You can keep your tiny 60% gaming keyboards. This monster-sized ergo button bonanza is the one for me this Black Friday

(Image credit: Cloud Nine)

If there's one thing that separates me from the rest of the PC Gamer Hardware team, it's that I really don't like small keyboards. I like having one key for a specific thing, rather than having to do weird gangsta-style finger contortions to just delete something.

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I reviewed the tenkeyless version of the Cloud Nine C959 earlier this year and I liked its solid build quality, the surfeit of keys (especially for macros), and all-day typing comfort. With a split keyboard layout and permanent seven-degree tent, it's a proper ergonomic keyboard—not some cheap imitation that's just a little bit wavey.

With this Amazon Prime members-only deal, you can choose between Kailh Linear Red or Tactile Brown switches. The latter has a bit more of a 'click' than the former, but they're both lovely to use, being fast and accurate. I personally prefer the Reds, due to their near-silent action, but the Browns are pretty low in noise.

There are just a couple of things to consider before you make the plunge. Firstly, that split layout will take a while to adapt to, though the C959 is one of the easiest ergonomic keyboards to get used to I've tested. How rapid that process is will depend on the second thing to consider and that it's the size of it.

I don't mean the fact that it's a full-size keyboard, in terms of the number of keys, it's just that it's big. I have rather small hands and found hitting certain keys to be a bit of a stretch. If you have relatively large mitts, then you'll have no such concerns.

That control wheel in the middle is great to use but the backlight can't be turned off unlike those for the keys (or at the very least, it couldn't in my review sample), so if you want a totally lightless keyboard, then the wheel's LEDs will soon get on your nerves.

Grumbles aside, this is a really great keyboard and I wish more gamers would make the switch to an ergonomic layout. Your wrists and shoulders will thank you in time.

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Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in the early 1980s. After leaving university, he became a physics and IT teacher and started writing about tech in the late 1990s. That resulted in him working with MadOnion to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its PC gaming section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com covering everything and anything to do with tech and PCs. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open-world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?