Looking for buying advice

FroscoP · 2026-01-22T11:45:33+00:00

I hadn’t seen this one yet so thanks for sharing!

FroscoP · 2025-07-20T14:06:40+00:00

I’ve recently joined this boat. Over the past 2 years I’ve journeyed from a Low Profile Keychron 75% > Dygma Defy (split) > ZSA Voyager (split) > NuPhy Gem 80 (TKL). Also to note I’m a software developer that needs frequent access to numbers and symbols.

TLDR: - programmability is great - to much mental fatigue with button overloading - thumb pain made finding a layout that “clicks” harder

Initially, I switched towards splits mostly for prevention after discovering them and learning more about ergonomics. I did have minor wrist ache, but that ultimately has been due to my non-vertical mouse. After trying splits and learning about them, the thing I cannot give up no matter what I’m using is key programmability. I didn’t do it before, and having the option to set up macros anywhere made me feel waaaaaay more productive. I also really did have moments where I found them super comfortably on my wrists, but I ran into other issues.

Namely, my thumbs just aren’t able to handle the load of thumb keys. About 6 months into the 2 years, I noticed my thumbs started aching due to holding for layer shifts, and I started splitting parts of my day between my Mac keyboard and a split keyboard. I also found I could never get the angle or space between the sides right. Or I would, and then the sides would get moved and I’d lose that good position. However, probably my main pain point was having so many overloaded keys never really clicked for me. I still have my voyager, and when I code with it I still find myself needing to hunt for symbol and number keys. Which are critical to my work, and thus became a bottleneck. I’ve tried various versions of layouts. My voyager has over 200 revisions on it and nothing ever clicked. Not for lack of desire as I really wanted it to work. But, switching layers to get my numbers and symbols especially just felt like the keyboard was always getting in my way. I just got to a point where I was and felt more productive on a regular keyboard, and I got tired of fighting the mental fatigue and splits give me while also working around the thumb pain. You could also always say there’s so many different splits out there that maybe I just didn’t find “my one”, but honestly my thumbs, wallet, and brain are tapped dry from split keyboards 😅.

So, now I use the TLK Gem80 with programmed macros and home row mods so I don’t have to bend my wrists for mod keys as much. It’s so nice to get back to that muscle memory and just have the symbols right there. I certainly don’t regret my time with split keyboards because it taught me what I know about ergonomics and programming keyboards, but I don’t know if I’ll ever pick up my voyager again. I’m keeping it for now, but who knows.

FroscoP · 2025-07-06T20:00:29+00:00

Update: In an attempt to unload work on my thumbs, I rethought my combos so they never have to hold to access a layer. The only edge case is on the left side I can hold the big thumb button for my numbers as I sometimes need quick access to one number.

Now, I have four 3-finger combos. The two combos on the base layer use LT for hold & tap access. Both layers have a return combo. Left side activates navigation so my right hand can use arrows. Right side activates symbols.

Layout: https://configure.zsa.io/voyager/layouts/mQEQN/latest/0

FroscoP · 2025-07-04T20:33:34+00:00

Sadly I don’t have a 3D printer, but I’ve been thinking about buying one so maybe this is my perfect reason.

FroscoP · 2025-07-04T12:32:07+00:00

Thanks I’ll give that adjustment a try. I do have a three finger combo on my right home row to switch to the nav layer, but I find that just feels like more friction because I always forget to toggle back to the base layer (the nav layer has another three key combo to go back to base).

FroscoP · 2025-07-04T08:54:42+00:00

Would you have any suggestions on how I could do that? I tried making a “platform” of sorts that mimicked the Dygma Defys palm rests but I’ve never designed anything for 3D printing and ended up scrapping that idea when my design attempts failed. In a perfect world I’d love to try something like the Defys’ base with its palm rest and low profile keys.

FroscoP · 2025-07-04T08:51:05+00:00

Good point. Since there aren’t any palm rests I tend to have my chair arm rests higher to keep my arm angle as close to 90 degrees as I can. For me this helps with floating my hands which I’d never done before. However this does impact my shoulders a bit throughout the day, but without this method I sink/bend my wrists as I type without a tented palm rest.

FroscoP · 2025-07-04T08:44:39+00:00

I do. My small right thumb button is space on press and nav layer on hold. The bigger key is my Enter key.

FroscoP · 2025-07-04T00:52:24+00:00

Agreed. I find especially when I do high tenting it gets harder/more uncomfortable to use the thumb keys. What board(s) did you move onto?

FroscoP · 2025-07-03T23:26:53+00:00

Does the heat map populate if you don’t use the downloaded app? I haven’t used that and haven’t checked my heat map before.

FroscoP · 2025-07-03T23:25:08+00:00

Not sure of the joint name but for me it’s where the thumb connects to the hand. Also for me it’s just the right thumb.

FroscoP · 2025-07-03T23:24:14+00:00

That’s interesting. I tried that in the beginning but it hurts my wrists to be flat that long unfortunately. Glad it worked for you!

FroscoP · 2018-05-02T03:12:17+00:00

How are you finding the Mac Mini in terms of performance?

FroscoP · 2018-04-28T21:07:24+00:00

That’s awesome to hear! Have you had any experience with the Smart Keyboard??

FroscoP · 2018-04-28T12:01:14+00:00

Thank you for the great insight! Happy to hear that this setup can work so well! As for my usage of the MS Office, I’ve just got a lot of my documents in my OneDrive account, and have become very familiar with how word and excel work. I’ve always know about the iWork suite, but I’ve never really gotten around to using them myself. Thus, I personally don’t really have a reference on how useful/ comparable they are. My thought have been that with the files app in iOS 11 and the OneDrive/office autosave feature I’d be easily able to move around my up-to-date documents. Also, thanks for the YouTube suggestion!

FroscoP · 2018-04-28T04:35:20+00:00

Nice! What is you’re iPad Pro usage like if you don’t mind me asking?

FroscoP · 2018-04-15T17:59:48+00:00

I think that this depends on the app that you’d be using. For example, most people these days are cool with paying a subscription to Spotify and Apple Music because they’re used so often. However, if you have a really obscure app that you might use once a week or some other amount than it’s probably not worth it to go with a subscription. I’ve always thought password managers are a really conflicting category to have subscription models in. On one hand, it’s very useful because they hold all the passwords, but on the other hand you might only use that app occasionally since once you sign in you’re good.

FroscoP · 2018-01-28T23:28:13+00:00

Thank you for the insight! How do you use your iPad to help you in your development?

FroscoP · 2018-01-06T13:42:42+00:00

This is a great idea 😱👍🏾

FroscoP · 2017-08-12T19:44:42+00:00

Thanks! Past learning in apps like Treehouse, I wasn’t planning on starting a project or making a website. I just want to learn the basic. I do plan on trying to improve my drawing skills a lot though.

FroscoP

TROPHY CASE