In general, I see more negative Moonlander reviews than positive – largely due to hand size (as others have noted).

I’d recommend starting off cheap: Get a couple of cheap PCBs, a soldering iron, and some bumpons. See what you like with your own money before using your work money.

The starting point is whether you need an ergo keyboard. Is there some specific pain point out fatigue you want to alleviate? Are there some parameters you need to fix first?

The next obligatory step, assuming you need (or want for whatever reason) an ergo keyboard, is a visit here: https://jhelvy.shinyapps.io/splitkbcompare/

Select interesting layouts, print them 1:1 scale and try placing your fingers on the print. Then you will see whether the Moonlander us for you (maybe you need to fold the sheet along the thumb cluster hinge, in the case of this keyboard), or if some other 2d layout is better.

(There will remain the question whether a 3d key well would not work better, à la kinesis advantage/dactyl/glove80/…)

I’d only consider the Moonlander if you have large hands. I have very average male hands and the Moonlander thumb cluster was quite painful. It’s far away and the keys are angled weirdly. Other good prebuilt options, from close to a regular keyboard to ticks off all ergo features:

• Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB
• Dygma Raise
• Keyboardio Model 100
• Kinesis Advantage
• MoErgo Glove80

My experience is that once you go ergo, you’ll end up wanting all features, so you’ll save yourself a lot of money by immediately buying a Kinesis Advantage or Glove80.

Anything by Beekeeb if you’re new to this. It’ll end up around the same price or cheaper than a moonlander, and will be much more ergonomic in the long run.

I got the Piantor and I’m happy with it, but I’ve also got my eye on the wireless Chocofi.

The Ortho split means you can put the numbers on a numpad layer on the right hand if you want, so you won’t need a number row, and you can easily fit your 104 keys into 3 layers on a 42key keyboard - the math checks out.

Afaict, most folks in the scene end up with something more individual, mostly smaller designs, often with a bit more column stagger and/or splay.

I feel like 34-36 keys is the sweet spot for most.

Now the recommendation depends a bit on how much time you wanna spend with iteration of the keymap and physical layout. If you just wanna get a new keeb asap, then the moonlander is certainly an option.

I’d recommend browsing the other posts a bit and also check out what vendors on your continent can offer if you don’t wanna build yourself.

It’s worth really thinking about how many keys you want/need and what layout will work best. For me, the Kyria layout and similar ones are close to optimal, or in keywell, something like the TBK Mini.

The other thing to be aware of with the Moonlander specifically is that some folks have issues with the ergonomics of its thumb thingy. Unfortunately ergonomics are very personal so it’s hard to tell without trying which ergo setups are best for your hands.

100% corne keyboard is my endgame. Nothing will ever beat it

I wholeheartedly recommend the Kinesis Advantage360 Pro.

It’s my first split and my first orthogonal. It has adjustable tenting, a really comfortable key well and - at least in the pro version - completely open source firmware.

Building something custom is a bit too much for me at the moment, so I’m really glad I found this one. I fell in love with how nice it is!

I paired it with a Kensington Expert Mouse (a trackball, which I’ve decided to use with my left hand to give my right hand some rest), added an under-desk treadmill and working for 8+ hours has gotten much more bearable.

I was using a Dygma Raise, currently using a Lily58. Much prefer the columnar layout between the two, although it did take a little getting used to. Tried my colleague’s moonlander but want comfortable for me due to my handsize.

I purchased an Ergodox well before the Moonlander was ever announced, and I love it. I looked at the Moonlander when it was announced, but couldn’t justify the cost on top of the Ergodox.

My one minor problem with the Ergodox, which is resolved on the Moonlander, is that not all of the keys are lit. If that isn’t important, you might consider it as well – the tenting system for the Ergodox doesn’t require an extra piece to make it work. That said, I think the Moonlander is much more portable, so trade-offs.

I love my moonlander mk 1. I take it everywhere works on everything with a USB port phone included. Easy to reprogram. I have a standard typing layout and a shortcut layer for every program I use. I’m starting to not use my mouse with the mouse emulation on the kb being pretty decent for most things. I do have large hands though and have the thing tented with the thumb module all the way down. Everything else is now too cramped to type on for long periods.

I’ve been using keyboardio m01 and now m100 for several years and have been very happy. The custom sculpted keycaps are great and really guide your fingers to the right place. There is also lot of support for different plugins for things like sticky keys or macros. The m100 also has hot swappable mx switches so if you want really fancy ones it’s very easy to change.

I have a Moonlander, and while I like it I consider switching to the upcoming Dygma Defy since I like the thumb cluster more, it has a bit more column stagger (which my short pinky Finger appreciates) as well as built-in tenting and wireless options.

That said, the Moonlander is a solid choice and ZSA did a good job with their online configurator (Oryx) and the decision to choose QMK as the firmware (popular open source keyboard firmware)

For me it’s the Sofle

I have used the Ergodox (pre moonlander) and would recommend the Kinesis Advantage 360.