NewEgg sells the Saitek Slim Eclipse keyboard for $35 dollars plus shipping. <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175104>.
This is simply the best keyboard I've ever encountered for a touch typist with medium-size male and finger lengths. That's saying something because I've spent over 50 years operating keyboards, first as a typographer, then as a lawyer-citizen activist, and now as a retiree. The Fairchild Model 3 Teletypesetter keyboard now slips into second place and the IBM Correcting Selectric typewriter keyboard moves down the charts to number 3. I.e., it's taken about 40 years for a new keyboard to challenge those two much older keyboards. That's why I'm bothering y'all with this review. This ain't your average run of the mill keyboard. Keys in the Saitek are slightly closer together vertically than in run of the mill keyboards, making it less awkward to reach the programmable function keys without removing a hand from the home keys. The F and J keys have slightly raised burs (as they should) so correct hand position on the home keys is automagically confirmed by their presence. The "windows" alternate keyboard keys between the Control and Alt keys has a recessed button in the center, so it's easily distinguishable without taking your eyes off the screen or manuscript copy. The keyboard includes a fourth programmable alternate keyboard function key on the right. Keyboard layout is excellent, with good use of extra space to group related keys. E.g., the cursor control keys are easy to find without looking. The extra space comes from the keyboard omitting a lot of the extra garbage keys that come in most keyboards these days. E.g., if you want all the extra web page navigation, etc. kinds of keys, this is not the keyboard for you. This is a high production board for touch typists. It does have volume control keys that are somewhat on the greedy side. E.g., if you are into listening to music on your system, you'll probably want to use a utility to manage volume control instead. It's hard to set a "perfect" volume level using the keyboard. Function keys are raised to the the same vertical level as the other keys. No nearly recessed buttons for function keys here. This also speeds touch typing because there is no change in vertical height messing with your mental association of the function keys and finger actions. The board itself is more solid than usual, giving it a bit of extra weight that helps the keyboard stay in one position rather than migrating around the desktop as you type. Key action is more quiet than any keyboard I've used before, and the key action tension seems well chosen for high-speed typing. That particular combination should translate into fewer complaints about noise from the better half of the household when I'm on a writing rampage. This keyboard is quieter without placing any muffling under it than any other keyboard I've used with muffling. I can now use my keyboard even when household management is snoozing in the easy chair next to my desk. Were I choosing a keyboard to standardize on throughout a law office or some such where high volume text entry is mission-critical, this would be it. For non-touch typists, the keyboard has silver-colored keys against a black background, with key identifiers in black. This gives much better visibility than black keys against a black background, which is an accessibility plus for the 20 million or so Americans with low vision. To top it off for the non-touch typists, the keyboard includes a toggle that will step through no lighting, medium blue backlighting, or more intense blue backlighting of the keys, with the lighting in both modes also showing through the key identifiers. There does not appear to be any way to select the color of the backlighting. But in any event, if you're in the mood to work in the dark, the non-touch typist still has key finding aids. For those with larger hands, there is what looks to be a very similar keyboard from Saitek available through NewEgg for $50 including shipping. <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175103>. NewEgg carries anotther Saitek keyboard, the Eclipse 2 Pro selling for $50 plus shipping. <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175001>. The latter is supposed to have a heavier base. I have not tested either of these two. >From the product reviews, it looks as though this keyboard has been in production for at least two years, so one might reasonably suspect that at least the early release usability bugs are gone. One reviewer claims that he got 72-hour replacement from Saitek for the keyboard when he wore out a key through heavy use. So that gives a rough idea of durability and sounds like good customer support as well. Nice keyboard! Best regards, Marbux _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list euglug@euglug.org http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
