Kinesis is a Seattle-based company that has been designing and manufacturing ergonomic keyboards for over 30 years. Recognizing that it’s not just professionals who need peripherals that reduce strain on hands, wrists and shoulders, it created the Kinesis Gaming division in 2016, with models specifically aimed at the PC gaming audience.
It only offers a small range of three models, but the Freestyle Edge RGB I tested is definitely the star of the show. It’s a fully split design, with the two halves permanently connected via a cable, and it can be connected to any PC, Mac or Chromebook via a long USB Type-A cable. I would have preferred if they were detachable cables, for easy transport.
However, there is no shortage of cable length, with the inner one offering a distance of up to six inches and the main cable having a length of 20 inches. In the case of the former, the excess material can be tucked into the chassis, but I found the braided cables to be quite stiff. You can get each part in the perfect position for your shoulders, but you may find that the cables tend to get in the way of things on your desk, as I did.
I don’t have particularly large hands and found the somewhat compact layout of the Freestyle Edge RGB suited me perfectly; at no point did it ever feel like a challenge to reach any of the usual keys.
It comes with a set of extremely well-cushioned wrist rests and if they are not to your liking, they are easily removable. What is quite surprising, however, is that the keyboard cannot be tilted or tilted. Not immediately, at least.
Freestyle Edge RGB Specs
Switches: Cherry MX Red/Brown/Blue/Speed Silver
Connectivity: wired (USB Type-A)
Keys: 95 in total
Divide: completely separate halves
Tents: none, optional kit (5/10/15 degrees)
Tilt: no
Backlight: RGB per key
Media Controls: programmable hotkeys
Price: $199/£230/€238/AU$371
Tenting essentially means raising the inner portion of the keyboard and it helps prevent your wrists from being twisted unnaturally. For me, tenting is a must for any keyboard I use, thanks to wrist injuries I suffered many years ago.
However, Kinesis Gaming does offer a lift kit for the Freestyle Edge. At first glance they look like just a few pieces of thin plastic, but once they’re clicked into place they’re rock solid. This allows you to choose between five, 10 and 15 degrees of tenting, and I found 10 to be the most comfortable. The lift kit retails for just under $30 at the Kinesis store, which is a bit on the pricey side for what they are.
Honestly, if you spend two hundred dollars on a keyboard, you’d expect there to be a few extra pieces of plastic in the box.
Unfortunately, there’s no tilt option, so if you prefer a standing desk, you might find the lack of this a bit annoying. That said, it’s geared towards gaming, and how many of us rock a few rounds of CS:GO while standing?
The Freestyle Edge is a fully mechanical keyboard and you have the option to select one of four Cherry MX keysets when you place your order. My review sample came with Browns, which are low power and virtually silent (and just my cup of tea). Alternatives include Reds, which are similar to Browns but with a more linear feel, as well as fast Speed Silvers or classically clacky Blues.
I found it an absolute pleasure to type. Not just because it fit the size of my hands very well, but because every key worked exactly as expected, with the feel being consistent across the board. Normally it takes a while to get used to a new keyboard, but I reached my usual speed within a day.
There are eight additional keys that can be programmed for one-time use or for specific macros, all of which are handled via the SmartSet app (more on that later). As the name suggests, there’s fully customizable RGB backlighting per key, with a dedicated key to turn it off. The LEDs are bright and vibrant, so if you fancy a little disco in your games room, crack open this keyboard for some dancing action.
Tucked away at the top of the right half are four buttons with specific functions, allowing you to switch between nine different profiles, record macros and remap the keys.
The last of these is called the SmartSet button and using it in combination with some number keys activates a number of additional modes. One of these is Game Mode, which disables the Windows key to prevent you from activating the Start Menu mid-game. Another activates NKRO mode, which allows the keyboard to record all simultaneous keystrokes.
Normally this is limited to around six, but if you want the absolute maximum key response across the board, for hectic games, then this button is for you. Personally, I never had to turn it on, but I’m old and very slow, and was fine with normal mode.
Buy as…
✅ You want the best ergo+gaming experience: You’ll need the optional lift kit, of course, but that gives you the perfect mix of comfort, speed and gaming features.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You have a tight budget: The base price is quite high, even for an ergonomic keyboard, and you really need the $30 optional lift kit to get the best user comfort.
Although the Freestyle Edge RGB can be programmed on site, you’ll find it’s all a lot easier to do this via the SmartSet app. The first big plus I noticed is that there are versions for Windows and MacOS, and its source code is available on Github so you can compile it for the operating system of your choice.
It looks quite simple, but is quite easy to use, especially if you read the manual and follow all the instructions. Which of course I didn’t do.
The first thing that surprised me was that the program simply did not recognize that I had connected the keyboard. Fiddled around for half an hour, trying different USB ports, restarting the PC and a lot of head scratching. All of that would have been avoided if I had just bothered to look up what to do in the first place.
To make changes via the app, you must first enable the ‘v-Drive’ by pressing the SmartSet key + F8. Doing this will open the onboard memory as a small USB memory stick from the operating system’s perspective, and once you’re done, you can play with things to your heart’s content.
Once you have made all required changes, remove the v-Drive as you would any removable USB device. It’s a bit of a mystery why Kinesis designed it to work this way, as I haven’t come across a programmable keyboard that has such a barrier in its way.
It certainly prevents someone else from messing up your settings, but since you can still program the keyboard without using the app, it seems like an unnecessary step.
It’s probably the closest to perfection I’ve experienced in a gaming-oriented ergonomic keyboard
But it’s a minor issue in the grand scheme of things and I found this to be true of all the aspects I didn’t particularly like, like the stiff, hard-wired cables and lack of tilt. None of these were deal breakers for me and the sheer pleasure of using the Freestyle Edge RGB just pushed them into the background.
It’s probably the closest to perfection I’ve experienced in a gaming-focused ergonomic keyboard, which is extremely comfortable to use and a pleasure to type and game. Would I buy one myself? Absolutely, albeit perhaps with one caveat.
It’s not remotely cheap, and I don’t mean that in the sense that it feels like an extremely high-quality piece of equipment, because it feels just like any other well-made keyboard. The sticking point for many people will be the price: the standard price for the Freestyle Edge RGB on the Kinesis Gaming store is $219 and it’s currently on sale for $199, but that’s still a lot of money to spend on a keyboard .
Since Kinesis is a US-based company, buying it elsewhere in the world increases the price even more. For UK shoppers it’s £230 at Amazon, around €238 in the EU, and Australian gamers will have to spend $371. Shipping is sometimes oh so painful.
Then there’s the fact that you really need the lift kit for the full ergo experience, which costs an extra $30. If you don’t need tenting you can obviously save that little bit of money, but there are cheaper split keyboards on the market.
However, the overall product is fantastic, despite the $229 combined price tag. Yes, you pay a pretty penny for such excellence, but it’s not hard to see why Kinesis has been around for so long if it makes ergonomic keyboards so good.