A couple of days ago the Logitech EX 110 went back to the store. I had been leery about it to begin with, not being an ergo, but I thought I would give it a try anyways and see if I could get used to it. Sadly, other flaws/issues kept it from getting the opportunity to sell me on it. Anyone who has seen me at my computer knows that I kick my feet up and bring the keyboard over on my lap...which is why I like cordless keyboards. In order for this to work, the keyboard needs two things: a good sensor range to adjust for the odd angles the keyboards is at, and a little bit of weight so that it stays where it is. Sadly, the EX 110 has neither of these two requirements. In order to get a response from the keyboard when I have my feet kicked up I have to put the sensor in a place that won't reach the keyboard when I am sitting up straight with keyboard on desk. it was also insanely light. I could knock down doors and shatter skulls with my old Logitech Freedom Pro, but the EX 110 was light and felt like it could break at any time... not that I think it would have.
Button placement was another thing I did not like. The layout of the keyboard was fairly slim, not too much larger than a standard 104-key board. The only real problem with that was the two buttons tacked on the the left of the board, an internet back button, and a close application button. They were only about a centimeter wide, but the two buttons spanned the left side from the bottom of the Control button to the top of the Tilda key. I can not imagine the fury these two buttons would cause bad typers. Imagine for a moment that you are typing an email on a web page, taking an on line test, or maybe paying some bill on line and you reach that pinky over to hit the Tab key and it slips just a little...and closes your browser or kicks you to the previous page which may or may not mess up what you were doing. I am sure if you think about it you could come up with an instance where these two buttons being there would annoy you. After picking the keyboard up the first time once it was plugged in, I immediately disabled those two keys.
Now there were a couple of things I liked about the setup. Connecting new devices was easy and obvious. Unlike my old setup, all the Lock lights are on the sensor, and they flash to let you know if you are in a connecting mode and to let you know if a new device was connected. Previously, it was just a guessing game. Also, I like how they combined the mouse and keyboard hot key functionality into one program, which means there would have been one less icon to cloud my sys-tray (my old board was TOO old to be supported by the newer program).
So yeah, four areas where I did not like the board. I took it back, bit the bullet, and bought a Microsoft "Wireless Optical Desktop Comfort Edition". I am kind of a Logitech fanboy, but looking at their other boards, there really did not seem to be any real improvement in the boards as the price went up, just a different look and a better accompanying mouse that I won't use (I hate the "Desktop" mentality companies have about selling keyboards with mice.) Also, other than being a fanboy, the only MS keyboards I had ever used (back in the long long ago) were crap that I would only wish on my worst enemy. Misgivings aside, I decided to try the MS board. Again, I got the cheapest cordless because I already have a really nice mouse and since I am going to have to get used to all new hot keys anyways, why bother getting them in the configuration that costs the most.
I have to say, I really like this board so far. Addressing my issues with the Logitech board, it is a wannabe ergo design (MS got this right, all the keys flow together like a standard square board so it does not look intimidating to non-ergo users, but it the keys are curved enough to actually seem to reduce strain), I have yet to find a place I might actually have they keyboard where the sensor can not read it, and it has a fair weight to it (Not quite as good as my Freedom Pro, but then who needs to knock down doors with their keyboard?), and the only hot keys that come preconfigured with potentially detrimental effect (Sleep, Log off) are tiny and out of the way (Oddly, in the button config program, you can set any of the hot keys to whatever you want except the Sleep key. No clue why.).
Now, things I don't like: the Zoom slider thing...dumbest key thing ever. I really can not see why the would put this on their board. Sure it can zoom a lot of programs fine (word processors, most image viewers) but in your two biggest market share browsers it just increases the font size, which makes the formatting look horrid on most sites. It also would have been nice if this could be remapped to either a volume control or scroll, but no, it is either zoom or nothing...so for me it is nothing (OK, so really it is a key I click to the music while I am loading zones, but I don't think that was why they put it there). The keys take a little more force to trigger than my Freedom Pro, so I find myself missing a lot of letters because I am putting the same amount of pressure on the keys I am used to. Now, of course, this could be because my old board was almost five years old and broken in, but it will still take adjustment. Amusingly enough, I am finding more that I am either missing letters or getting that little extra pressure in and messing up the order of characters because the extra pressure takes me just a hair longer to get in (basically, either "extra ressure" or "extrap ressure"). The needless labels are also getting to me. On the bottom of the 'X' key, it says "* Cut" and on the Control key, there is also a "*" to let me know that is what the 'X' key was talking about. Now I realize that I might be slightly above par on my computer knowledge, but "Control+x" was one of the first three key combinations I learned...AND I NEVER NEEDED A LABEL TO REMIND ME. Also, with exception to a web browser (and then just text in an editable area) the programs I use most don't give the same response to "Control+X". In EverQuest, it camps the character, and in Emacs it is the Page Down key combo (cut is "Control+k"...well, one of the cuts). I also hate the F-Lock (not MS specific, but while I am bitching...). Out side of EverQuest, I really only use F8 and F12, and then only those in Opera. I can not imagine needing/wanting 12 more possible keys.
Well, this went on longer than I intended. I guess all that is left I hope this keyboards lasts as long as my old one. I will miss you Cordless Freedom Pro. :(
