Packaging and Accessories

Buckle up for this is a long page filled with a lot of accessories, as well as other things. We begin with the packaging for the Freestyle Edge itself, which is a two-piece package with an inner box and an outer sleeve. The sleeve has a glossy wrap with a black and blue color scheme. On the front is the company and product name with a printed illustration of the product and a list of all salient marketing features. This continues on the back with more specs and features and another illustration of the keyboard. Yet more is on the sides, and there is a flap on each side to help remove the inner box.


The inner box is completely black, and there is the Kinesis Gaming logo on the front in a glossy print. Another flap keeps this box closed, which is split down the middle. Opening it, we see it was split to best accommodate the split keyboard, with each half of the keyboard in its own compartment kept in place via yet more flaps. There are multiple, well-placed foam pieces throughout to protect the keyboard during shipping, and underneath the right half is a quick start guide (online copy here). More useful, however, and I am grateful Kinesis included it for me, is the full manual, which is nineteen pages of detail. It unfortunately does not come with the retail packaging, although there is an online version available I strongly recommend people read, and I would also like Kinesis to find a way to include it—even if only as a smaller, black and white booklet instead.


Time for the optional accessories. First up is a set of two palm pads that are cushioned and contoured to fit the wrist/palm supports on the keyboard. There is stitching on the edges to prevent fraying, and a cover on the underside reveals a sticky surface when peeled off.


Next up is the lift kit, which gets fancier packaging. We see another two-piece packaging similar to that of the keyboard itself, but the sleeve is not fully surrounding the inner box, which can just be pushed out. There are more images and features printed on to the packaging, and I recommend going through this page from Kinesis since it does a good job of explaining why tenting a keyboard helps.


The actual kit consists of a set of two plastic pieces that appear to be based off a similar accessory made for the older Freestyle. The pieces are marked to denote which one is for which half, and there are legs and hooks to aid with their installation, which we will go over on the next page. There are two extensions that clip into the third base in each piece, such that you have a combination of the three for 5°, 10°, or 15° of tenting. Note also the small rubber pads on the underside that help prevent scratches and add friction.

Kinesis also sent along a large mousepad, but it is not specific to the product I am reviewing, so you can peruse its product page for more information on it if interested.