****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I had to add a half-inch spacer (from a TV wall-mounting kit) in order to allow my mouse and keyboard to slide under my desk. The space is too small with the given screw and L brackets.It was easy to put together.. definitely need an electric screwdriver or a drill to make it easier. Tried with a regular screwdriver and it didn't go as well as I hoped.. but the drill was quick and painless.Installation was easy - I had to clear and flip my desk over, but no big, would've been nearly impossible to try and hold it up and screw it in otherwise.I like that its metal and not pressboard, so if I spill (and I will) on it cleanup will be easy. It slides in and out just fine.. the oooonly thing I could find as a negative is when you're typing, it kind of has a tinny hollow sound, but I'm sure I will get used to that in time.Im using this on a butcher block countertop that I added legs to, so not a typical desk or a HON desk, but for my application it works great. Now I have plenty of room for my ergo trackball to fit when I want to close the tray.I had previously tried similarly priced clamp on keyboard trays and they didn't have enough clearance or werent adjustable to allow for my trackball to fit and I found I was constantly having to move it to the desktop to close the keyboard tray... this works much better. .. and no ugly clamps on the front of my desktop. Hooray!The only thing I dont love about this keyboard tray is the price point, though it is much cheaper on amazon than it is from other retailers or HON directly. I used amazon points to offset some of the price, though.This seems to be a great, sturdy keyboard drawer for my desk. I work at home, and keeping the mouse and keyboard on the top of my desk was making typing painful. I'm short, 5'4", and even with my chair at the highest setting, I still had to reach up to reach my keyboard. Having this tray allows the keyboard to be lower, and in a more normal position. No more wrist and shoulder strain to reach the keyboard, yay!I love the fact that it's 30" wide. Some of the other ones I saw were so narrow, I knew they wouldn't fit both my keyboard and mousepad with much extra room. This drawer is so wide, I actually have an extra 3-4" of wiggle room in case I buy a bigger keyboard later.The only thing keeping me from giving it the full 5 stars is the installation. Wow! Um, that was a bit of a pain, but I was able to make myself a template using sheets of paper taped together. I marked the holes, then taped it on the underside of my desk and made sure it was even and it worked great. I just wish there was a template that came with the drawer, to make it easier to get the installation done. Oh well, it took an extra 15-20 minutes, so it wasn't too bad. My suggestion to anyone considering this tray but balking at the lack of a template: don't let it deter you. Get some sheets of paper taped together as a makeshift template, mark the holes, then tape it under the desk for pre-driling. Once that's done, installation was easy. I did the installation by myself without my husband's help (yep, I'm a big girl, LOL), and I'm super happy.The drawer slides all the way under the desk, and it does have a little catch in the front, so that it doesn't slide back out easily. Plus there's a little lip on the back of the tray to prevent anything from sliding off when it's installed. Also, the height is adjustable, you can raise or lower it by 1/2" increments to suit your needs. Overall, a great great buy, even without the template. :) I'd highly recommend this product.Unboxing:Came in a large box from amazon, a little unnecessary but would definitely prevent any damage during transit. The actual product box was much smaller approximately the width and length of the actual keyboard tray. The tray is well protected with Styrofoam on both sides. Mine came with all the needed screws and brackets for installation and nothing was missing like other reviews had suggested.Installation:It was clear and specific on which screws to use where, though my unit didn't come with printed installation instructions. Personally during installation, I would just mark two parallel lines on either side designating the width of where the brackets attach to the desk, and I would then use the sliding brackets not attached to the desk to mark the depth of the holes. On a scale of 1/10 installation was probably a 2 for someone who can properly follow directions.Quality/Opinions:The tray by itself is a little flimsly, but once attached to the sliding brackets and to the desk everything felt proper and solid. My only grievance is that when you're pulling the tray in/out it wobbles a bit from side to side when pulling the tray out with one hand (never happens when i pull it out with two hands). This is due to the L-brackets that attach to the desk being a little thin. This wobble is also dependent on the height adjustment; so if you have it on the lowest adjustment you will have a little bit more wobble. NOTE: this wobble is only noticed when sliding the tray in or out, and NOT when typing. Overall the build quality is good, but not excellent, which is on par for a ~$50 dollar product. I like the fact that the sliding brackets have plastic grooves which lock the tray in place when fully out or in.Update!!! After a day with this product the silver sheet metal screws that attach the sliding brackets to the keyboard tray have become loose. Surely this can be remedied by a larger sheet metal screw but this is unacceptable. The ends of the brackets also have sharp corners and i have scraped myself on it.After an extensive review this was the only keyboard tray I could find that would fit my ergonomic keyboard and a mouse on the same level. Glad I finally found this. My only comment would be to adding a locking mechanism, otherwise, perfect.
