 Great keyboard, great mouse. |
| Review Date: January 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mr. E. Ball, Edinburgh, UK |
Though some reviews I read call the keyboard "awkward" and even "faulty", and the mouse "an attempt at an ambidextrous mouse" - I can hand on heart tell you that in my experience, this is false. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I have developed a weird skill which rather than using the shift key for capital letters, I use the caps lock ON and then OFF. This of course eliminates the annoyance of a small shift key on the right hand side, which is a pretty minor issue. Now for the products themselves:
THE KEYBOARD.
The keyboard types like a dream - the keys are soft and quiet to type on and whilst some say the odd shape and differing sizes is a bad thing - it is really simple to get to use it. The layout is deemed "ergonomic" which I found means essentially that it reduces RSI for constant typer's. Though I don't use it much, I can certainly see how this would benefit as the keyboard has a really comfortable feel to it ("comfort curve" technology", made better by the leather hand rest which is in front of the whole keyboard. The shortcuts are actually really handy - there is a magnifying shortcut, as well as several browsing shortcuts. One of the nicest additions I found was the music section - there are seven keys devoted to music player - your bog standard FF/RW and then mute, volume etc. Theses were actually REALLY handy when dealing with a busy set of applications and just wanting to quickly change the song. The F-LOCK is a handy idea as well - many of the F keys are rarely used, and this allows some great features to be accessed quickly and efficiently! Other than that, you'll be really shocked at how handy the two keys on the top right come in handy - a calculator button (which avoids the START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/CALCULATOR routine, and a handy LOCK button, meaning if you need a break you simply tap a button and the computer will password lock itself - an extremely handy feature. The battery status indicator is handy, and the lifetime is around 6 months, which is about bang accurate I'd say. Though many argue with this keyboard about signal and the small keys, it really is a personal preference issue that they have. If people want a keyboard that types well, has an array of handy shortcuts (ones that you ACTUALLY use!), a comfortable feel to it, quiet keys and a good battery life, this really is a viable option - HIGHLY recommended.
THE MOUSE.
I feel that I should be writing about the same for the two products, but there just isn't much to write about a mouse with a select few buttons. The mouse is really great - we'll start with the front. The two bog standard R/L buttons have a really nice click to them, and is comfortable for constantly clicking (gaming especially). The wheel is ULTRA soft and has such a nice scroll feel to it, as well as the addition of side scrolling. I find myself using the side scroll hardly ever, but when I do it is not really smooth, but jitters along. This is such a minor problem it's not really worth talking about, but if you want an independent review I will give one - if you use side scrolling as little as me (who 'restores' all their windows anyway?), you'll never notice this. Key to the wheel is the addition of the window changer, whereby clicking in the scroll wheel will give you a picture of all your open windows, and allows you to simply click on a window to change to that application. This ACTUALLY WORKS ON XP! Amazing that they included this feature - it works just like the Mac OSX way of changing windows, with a 2D grid to choose from. The side buttons are really quite handy, the left providing browsing buttons and the right providing a handy magnifier. Surprisingly, you will use this - it is SO handy for pictures, and works JUST like the normal START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/ACCESSIBILITY/MAGNIFIER one, except at the touch of a button. The mouse is really comfortable for BOTH left handers and right handers, and the signal strength is really good as well (the battery life compliments its label of "6 MONTHS", following the keyboard.
OVERALL VERDICT.
Buy it, if you want an affordable, comfortable, effortless and handy keyboard that wont cause you hassle with signal strength, and wont cause you hassle with battery life. It is ultra easy to set up, and provides some really great shortcuts that (despite my previous stereotypes), you will actually put to some use! Great desktop set. |
wireless keyboard and mouse
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| Review Date: December 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: R. Proudfoot, Staines, England |
| very easy to set up and use. very comfortable, even for a four fingered typist like myself. looks good too. |
Very good package but Vista user beware!
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| Review Date: July 13, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Arun D, Essex, England |
Firstly, the keyboard and mouse themselves...
Mouse it comfy for left handers like me and very accurate, with assignable shortcut buttons on the sides. No worries there. Scrolling wheel is as smooth as you would expect
Keyboard takes some getting used to due the shape and oddly sized keys, but I think it's a matter if getting used to it with practice. I'm constantly making mistakes at the moment! It has a detachable wrist lift that goes on the bottom of the keyboard but i honestly can't see anyone using it, it makes things very awkward and un-natural. The large array of shortcut buttons are useful but i find the dedicated Vista gadgets button hardly works, but not something I would use regularly. Media keys don't work all that well either, unless the media player you use is the current active window. Otherwise, it tries to open real player on my PC!
One word of warning to Vista users, a common issue after connecting a variety of wireless packages is that you'll notice your screensaver fails to start anymore, as well as some power saving settings failing to work. Microsoft have acknowledged the fault and have released an update downloadable through windows update called "HID Non User Input Data Filter". Run windows update and you will find this under "optional hardware" updates. This fixes the screensaver and power saving issues. |
For those having keyboard problem..
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| Review Date: August 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: AbX, Sardinia Italy |
I own this product.
while not having the "short range" problem... I had a problem with the keyboard signal.
Apparently, while pressing a key (say 'W' playing an FPS) sometime it stop working so I had to re-press the key (I died countless times against final Crysis boss).
After some (angry) test I've found a way to make it works. Easy put the receiver in a position where the mouse is never located between keyboard and receiver. that was stopping the keyboard data stream.
Hope it works for All of you.
Bye. |
Hampered by limited wireless range
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| Review Date: July 29, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mr. M. D. Ross, Cambridge UK |
I bought this product to help me use my laptop, as I really do not like the way my thumb on the touchpad keeps causing the pointer to reposition when trying to type directly onto the keyboard.
What I found was that the (bulky) wireless receiver needs to be sitting directly on TOP of the keyboard and mouse for them to work. Officially the range is 6ft, which is pretty poor in itself - however in reality, and with new batteries and a dedicate USB port, the range is more like 1-2 feet.
I have no other wireless devices, and my table is made of wood. I tested placing a piece of A4 paper between receiver and mouse and it blocked the signal. Do not buy this product unless you want to strap the wireless receiver to your hand whilst using the mouse! |
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