I got a keyboard.io when they first came out. On staggered layouts i was >85 wpm. But switching to ortholinear knocked me down to 25 wpm with excessive errors. It took several months before I got back up to about 60wpm. I stayed at that speed for a year or two before finally edging back up to 80wpm.

It did hurt my ability to use staggered but only at first. I was able to switch freely after about 3 months.

Those sound like huge trade offs. And they are. But for me carpal tunnel was quickly becoming a problem. Switching to ortholinear completely resolved my carpal tunnel pain. And that is priceless.

I still find the top row reach on my Model 100s a bit much, but I've gotten the hang of lifting my palms forward a little, especially for my pinkies.

Also the palm keys are amazing.

Thank you for this article about the Kinesis. A good friend of mine loves his and every once in a while I consider trying it but I've worried about all that muscle memory. Your review was very thorough and I really appreciate it. I think I'll let my friend enjoy his, but I won't be moving to one anytime soon.