Feeling Better, But Not Totally (Microsoft Natural Pro)

Member Name: TheChocolateLady

Product:	Microsoft Natural Pro
Date:	04/01/06 (275 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Has helped reduce the pain in one of my hands

Disadvantages: Hasn't helped reduce all the pain in the other one

I needed to get a natural keyboard at work because I had started to experience pains in my hands from all the typing I was doing. This was the one that my employers purchased for me, and here's what I think of it.

First of all, it really looks like it would be comfortable to use. Its large and the keys are separated down the middle with the number lock light, caps lock light and one other light (which I don't know what its for) filling up the space between the two sets of keys. If only for the excellent placement of these lights, I'd say that this keyboard is wonderful. It's very convenient to look straight down and see that your caps lock is on when you type in a password somewhere and get an invalid password page! It's kept me from trying over and over again to enter the password before looking to see if somewhere on the right upper corner of my keyboard there's a light on that shouldn't be. So kudos to Microsoft for doing this.

However...
The main reason why you purchase this keyboard is to help reduce carpal tunnel syndrome pain. And unfortunately, I cannot totally recommend this keyboard because I'm still feeling some pain in my left hand. The little pain I had in my right hand is gone, however, but that was truly minimal. I have tried using this keyboard in many different positions - with the legs up, with the legs down, angled to the right, angled to the left, and nothing seems to help stop the pain in my left hand completely.

I'm sure all the other extras that come with this keyboard are very nice. It has two USB ports which I've never had the chance to use. It also comes with software called IntelliType Pro, but I cannot tell you if it is good or not, since my employer would not install this software on our computers. Also, the buttons for the CD player need the software so I can't tell you if they work well or not (hey, I'm not supposed to be listening to music at work, anyway).

It also adds a sleep function if you want to save energy while you're away from your desk, and has a quick buttons for reaching the calculator and "My Computer". Even without the software, the "Mail" button works fine and calls up my Outlook faster than clicking on the icon in my toolbar. The buttons that effect your open web page work perfectly as well - these are basically the same as the buttons on your browser which are Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh, Search (which opens on my computer the Google page), Favourites, Web/Home. If anyone can tell me if they prefer using these buttons, I'd like to know. I hardly use them, myself - except for the calculator one, which I use all the time.

You should also know that it took me about 10-12 days to get used to the differently positioned keys. Even now, after having this keyboard for a couple of years, I still find myself tapping on the wrong keys once in a while. But for the most part, it really isn't that difficult for a heavy use typist to get used to this keyboard.

The keys themselves have a very nice feel to them. They make very little residual noise and have a soft feeling finish to them. They spring nicely under your fingers and that spring is what makes typing faster, in the long-run. They keys have a medium touch resistance, so you do have to put a little effort into pressing the keys, but not unduly so. I still don't understand why keyboard makers don't make the key resistance softer for your little and ring fingers and harder for your middle and index fingers. If you ask me, someone who does this will see us typists beating a path to their door! By the way, lately the left "Ctrl" button has become a touch sticky, and when I'm trying to copy and paste things, I sometimes have it not click. I guess after almost years of working on this one can expect that a key or two would get jammed up a bit. Still, it's the only key that does that, and I'd say that if this is the only problem after all this time, it's certainly an extremely durable item!

In conclusion - while this is a nice keyboard and can be pretty fancy, I don't think it's really helped me all that much with my physical problem – although for the most part, I don't feel too much pain in my left hand and have no pain at all in my right one. If you're looking for something that will truly stop the pain in your hands, then I can't totally recommend this to you. But if your hands aren't all that painful, you need a bit of relief and you're looking for a really reliable keyboard that's heavy duty, then this could be the one for you. I'll give it four stars and recommended (but not wholeheartedly).

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © August, 2002 – updated January 2006

*****
Technical Information

The official webpage for Microsoft products in the UK is http://www.microsoft.com/uk/ and a little search there for Natural Keyboard will give you everything you ever wanted to know about this product.

According to uk.pricerunner.com (http://tinyurl.com/dhn68) at the time of updating this review, there were two retailers in the UK that sell this item, and the prices were £13.50 from Udiggit, and a whopping £48.18 from euroffice.co.uk! I'd check out Ebay as well, if I were you.
*****

Summary: Extremely strong egronomic keyboard that can help with hand pain - and has some nice extras.

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Installation:
Speed:
Variety of features: