According to Carpalx numbers, Colemak is 3-5% better than Dvorak. But switching from Dvorak to Colemak is not very much encouraged, since the improvement is quite small and you have to go through hell again.

But since paftaka90, Dreymar and many others have done so, I think that would be beneficial to you in the long term.

So go all the way and don't come back! The positive side of this is that you know that this hellish experience will be over in a month or two.

True, the improvement is so small that you cannot justify it when comparing to the investment you've done to switch. So most Dvorak users are advised to stay with Dvorak, and Qwerty users are advised to go straight to Colemak, to save time and effort.

Since Colemak got 10 common keys with Qwerty (QWAHZXCVBM) while Dvorak got only two common keys (AM), the switching process from Qwerty to Colemak will be shorter and easier.

After switching to Dvorak, Colemak or other optimized Carpalx layouts, you're done with the keyboard layouts. The optimizations can continue but the difference between those optimized keyboard layouts are so tiny that switching between them is unnecessary.

I'm one swinger as mentioned.
• The transition felt a bit tricky, and I think it would've been easier to come from QWERTY directly (using Tarmak maybe?!?). On the other hand, I already had some layout switching experience from Dvorak which helped the next switch.
• I don't think that the Dvorak->Colemak transition had a major impact on my speed or comfort (yes, my speed is higher with Colemak than it was with Dvorak but that's possibly because of training rather than just layout differences).
• It did have a major impact on my hotkey use which I'm happy about (particularly devastating was Dvorak's placement of the Ctrl-V for pasting next to the Ctrl-W for closing the window instead of pasting...).
• I'm also happy that it's easier to move back and forth between QWERTY (which I often have to use at work machines and suchlike) and Colemak.
• I'm pleased to see some awkward digraphs like 'ls' getting better; all those problems listed in the FAQ basically.
• I happen to just like the feel of Colemak! It's a thing of beauty. But that's my personal opinion/experience.

@pinkyache,
Perhaps I blew my post again. Yes, of course the CarpalX site has more info than you can consume at once or shake a stick at....lotta detail there.
No, there is not the 'science' explanation of Colemaks design/rationial on CarpalX. But I found it interesting about the 2 'improved Colemak' layouts.

@Tony_VN,
I'm on board with you about layouts...there cannot be a perfect layout. What is perfect? We have several major measuring ideas/method to have improved the existing 'standard' but there is no one clear answer...so it's rather a moot issue in many ways and probably doesn't matter or warrant the excessive amount of time spent agonizing over the decision.

I could for metrics sake, switch from Colemak (1.842) to QGWMLB (1.668) with those relative effort measurements, the difference is slight, but notable. But the real question on these layout comes down to the letter combinations XX-graphs and if there is basically a trade-off or is one notably improved over the other?

LOL!!!

You and others mention that...for me it doesn't seem like that big of an issue, though I know it really is. I was not a very proficient typist before Colemak. I tried but I was always uncomfortable and made it my last thing to do. Honestly, Kinesis AND Colemak changed that for me. Colemak is a a big factor in making typing easier/more comfortable for me.

Most people are typing for their profession and making such a change is drastic. For me, not so much.

It doesn't matter much that Colemak is easier to learn because of more common keys - once you've learnt it. What matters more to me every day is that when I have to type on people's QWERTY keyboards I won't have to type with a lot of keys strangely placed (31 for Dvorak vs QWERTY) but only about half as many (17 for Colemak vs QWERTY - additionally, only two keys change hands). That effect is very real to me at least!

I think it is possible to like dvorak more than colemak.
Maybe its me but I kinda like the hand alternating action. I've used Colemak both at work and home for a about week and I couldn't get comfortable with the layout. Maybe its because I spent more time learning to touch type on dvorak and I never learned to touch-type before that.
I was able to type pretty good on QWERTY with my own style. While looking for an ergonomic keyboard I came upon the dvorak layout and the more I read about it I decided wanted to go for a better layout and learn to properly touchtype.
I came across one of those one of those sites that tells you which layout would be best for the text you entered...
For programming code I entered it showed programmer dvorak and the second one was simplified dvorak.. Most of the other texts showed Colemak.. I've just been now going through layouts for a while in my mind.
I actually found this article online... http://xahlee.info/kbd/dvorak_vs_colemak.html
He actually has some really good points...