I used various 2 lever high quality paddles for many years, tried a Begali single lever at the Dayton Hamvention years ago and realized I was a slapper not squeezer! My sending accuracy at my normal range of 25 WPM (not counting contests) is definitely better, a lot of mileage since then has reinforced that.
Three issues at work: I am definitely less accurate trying to use squeeze keying, which requires 2 levers. But, you can do "non-Iambic" keying on a 2 lever paddle.
So, the second issue is the width of the fingerpiece. The two lever paddles were too wide, my Begali Sculpture Mono has a thin fingerpiece, my N3ZN SLR (not made anymore) has a medium width fingerpiece, current N3ZN single lever keys seem to have a wider fingerpiece.
For me, and all of this is obviously YMMV, the medium width fingerpiece works the best from a "fewest sending mistakes at my preferred sending speed" viewpoint.
The third issue is the height above the desk of the bottom fingerpiece - let's just call this the overall area of the fingerpiece. The Sculpture Mono wins here for me - that is why it is my main key. For any ragchewing, it gives me the best accuracy in longer/more random sending.
I don't think I can really tell any difference of the mechanisms on the high end keys - I think if I could swap fingerpieces across them, my preference would follow. That is another YMMV area.
But, definitely for me - moving away from 2 paddle was a sending accuracy increaser and I've been 90% CW since I was 12 years old, a mere 54 years ago!
73 John K3TN
HERE’S THE QUESTION: Have any of you single lever users ever gone from a two finger piece paddle to a high quality single finger piece paddle (successfully or unsuccessfully)? Did YOU see an improvement or degradation of sending accuracy at 20+ WPM? How was the feel different to YOU and what did you ultimately prefer (single or dual)?
Thanks in advance for replies. 73…
Steve
KK2CW (ex. WZ2V)