[SOLVED] Keyboard switch mechanism easiest on fingers.

doug1234

Reputable
Oct 10, 2017
18
0
4,510
Hi friends,

Does anyone know - which type of keyboard mechanism is easiest on the finger joints?

I'm looking for a quality keyboard and this would help me narrow my search. If anyone can recommend a quality keyboard I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.
 
Solution
Hi ZeroDollarBudget. Thank you for your feedback. I'll do some reading/watching.

Currently, using crappy basic keyboards. I work on the computer at least 50 hours a week doing UI design & development. I've been on the computer much of my life and my fingers have paid the price. They are very soar now - likely arthritis, so I'm smartening up finally and looking to take care of myself. I would like to remain under $150 bucks, but budget is not my primary concern.

Thanks again.
With that, you have many options. I would also look at getting a wrist extension as they help with pain. I use a really nice wrist rest and it was only $20 on amazon! Otherwise, my boss swears by his microsoft sculpt ergo keyboard. its funky but...
If you don't care for anything fancy, a good ergonomic membrane board is going to give you a decent feel while not requiring hard presses. Or, really any rubber dome/membrane board should suffice. Alternatively if you DO want something more fancy, and prefer a tactile or satisfying feel a custom or specific type of mechanical board would be the superior choice. You can buy switches requiring less effort to depress such as gateron clears (35-30 grams of force needed) and there are many more with similar light weight and varying feels. Consult youtube for linear and hybrid mechanical switches, there's so much info and i think you will benefit from watching comparison videos on sound+feel+effort required for these switches. I just ordered a keyboard with a gateron yellow switch for specific typing reasons... lighter key press while still sounding good, and providing a good overall typing feel.

Lastly is high end electro capacitive switches ... which sound complex but in short its like a membrane board with slightly better feel/refinement.

In order to recommend specific boards i have a few questions for you... like what are you using now? And what are you going to be using it for? any budget?
 
Hi ZeroDollarBudget. Thank you for your feedback. I'll do some reading/watching.

Currently, using crappy basic keyboards. I work on the computer at least 50 hours a week doing UI design & development. I've been on the computer much of my life and my fingers have paid the price. They are very soar now - likely arthritis, so I'm smartening up finally and looking to take care of myself. I would like to remain under $150 bucks, but budget is not my primary concern.

Thanks again.
 
Hi ZeroDollarBudget. Thank you for your feedback. I'll do some reading/watching.

Currently, using crappy basic keyboards. I work on the computer at least 50 hours a week doing UI design & development. I've been on the computer much of my life and my fingers have paid the price. They are very soar now - likely arthritis, so I'm smartening up finally and looking to take care of myself. I would like to remain under $150 bucks, but budget is not my primary concern.

Thanks again.
With that, you have many options. I would also look at getting a wrist extension as they help with pain. I use a really nice wrist rest and it was only $20 on amazon! Otherwise, my boss swears by his microsoft sculpt ergo keyboard. its funky but according to him he's never had pain after using this board. I know stores like staples/bestbuy have them so you should be able to go in and actually get hands on to make sure it would be a good fit. They also have shallow keys requiring little effort to press.

I found this list to give you an idea of some good boards that will offer a light and short press to minimize finger strain, while giving you a superior feel and quality over what you have now.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y62AuStZCQQXOMM5keUN2KYDh1IoifZkrnJV-tLFKH4/edit#gid=0
 
Solution
Thank you for the help guys. I ended up purchasing a MS Sculpt keyboard from Amazon and I absolutely love it. Funny story though. I opened the box when I received and could not find the USB receiver. It was pretty disappointing because I was anxious to try it out. Amazon was really good about it and was set to send me a new keyboard until I opened up the battery compartment and found the smallest USB receiver I have ever seen. Phew.

Any way, thanks again. clink