Episode 2. ZSA Moonlander

The Freestyle was a good start, but I wanted to go further.

The Wirecutter article also recommended the Ergodox EZ from ZSA. After looking at ZSA’s website, it looked like they had a newer product called the Moonlander. Also, the marketing on their website was so pretty.

Unfortunately, I was swayed by the pretty pictures and went for the Moonlander. I regretted the purchase almost immediately. My wrists started hurting more than before!

Structure problems

The tenting legs on the Moonlander were not as sturdy as the Kinesis Freestyle. The thumb keys make up one of the supporting legs! This means that at what may be more comfortable for your wrists may not be so comfortable for your thumbs, and vice versa.

Switch problems

I thought I wanted light switches, because I believed the Apple Magic Keyboard had light switches (it’s around 35gf actuation force), so I ordered “Speed Silvers”. However, I couldn’t rest my fingers even a little bit on the keys! (This is a habit I think I’ve mostly dropped).

To fix this, I ordered some red switches to try to help out. They did feel a little better.

Conclusion

Luckily, a friend wanted to upgrade from ZSA Ergodox to the ZSA Moonlander, and took my Moonlander. The Moonlandeer has served him better that it served me, so it’s not all bad news. In addition, ZSA transferred the warranty!

I’m grateful for what I learned about switches from the Moonlander. And I’m grateful that there is marketing for somewhat non-standard keyboards. Unfortunately, the structure problems were too much for me.