Northwest Hiker
There is so much to like about this keyboard: its satisfyingly heavy, the keys are firm and snappy, and the promise of one keyboard to rule all your devices is very enticing. Alas, it suffers from two fatal flaws that make it completely infuriating to use. The number one problem is that it forgets your settings. This keyboard has function keys along the top that also double as hotkeys for things like volume control, context menus, and so on. By default, they are hotkeys; in order to use them as regular function keys, you have to hold down the Fn key. That is to say, by default, just plain F5 is not an F5 but rather a "context menu" command. Similarly, F10 is not an F10 but rather a "mute audio" command. Im a programmer, and I use the function keys all day long. I need to be able to press them with one hand and use the mouse in my other. Not to worry! Just install the "Logitech Options" software and you can swap the defaults so that the function keys behave normally. Problem solved...or so you thought. The keyboard regularly, and randomly, just forgets your settings. Youre debugging some code and using F10 to step over, step over, then suddenly MUTE for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes this issue fixes itself within a second or two. Sometimes the keyboard just decides thats the new way things are going to be. I could not discover any rhyme or reason to this. It invariably happened, well, when I was trying to use the function keys to get something done. The other problem is that at similarly random intervals, the keyboard stops sending keystrokes for a few seconds. Sometimes its just a few seconds. Sometimes its 20-30 seconds or more. Not a huge deal, except when youre in the middle of getting something done and you have no idea when your keyboard will start functioning normally again. I wrote to Logitech about this and received a canned-text reply that sent me to user forums and encouraged me to change my batteries (they were fresh). Incidentally, the function key problem is well-described on the Logitech forums. I gave the keyboard two stars because when it works, it works great. Sadly, "mostly functional" is just not enough for a keyboard. I have a Logitech mouse that I love. I wanted this to be great. It has easily been the most frustrating purchase of the year. For what its worth, Ive switched to the HP Wireless Elite v2, and, while Ive only had it a day, it works perfectly so far. Best wishes and happy typing!