Something like this? The heavy stagger is great, 42 keys is almost perfect, but the thumb placement is – for me – horrible. Having to move my thumb to practically under my palm is just terrible ergonomics.
This thumb layout reminds me more of the ErgoDox variants, and is far better placement. Is there a layout close to this?
Apart of Kyria, Hillside keyboards, Birdy44, and KLOR are similar to what you picture here. Maybe even Porcupine, but that’s a key short per side.
Kyria is a solid alternative. I was seduced away from it by the Piantor Pro and forgot about it, but the Halcyon Kyria looks perfect. I probably wouldn’t use those outer thumb keys much, but it doesn’t hurt they’re there, and there are plenty of more well-positioned thumb keys from which to choose.
I’d like more stagger on the body section than the birdy44 has, which looks like almost none; it has pinky stagger, but other than that no columnar stagger. The integrated track pads are lovely, though!
KLOR has the same thumb key positioning - the “m” key is too far in - you have to tuck your thumb to get it under your index, which is over the “m” key. It’s the same layout as the Piantor. I was hoping for a thumb cluster positioned more naturally under the resting thumb, with less horizontal thumb movement, like the ErgoDox (and siblings).