Kinesis Advantage Pro MPC/USB Ergonomic Keyboard
Reviewed by Robert Pritchett
Kinesis Corporation Released: October 24, 2002 $359 USD Footswitch is $30 USD. Comes With: 1-single-action footpedal; Adaptation Exercises booklet; User’s Manual; 2 palm rests. |
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Strengths: Addresses issues related to repetitive stress. Does Dvorak. Weaknesses: May take up to 2 weeks to get use to! No mouse in the middle, which would have been nice. Poor tooling for the USB ports. Other Reviews: http://www.atpm.com/9.01/kinesis.shtml |
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What They Say
Based on two years of research the Kinesis contoured keyboard was designed not only to reduce the known risk factors associated with repetitive stress injuries but also to provide a more comfortable platform than other keyboards. Its unique contoured design reduces the force and stressful postures that contribute to discomfort and limit productivity. Since its introduction in 1992, the Kinesis keyboard has undergone extensive independent testing and has proven superior in both comfort and productivity against traditional and other alternative keyboards.
The Kinesis contoured keyboard retains the familiar QWERTY layout while incorporating important ergonomic features, including:
• Separate thumb keypads - the thumb keypad includes often used keys such as "Enter", "Space", "Backspace", "Delete" and the combination keys, "Control" and "Alt" on the PC ("Command" and "Option" on the Macintosh). This redistributes the workload from your relatively weaker and overused little fingers to stronger thumbs. |
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• Separate key wells for each hand - this separation minimizes strain and stretching by positioning your arms approximately at shoulder width and with wrists straight. This design reduces abduction and ulnar deviation (common symptoms experienced with repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis). |
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• Concave Key Wells - reduces hand and finger extension. Extension occurs when the joints in your fingers curl up and extend forward from your hands rather than relaxing down slightly in the direction of the palms. A flat typing surface assumes that your fingers are all of the same length, thus your longer fingers must arch up over the keys. The result is extension of the muscles and tendons in your hands. Your muscles do not operate at maximum efficiency and the result is more rapid muscle fatigue. |
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• Vertical key layout - keys are arranged in vertical columns to reflect natural motions of your fingers, and the keypads are sculpted and concave to fit the varying lengths of your fingers. |
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• Closer placement of function keys - soft-touch function keys are positioned closer to the alphanumeric keys to reduce awkward motions and stretches, particularly for key combinations involving thumb keys (Control and Alt, for example). |
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• 20-degree lateral tilt design - the keyboard design places your hands so that your thumbs are positioned approximately 20 degrees higher than pinky fingers. This design helps to minimize stresses associated with pronation and static muscle tension while enabling maximum keying productivity. |
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• Integral palm support - the palm support with optional self-adhesive pads enhances comfort and reduces stressful extension of your wrist. This provides a place to rest your hands while they are not actively keying. |
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• Low-force, tactile key switches - the low-force (45 grams) mechanical key switches are engineered to provide both tactile and audible feedback. Their long travel (4 mm), with activation at approximately 2 mm, reduces the jarring impact of "hitting bottom". |
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• Embedded 10-key layout - a traditional numeric (10-key) keypad is embedded into the right alphanumeric keywell, which provides ergonomic advantages for number-intensive operations. The 10-key legends are located on the front edge of the key caps. The 10-key can also be programmed to operate from the left keywell. |
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• Key re-mapping - individual keys can be re-mapped or copied to other key locations. As a result, you can customize the keyboard's operation for your personal use to reduce stressful reaches and establish an optimal hand workload. |
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• Macro programmable - up to 48 macros can be programmed and stored in the keyboards on-board memory. Great for eliminating awkward key combinations or for individuals that type the same word or phrase repeatedly. |
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• Optional foot switches - up to three foot switches can be used to perform keystrokes, redistributing a portion of the workload away from your hands. For instance, a foot switch can be used to activate the embedded 10-key pad or "shift" key. |
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• Smaller footprint - the Kinesis keyboard is smaller than a traditional keyboard, and measures 16 5/8" by 8 1/8" by 3". This smaller foot print reduces the amount of reach necessary in operating the mouse by locating the pointing device much closer to the user. |
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Getting Started
Obviously the folks at Kinesis were motivated in their research due to issues related to Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD)brought on by such things as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc. In fact, Kinesis devotes a whole chapter on what to do in case you are injured as well as an Appendix on Ergonomic Guidelines.
Ignore the contact info in the User’s Manual, because it is from way before the area codes changed for the State of Washington way back when and the manual is for an earlier keyboard.
Apparently, the difference between the Kinesis Advantage MPC and the Pro is the included footswitch. It took me a while to figure out that the footswitch is defaulted to the number board, which is part of the right hand keyboard cup. Actually, another reason for the Pro version is that it can handle up to 142 different macros (you program) vs. 56 for the Advantage keyboard.
The most important part of the manual is back in Chapter Five: Customizing Your Keyboard.
And the cups (they call them keywells) aren’t the only thing that has to be relearned. The keyboard has thumb keys. The left hand thumb is responsible for Backspace, Delete, Control, Alt, Home and End, while the right thumb handles Space, Enter (to the left of Space), Control, Apple or Windows, Page Up and Page Down. Whew!
If you are a touch typist, you will love this keyboard. If you are like me, you will need to relearn typing skills. For instance, I am predominantly left-handed, so now I have to use my right hand more now that the Space and Enter keys are right next to each other. And because I picked up the bad habit of looking at my fingers as I type instead of the screen, I notice that my eyes are getting really tired from moving back and forth between cups on this keyboard. And because the Space is right next to the Enter key, you can guess that I have a lot of Backspace and
Space redoes because I keep clicking the Enter instead of the Space key. Arrggh!
So my head, eyes, and arms get a workout while my wrists tend to be more relaxed. Tradeoffs.
They say it can take up to 2 weeks to get used to the keyboard…sigh…
But they thoughtfully included an Exercise booklet so I can relearn keyboarding.
Not shown in the pics are the palm rests included in the box.
The silver keyboard is semi-heavy, yet rests nicely on my lap as I recline
And
Rest
My
Arms
On
My
Executive
Chair.
Got to watch the Space and Enter keys more closely! I moved the keytops around and reprogrammed the Backspace key to be where the Enter key started and the Enter key to be where the Space key was and the Space key is now where the Backspace key was originally. Perhaps that will make my left-dominated brain play nice with is keyboard. Instructions to reset, program and do macros is pasted on the underside of the keyboard.
Supposedly there is a Power key and an Eject key for the Mac– Not! At least not with this particular keyboard. And I tend to agree with Paul Fatula’s review from 2003 – I use the Space key a lot more than the Backspace key (well at least before this keyboard). Also, each key is a neat switch, so pressing all the way down is not necessary.
An audible feedback “tap” sound is hearable with each keystroke. Can it be turned off? It reminds me of the clicking sounds from the original IBM keyboard. Yep, it can be removed with Progm \. Ah, much better!
There is also an Appendix in the manual on Instant Configuration Settings discussing how the keyboard can be set for computer platforms and for common tasks.
Underneath the keyboard by the cable assembly are two USB ports stacked on top of one another. If I had a USB mouse I could use it there. The Dialog+ dongle is too long and the USB ports are at an angle, so that would break the lower port if the dongle was left there. It is a round hole with the rectangle USB ports attempting to fit. The lower port doesn’t really have quite enough clearance to be used. Now if it had been a square rectangular port hole, it would not be as much of a problem. Right now it is.
I wish there were a mouse or trackpad function in the middle of this keyboard. It just seems it ought to be there, right?
The manual refers to an included keytop tool for swapping keys around (found it!) – say I wanted to go Dvorak instead of QWERTY. However, if I want to switch between the two formats, it is simply a matter of doing Progm Shift F5 to toggle.
I read where folks were having sticky key issues, but the manual has a sticky key function that can be turned on or off with a Progm modifier (i.e. Cntrl, Alt, Shift key) F6, so that would resolve an issue, but the programmable keys that run at a 45-degree angle along the top of the keyboard are silicon-rubber keys and may be cause for concern over time. They are very chicklets-like and a bit wobbly.
Conclusion
Kinesis put an incredible amount of effort and research into this technology. A tweak here, a tuck there and this keyboard would be perfect. But two weeks to get used to it? I wish my brain had a reset and remapping function like this keyboard has!
Recommendation
If you suffer from either RSI or CTD, please take a look at this device. It has a 60-day money back guarantee.
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