Contour keyboard a lifesaver for people with RSI
Written: Jan 04 '00 (Updated Aug 28 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great design; incredible flexibility in programming; durable; really good tech support.
Cons: No good for hunt-and-peckers; expensive
The Bottom Line: If you can, try it out - if you like it, buy it. The design isn't for everyone, but it's fantastic for anyone who likes it.
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| afeinman's Full Review: Kinesis Ergonomics Contour Keyboard |
From its stylish design (it's the keyboard used by K in "Men In Black", minus a paint job) to its easy feel, the Contour keyboard is a definite win for anyone concerned enough about their health to see that the ergo keyboards provided by Microsoft and others aren't enough.
As you can see in the picture, the Contour is a bizarrely shaped object - it has two concave 'wells' of keys, a cluster of keys for each thumb, and the F-keys are in a little strip across the top. But once you place your hands on the padded rests and your fingers fall into place, you'll understand. As a sufferer from RSI (tendonitis in the left arm), it was absolutely a life-saver, allowing me to type with much reduced risk for injury. In addition to the design, Kinesis also provides a guide to typing more ergonomically, with some good advice about pacing, positioning, and warning signs.
Because of the design, all keys are very close; just a little motion in the right direction will access everything but the +/= and _/- keys, which are in the corners. It feels like the keyboard is wrapped around your hand. I find that typing on it is actually quite a bit faster than on a normal keyboard, once I got used to it (which took about 1 week). In addition to this, the major benefit of the keyboard is that it is much better, ergonomically, for its user. The key wells are far apart, allowing you to relax your shoulders, and reducing kinking of your wrists; the keyrests are perfectly placed to prevent sinking of the wrists; and the customizable keymappings and macros allow remapping of everything at will. For example, I just can't get used to having the Backspace key on my left thumb, so I put it on the _/- key, which I put
on the left arrow, and moved the arrow keys around, etc... You can also stick enormous macros on whatever key combination you want, a definite timesaver.
You can also plug one or more foot pedals in to the keyboard; these are also customizable. The model I bought includes one footpedal; more are for sale at the website, and you can buy a model without it if you don't need one. For a while I used one as the Return key; now it's a substitute Control key. Other options include cross-platform capability - my keyboard is Mac/PC compatible with the press of a switch, and they offer a box to allow use on Sun workstations. Key caps with both QWERTY and Dvorak layouts are also available.
The prices vary from $225-$425 for various features. The cheapest ones, the Essentials, lack the programming features, but can be upgraded. The Classics don't come with a footpedal or software to allow you to save a keyboard mapping to your Windows box. Sorry, no Mac software yet. Darn! The Professional comes with everything.
Finally, the people at Kinesis are very friendly and helpful. The first Contour I bought stopped working, and they shipped it back and sent the replacement to me within a week. I ordered another for work, and they delivered it promptly. They responded quickly by email to all of my questions, and have helped me keep my Contour in good shape. More recently I discovered a slight issue with using the Contour with laptops - sleep mode on some laptops nukes the memory on the keyboard. Once again, tech support was prompt, concise, and helpful - there is an easily-accessible internal switch which can be flipped when you are done programming the keyboard, and engaging this will protect the memory from this incompatibility.
One last note: the Contour feels flimsy, weighing a lot less than most keyboards. However, over the past few years I've dropped mine, crunched it under my keyboard tray, and twisted and bent it slightly in the course of work, and it continues to hold up just fine. So I'm upgrading the durability from "slightly fragile" to "rather durable, if light".
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 325
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Epinions.com ID:
afeinman
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Member: Alex Feinman
Location: Boston, MA
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 19 members
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