Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 Review

[mercury_in_flames]

Price: £36 pounds off Ebuyer.com

Well where to start? Lets start off with the not so great.

If you are expecting the 'thinness' of this keyboard to mean its going to have nice super thin keys like those on a laptop keyboard then think again, it doesn't. While they keys aren't anywhere near as clunky as some keyboards, and the keys are very quiet, they aren't laptop keys.

Weight; this keyboard is very light so technically you should be able to put it on your lap and use it, but, and here's the but, because this is a full size keyboard with the numeric pad on the far right, when you are typing with only the letters as we normally tend to do, you have to place the keyboard further to your right to actually have the thing in the middle of your lap and properly balanced.

I bought this because I had originally wanted to be able to sit on my bed, with my laptop on my side table and me writing on the wireless keyboard, well I have given up, mostly just because I cant be straining your neck to the side all the time while I type.

The mouse, well the mouse the mouse the mouse the mouse....

Well, ha-ha, I also have a Logitech Cordless Click! mouse which I can safely say is brilliant, its almost moulded so that your whole hand can rest its entire weight on the mouse and the tendons in your hand are not strained at all.

Well the mouse that comes with this thing is a joke. Its shaped like a brick and isn't wide enough for an adult hand, so your pinkie finger and thumb are grasping the mouse to the extent that when you move your index finger up to use the scroll wheel , your tendons strain and well its not very comfortable. If you are using this for its intended purpose, 'to have something that looks nice on your desktop but is useless'(I'm joking), its purpose; to use at a desktop computer, then you should have no problem in using your own mouse. If you aren't using the mouse wheel to scroll down pages for extended (10 mins) periods of time, then you should be fine.

Features; Well all the shortcuts and things are pretty fun, but I was never really into media keyboards any way. If you want to click the 'next track' button , then that should be fine for most. If you really are a keyboard person, then it does have 4 custom programmable hot-keys and quite a few others with functions ranging from rotating a picture to opening ms word. The other good thing is that there is an F key mode and a hot-key mode. In hot key mode you can program all the hot keys individually to your own needs.

Build Quality: Well the palm rest feels a little bit cheaply made, but I suppose that's what you get for having a light keyboard. Along the side of the keyboard, and on the wireless transmitter, is some very shiny black plastic. I would STRONGLY advise you do not remove the protective plastic on it as wiping dust off with anything other than a special glasses cleaning cloth will leave tin scratches (only visible when tilted to the sun).

My first S510 had a problem with the battery LED light. Be aware that the battery light on the mouse ONLY comes on when you replace both batteries and is not on constantly. Unless my replacement S510 is also faulty which I doubt. In any case, you are bound to know if your mouse has run out of battery power because it won't be working.

Overall,for the price you are paying you'd be wise to check out Microsoft's offerings before investing, but if you are keen on Logitech and the design of this keyboard then I can safely say that it does the job. out of 100 I'd give the whole package a 75. 10 knocked off for easily scratched finish on the side of keyboard, 10 knocked off for poor mouse and 5 knocked off for build quality not being as solid as it could be.

[jaylen]

Thanks for the review and pictorial. I like the style of Logitech thinnies. I was at Staples the other day and looking at the Logitech DiNovo cordless set (thin keyboard, mouse, thin numeric pad). The mouse of the DiNovo is pretty cheapy, too, for a set costing US$130. But I do like how the numeric keypad is separate (so that would make for more balanced lap-typing, as you put it). I'm hoping for a thin model similar to these Logitechs that is bluetooth and affordable. I wish these thin sets came with a mouse similar to my old Intellimouse. I like the extra thumb buttons.

[mercury_in_flames]

Yeah I aggree about the thumb buttons on the mouse, This is what my other mouse looks like:

I like it for when I'm browsing the internet, it works to go back and forth with web pages, but im sure you can set it to do other things too. I was just looking at the Logitech website today and they've come out with a mac version with you guessed it, a BETTER mouse!! Ah well. Honestly though, it's a shame you cant set the S510 to connect to a different mouse, instead of having to have a second receiver plugged in, they;re both logitech mice after all .