Matias Ergo Pro vs Kinesis Freestyle Edge ?

[cbf123]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on an ergo keyboard for programming (so I need all the wonky punctuation keys over by the right pinky finger).

I had been planning on getting an Ergo Pro, but now I see that the Freestyle Edge is available with Cherry brown keys and a left-hand layout more like what I'm used to, making it quite tempting.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how these two would compare?  I read a few comments suggesting that the Matias had issues with the electronics...is that real and is it still a problem?

[p_blaze]

AFAIK new stock has fixed a lot of the issues that old stock has, but I have no clue how to check whether it is new or old stock.

[Gerk]

That's what I was told on the last couple of rounds of updates to the Matias boards as well, but in the 3 different generations of them I've owned all 3 had different ghosting problems.   I love the build on them but I wasted a lot of $$ on them.

If the Matias worked better it would win out for me, but they seem to be plagued with firmware glitches and quality issues.  Honestly it was the same for me with every board of theirs that I tried, even other models.  I really do love the hardware design and the feel of the keys is great, but for something reliable I'd say the Kinesis wins out.  It also feels pretty great and so far the keys seem really solid and stable and best of all no ghosting/repeats/errors on keystrokes yet and all the programming keys and the key layouts are in places that work for my old brain.  Also the programming of macros and stuff on the kinesis is pretty killer, if you have any complex keyboard workflows they tend to work really well, you can even script them by hand.  I own both a Kinesis Freestyle Pro (browns) and an Kinesis Freestyle Edge (reds).  Both are awesome, I like the backlit Edge for home and the pro at work.

The Kinesis boards feel a bit cheaper on a few fronts for the build when compared to the Matias, but will see how they fair over time as they do feel solid enough.  The Matias Ergo Pro is built like a tank, very heavy/solid pieces, the Kinesis lighter and a bit cheaper feeling, especially the riser platform (which you have to buy separately most of the time, doesn't come with the board unless you buy a bundle deal).  They are floppy and super cheap, also the stick on palm pads are pretty cheesy, especially compared to the Matias board which has quite nice palm rests.  But the Matias board's keys and keycaps didn't wear as well as I had hoped.  In < 2 years I really wore one set of keycaps pretty badly and they are not all standard to replacing was not really an option.  The Kinesis feel like they're holding up much better on that front so far, aside from a bit of shiny spacebar bits all seems well on both boards.

[stevep]

They are both pretty decent. I have an Ergo Pro and am very happy with it. The early Ergo Pros had some problems with reliability. The first one I had started to fail after a year, but I replaced it with a new one and it has been reliable and solid.

The Freestyle Edge has better programmability (has built-in programmability for all keys, including, I assume, the two spacebars independently), but its one critical failing is the spacebars are too long. This might not seem a big deal, but if you are used to accessing the Alt keys with your thumbs, it would quickly become a problem.

I think the Ergo Pro is the better keyboard overall because of the better design of its bottom row (space bars, alt, control, etc). If the Freestyle Edge were to be redesigned with smaller space bars, I would definitely get one.

[Gerk]

Maybe it's a typing speed/style thing but even the newer Ergo pros have massive ghosting issues for me -- but different ones than the early ones did.  I had a new one less than a year ago that I returned (thankfully they gave me my money back), so I don't think it's something that they have sorted out, and when talking with Steve at Matias he readily acknowledged the ghosting issues.  At this point I don't think it's something they can solve with firmware, I think it's a design flaw.  I haven't had one single ghosted keystroke with either of my Kinesis models to date and they are my daily drivers ... as for the space bar size it hasn't caused me any issues.  I'm very very happy with these Kinesis boards.