Big, bold, and seemingly bulky, will Cloud Nine’s C989 split mechanical keyboard live up to your expectations? Our team has carefully reviewed and tested the Cloud Nine keyboard. From its design to its ergonomic comfort, we’ve compiled the results of our tests in this comprehensive guide and review. This way, you don’t have to do the hard work of finding out if the Cloud Nine keyboard is the best ergonomic keyboard for you.
9.7
If you prefer a full size mechanical keyboard but also want to enjoy the ergonomic benefits of a split keyboard, the Cloud Nine C989 Split Mechanical Keyboard features exactly both. Its feature-rich design offers RGB programmability, Cherry MX switches (choose from Cherry MX Brown, Cherry MX Red, or Cherry MX Blue), and 9” braided cable links that allow users to customize keyboard separation. This split mechanical keyboard is made specifically for the comfort of gamers and office workers who are looking to reduce the risk of Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI (carpal tunnel or bursitis, among others).
PROS
CONS
Cloud Nine Ergo is an up-and-coming ergonomic solutions provider based in Torrance, California. The company is passionate about providing comfortable and healthy accessories for pain-free gaming and working. Cloud Nine Ergo spent years developing their flagship ergonomic split mechanical keyboard, the Cloud Nine C989, which promises to relieve wrist pain, fatigue, and even related injuries like back and shoulder pain due to awkward posture/positioning while typing. Cloud Nine Ergo prides itself on offering innovative products that provide true comfort to all users. They currently offer the impressive Cloud Nine Electric Height Adjustable Desk Converter which works perfectly with the Cloud Nine Keyboard.
Split design naturally separates hands for comfortable typing.
The Cloud Nine C989 mechanical keyboard allows users to type comfortably by separating their hands in a more natural, relaxing width. This is especially useful for gamers or programmers who may need to use their keyboard for extended periods of time.
Perfect Tenting Angle
The Cloud Nine C989 split keyboard is built with the perfect amount of support with a 7° tenting angle to help keep hands and fingers in a natural position. Expert ergonomists say that typing with the correct, natural posture helps reduce typing strain and injury.
Crisp Mechanical Keystrokes
Fast, responsive, and crisp to the touch, the Cloud Nine C989 ergo keyboard is constructed with only 100% authentic Cherry MX switches. The result is a highly-satisfying press with each keystroke.
Product model: C989M
Interface: USB
Number of keys: 115 keys
Switch form: Cherry mechanical brown, blue or green switch
Key stroke: 4.0 ± 0.5mm
Anti-ghost key design (NKRO)
1 USB 2.0 port
Voltage / current: DC 5V / 650 mA Max.
Product weight: about 1.85 kg
USB-C main line length: 6 feet
USB-C cable length: 9”
Product size: 563 (L) X 256 (W) X 52.5 (H) mm
Warranty period: 3 years
System Requirements:
Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
USB port (Recommended USB 3.0 for best experience)
Dimensions:
Height x Width x Depth:
22.1 in (563 mm) x 10.1 in (256 mm) x 2.0 in (52.5 mm)
Weight: 4.0 lbs (1.85 kg)
SOFTWARE SUPPORT
Cloud Nine keyboard application for Windows 7 and above
Package Contents:
Split Ergonomic Keyboard
1 X USB A connection cable
1 X USB C tether cable
Quick Start Guide
Part Number:
PN: C989M
$179.99
Disclaimer:
The price included in this article is the price of the product as of this article’s publish date. Prices may change without prior notice.
Black (base color)
Cloud Nine Ergo’s products come with free shipping options within the 48 contiguous states of the US only.
So far, there are no issues in regards to shipping. When we ordered our Cloud Nine keyboard, it arrived within the promised 48 hours.
If you’re not happy with your Cloud Nine ergonomic split keyboard, they offer an easy, risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee. If your item is defective, they’re happy to replace your mechanical keyboard with a brand new one provided it is returned within 180 days from delivery. You’ll have to cover the shipping costs, though. Still, we feel this is a fair deal as you will have a full 180 days to determine if the product is working correctly.
If you opt-out of getting a replacement, you can also get a store credit. You can call the Cloud Nine team during regular office hours to see how their store credit works: 888-232-5824
We recommend for you to view Cloud Nine’s complete return policy here.
All Cloud Nine C989 Split Mechanical Keyboard is covered by a limited, 1-year manufacturer’s warranty. Their standing desk, however, is covered by a 3-year warranty.
To avoid misinterpretation of terms in Cloud Nine Ergo’s warranty policies, we recommend for you to view their complete warranty policy here.
At first glance, the first thing you'll notice about the Cloud Nine keyboard's design is that it's simply big for an ergonomic keyboard. Usually, when people think "ergonomic", the term is largely associated with a slim, streamlined design. The C989 is the opposite - it's just over 22" in length, 10" in height, weighs about 4 pounds, and has a total of 115 keys. It's definitely not designed for portability. Rather, it's designed for a generous desk space in a more permanent setting. If you are constantly traveling and would like a light, travel-sized keyboard, the C989 is not for you.
So, the C989’s design begs the question: is bigger really better? Universally, yes. Lots of gamers (whether casual or professional gamers), programmers, and people who work with computers, in general, prefer full size keyboards due to comfort and more space for the hands and fingers. Ergonomically, full size keyboards allow for more natural and relaxed hand movements. Also, smaller sized keyboards are usually tenkeyless. To those not familiar with keyboard lingo, this means that the keyboard does not include the number pad and arrow keys. Some people may prefer tenkeyless keyboards but full size keyboards certainly offer the advantage of having all keys in place.
However, some people with small hands may not be too happy with the C989. And this is exactly what we found out during our testing. Users with smaller than average hands/fingers did not find the Cloud Nine mechanical keyboard comfortable. Still, they did say that they could probably get used to it after a certain period of time.
The C989 features stable rubber feet. Although quite solidly built, it's flexible enough to keep the keyboard in place but also to slide it to your preferred position. Although adjusting it was quite cumbersome, though. Perhaps because of its size. But like most ergonomic mechanical keyboards, sometimes finding the preferred positioning can take some time.
It seems like a new concept, but the split keyboard design can be credited to inventor F. Heidner; he introduced the concept in 1915 (U.S. patent 1,138,474). It was suggested that arm strain experienced by typists could actually be reduced by splitting the conventional QWERTY keyboard in half. However, its ergonomic benefits weren't systematically researched until the 1960s by Kroemer where he published an article in 1972 citing that the split keyboard design can actually improve the comfort of typists and reduce chronic pain, as well. Today, split-type keyboards are commonly sold and its design is the hallmark of almost all ergonomic keyboards regardless of brand.
The Cloud Nine C989 has certainly taken this ergonomic concept and constructed a perfectly ergonomic split mechanical keyboard. As usual, its halves are split with the B key on the life side and the N key on the right side, however, the Cloud Nine keyboard's thick wrist rests are quite comfortable even though they are unpadded. Depending on your preference, you can adjust the height of the keyboard to up to 14". Once adjusted to your preferred height, wrist positioning feels natural and relaxed. However, those with smaller hands didn't feel quite as comfortable as our testers with larger hands.
The C989’s keyboard follows the traditional layout which is easy enough to follow. So there should be no issues with getting used to a new, unfamiliar keyboard layout. However, during testing, while the layout wasn’t difficult to use, it was positioning the keyboard to the right angle that took some time to adjust.
The design of the C989 was certainly well thought out. User comfortability was certainly primary in its primary design. Although heavier than most other split mechanical keyboards, it's certainly more stable and its generous size allows for more space and comfort.
Did Cloud Nine hit the mark with the ergonomics of the C989? After several hours of testing, our answer is: yes, they did. With 10 being the highest, we would rate its ergonomic and comfort properties at a solid 8.5.
As is the usual case with split keyboards, it takes some time to get used to. But it’s customizability and full size proportions helped in ensuring that the correct height and width separation was achieved in order for the user to get the most natural positioning.
Some may argue that keyboard keystroke noise is attributed to its ergonomic design, as well. And yes, we completely agree. As to be expected in most mechanical keyboards, the C989 makes some natural keyboard noises. Overall, however, we didn’t find it to be distracting.
A clear indication of a truly ergonomic keyboard is how comfortable it makes the user feel, especially after long periods of use. The design of an ergonomic keyboard allows for the most natural posture and positioning of the human body. As a result, muscle/joint pain is significantly reduced.
By definition, ergonomics means the study of how efficient people are in their working environment. However, ergonomics in the “working environment” now encompasses more than just the office. It can refer to working or studying virtually from anywhere, home, or otherwise. It also refers to the overall design of the products and tools we use for gaming or entertainment.
Using truly ergonomic products and accessories ensures comfort and reduced pain related to sitting or typing for prolonged periods.
The accompanying software of the C989 is only compatible with Windows at this time. Cloud Nine is currently working on Mac compatibility. They will release an update once available.
We've outlined our review of the C989's software below:
If you’d like to view the C989’s manual and links to their software/firmware, scroll down to the very bottom section of this page.
When it comes to an ergo keyboard's performance, what we want to look at are its switches. And the C989 is built with 100% authentic Cherry MX Brown Switches which are designed to deliver a 2 millisecond response time from the time the key is clicked to the result on the screen. In terms of actuation force (this refers to the required force for the key to register), Cherry MX Brown Switches are rated with an actuation force of 45 grams. This means that it doesn't take that much force for gamers, for example, to engage each key.
The C989 also comes with other switch options:
While the C989 can be used for several purposes, its design and features really perform best for gaming. Here's why:
For our non-gamer testers, the keyboard's performance during long periods of typing (4 - 6 hours, with about an hour break) was stellar. There were no issues in terms of ease of typing and response time. The issues we did encounter were regarding its overall comfort as our testers took some time to get used to the C989's size and design.
With shipping fees, the retail price of the C989 is about $200. Of course, this isn't considered an affordable keyboard, however, ergonomic keyboards are usually sold at above $200 - $300 price range. However, if you think about its solid build, ergonomic design, generous proportions, full customizability, and the excellent performance of the keyboard's Cherry MX switches, the investment is actually worth it.
If you do a 10-minute Google search looking for the best ergonomic keyboards, you won't usually see less than a $100 price tag. That's because you are investing in more than just an office or gaming tool. Ergo keyboards are designed for comfort and health. Since we're talking about price, here's an estimate of how much an ergonomic keyboard will generally cost:
Now that we’ve broken down each detail of our Cloud Nine keyboard review, you might be asking yourself, why invest in such an expensive keyboard in the first place? Do I really need all the above features?
For experienced gamers and avid typists, you already know the answer to that and if the C989 ticks all the right boxes of your preferred ergo mechanical keyboard of choice, then you can jump off to the Cloud Nine website and order their split mechanical keyboard today.
But, if you’re still thinking about upgrading and need just a little bit more convincing, you might want to take a few more minutes of your time to see why upgrading to an ergonomic mechanical keyboard may just be worth your investment:
The Cloud Nine Keyboard is only one among the vast sea of quality mechanical keyboards. But it was a pleasant surprise for our team when we tested the C989 and we can say, after hours of testing, that it definitely stands out.
Large and modular, its split keyboard design eases pain points as you go about using it. Also, gamers will love its authentic Cherry MX Switches (choose from Brown, Blue, or Green) and 100% anti-ghosting features. RGB and macro programming is also a key feature that's important for both coders and gamers alike. What we also loved is the generous proportions of its wrist pad and traditional layout of the keyboard - these two features simply make the C989 comfortable to use.
Drawbacks include its high price tag but, it's safe to say that its multiple features and functionalities make its cost worthwhile. Another thing we had a hard time with is getting used to its ergonomic features such as its tenting angle and overall positioning, but after some time, once the user has adjusted the keyboard to their desired position, then it’s smooth, comfortable typing from there.
Another issue for gamers may be the C989’s somewhat-unfinished software: it’s only Windows compatible and it does not automatically update. However, you really can’t complain because all the essential features are found within the software albeit manually having to access it for updates, etc. Still, if gaming peripherals are not high in your list of keyboard priorities, then the Cloud Nine keyboard is an excellent choice for a sturdy, solid, and truly ergonomic split mechanical keyboard.
If you are experiencing injuries, aches and pains, please consult a medical professional as soon as possible. This article will only provide general information and should not be used for self-diagnosis and self-treatment.
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