Performance

Out of the box, the ErgoDox EZ Shine had six key rollover USB which tested successfully using Aqua's test, and you can enable full NKRO by pressing Shift+Shift+N which also tested successfully. Switch Hitter confirmed no chatter with these keys in the five weeks of testing I did before this review.


The static lighting underglow control works fine too, be it via the configurator or the preset options on the loaded layout in layer 1. The LEDs are quite bright so you may want to adjust the brightness. Below are some videos showing some of the preset lighting effects in different color hues:










Lighting is uniform and the underglow means no LED reflections on your monitor. Secondly, everything being on board means that the keyboard w/lighting functions on Windows, OSX and Linux just fine. The lighting is functional too in that perhaps you can trigger a different color if you change layers, for example, and this would be very handy. Unfortunately, the configurator does not currently support it although I have expressed this as one of my desired changes in the near future and they said this will be looked into.

The default layout is a good start for using it as-is, but not perfect. Some keys I simply did not use at all, such as the Hyper and Meh keys, but I can see where some coders would. The thumb keys in particular have too many keys in my opinion, and I feel three keys (2x1u each) with one on top and two below would be plenty. The angle of the thumb cluster relative to the regular hand cluster also works well for medium-large hands, but smaller hands may not like it so. Perhaps have the thumb cluster separate as well and relocatable? Again, this is not something I was expecting on the product now considering they had to go by the reference design to make the product a reality but add this to my list of things I want considered in the future.


The open source programming and the ability to move keycaps around is great, however. I used the source code from my MK Fission keyboard review into a layout tester (courtesy Patrick Gillespie) and you can see the results above. QWERTY is not even close to the most efficient layout for me, and very likely you too, but the ErgoDox QWERTY did a much better job than the standard layout QWERTY. If you are willing, try out Colemak or Dvorak as they will result in lower finger travel and fatigue overall. The ErgoDox EZ in Colemak showed to be consistently the best layout for me typing out reviews galore, and I am convinced that the ErgoDox concept works as advertised. Here is the link to the full results if you were interested, including a detailed analysis on key presses and distance moved.

The Gateron Brown switches were extremely consistent in actuation force and travel, with a tension gauge used to measure an average actuation force of 44.80 cN at 2.04 mm as measured by a set of calipers. The tactile bump is not very prominent, as with Cherry MX Brown switches, so you either love it or you do not. It is about as perfect a clone to the original as can be- let us put it that way.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the ErgoDox EZ Shine sample at ~86-90 WPM. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here including those with tactile switches. I did bottom out here although it is definitely possible to not do so if you practice.