Save your hands
Written: Aug 24 '00 (Updated Aug 24 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great touch and design, speedy delivery
Cons: None
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| pambo's Full Review: Goldtouch Keyboard |
If you’ve ever experienced pain, numbness, muscle exhaustion or other problems from working on a computer keyboard, you’ll appreciate it when you find just the right equipment. Pain has a way of focusing your mind on what you need. I've now got a solution.
First, the background.
I’ve had serious computer-related problems going back 13 years, which has led to surgery, restrictions on my activities, considerable and continuing pain and so on. The problem is best managed through using the proper equipment, rearranging workload and so on. Having the right equipment, though, is the most constant aspect that I can control.
Like many others who have suffered from repetitive stress injury or other arm or hand problems, I need an adjustable keyboard. I also need keys with a very gentle touch—-I tend to bang away pretty hard on the keys—-plus a numeric keypad, and above all, one that is narrow so that when I try to use the function keys on the extreme end of the keyboard, I don’t have to rotate my shoulder, which causes excruciating pain after just a few minutes.
For five years, I’d been using a Lexmark keyboard that has been out of production for some time. I knew someday it would fall apart, and didn’t know what I’d do to replace it. When the directional arrow keys starting failing a few weeks ago, I figured it was caused by dirt, set the keyboard in my lap, whipped out a can of Dust-Off, sprayed so exuberantly that the Dust-Off shot right through the bottom of the board and scarred my leg* and, for good measure, jammed the Lexmark. When I limped down to the repair shop, the technician opened the keyboard and the springs all poppped loose.
We held a funeral service.
I was perturbed, to put it mildly. I tried using the original keyboard that came with the Gateway computer and was immediately reminded of why wider keyboard—the standard size—was impossible for me. And several other attempts with other brands, numeric keypads and other devices, didn’t cut it. No one seemed to be duplicating the Lexmark design and soft touch.
But Goldtouch does, in great style. First, the keys are extremely easy on the hands, easier than even the Lexmark. They are square, but a good size for most people's hands, not the tiny keys some cheaper board makers try to pass off as ergonomic. Second, it’s very adjustable, splitting apart in the center for people with certain kinds of hand injuries, tilting at several different angles for other problems. Most of all, from my perspective, it’s narrow, with a separate keypad, though the functions I need also are available right on the main keyboard. The keypad is useful if you want to avoid repeating certain kinds of motions because you can move it around and use it with either hand.
I can’t recommend this well-designed board enough, even for those who don’t have problems. It can head off injuries for those who spend too many hours on the board. These problems can creep up on you and many, once they're reached a certain point, are not repairable. They are only manageable, which is not fun.
It’s a little more expensive ($139.95, which includes the mouse, and $60 for a keypad, which you may not need, and may be a little more expensive if not ordered from the Web site) but well worth it. It connected very easily, as did the keypad and mouse.
The only complaint I have is the design of the mouse, which, while is touted as designed to naturally fit your hand, works well if you’re right-handed but is a little awkward if you use your left. I'm a lefty but regularly switch back and forth, because as all lefties know, it's a right-handed world. It's a little harder to adjust to than a regularly designed mouse but it may just take a little time.
I know that Goldtouch does a lot of work with companies that have experienced problems with computer-related injuries. I’ve never seen Goldtouch in stores, so I don’t know if the equipment is available anywhere but the Web site, but that’s a perfectly good place to start. The company does not offer a long list of designs, extra peripherals and so on, presumably on the theory that it thinks it’s come up with the perfect design. And I agree.
*Dust-Off isn’t kidding about its hazards. Read the safety directions on the can and follow them.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 212.85, including shipping
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Epinions.com ID:
pambo
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Pam
Location: Long Island
Reviews written: 445
Trusted by: 235 members
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