dickens to actually use
+modified: 2024-06-08
+tags:
+  - Blogging
+categories:
+  - Blogging
+---
+
+If you didn't read my [previous blog post](./2024-05-30-blogging-from-android.md)
+I'm hunting for a good method for keeping my tech experiments going from my living
+room lazy boy. One of the key components to that is having a bluetooth ergonomic keyboard
+
+## Why Bluetooth?
+
+If I'm going to be popping up a little workspace here and there all over the house,
+I want setup time and teardown time to be seconds. I also don't want anything dangling
+because when I'm watching my kids I often have to jump up quick to help with something
+and I don't want to get anything caught while I'm trying to get my keyboard off my lap.
+
+## Why ergonomic?
+
+Regular keyboards hurt... like... a lot.
+
+I can only type on a laptop keyboard for about 15-20 minutes before my hands start hurting. I need
+something that I can type on for hours without pain. I have a [Moonlander keyboard](https://www.zsa.io/moonlander)
+which I use for work that lets me type for hours without a whole lot of pain. I need something similar.
+
+## What I tried
+
+I just bought the [ErgodoxLP Wireless by SliceMK](https://www.slicemk.com/products/ergodoxlp-wireless) which
+is a fantastic little keyboard. I discovered though that I cannot handle the low-profile keyboard and low-profile
+switches. They are too similar to a laptop for me. I typed on it for about an hour today at the library and 
+had sever pain in my hands for about two hours after that. Definitely not a good fit.
+
+## What's next?
+
+I'm debating between these two options:
+
+* [Glove80](https://www.moergo.com/)
+* [Svalboard](https://svalboard.com/)
+
+### Glove80
+
+Pros:
+
+* Wireless
+* Split
+* Ergonomic
+
+Cons:
+
+* Low-profile switches might cause the same pain I experienced with the ErgodoxLP
+
+### Svalboard
+
+Pros:
+
+* Highly ergonomic - Likely to be even less pain than my Moonlander just due to the lack of movement
+* Mouse embedded in keyboard - You can get a trackball right in the keyboard which reduces the clutter of
+my working environment even further
+
+Cons:
+
+* Not wireless - Kinda sucks that it's not wirelss but it would hook straight into my phone with a usb-c and
+without the mouse there it might not be that big of a deal
+* Cost - These suckers come in at around $800 and I just had a plumbing emergency at home cost me $11k so I'm not sure I'll be able to affort these guys too soon