The Split Keyboard Without the Tradeoff
“Without question, the nicest keyboard money can buy”
Over the last couple of years, I bought every high-end split ergonomic keyboard on the market. All of them had a deal-breaker: to get the split design, you give up something that matters. Preserving muscle memory and standard typing mechanics matters far more than most reviews give it credit for. And no — you don't just give it a month or two and ortholinear or columnar-stagger boards start to feel natural. I bought these and diligently trained for the time periods recommended by the manufacturers. Even once they start to feel halfway comfortable, the moment you switch back to a laptop your hands no longer know what to do.
“The NUIO Flow is the only board that doesn't require a tradeoff.”
The NUIO Flow is the only board that doesn't require a tradeoff. You get shallow, laptop-like key travel and a design that looks as good as it feels. You keep your existing years of learning to type, and you don't need to relearn the second you pick up a laptop again.
I bought the Flow when it first launched and loved it. But the Mac version had its own deal-breaker for me: no Ctrl key in the bottom-left corner, which is essential for Windows hotkeys. I regretfully returned it. NUIO responded by building a dedicated Windows version. I bought it again, and I can now say truthfully that it's exactly the keyboard I've been searching for. Now I can do what the goal should be: think about the engineering problem I'm solving instead of typing.
Build quality is second to none. The packaging, presentation, and customer support are all world-class.
“You get the fit and finish of a polished Apple product, somehow coming from a small company.”
Now the elephant in the room: it's expensive. Really expensive. But there's no way I'm returning it, because right now there is nothing else like it in the world.
When NUIO says everything was engineered from scratch, that really does appear to be the case. That kind of hardware engineering and tooling is enormously expensive at low volume. I don't think comparing its price to similar keyboards is the right value calculation here. You aren't paying for a keyboard compared to another keyboard.
“You're paying for something you genuinely can't purchase any other way.”
I hope volume brings the price down over time so more people can use one. I do think it should cost less. But I also understand why it is currently priced the way it is, and I don't think it is overpriced during its current phase of manufacturing, all things considered.
In my opinion, the NUIO Flow is without question the best keyboard money can buy today.