Testing Touchstream in Australia?

[joerg]

Hi all,

I am interested in buying a Touchstream keyboard, but obviously I would like to give it a try before spending $300 on a new keyboard. Unfortunately, there is currently no dealer in Australia (afaik). Are there any users here in Australia (esp. Melbourne, but Sydney or Brisbane might be fine as well since I have to go there in the next couple of weeks) who would be able to give me a short demonstration? I would just like to try it for 10 minutes or so to get a feeling for it.

Thanks,
Joerg

[PNit]

It's a tough decision to smack down that many dollars into a keyboard, especially without testing it first. Luckily for you I'm an Australian with a Touchstream LP. Unluckily for you I'm not currently in the currently in the country, nor will I be for quite some time.

I bought my touchstream without testing it and I have to say it is by far the coolest and most useful item I have ever bought for my computer. BUT.... that's not to say it's easy to use. I have been using it for 3 weeks now and experience frequent boughts of frustration with my typing as well as some minor hand cramps (my hands just aren't used to it yet, but it's so much better than wrist pains) I'm improving everyday.

It was hard to justify the cost of this product at first, especially since I hadn't tried it yet, but my wife summed it up as like this: "If I can't type anymore, I won't have an income." That was a pretty easy ($600+) choice to make.

Good luck on your search for a test unit. Just in case you can't find one here is my summary:
it is worth it.
it's not easy.

In the meantime, try learning dvorak. Not only is it good for reducing motion on normal keyboards, but I suspect that relearning how to touch type (along with the reduced finger movement) is responsible for my rapid progress with the touchstream.

And one more thing... Ten minutes is no where near long enough to test it. I remember my first ten minutes - I found myself questioning how anyone could actually use it to type ;)

[t3ffreak]

I'm in Adelaide, if you happen to be visiting.

... and I agree with PNit's comments.

[beaglehead_2]

Third Aussie buyer here in Canberra.

Tomorrow will be day 3, and I have mixed feelings about it. some things are a lot easier but my right hand hurts and typing speed plummeted from my usual 70 wpm to about 20 wpm.

[BusError]

I agree, I have it for 3 days too, and today i reinstalled the old keyboard to get some work done. Typing english is kinda OK (still very slow), but programming is just a royal pain.

Not that I'm not willing to try, but if you have to concentrate on the work AND the typing one doesn't get very far!

[t3ffreak]

It's really entertaining when you're tired. Developing in FileMaker becomes very frustrating: in Layout mode, any accidental key press instantly creates a Text label at the mouse position. Doesn't matter what tool you might be using at the time. (This is not a fault of either FM or the keyboard - just a difficult combination.)

It does become easier - try learning the gestures for things you do often - you might start to enjoy it.

[-jeffB]

Originally posted by t3ffreak
It's really entertaining when you're tired. Developing in FileMaker becomes very frustrating: in Layout mode, any accidental key press instantly creates a Text label at the mouse position. Doesn't matter what tool you might be using at the time. [...]

Might it help to use the turn-keys-off palm slides?

My big problem is leaving random characters scattered around my source code in JBuilder. I can't turn keys on and off because of the way I use the application. It's a good thing the Java compiler catches nearly all the resulting errors...