Dude. After developing some nasty RSI in college, my employment is entirely dependent on the Kinesis Advantage. It has a normal key arrangement, but dipped into "bowls" -- so you touch-type as normal, but with your fingers only having to move half as much. The keys also have a nice long "travel," so you can trigger each key without striking bottom.

It only takes about half a day to adjust, and is soooooooooo comfortable once you do.

That and it's easy to swap keys around, so you can map functions away from your weakest fingers.

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/contoured.htm

The Kensington keyboard design looks promising, but in reality it`s a total mistake. Had to work on a keyboard with identical key layout and it was a nightmare, especially trying to hit those ridicoulus triangular keys in the middle. Keys shoud be rectangular! I strongly advice against Kensington and lookalikes.

As for 'wave' and 'split' (like the GoldTouch) keyboards, keyboards with separate / detachable numeric keypad, without distinct cursor / pgup/pgdown etc. key groups... Well, my opinion is just 'no'. They all feel strange and in my opinion the only ergonomic thing about them is their appearance. I encountered many of these when repairing people`s PC, and my wrists were hurting all the same after a couple of hours.

The only comfortable 'ergonomic' keyboard I`ve had under my hands is the oldest model of Microsoft Natural series. The engineers managed to maintain the traditional key layout despite the split design, so it`s fairly easy to get used to. I typed at full speed after about fifteen minutes. Praises go to large, solid and _not_detachable_ wrist rest. Unfortunately, you have to look closely at the Natural keyboard you`re about to buy - some have strange cursor or pgup/pgdown/home/end etc keypads layout, and most lack the good keyboard essential: big, comfortable Enter. I bought German version of the keyboard to have it my way.

And the truth is you DON`T HAVE to buy an 'ergonomic' keyboard to bring relief to your tired wrists. Follow these steps:

1) Forget fancy keyboards. Get a decent, solid one with traditional key layout and big Enter key. I love old IBM PS/2 ones - built like tanks and reliable alike, but old Compaq or Dell will do as well. Just make sure it`s heavy and keys operate smoothly.

2) LAY IT FLAT!!! Seriously. Raising keyboard (using the 'feet' in its back) is the main reason why your wrists are killing you.

3) Get a gel wrist rest. A must-have for everyone using a computer for anything else than watching pr0n.

4a) Move the keyboard (and the gel wrist rest) away from the edge of the desk so you can lay your forearms on it. I heard you Americans don`t like elbows on a table, but in the computer era this is where they belong. Seriously.

OR

4b) Get a decent office chair with gel-padded elbow rests. Adjust its height so elbow rests and wrist rest are on the same level.

This or another - both ways are meant to provide proper support for wrists and elbows, which is necessary to make computing comfortable. Make room for your forearms on the desk and / or invest some $$$ in a good chair. Your back and neck will thank you, too.

5) Make breaks from typing. I know it`s obvious, but I also know nobody really does it. Move your hands differently, stretch them, twist them, squeeze a tennis ball.

Well, that`s not all, but enough for a good start. As you see, you really don`t need a new fancy 'wave' keyboard to make your typing 'ergonomic'. Save that money for a really good, solid, comfortable, adjustable chair. You`ll save on chiropractor later.

Mordazy -- some people can get away with just that. Other people need all that and more.

I'm in the "other people" group -- but for my fingers, not my wrists. I have small hands, and the act of stretching my pinkies to the 3rd and 4th keyboard row far edge keys puts so much strain across my tendons that I used to lie awake at night from the aching and burning.

Good ergonomic keyboards (and not just the wavy junk that looks fancy) actually reduce the travel from key to key, and put your wrists in a more relaxed position. The difference is dramatic -- but if you don't have tendon, joint or nerve problems, you won't really feel the difference.

For me, if I put in a 10-hour day on my Kinesis, I can still go home and surf the Web a bit, and then sleep soundly with only minor soreness. If I try to work from home on a normal keyboard, after 6-8 hours I'm in severe pain that lasts until the next morning.

ddk - you are absolutely right, the above is not for everyone, but most will find it sufficient. Glad you found a solution that suits you - I have big hands and MS Natural is enough for me, but I can imagine your situation. I looked at the Kinesis and would like to test it myself - looks interesting. Maybe someday. BTW, have you tried putting your achy hands in a hot bath for 10-15 minutes? I used to do it for my wrists and it was giving me huge relief.

Both the Goldtouch & Kinesis keyboards are excellent choices when being proactive or even reactive. I found a new keyboard that is perfect for daily use (I type close to 5 to 6 hours daily) and it fits in my computer bag while traveling.

It's from the UK and has a number of cool features. It's called the Posturite Number slide keyboard. What's nice about this keyboard is while I'm not using a numeric keypad I can slide it back into the keyboard and pop it open when I'm entering figures. Check it out: http://ergoprise.com/top-picks/posturite-number-slide-arch-keyboard