Balance Keyboard

Bought this to match my Contour RollerMouse replacing a Posturite keyboard. Length wise matches perfectly to RollerMouse and fine to use, keys don't click too loud, but do make a noise. Just 4. annoying things, 1. no windows key which is shown in the picture - but actually the Start key does the same functions just says 'Start' and 2. the delete key is not in the expected place, is tiny and too far right past the backspace- would have preferred a bigger size key - moving the sound buttons and 3. Ctrl and Fn are reversed from any keyboard I've used before, so again quite a few mis-types. 4. Wireless - need to plug in a dangly usb receiver to make it work, so although no long wire trailing - still a wire trailing at the side of the laptop.

This Contour keyboard is probably the best that I have used, with a great feel to the keys in use. The travel is good, with ideal spacing even for my large hands and of course the advantage of adjustable tilt to achieve the most comfortable typing position. I have successfully used it with various devices as it pairs well, and the only disadvantage that I have experienced is that it obviously lacks dedicated function keys that appear on some keyboards designed for particular equipment. Overall I am very happy with it and can recommend.

I had to double and triple check the price of this keyboard because £80+ seems exorbitant considering it doesn't offer much over many competitor products priced around £25.First of all, it is delivered in a basic brown cardboard box. I don't mind they saved on the marketing budget as it is safely packed and there is no annoying waste of space in the box, thus it stores and transports well. This packaging might be due to it being a review product, so I have not deducted or added any stars for this.Secondly, whereas the keyboard has a full functional design, it feels a bit too compact and I didn't think it was that comfortable in use. There is good reaction on the keys and I didn't have any issues with them getting stuck or otherwise playing up, it just wasn't so easy to get used to as some of my favourite ones.The USB plug strangely enough is not in the designated storage space under the keyboard, but rather on a small lead. Not sure why, but do take note of it before you spend too much time searching for it.The options for changing the physical setup of the keyboard are there, but I do not think they are that smart for ergonomic positioning of the keyboard - at least not without separate wrist support.It is a good keyboard that has pretty much everything you'd need, but at the price point above £80, I simply cannot recommend it.

The design here seems like a huge excuse for moving the battery compartment to below the space bar and actually disturbing the design flow of the keyboard. But of course the keyboard is meant to be part of their rather expensive desk suit with their other products offering the wrist rest and track pad items, and this the keyboard only being one item amongst many.Annoyingly the USB dongle came on the USB lead - which sent me for a complete loop - I thought the dongle was missing from the product, especially as the product itself has a compartment just for the dongle to go in... so after removing the battery isolator I was looking, and looking and looking, and eventually spotted the dongle on the end of the USB extension.The keys themselves, despite this being a premium price product, have the cheapest nastiest transfer stickers for the key legends, a proper printed or sublimated key legend would have been better by far. And I really really detest the key stickers on this.Key feel is okay, they're not clicky, but you have a nice amount of tactile feedback from the key surface and travel.But the good side of the keys run out fast, there's a gap between them and the chassis, which is going to be near impossible to clean, you can't take the unit apart easily - no screws visible - and there's going to be dirt and hair going down between the plastic back plate and the key itself.The hugest, massivest, biggest point is the manual pages that try and excuse the shape design as either natural - the legs down - level the short legs only down - or tilted away from you no legs - because of the battery compartment being used as a forward raised point below the space bar, and it really does come across as as an excuse. Having looked at how the keyboard mates to the very expensive wrist rests and other accessories that raised angle is to mate them up, but it seems to just be an excuse to have the design explain itself and that's not ergonomics IMO.It is not ergonomic to have that gap at the leading edge, you're almost forced into having a wrist rest.And then the layout... is a pain... those arrow keys and the moved home, end, page up, page down cluster are in quite possibly the weirdest location ever.And beyond my hate of the stickers on the keys, I also dislike the red and highights for the function keys... They should be function keys first and foremost, but these are media keys first, this is a real pain.All in all, at this price point, I can't see enough good points to warrant a purchase.

Contour Balance Wireless keyboard, priced at £79.99 at the time of writing this review.Arrived in a simple brown cardboard box that provides ample protection for the items within.In the box is the keyboard, manual, usb dongle a usb extension cable.The keyboard is heavier than I was expecting, it feels rigid and has very little flex, the action of the keys feels really good, as I would expect from a premium keyboard.The keyboard is powered by two aaa batteries which come already installed ready for use out of the box.Setup was as simple as could be, I plugged the usb dongle into my computer (extension cable got thrown into my drawer of random cables awaiting a future use as it wasn’t needed), pulled the tabs from the battery compartment (there a place for storing the dongle here so it doesn’t get lost when travelling or in storage) then my computer automatically set it up and it was working within seconds.The writing angle can be adjusted with the legs on the back.I am really pleased with how well this keyboard functions, it’s a pleasure to write on, the action of the keys feels positive and the key spacing is spot on for me.Pros-Greast build qualityComfortable and easy to use for extended periodsFaultless wireless connectionGood battery lifeCons-No rechargeable batteryFoam wrist support not included