MX Keys S vs Ergo K860: Which Logitech Keyboard Wins?

Specs from the live Amazon listings in October 2026.

The complaint both keyboards share

This is the thing I would want someone to tell me before buying either one, and it is the most useful finding from reading both review pools side by side.

Connectivity is the mixed-feedback category on both keyboards. On the MX Keys S, some owners report seamless Bluetooth and others report random disconnections. On the K860, the exact same split appears — praise for the seamless connection sitting next to reports of frequent drops. Two different keyboards, two different form factors, same complaint shape across roughly 12,000 combined ratings.

That pattern tells you something a single-product review never would: this is not a defect in one model you can dodge by picking the other. It is the Logitech wireless stack. In practice the fix is usually the same — use the USB receiver rather than direct Bluetooth where you can, keep the receiver off a USB 3 port cluster that throws 2.4 GHz interference, and keep Logi Options+ updated. If you are the kind of person for whom one dropped keystroke ruins the day, neither of these is a wired keyboard and no comparison can change that.

The second shared theme is durability, and it is sharper on the K860. Multiple owners report broken keys and broken clips. On the MX Keys S the equivalent complaint is keys wearing down over time. Neither is the dominant story in the reviews, but both recur often enough that I would not describe either keyboard as built to last a decade.

What the K860 actually does for your wrists

Logitech makes two specific claims for the K860 wrist rest: 54% more wrist support and 25% less wrist bending compared to a standard keyboard with no palm rest. Treat those as manufacturer figures — the comparison baseline is a keyboard with no palm rest at all, which flatters the result.

What the owner reviews support more plainly is the lived effect. The dominant positive theme on the K860 is the ergonomic design helping wrists and shoulders. The shoulder part is the one people do not expect. A split keyframe spreads your hands wider, which rotates your shoulders out of the hunched-forward position a narrow keyboard encourages. If your end-of-day ache is between the shoulder blades rather than in the wrists, that is probably why.

The palm-lift legs are the underrated feature. Setting a negative tilt — keyboard sloping away from you — is what actually drops the wrist extension angle. Most people never flip them out. If you buy the K860 and leave it flat, you have bought a large keyboard and skipped most of the ergonomics.

What the MX Keys S is genuinely better at

Not comfort. Workflow.

The proximity backlight is the feature owners single out most often, and it is a small thing that becomes invisible quickly — the keys light as your hands approach and dim to match the room. If you work early mornings or late evenings, you notice its absence on the K860 immediately.

Smart Actions is the other one. You can build a shortcut that fires several actions off one keystroke — open the apps you need for standups, set status, mute. Whether that matters depends entirely on whether you are the kind of person who will spend twenty minutes configuring it. Plenty of people never open Logi Options+ at all, and for them this is a feature they paid for and will not use.

And the typing experience itself: owners describe the spherically-dished low-profile keys as soft with good tactile feedback, with build quality that feels solid under the hands, and a charge that lasts a working week. If you like typing on a good laptop keyboard, this is that feeling on a full-size board.

Desk space, the practical tiebreaker

The K860 is big. The curved frame plus the integrated wrist rest means it occupies substantially more depth than a standard board, and the wrist rest is not removable. On a compact desk, or a desk you share with a laptop and a notebook, that depth is the thing you will resent.

The MX Keys S is a conventional full-size footprint. Still not small — it has a numpad — but it behaves like a normal keyboard on a normal desk.

Measure the free depth in front of your monitor before you order the K860. If you have less than about 25 cm of clear desk in front of where the monitor sits, it will feel cramped no matter how good the ergonomics are.

Which one to pick

One thing worth saying plainly: a split keyboard has a learning curve. The first week on a K860 is slower, and a slice of the negative reviews are really people who gave up in that week. If you are switching for ergonomic reasons, commit to ten days before you judge it.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Ergo K860 hard to get used to?

The split is gentle compared to a true ergonomic board with separate halves, so most people adapt in a few days. Touch typists adapt fastest. If you hunt and peck, the curved layout fights your muscle memory harder and the adjustment takes longer.

Does the MX Keys S help with wrist pain at all?

Marginally. The low profile means less wrist extension than a tall keyboard, which is something. But there is no wrist rest and no tilt adjustment, so it does not address hand position or shoulder width. If pain is the reason you are shopping, it is the wrong tool.

Can I use either with a Mac and a PC at the same time?

Both support multiple devices and multiple operating systems, and both let you switch between paired devices. The MX Keys S is the more polished implementation of this, and the key legends carry both Mac and Windows markings.

Do I still need an ergonomic mouse?

If wrist pain is the problem, yes — the mouse hand is usually the worse offender, because it holds one static posture for hours while the typing hands at least move. Fixing the keyboard and ignoring the mouse is half a solution. See our ergonomic mouse picks for wrist pain.

Why do both keyboards get disconnection complaints?

Because they share a wireless stack. Use the USB receiver instead of direct Bluetooth where you can, keep it away from a crowded USB 3 hub, and keep the Logitech software updated. It does not fix every case, but it fixes most of the ones people write reviews about.

The verdict

If your wrists hurt, buy the Ergo K860 and use the tilt legs. Nothing about the MX Keys S addresses the problem you actually have, and spending that money on a nicer typing feel while the posture stays wrong is the expensive version of doing nothing.

If your wrists are fine and you want a keyboard that is pleasant to type on and smart about living across several machines, the MX Keys S is the better daily driver, and the proximity backlight is a nicer feature than it sounds on paper.

Both carry the same two caveats, so buy either with eyes open: the wireless connection is occasionally flaky, and neither is built like a keyboard you will hand down to your kids.