Kinesis Advantage 2

Background

I tend to feel fatigue in my wrists during long sessions of typing. My hands and wrists also swell up/inflame, which is uncomfortable on its own. At this time my main keyboard was a Logitech MX Keys. I actually really enjoyed typing on this keyboard, but was tired of the wrist soreness. This is when I ventured into ergonomic keyboards.

I always had interest in building my own split keyboard but I wanted to design my own. Procrastination had the best of me and I never finished any of the boards I started designing. After hours and hours of looking up different keyboards I finally decided to pull the trigger on a refurbished Kinesis Advantage 2 LF in December 2024 for work. Spoiler alert, I enjoyed typing on it so much that I ordered a Kinesis Classic in December of 2024 off of eBay and then another refurbished Kinesis Advantage 2 (non-LF) in July 2025.

Build Quality

As mentioned previously, both of my Kinesis Advantage 2 keyboards are refurbished directly from Kinesis. Reviews online said that they are like brand-new keyboards and I can definitely attest to that. You can’t even tell that they have previously been used. Other reviews online said that the plastic housing for the keyboards feel “cheap” or hollow. I disagree with both of these statements. I’m typically not a fan of plastic, but I don’t mind it with these keyboards.

Cherry Red vs Cherry Brown

Honestly, my opinion of which switch I like better really depends on the day. I like the tactile feedback from the browns but I also really love how smooth and quiet the reds are. Reds are a no-brainer for working in an office. Sometimes I think that keyboard is quieter than my old Logitech MX Keys. The browns tend to have a scratchier sound in my opinion.

Sometimes I miss a keypress with the reds since they lack the tactile feedback, but that’s okay.

If I had to pick one over the other I would lean towards the reds, but I’m happy with both.

Typing Experience

Plenty of reviews I read mentioned that there is a learning curve that takes some time to get used to, and boy were they right. Typing normal sentences isn’t too bad to get used to, but the biggest challenge for me was learning where all the symbols moved to.

Unfortunately Verilog uses quite a bit of symbols such as square brackets. This was especially challenging when writing a new bit vector such as logic [31:0] tmp. There is a lot of stretching for the pinky finger in that sequence. It has to hit the :, 0, and ]all in a row.

Otherwise I would agree with other reviews stating that it takes a few weeks to a few months to get absolutely comfortable with the layout.

Current Hand/Wrist Soreness

I still occasionally get some soreness in my right wrist, but it is less noticeable than before. I’m not sure if it is completely from typing or if it also from using my mouse. I no longer feel like I need to shake my hands out like I used to.

Final Thoughts

Overall I have really loved my time with the Kinesis Advantage 2 keyboards and plan on using them for many years to come. They’re not exactly inexpensive keyboards, but if you’re someone who types for a living and experience RSIs then I think it is a worthwhile expense. They are a tool for the job.