Customer Reviews

PCK-308UB Tru-Form Pro Contoured Ergonomic Keyboard

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I just bought this, the third I have owned over the past 11 years. Each of the previous held up nicely for about 5 years. This seems to be the ONLY desktop keyboard that meets my need for A TOUCH PAD. Mouses (or "mice") take a terrible toll on my wrist and shoulder.
Will it hold up as well as the previous models? I can't say, but have noted a few critical reviews on Amazon. This latest version cost 2/3 of what I paid previously. Does this reflect less quality? Less durability? Only time will tell. I only rate this FOUR STARS because some of the other reviews make me question how good this latest model is; thus far it is Five Stars, as were the previous.

UPDATE. I've been using the keyboard for seven months, and can report only one "issue." "NUM LOCK" light wants to stay on even after computer is shut off. Solution: push the "NUM LOCK" key before machine shuts off; often this must be done TWICE, since at first the light goes off then quickly reappears. Otherwise everything seems to work fine.

LATEST UPDATE (and downgrading of rating). After 11 months this keyboard is constantly irritating: the touch pad often does not respond, and sometimes (playing Solitaire) it double jumps. Compared with my two previous Adessor keyboards, cheaper (this latest purchase) is definitely not better.

ANOTHER UPDATE. My third keyboard became so bad that in June 2010 I bought a fourth. Now it is Dec 2010 and the same problems have emerged (after only about 3 months) with this latest. Biggest problem of all is left key at touchpad - same problem in previous version. I have not found another manufacturer's touchpad keyboard, so am struggling on for now.

I am very displeased with this product. It is very cheaply made and the key action is very unsatisfactory. But worst of all, the caps lock key is defective - whether engaging or disengaging, invariably the very next key auto-repeats until I can hit the escape key, then I have to delete dozens of errant chareacters before I can return to my work. I am going to return this product for a full refund.

I tried buying one of these from TigerDirect and it arrived with a manufacturer defect - Tiger offered to refund me, and Adesso would not honor the manufacturers warranty. This keyboard is AMAZING and very powerful for saving your body from the rigor of typing all day. Just make sure you do not get one from the defective lot!

I should have just gotten one from Amazon in the first place...

The idea of this keyboard is great. One device to handle both the keyboard and trackpad in one. Further, its a split key ergonomic keyboard that allows for the keycaps to be rearranged from qwerty->dvorak without any odd keys (compare with Microsoft Natural keyboard and you'll understand the difference). Overall, it would be everything I ever wanted in a keyboard except a few very serious problems in the physical design.

1. The keyboard feels cheap. Especially the area around the trackpad.
2. They keys are mushy, this isn't a huge deal for me personally but I know a lot of people care about this.
3. For the price, the keyboard is very loud. In this price range I expect to type almost silently.
4. The trackpad is unacceptably cheap. It's like something you would find on a discount $500 laptop, not a mid-range keyboard.

All of the above are excusable, but the list goes on when we consider the hardware...

1. The keyboard controller is super duper cheap (like <10c cheap). It can't handle pressing keys at the same time (e.g. when playing games). The caps lock button is completely broken (you can't remap it to control because it will only chord with the first keypress).
2. The trackpad controller is.... broken. There's no way to dance around it. Often it requires resetting the keyboard by unplugging it because the trackpad starts jumping everywhere and even more strangely it appears that it's coupled with the keyboard so that keypresses sometimes cause mouse movements when it bugs out. Overall, it's super cheap and not debugged to the level one would expect from a modern input device.
3. There is a driver package for windows to configure the trackpad, but it doesn't really do anything useful. There are no drivers for OS X, but it does work reasonably out of the box.

So overall, I would only recommend this keyboard if you are a dvorak user who doesn't play games or use emacs or other high-input-demand software. For anyone else, I would recommend a Microsoft Natural keyboard or one of the Logitec keyboards.

I would suggest the company release a new model that fixes the bugs above (I would be willing to pay more up to $150 for a quality keyboard of this style) because I cannot imagine a target audience that would be happy with the current product.

Note: This model number PCK-308UB is actually a USB interface.

I've owned this keyboard for 2 years of frequent but gentle use and it stopped working.

First, it's an A+ on design. It's the most comfortable keyboard I've used in terms of key layout (I've used several "wave" type keyboards and dozens of different models of conventional keyboards), and the touchpad is perfectly placed for me and fully configurable / customizable in terms of scroll functionality and whether or not one taps to click.

In addition to the split design there is a very wide palm rest which is extremely comfortable and the height of the keyboard is excellent.

Unfortunately from day 1 it was only a D grade on manufacturing quality -- the travel and "feel" of the letter keys varied depending on the key (some were "mushier" than others). All letter keys A-Z should have been the same.

After a few months of use the left mouse button had to be pressed harder than the right -- eventually I had to spray electrical contact cleaner in it to fix it as it would no longer register. The difference in key travel between different keys got worse as the keyboard aged, with the mushy keys getting mushier. If I typed really hard sometimes a key would stay pressed down and start repeating.

Then after 2 years of use, one third of the letters abruptly stopped working, scattered all over the keyboard. Contact cleaner got 24 of 26 letters working again but no luck on the other two, so now I have to buy a new keyboard. I've had keyboards that I've used for much longer with no problems, so this definitely receives an F in terms of long term durability.

I'm unable to find another keyboard with quite the same design, most split wave keyboards don't have touchpads, most touchpad keyboards aren't a split wave. It's too bad Adesso's build quality and engineering appears so poor given what I consider to be an excellent layout design. Poor build quality seems to be a common theme throughout many reviews I've read from others who have purchased this (but not all), and so does not seem unique to my experience, but likely a function of the key mechanism Adesso used for this model.

I've gotten at least 4 of these keyboards over approximately the last ten years, and now I'm going to change brands.

I do graphics and the left touch pad key invariably dies (or acts weird) after about 1 year. All of them have had the same problem. I usually switch keys (use the right key instead for most of my "mousing"), to prolong the useful life of the keyboard.

For my current keyboard, the left touch pad key started being less responsive after only 4-5 months. I've continued using it, but now I have to find the "right place" to hit the key to make it work.

I think a keyboard/touch pad should last longer than this, and I'm very disappointed with the quality.

I go back and forth as to whether I love or hate this thing.

On the positive side, I had been having right shoulder pain and this keyboard definitely helped fix my ergonomic issues by bringing my wrists and hands to the inside of my body while I type. This simple change seems to have eliminated the stress on my shoulder because I no longer have any shoulder pain since switching to this keyboard. I'm very happy about that aspect of the product.

Unfortunately, it has a weird glitch that requires me to unplug the keyboard maybe once a week, sometimes more often. It seems that while I'm typing away on the keyboard the touchpad will suddenly take over and start highlighting everything on the screen. When this happens I can't type because the mouse has taken over and you can't get it to stop without unplugging the keyboard. Thankfully this fixes the problem every time but it sucks that I have to deal with this issue at all. Additionally, I haven't figured out if this problem is caused by a combination of key strokes or not. I'll have to start paying closer attention to what I'm typing whenever this happens.

In a nutshell, if you are having shoulder problems this keyboard is a great help. Just make sure you have quick easy access to the USB ports on your computer because you might need to reset the keyboard on occasion. The glitch does bug but not enough to make me switch back to my old keyboard.

PS - This keyboard will not work with a KVM switch. The KVM requires separate keyboard and mouse cables and this device shares one cable for both functions. Just an FYI.

I used to have the old Adesso, without the shortcuts and with the mouse buttons on the left side instead of on the bottom. I'd probably be still using if it wasn't for an electrical spike.

I must say everything is about getting used to, the keyboard with touchpad before that one (Logitech) had the mouse buttons on the bottom and when I saw then on the side I thought it was a terrible idea and hard to get used to, but I did and now after a few years I'm having troubles using this new one as I did with the first Logitech. But I tell you from firsthand experience it is much better the way it is now.

Also maybe Adesso listened to the customers feedback, because the QUALITY of this keyboard is GREAT and the keys are softer than the previous model, no complains at all.

The keyboard worked as soon as I plugged it in, even the hot keys worked (I didn't think they were necessary before buying it, but now I do) without even installing any drivers or software. ALSO it comes with only one usb cable witch works for both the mouse and the keyboard, which is great, I was expecting using 2 usb ports.

The shape of the keyboard and everything else is as good as it used to be or better. So I don't quite get the bad reviews about it.

I have had no trouble with reliability. Most all split keyboards cost much more. I like the touch pad and do not have move my hands from the keyboard. I put the keyboard on my lap and prop up my feet. Quite comfortable. I wore out one keyboard after almost 8 years of use I am going to try the second. Maybe it will be unreliable, but my long-term experience has been quite good. I am glad that these are on the market.

I have been using this model for about 4 years now. At the point when I first started using it, my hands were almost incapacitated. A friend recommended I try it out. Since then I have bought at least 5 of these. Using this keyboard has not solved my carpel tunnel issues but it improved my functionality substantially.

The first two days were really weird and my hands were uncomfortable using it. Other friends I recommended it to did not like it, and gave up. I always ended up buying theirs back from them.

In terms of keyboard durability, I find that the buttons on the touchpad are the worse; generally they last about 9 months and then its time for a new keyboard.

Another negative is I have to prop the lower part of the keyboard up, so it is on a decline. In its natural declining position this keyboard gives me problems.

50/50 chance you'll like this. If you are having serious carpel tunnel problems, its worst the money, given the alternatives run anywhere from several hundred dollars to over $1k (thats what it cost me to pick up a no longer manufactured datahand.)

Update 2/13/10 --

Beware: The USB keywords appear to have problems with pressing multiple buttons at once, at least in Windows 7. This is a major issue if you are a gamer. When I connect my serial Tru-Form keyboard to the same machines this is not a problem (while using a serial to USB adapter.)

I think this is a Windows 7 driver issue but I am not certain.