The 7 Best Keyboard Wrist Rests

The HyperX – HX-WR hit all the sweet spots we wanted for a keyboard wrist rest. We found its size — 17.5″ in length and 3.25″ in width — a very good fit for a 14″-wide laptop and a 17″ keyboard, and its slim profile makes it ideal for a smaller desk or workspace. Although it overhung by about 1.5″ on either end of our laptop, it didn’t affect typing in any way. HyperX does sell a tenkeyless version that’s 14.3″ and fits a laptop more precisely.

The HyperX is made out of cool gel memory foam, which provides firm support with a bit of squish, so it was comfortable when typing on a keyboard for hours at a time. The cool gel does its job and keeps the memory foam cool so even on a hot summer day, our wrists didn’t sweat. We also found its height kept our wrists and bottom half of our palms flat and eliminated strain.Read more…

The HyperX was also one of the best-constructed wrist rests we tested. Its sturdy 1/4″-thick base has a natural-rubber, non-slip pad that runs the entire length and width, and both are bound together with industrial-strength stitching that won’t fray. The HyperX is reasonably priced and is a great investment if you’re at your computer all day.

Although it seems a bit flimsy at first, Gimars keyboard and mouse wrist rests are just as comfortable and supportive as our top pick at about one-third the price. It also has a slim profile, measuring 16.5″ by 3.25″, and the curved mouse wrest measures 6″ by 2.5″. Their bases are 100% rubber, which makes them flexible and lightweight, and each has a textured anti-slip bottom. The Gimars keyboard wrist rest was only slightly too long for our 14″ laptop, but it was a perfect fit for our 17″ keyboard.

The top part of the rests is made of memory foam, covered in easy-to-clean and breathable lycra. The memory foam is 3/4″ thick and when pressed, it immediately bounces back to its original form. The foam is very cushy and comfy yet firm enough to keep our wrists — and our posture — straight. The Gimars wrist rests come in nine assorted colors and patterns, and a tenkeyless model is available. The model we tested is the brand’s upgraded version, which has replaced its previous model, which had less memory foam. At less than $15, the Gimars keyboard and mouse rests are a great bargain

The Kensington duo gel wrist rest was one of our favorites, but its size made it impractical for our laptop and desk. That said, it’s a terrific alternative for wider keyboards and large workspaces. Resembling an elongated yin-yang symbol, the wrist is divided into two narrow gel-filled chambers separated by a channel. At either end, the gel is wider (3.5″) and thicker (.75″) where your wrists rest. The gel is firm with a slight give and stays cool all the while you’re typing.

To get the full benefit, you really need a wide keyboard — even wider than our 17″ keyboard — otherwise your wrists rest on the lower, middle channel, which is too firm, almost like leaning onto a rubber tire. Although its width was impractical for our laptop — when resting on the ends, we couldn’t reach the keyboard — the bulbous ends were very comfortable and kept our wrists straight.

The JEDIA wrist rest measures 14″ in length and is designed for smaller laptops. The JEDIA is also available in a larger size that measures 18.5″ in length for wider keyboards. It’s made of memory foam and gave firm wrist support, but the polyester material the foam is covered with wasn’t breathable, so the foam got hot. The foam has three rows of indentations, which, according to JEDIA, are massage points, but they had no noticeable effect.

When using the JEDIA with our 14″ laptop, we found the wrist rest’s height too high and felt pressure on our hands as we typed. It was somewhat better with the larger keyboard, but it wasn’t wide enough. The mouse rest, however, was comfortable and supportive. It’s a 5″ by 3″ rectangle with the same foam height as the wrist rest, but in this case, the mouse rest kept our wrist completely straight and strain-free.

Similar in appearance to the JEDIA wrist rest, the i-rocks – C41 isn’t as well-designed. It’s a good length (17″) for a laptop or a separate keyboard, but it’s too thin (2.5″) to give lower-hand support. The problem seems to be that the memory foam is curved, so you’re actually only getting 1.5″ to rest your wrists, which wasn’t enough to keep our hands straight. The wrists were elevated, but we had to reach down to touch the keyboard, and this position put a strain on our posture and shoulders and was uncomfortable for a long session of typing.

The Glorious PC Gaming Race wrist pad was designed for gaming keyboards. It’s well-constructed, somewhat like our top pick HyperX with a durable base, non-skid rubber bottom, and heavy-duty stitching. We tested the tenkeyless version, which measures 14″ by 4″, and is a good size for most mechanical keyboards. It’s also available in a compact model (12″ x 4″) and a full size (17.5″ x 4″). To test the Glorious wrist pad, we elevated our keyboard to approximate the height of a gaming keyboard.

Its memory foam is only 1/2″ high and although Glorious PC Gaming states that it provides a medium level of firmness, we found it to be hard and uncomfortable with almost no give. The foam is covered with a smooth fabric, which keeps the foam hot, but its surface allows for gliding hands back and forth. It’s certainly a good wrist pad for gaming, but for everyday laptop work, our top three choices are a better match.

Other than for marketing purposes, we’re not quite sure what makes Razer Ergonomic wrist rest any more ergonomic than the other wrist rests we tested. Razer is pretty well known in the gaming world for its high-end gaming wrist rests. But this lowball effort doesn’t live up to Razer’s reputation. It measures 14″ by 3.5″, so it was a good size for our laptop but too short for our 17″ keyboard–for a full size keyboard they sell a larger model at 17.5″ wide.

This model has a thick, hard plastic base with six small rubber feet, which did nothing from stopping the rest from sliding back and forth. Its memory foam is about 1/8″ thick, and when we tried to rest our wrists on it, the foam collapsed flat, and all we felt was the hard base. To say that this was uncomfortable is an understatement. Razer calls the wrist rest’s covering “plush leatherette,” which is false advertising, because it’s as plush as a pancake. This Razer model is cheaply made and too expensive for what it is.