As per title, it's not for prevention, it's for reaction to pain. I'd be loath to use a rubber-dome keyboard again, but I'm feeling the kind of pain in the side of my wrists (as opposed to only CTS in my fingers as before) that makes you reconsider even things you feel quite strongly about. My current keyboard is a tenkeyless Filco with blue cherries. My replacement options, just probably almost everybody else's in this situation, are fundamentally two:
1) browns or reds but same old layout vs 2) ergonomic layout but same old rubber-dome keys.
What 'should' be more important here, the keys or the layout?
If layout, then what's the current best of economy class? It is still MS Natural 4000 or is Sculpt Ergonomic better, or Logitech Wave/something else from Logitech?
I'm pretty much ruling out Kinesis Freestyle, as it looks like just the average rubber dome cut in half and priced 20 times higher on the occasion, but feel free to correct me. In fact, simply cutting the 'board in two without any monkey business with key sizes and distances could actually work for me, I guess, especially as I feel like slashing the Filco in half myself right now, but I just don't fee like paying something to the tune of 150–200 bucks for one swing of an axe. Okay, it probably does make the matrix and the controller a little more complicated and a little more expensive to produce but anyway, this is 2016, some 20 years after the Fujitsu Siemens butterfly keyboards that looked so much more advanced, of which I have 2 or 3 that I'm not going to use because I don't like them.
The more expensive professional Kineses would be a nightmare to pay for and import right now, so maybe next time when my finances feel better. Definitely not an option on the table right now, unfortunately.
Also, would you suggest I try a cheaper 'board with ergo layout (20–30 bucks) before purchasing the real thing, just to prevent a bigger disappointment, or would it be a waste of time/muscle memory?
Relevant info, I guess: The standard resistance of typical tall rubber-dome keys of the non-wobbly kind could increase my CTS. Scissors, however, tend to be safer, up to a point, or in any case not any worse than blue Cherries have been. And, I type professionally for like sixteen hours a day (doesn't everybody?).
Thoughts?
PS. Between browns and reds it would be the matter of tactile vs non-tactile obviously, where I'm having a suspicion that, since I end up bottoming out so often, reds could be better due to not wasting time and attention span waiting for the click. Blacks were manageable for me in this way for typing purposes but too heavy. On the other hand, I suppose I still like the precision and not worrying about unregistered hits or accidental double taps that only tactile switches bring.
Thanks.
