08/25/23 - Update - Very happy with this keyboard. I wear hearing aids and my old (and abused) keyboard made a tremendous racket. I quickly adapted to this specific layout and other than missing my center keys on the 4000, this has been a very good purchase with a convention layout. No weird keys in strange places. With a great deal of regret, I was forced to replace my 9 year old MS 4000 Natural Keyboard, which Microsoft discontinued years ago. They are still available, but sellers are asking $800 !!! for NEW models. I simply won't play that game. Used ones are always a gamble My own keyboard had millions upon millions of keystrokes and was falling to pieces. It also was deafening when I was doing high speed typing. With a hearing aid, the racket was insufferable. So, after giving up my pursuit of a new MS 4000, I stumbled across this very inexpensive similar style keyboard. This model has a split space bar which takes a minute to get used to, but after a couple days I'm back up to my usual speeds. The key touch is very soft which my cracked finger tips love. Even under a full on ten fingers of doom assault, this keyboard remains amazingly quiet. Perfect if you share a room with others. The cord connector is standard 5' long USB. I did not find a wireless model which I would have preferred. The palm wrest pad feels very high quality and hopefully will hold up for a very long time. The overall footprint is about the same length as the MS 4000, but the width is about 20% smaller, which on my TIny Desk (tm) frees up some much needed room. The layout itself is bog standard, so you have a middle group that handles the nav keys and a right group that is a standard keypad. No funky, weird layouts. Standard complement of 12 F keys that do double duty. Status lights are very small and discrete, and nicely located at the top of the keyboard. They are not obnoxiously bright like other keyboards, and the placement makes it a snap to see key status. The keys are a comfortable size with a tactile feel. Travel length is good. All in all, I am really liking this keyboard. So much so that I may want to buy another one for when I inevitably kill this new one. You can also raise the back of the keyboard, which makes it easier to type on. As a person with a very big rib cage, I simply cannot use any other style of keyboard. I look forward to years of use with this pup. Definitely a five star rating. Does anyone want to buy my small wireless MS Keyboard + Mouse???? Read more
--X9: I am very pleased with this X9 Ergonomic Performance Wired Keyboard. It is a less known brand and there are not many online video reviews, but it exceeded my expectations! The build quality is good enough, but of course not on the level of some mechanical keyboards. The keys are quiet when you type, which I prefer. The layout is close enough to the old MS Natural Keyboards from the 1990s, to make adjustment easy, and I like how the keys close to the center (like T-G-H-N) are wider. It has the little notches on the F and J keys which are a must for me, as I do not need to look at the keyboard when typing. It has some texture on the key surfaces, so your fingers do not easily slip off. Pressing the FN+ESC, lets you access operating system functions like Volume Mute on F11, which is quite useful; and a Windows Calculator toggle above the numpad. --Adesso: I also have a comparably priced, Adesso Ergonomic Wired Keyboard, which I also like, but when I first bought it, the Backspace Key would sometimes not respond; it has a smoother key surface (therefore not as firm of a finger hold), and noisier when you type. The build quality is also a little lower than the X9, but it gets the job done. The hands placement is more squished in and angled than the X9. --X9: Overall, I would highly recommend this affordable keyboard for daily: office use, internet browsing and casual gaming. Thank you X9 Company for making this simple, functional, affordable, responsive, comfortable and satisfying: wired ergonomic keyboard! Read more
The Good: almost-perfect replacement for the venerable Microsoft Ergonomic 9000 Keyboard, for a fraction of the price. Slightly clicky keys, the perfect balance between feedback and not annoying everyone in earshot. Nice integrated wrist rest. Good key spacing and bright lettering. Durability is good too - it's been dropped a couple of times, I've taken it on road trips (working in hotels / on-site), it's been months and it's still functioning perfectly. The Bad: the function keys + media functions being integrated in the same key row, with a 2-button key press required to switch between them, is EXTREMELY annoying. You have to press Function+Escape to switch modes, and short of a tiny green dot light, there is no indicator of which mode you're in. So for example, if you're listening to music and have it in Media Functions mode, and need to rename a file, pressing F2 is NOT going to get you to Rename, it's going to open the E-mail client. So you have to curse, look for the 2 keys to switch modes, press them, close the E-mail client, go back to the file folder, and only THEN be able to rename the file. Totally breaks the concentration flow. Please, X-Performance, make a keyboard with a SEPARATE, PHYSICALLY DIFFERENT row of media keys, just like Microsoft 9000 has. You've made a beautiful replacement, and F'ed up the last 5% of it. Please don't fall for the "lowest common denominator" mentality that replaces everything with the smallest & dumbest options. People who WORK on computers, WANT multiple keys. There are keyboards with 100+ keys out there, and believe me, people WANT them. I'm not asking for a 178-key Hyper7, but FFS make the volume controls a separate row so they don't mess up productivity. Other than that, literally a perfect ergonomic keyboard for the price. 4.8 stars. Read more
I am surprisingly happy with this ergonomic keyboard. The touch of "feel" of the keys is quite nice. The padded wrist pad is also good. Overall, my expectations were low, but I am glad I ordered this. Incidentally, after two conflicting emails on arrival date, it came sooner than predicted. Read more
