Hey, i've not been here for quiet some time, but my work keyboard is going down and i need some help for getting a new one. The requirements:
- Not DIY. I need to have something ready done with waranty.
- Split, Tent and "Standard" Layout (so no ortho, reverse stagger or ergodox, other people might need to use it sometimes)
- Half way "normal" looking. Its an office and i'm already the weird guy with a trackball. To make this easier i'd like something that looks business/office
- ISO Layout (I'm from Germany, so i need my ä,ö,ü and such) though with proper programability i might make other things work
- Full Set of keys. I need F-keys all the time, same for arrows and home/end. Fn and Layering are not an option for those. A full Numberblock is optional
- Reasonably priced
I'm looking at some options.
- The Freestyle 2 is the obvious one. Though coming from a cherry mechanical board, i worry the non-mechanical keys might not be that good. Can anyone comment on feel and consistency on those?
- The Matias Ergo Pro looks great too and i already liked the matias switches in my Atreus. Reports online state though, that it has problems with stuck/repeating keys. That got me worried. I need this to be reliable.
- The Freestyle Edge is the third one. It looks perfect (apart from US Layout only, but with it's programmability it shouldwork), but it's really pricy for features i don't need (LED Lighting will be turned of, it's an office not my gaming battle station. Macros are not needed, profiles aren't too. You get it).
From my research, those are basically my options. Everything else is either too cheaply made, to expensive or completely out there in terms of layout. With both Kinesis options i need to factor in the tenting kit to the price.
So my main questions:
- How is the quality of the switches on the Freestyle 2? Passable for someone coming for mechanicals or more like the 30$ logitech boards?
- Any experience with long time reliability of the Matias ergo pro? The inclusion of all accessoires makes this a better deal than the kinesis options.
- Is the price of the freestyle edge justified when i don't need any of the "gamer" features? I'd basically get it for the mechanical switches...
So yeah, that's where i'm at. For 200$+ i'd like to make the right decision and get something that lasts me a few years. Any input and other alternatives are highly appreciated.