Mechanical Keyboard too tall, uncomfortable, wrist tenses up! What do?

Submitted by Cori91 t3_10qaabn in MechanicalKeyboards

Hello guys!

I'm a new Mech keyboard user. I daily drive a Logitech K120, but I wanted to try something better like a Hot swappable Mech keyboard so I borrowed my friend's Keychron K4v1 (red optical switches), Logitech G613 (RomerG "tactile") and Akko CS Jelly Pink "custom" keyboard converted from a Redragon Kumara 552. Just to get a feel for them. I felt like they all actuated too fast and too easily even by resting my fingers on the keycaps. My wrist never tensed up, didn't hurt by using any of them.

I want to use the keyboard mainly for gaming (and some light type stuff).

My K120 felt good by force needed to actuate so I figured maybe I need a more heavier switch or one that actuates lower.

I researched for about a month. I chose the GMMK2 96% because I really like the looks (no besel, naked swtiches from the side, low profile or whatever it's called), and I can change anything else on it if I want in the future. And the Glorious Fox Switches actuate with 45g and at 2.2mm, they feel good for gaming, no misclicks here I can rest my fingers on the keycaps too. And I'm much better at typing too with them. SO I like the board overall BESIDES ONE THING.

I's too damn tall!

The dimensions say it's 3.75cm but on the Numbers' Row it can be 4cm, on the Function row it's even higher at almost 4.5cm! It's extremely draining for my wrist to use these rows for gaming. (like for MMOs to cast spells i have to spam keys to activate as fast as possible).

For typing I looked at my posture, (never before I checked this all 31 year of my life) my left wrist stays on the table from gaming because I use WASD all the time for that, and my right hand hovers over. My right hand is fine, my left though I can feel the tension in that one after 10-30 minutes. It's not unbearable but it's uncomfortable. (and I guess it can get even worse) My old Logitech K120 is 2.2mm tall only, my wrist and hands lay flat on it, it's extremely comfortable because of it. (Logitech G613 is 3.3cm tall but I never felt any tensions, could it be beacuse of the wrist rest built into taht? Although the Redragon Kumara 552 has around 3.3cm height again, and I had no problems with that)

The GMMK 2 is sligthly angled upward too, so that's why it's hard to press the keys above the WASD keys (like numbers and function), but even general typing makes my wrist tense up.

The original prebuilt GMMK 2 comes with OEM keycaps, I checked around and the Logitech K120 has DSA-like keycaps as far as I can tell, and DSA is on of the lower hegiht keycaps too, almost 5mm lower than OEM AND I find these comfortable to rest my fingers on too, Cherry keycaps felt a bit too sharp when pressing the A button as my finger rests on the left side of the A button). Could these new keycaps help with the wrist angle stuff? What the heck should I do? Return the keyboard? (I have 1.5weeks left to return it) Can i do something with it? I know that wrist rests exist but I'm not sure if spending more money on the setup is the answer. Is the Logitech G613 comfortable because of that? because the Kumara ahs the same height and it's comfortable without it.

I can understand the "learn to type properly" stuff, but I can't hover during gaming, it needs to rest there, and I mainly game with my keyboard anyway.

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to give as much info as I can. Thank you for reading.

TLDR: Bought GMMK 2, It's too tall for my left wrist during gaming, using WASD and they start to tense up. It's only happening to my left wrist/hand. What could I do with it? Return it? Would a change to DSA from OEM keycaps help? (5mm difference) I know about wrist rests but I'm not sure if spending more is the answer here.

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un_related t1_j6oxdym wrote

Are you resting your palm on the desk? That's the only way I can think that you might be straining your wrist.

If so...

  1. Ideally, you shouldn't be resting your wrist/palm while typing or gaming. This causes strain as you're describing.
  2. A wrist rest is not the correct solution. These are meant for resting your palms while you are not typing. While typing or gaming, they will restrict your hand movement and possibly cause more strain if your palm remains stationary.
  3. If possible, try moving your keyboard deeper into your desk. This allows you to rest your upper forearm on the edge of the desk and act as a pivot point which should give you the height you need for a proper typing (or gaming) experience.
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Cori91 OP t1_j6oz9e9 wrote

Well I rest my forearm on the table and I still feel the strain in the muscle as it pushes down on to the table. As I use force to press keys it starts to strain even more. That's why I think it's because it's too tall but could be my bad, its just interesting because I had no issues with other boards as I said in the OP.

The Redragon Kumara with Cherry keycaps were not causing any strain, or the g613 or the K120 or the Keychron k4v1. Only this board does this.

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AnakinPotter20 t1_j6owi3b wrote

Maybe try using a random obejct as a wrist rest and see if it helps. I just recently bought my first custom keyboard (keychron q1) and also found it to hurt my wrist.

I'm currently using the cardboard box my milky yellows came in and it definitely helped. Probably going to buy a wrist rest soon.

If you still find it uncomfortable, then maybe buy some shorter keycaps? Then again, I'm new to this hobby so I'm not really familiar to different keycap sizes and stuff, but using a random object as a wrist rest really helped.

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Cori91 OP t1_j6ozrey wrote

Good call! I'll try using some random stuff, see if that helps. I'm just not sure if the wrist rest is the best choice here, why not just use a lower height board and it's done, wrist rest and carpal tunnel avoided. I'm just not sure yet, buit thanks for the advice, I'll try it out.

+ I like to move around my keyboard, tilting the right side inward towards me while I game, and when I type I put it in the middle as everybody else. Not sure if a wrist rest would be too annoying to move around too. Meh.

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SimplyJosho t1_j6p153w wrote

Returning it might be a good decision for you. There are low profile mechanical keyboards, I know keychron has some low profile boards. You can can also look into Choc keyboards. If you decide to get Choc, it'll likely have to be very custom. (You'd likely have to pick a PCB, pick a case, maybe a micro controller, and you might have to solder.)

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Cori91 OP t1_j6p475s wrote

I thought about low profile for a little bit but then I saw that they work with low profile switches and keycaps only and those are too similar to laptops which I would not like.

And as I explained, all the other 3 mechanical keyboards were fine to me. My hands were flat on them or a very little bit angled ofc ourse but with this GMMK 2, my hand need to be held really high all the time which causes more strain.

I'm not sure yet.

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