 Here in the last three years or so I've really spent a lot of time searching for the perfect keyboard and mouse mainly to reduce Strain and fatigue especially on my wrist. I've really been looking for more Ergonomic keyboards especially and mice as well and one of the best purchases I ever made was the ErgoDocs easy keyboard from ZSA if I go to my web browser here I'll show you a quick picture of the ErgoDocs easy as the split keyboard They come in two different colors white and black. I actually purchased the black variant of it if I switch to my desktop here This is the ErgoDocs easy. This is the one I purchased two and a half years ago And I've been using that keyboard ever since that's actually the keyboard I use for my home computer now earlier this year in 2021 I was moving into this office and I knew I paid rent to move in on May 1st So in April of 2021 I didn't want to get into this office and not have one of these split keyboards for the office as well Because I didn't want to have to take my ErgoDocs easy to my home computer and then to the office computer I'd have to take it with me every day So I wanted to buy a second split keyboard from ZSA and originally I thought I would just buy another ErgoDocs easy and then I realized that ZSA also has this new Keyboard a newer keyboard than the ErgoDocs a newer design called the Moonlander Mark 1 So I thought you know what I'll buy the Moonlander for the office I'll keep the ErgoDocs easy at home and that's what I've done This is actually the black variant of the Moonlander Mark 1 anytime you guys see me doing videos in the office I'm typing on a keyboard. I'm doing it on the Moonlander Mark 1 anytime you guys see me doing anything from home on a Keyboard I'm doing that on the ErgoDocs easy now I've done a couple of videos on both the ErgoDocs and the Moonlander in the past I did unboxing videos on both keyboards when I first purchased them But people want to know how I'm getting along with them because I haven't really done any kind of a Revisit, you know on what my thoughts are having spent You know about six seven months now with the Moonlander and about two and a half years with the ErgoDocs And my thoughts on it is I love these keyboards. I could never go back to using a normal keyboard again There's just so many advantages now in my opinion The biggest advantage of using these split keyboards is the fact that they are split keyboards If I switch back to my desktop and I've got the Moonlander in front of me What is the advantage of the split design versus your standard keyboard? That's not split Well split keyboards allow you to position each half of the keyboard where it makes sense for you You know depending on really your size your frame typically the best placement for a keyboard as far as these split keyboards Would be going about a shoulder-width apart because when your shoulder-width apart, you know Your hands are out like this. It really opens your chest up and really forces you to have correct posture It makes you much more relaxed as far as posture We're on a standard keyboard where all the keys are kind of close together and of course your hands are close together You naturally kind of lean into it and you're naturally kind of hunched over that keyboard and For prolonged work at a keyboard. That is not a healthy posture so by far the biggest advantage of these keyboards and Even if this was the only advantage of this keyboard, this would be the reason I purchased this keyboard Is because of the split design another really big advantage with these keyboards is the fact that they have a ortho linear design Now what is ortho linear ortho linear keyboard is a keyboard with a ortho linear or a straight layout Meaning all the keys line up exactly, you know vertically and horizontally if I actually let me pull up Another keyboard from ZSA ZSA makes a small little keyboard here called the plank I actually don't own the plank I would love to purchase one at some point if I ever do I will take a look at it on the channel But you guys can see what ortho linear means all the keys line up exactly vertically and exactly horizontally That is ortho linear now the ergo docks easy and the moon lender mark one are not strictly Ortho linear they're more what ZSA refers to as column ner because they're only ortho linear in the vertical position Not in the horizontal position if I switch back over to my desktop you can see the keys line up perfectly Vertically just straight vertical lines, but horizontally. There is a little bit of a difference there That is not straight across right so that is the difference between Ortho linear and column ner, but honestly when we're talking about being ortho linear the most important ortho linear Aspect is that vertical aspect because it never made sense if you actually take a look at a standard 110 keyboard for example take ASDF on the home row of a keyboard and then the keys Directly above it are not actually directly above it Q W E and R Which you would use the same fingers ASDF to actuate those keys Why do you have to stretch so far to get to Q W E and R? Why are they so far offset? Well, of course This is not a problem on a keyboard like the moon lander or the ogre ergo docks because ASDF Q W E R are exactly on top of each other And that really is the advantage of ortho linear or a column ner layout It's the fact that it's less fatigue less stress for you having to reach certain keys So that really in itself is another big selling point for these kinds of split keyboards and these ortho linear keyboards now one aspect of these keyboards that initially when I purchased them I didn't know I'd like but I've grown to love and that's the thumb clusters If I go back to that picture of the ergo docks the ergo docks has six keys on each thumb cluster So each thumb has six keys that they can actuate on the moon lander slightly different They've reduced the number of keys on the thumb cluster from six to four and for me That's a minor difference because honestly, I've got small hands and I never could actually use all six keys on the ergo Docks, especially that one right there and that corner right there It would require me to adjust my hands in a weird way to reach that key anyway So I never really use that key or I would assign it a key That I never typically use like the print screen key or the insert key You know some random key on a keyboard that you probably hit three times a year I would always assign that to something weird like that, but I never really used that key anyway So for me the moon lander only having four keys and the four keys actually being slightly Bigger rather than on the ergo docks where you have two big keys and then four smaller keys I think I like the the moon landers a thumb cluster a little better But again, that's for me with my hands for those of you with bigger hands You may enjoy the fact that you've got more keys on the thumb clusters with the ergo docks One of the things I noticed right away when I first started using the ergo docks Was I had been typing wrong all of my life if I switch over to the screen here And this is the moon lander in front of me But the ergo docks was the first keyboard I bought but they have similar thumb clusters and you know I'm sitting on the home row and I've got thumbs that are in use that I can just hit keys with right and On a standard keyboard Realized I had never actually used one of my thumbs I'd always use the thumb on my left hand never the thumb on my right hand and that thumb all it did was hit the spacebar The other thumb just never did anything so I had one finger on one hand that never actually did anything while I was typing It was just a wasted digit, right? That's no longer the case by switching to these kinds of keyboards with these thumb clusters I'm actually forced to do something with all ten fingers now where before again I was just kind of wasting one thumb another huge advantage of these keyboards are the fact that they're mechanical keyboards and For those of you that haven't typed on a mechanical keyboard I know many of you guys have never ventured into mechanical keyboards It seemed like it's scary or it's kind of nerdy many cases the keyboards themselves are expensive and to be honest The moon lander and the ergo docks are both very expensive mechanical keyboards I get that but once you start using them you realize They're so much better than your traditional keyboards your traditional standard keyboard, you know you press the keys and they're squishy They're spongy, you know, sometimes you have to guess did I press the key? Did I not press the key on a mechanical keyboard each key press is distinct and tactile and you've got many different switches from many different Manufacturers that you can swap out some switches take more pressure to actuate than others So if you're a really heavy typer, you know, you may want a different kind of switch than somebody that's a really light typer Now, you know, some switches also make a louder tactile noise than others So some people like the really loud clicky switches some people want silent switches and again It's gonna depend on what kind of environment you're working in if you are Mainly typing at home in a bedroom with your spouse You probably don't want the really loud clicky switches You probably want silent switches, but some people if they're alone in office like I am I like having some click I don't want the really loud click, but I like a little click because again I want that that distinct tactile noise that kind of reaffirms. Yes I actually did press that key and since I mentioned changing out key switches I should mention that on many brands of mechanical keyboards Changing the key switches is a lot of work on some brands changing the key switches actually involves Soldering because the switches themselves are soldered to the board Which means if you have to change switches you have to desolder and then resolder These new key switches that you put in place and not everybody has a soldering I or not everybody knows how to do that kind of work and sometimes doing that kind of work on your mechanical keyboard Will actually void the warranty. That's not the case on the ZSA keyboards because on both the Ergo Ducks and the Moonlander the switches, they're not soldered in place. They're just popped in place There's a little tool almost like a little tweezer tool that you can get in there pop the key cap out It just pops out, you know, very easy and then you put the new one in place and just press it in place and It's very easy to swap out switches. They're hot swappable, right? You can do this again in seconds if you're just changing one switch even if you're changing the whole keyboard I mean you're talking about maybe a five-minute process of swapping out all the switches on the keyboard now A neat little bonus feature of both the Ergo Ducks and the Moonlander is the fact that both of them have these tilt arms These little arms that you can adjust to change the tilt and let me show you on the Ergo Ducks here The Ergo Ducks has two tilt arms on the inside nothing on the outside on the Moonlander you have two tilt arms on the back and You also have adjustable thumb cluster keys as far as they have some slight adjustment There's a bolt here that you can adjust the thumb clusters on the Moonlander where the Ergo Ducks the thumb clusters are a part of the board And there's no hinge or anything. They can't move now. I actually I'll call this like a bonus feature the tilting feature of these keyboards because I don't think most people will ever use them Most people have never tilted a keyboard ever in their life, right? They just sit it flat on the desk and that's what most people are gonna do with both the Ergo Ducks and the Moonlander Anyway, again, it's just a bonus feature there for those that want to play with it Another nice bonus feature for both these keyboards is the wrist rests now The earlier keyboard is the Ergo Ducks and initially the Ergo Ducks did not come with like a built-in wrist rest You see there's no wrist rest attached to the keyboard. What they did was they sold you these extra Rubber wrist rest that actually sit in front of the keyboard So, you know, it just sits right there in front of you on on the desk basically and these rubber wrist pads They're heavy and you know, they're actually really comfortable. I actually really like the rubber wrist rests on the Ergo Ducks They're very comfortable one downside though They attract a lot of dirt and a lot of crud They're kind of tough to clean because rubber just doesn't wipe up that fast and easy sometimes you have to scrub it and sometimes you can actually discolor the rubber and You can nick the rubber and you cause abrasions in it and one of the big advantages of the moon lander Was the moon lander has these built-in wrist rests if I show you my desk on the black one You see it's just hinged and it's just that you can fold it away If you don't want to use it or fold it out if you want to use it But it's smooth plastic It's the same plastic or polymer that's part of the moon lander chassis anyway And because it's so smooth and because it's plastic and not rubber I can just take a wet paper towel and just wipe that thing one time and a spotless But also because it's plastic and it's smooth I never really noticed this the wrist rest on the moon landers really attracting a lot of dirt and crud the way those rubber pads on The Ergo Ducks really it's like a dirt magnet another cool bonus feature of both these keyboards is the LED lighting you guys I'm sure have noticed the LED lighting on my moon lander because it's plugged in. I'm currently using it This is again the keyboard. I typically use here at the office I don't have the Ergo Ducks plugged in but the Ergo Ducks has the exact same LED Backlighting and a lot of cool features. I can change the backlighting. I can actually change the colors and the style and I want to you know, adjust, you know how it lights up and different things. I can do that as well So a really cool little feature again. This is more I would say LED lighting I know I'm gonna stereotype people but this is for the young gamer kind of crowd I actually don't really care about the LED lighting It's just a nice bonus feature for me because oftentimes if I'm in a well-lit room like this office You know if I have the overhead fluorescent lights in this office on like if I'm not recording I just have the standard lights on it's really bright in this room and honestly I'm never gonna notice LED lights going on on my keyboard because it's so bright in the room. These aren't bright enough to actually You know get me to notice them But when I have the lights a little bit dimmer a little bit lower like right now I don't have any of the overhead fluorescence on I just have a couple of studio lamps here Spotlighting me to record so really the lighting in this room You probably don't notice it on camera, but it's actually quite low right now And because of the lower lighting I can actually see the the backlighting on these LED keyboards And honestly, they are a nice little accent now I really cool feature of these keyboards are the multiple layers that are available on the keyboard if I switch back over You know There's not a lot of keys on the moon lander Not a lot of keys on the ergo docks either if I show you you know the the ergo docks here Where's the numpad right? Where's the function keys? Oh? There's a lot of keys missing where if I go to like a standard 110 Keyboard here, you know, you don't have any of this stuff that's at the top You don't have all these function keys well f1 through 12 You don't have a lot of these extra keys as well You don't have the numpad at all on either the moon lander or the ergo docks or do you yes? They are there they're just on a different layer what it is is if you know I've got one through zero You know standard numbers on the moon lander here and the ergo docks both work the same way I have a key that if I hold it down Switches me to a second layer and if I hold it down and hit one instead of one being the numeral it will be f1 You see the blue LED light that's letting me know I just switched from layer zero to layer one So that's that's all that is doing so if I hit that key and hold it down and hit two on the keyboard I'm hitting f2 instead of just two the numeral so basically think of that second layer as being a whole new Keyboard you know everything that you see here. It's just alpha numeric the keys themselves And then if I hold that key or on the other end that key and also switches me to that second layer now I have a whole new set of keys. I have those function keys I also have a lot of the programmer friendly symbols such as your brackets braces the tilde the grub You know those kind of weird symbols You don't use that often but you need them occasionally and you don't have keys for them You know in that default layer the other thing that numpad well I just hold that and then you I owe JKLM and then greater than less than these nine keys here That's actually my numpad when I'm in that second layer if I release it And they just become the letters themselves by default on both the moon lander and the ergo docks You actually have three layers and what's on the third layer? Well if I hit that key I will be on the third layer the third layer. I actually don't use that often It's got some keys to adjust the lighting and thanks for the LED lighting It also has keys for instead of using a mouse I can use the keyboard to actually move the cursor on the screen essentially if you didn't have a mouse plugged in you Could switch to this third layer on the moon lander and the ergo docks and use your keyboard as a mouse Another really cool thing is that you have dual function keys on the moon lander and the ergo docks easy What is a dual function key? Well, let me go back to a standard keyboard Let's talk about the control key because the control key is for me One of the things that caused me the most pain as far as hand pain and wrist pain is using a keyboard It's because that's a long stretch for me again I don't have very big hands and I'm stretching all the time for this control key because I use programs that use the control key a lot Emax I'm looking at you. Anyway, that is a big stretch for that pinky to get to that control key all the time Well in these ESA keyboards What the control key is is actually the Z key and at least in my layout So I don't have to stretch at all. All I do is hold the Z key and if I hold it instead of just tap it It becomes the control key. So if I just tap it, that's just typing Z on the keyboard I actually just changed layouts on the screen because I'm in OBS Z switches to a different layout But if I actually held it it becomes the control key So if I hold Z and then press something else, you know, that's the same as doing control and then plus that key and again for Ergonomics that is an absolute game changer because now instead of my pinky having to stretch all the way over here to hit the control key Which I use all the time again in programs like Emax for example Now all I have to do is just stretch to the Z key, which is right under my fingers I don't have to stretch at all. It's just right there. I just hold the Z key It becomes the control key and then on the other side of the keyboard if I held the slash key That's also my other control key and that's the same on both the Moonlander and the Ergo docks. So my two control keys are right here exactly where my pinky is I don't have to now stretch on our standard keyboard to get to those way out there control key and The same could be done for your alt key your super key Any of those keys that sometimes require you to do a stretch another unique aspect of the Moonlander and the Ergo docks is They include some keys that are not available on a standard keyboard So even though, you know, it looks like they're missing a lot of keys They actually have keys that you don't have on your standard 110 key keyboard if I go back to this picture of the Ergo docks you see in this inner column here you have three keys and These typically by default until you change them unless you change them are keys hyper and meh Yes, that's hyper and then meh meh. What are the hyper key and the meh key? meh is Super alt plus control Hyper is super alt control shift Now what kind of crazy key binding would you ever use where you needed something to be set to? Super alt control shift plus another key Well, you'd never use that not on a standard keyboard, but again, you're not limited the way you are on a normal keyboard So you have these extra modifier keys these two extra modifier keys that you don't have on your standard keyboard And that's really great Especially for those of you that use a ton of different key bindings especially those of you on Linux You're using tiling window managers. It's very easy to run out of key bindings using your standard modifier key Which is typically either super or alt and at some point you you maybe you use both super and alt and you front out of keys Key bindings that you can set to those keys Well, now you have both hyper and meh available now I mentioned earlier that both the Ergo docks and the moonlander use open source software to flash the firmware and This open source software is called QMK. It's available over on get up You can go take a look at the source code if you want, but there's a graphical Configurator tool on the zsa website. That's really nice. So I'm on the Ergo docks page here And if I go to graphical configurator graphical configurator try it out And let this page load and I guess instead of taking us directly to the Ergo docks configurator We get a screen which keyboard are we configuring moonlander Ergo docks or the plank easy Let's say we're configuring the Ergo docks and we get a visual representation of a Ergo docks keyboard With all the default keys, it'll tell us exactly what the key does what the key does when it's tapped What the key does when it's pressed for example z my right click you can see when tapped It's just a z when held it's left control now you can adjust these keys You can actually change them to anything you can imagine I would just go over here to modify layout I get into a different kind of mode where we can actually change the keys then later you can download this layout And what it does it saves a file locally to your system And then you use a piece of free and open-source software called Wally Wally is actually available in the arch user repository I believe I'm pretty sure I downloaded it from there. Wally is also available on the zsa website It's a graphical program that you just open up and you tell it where the location of that layout You save to your computer is and it just flashes the firmware on your keyboard super easy There's also a command line version of Wally, which is typically what I use I just open a terminal I type Wally dash CLI space and then the path to that layout file that I saved on my computer and again Boom super easy really easy to change your layouts and change layers and everything else And you can change anything you want to change about these keyboards because they're programmable So the possibilities are endless and what you want to do with these things And since I mentioned that you can change everything about the keyboard One of the things is a lot of you guys are probably thinking about eventually switching away from QWERTY to other layouts like Dvorak or Colmag or things like that and honestly when you purchase your ergo docs or your moonlander That's a perfect time to go ahead and make that switch because honestly these keyboards are so different than a standard keyboard Anyway, even if you use the QWERTY layout, you're gonna have to learn how to type again because of the thumb clusters It's a little weird You know, it's gonna take you two three weeks to really get comfortable with this keyboard Anyway, so it's a perfect time to go ahead and make that switch from QWERTY to Dvorak or Colmak or whatever it is You're interested in switching over to anyway because again, you're gonna have to learn how to type anyway You might as well go ahead and flash the firmware to that Dvorak layout You can go ahead and pop the keycaps off and arrange them in the proper Dvorak configuration or Colmak configuration as well Now one of my favorite aspects of these keyboards is the fact that these are sustainable keyboards because You know too many devices including keyboards are built to break They they're built basically to become obsolete in a year or two because this is good for the companies that make these keyboards It's good for them that their devices break or become obsolete And then they get thrown away and then you the customer has to go back and buy the new version of that particular device from that company It makes them more money But that's not what ZSA is doing here because ZSA they're building products to last the ergo docs and The moon lander are really sturdy proud. I mean when you hold it in your hand You know these things are built to last just handling them You can tell they're well built and the fact that the switches and the keycaps They're all so easily swappable mean it means that these things are less likely to break In a in a major way as far as they no longer work because if it's just a problem with a key cap or a key switch They're hot swappable Means longer lasting life for your keyboards and thus it's just better for the environment I really appreciate that from a company now one of the questions I've been getting from a lot of you guys is which one do I prefer the ergo docs which I use at home Or the moon lander which I use at the office and this is a tough question because honestly There's not a lot of difference between these two keyboards Let me quickly highlight some of the differences again The ergo docs weighs a little more if I switch back to this layout the ergo docs Versus the moon lander weighs a little more even though the ergo docs doesn't come with a built-in wrist pad Now if you throw in the really heavy rubber wrist pad The ergo docs actually is gonna have quite a bit more weight than the moon lander because of that the ergo docs is not Really as portable as the moon lander the moon lander because it folds away the wrist wrist It's a little bit smaller than the ergo docs keypads And plus the moon lander comes with a carrying case that you can quickly fold this thing up store in a carrying case And then you know if it was a situation where you needed a portable keyboard The moon lander is probably the best choice to buy for me. I'm not really moving these keyboards The ergo docs stays at home. The moon lander stays here. So it's not a big deal for me The ergo docs I mentioned has more thumb clusters as far as keys on the thumb cluster six keys on each thumb cluster Where the moon lander only has four keys again for me That's not a big deal. It doesn't make much of a difference for for me typing for some of you It may make a big deal. So that may Make that might be a deciding factor in your choice as far as which one to buy The moon lander also has a smaller keys on the thumb clusters slightly smaller keys compared to the keys The big keys on the ergo docs also the keys on the outside Columns here the very far outside. These are bigger keys on the ergo docs Compared to those same keys on the moon lander. You can see on the moon lander They're just your standard key caps standard size key caps where they're double sized key caps On the ergo doc. So of course that makes the moon lander again a little smaller than the ergo docs So overall, I mean which one do I like more? Honestly, I like both of them equally even though I just highlighted a bunch of differences The differences really don't make a difference because the main selling points for these keyboards again If I was talking about the big selling points is the split key design the ortho linear design the thumb clusters The fact that they're mechanical keyboards and really both the ergo docs and the moon lander All have that right as the minor differences are really just minor differences and to be honest I really don't care, you know that one has four keys on the thumb cluster and one has six really doesn't affect me either Anyway, so I I have no problems with the fact that I purchased a ergo docs and a moon lander And I I would be happy with either one if I could only have one keyboard And you gave me either one of these keyboards I would be absolutely thrilled and again I don't think I'll ever buy a standard keyboard again because I could never be happy I could never use such a limiting keyboard having used the split key design of the ergo docs and the moon lander and again I've been using them now for a little over two and a half years So I it's ingrained in my brain now, right? It's all muscle memory now and using a standard 110 key keyboard I can't do it now if I had to come up with one negative for these keyboards And this is really being nitpicky But if there was one negative with both the ergo docs and the moon lander is the fact that they are expensive These are not cheap keyboards. You're gonna spend about 350 to 400 dollars us for these keyboards and that's not cheap these are not cheap devices But in my opinion, you do get what you pay for I can't recommend these keyboards highly enough Now before I go I need to thank a few special people. I need to thank the producers of this episode I'm talking about Gabe James Mitchell Paul Scott west the commie Alan Chuck commander angry dieokai David Dillon Gregory Heiko Lee max and michael mike nitrix alexander peace arch and fedora polytech raver red prophet steven and willy these guys They're my highest dude patrons over on patreon. They are the producers of this episode I also want to thank each and every one of these ladies and gentlemen as well I can't call out all their names because this list is incredibly long It's an ever-growing list of names. These are all my supporters over on patreon because I don't have any corporate sponsors I'm just sponsored by you guys the community. If you like my work and want to help support me Please subscribe to distro tube over on patreon. All right guys peace And yes, I love the Kensington track ball as well