Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard by Logitech
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Digital camera reviews of Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard
Digital camera Review: Best keyboard and mouse I have ever used.
Summary: 5 Stars
About 9 months ago I bought a large LCD screen TV for my living room and hooked up my computer from the next room to it. So I needed a keyboard and mouse to control the computer from the living room, about 25 feet away with a wall in between. I needed a bluetooth keyboard & mouse combo and purchased the Logitech MX5000. Eventhough it worked, it had a lot flaws. It would often disconnect. Mouse would jump all over the place. Keys would repeat itself. I looked around for alternatives, but could not find anything until recently.
Logitech 5500 looks almost identical to the previous model, but with substantial improvements. I do not have any of the problems I encountered with the MX5000. Keyboard and mouse have a very good feel to it. I am very pleased with this model, I highly reccomend this MX5500 to everyone.
Digital camera Review: Best keyboard/mouse I've ever used
Summary: 5 Stars
I was hesitant to spend so much on a keyboard and mouse. Initially I took a trip to wal-mart and picked up a $30 wireless combo. Never again. The keyboard on the mx 5500 is a pleasure to type on. My girlfriend scoffed at the keyboard display (why not make one without it???) but after 5 minutes typing she asked me to get her one. The mouse is a perfect fit, and accurate. Get a mousepad with wrist support. The wireless features are great, adjusting volume, pausing audio, all from the comfort of my bed yards away from the computer.
One of the features not mentioned enough is the actual bluetooth receiver for the combo. Once enabled, it communicates seamlessly with other bluetooth devices, in my case a blackberry, laptop, and headset. I'm working on moving to the MX 5500 combo on every computer I use. It's next to impossible going from the combo at home to a normal keyboard and mouse at work.
This is what a keyboard and mouse should be.
Digital camera Review: Best purchase in a while
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a laptop that I can connect to my 32" TV. I was looking to take advantage of this larger screen and get away from my desk chair. I was a bit hesitant about paying this much for a keyboard and mouse, but I wanted something that used Bluetooth. I'm very glad I went with this set. It really is top notch kit made for Vista.
First, the build quality of both the keyboard and mouse is excellent. The keyboard is light, and the mouse has a nice weight to it. The keyboard is very comfortable, and the keys are incredibly responsive and extremely quiet.
The keyboard is loaded with great features. The F1-F12 keys all have secondary functions, activated by a Fn key located between the right Alt and Ctrl. Touching two keys, you can open Word, Excel, PowerPoint, a browser, mail, and many other useful programs. There are three buttons on the bottom right of the keyboard, Media Center, Photo Gallery, and Gadgets, that I find very handy. I programmed the Media Center to open iTunes, and, in conjunction with the sound an volume controls on the left of the keyboard, I can easily control my music. When music plays, track information appears in the keyboard LCD. The Gadgets button brings all of Vista's gadgets to the front of your screen, which actually makes them useful. The left of the board also contains the 3D flip and zoom button, making switching programs easy. Zoom is very useful for viewing webpages from far away on the TV. The LCD displays the time and date, music, temperature, options to access the control panel or documents, a key counter, and an inbox. The temperature appears to be from a sensor somewhere on the keyboard, which really isn't useful. The delete key is moved down slightly from where I am accustomed to it being. I also wish the Inbox could be configured to work with Gmail, but these are minor issues. My favorite feature of the keyboard is the built-in calculator. Press one button and the keypad becomes a calculator, with results showing up in the LCD. There is also an option to save the result on the computer's clipboard.
The mouse is solid and performs well. I wouldn't recommend it for online FPS use, but no wireless mouse is great for that. All of the buttons on the mouse are incredibly programmable, and the software works great. The scroll wheel defaults to click, but, if spun fast, goes into free-wheel mode, which is actually very useful for scrolling through very long documents. The second wheel on the side of the mouse feels slightly awkward, but all in all, it's a great mouse. I configure the side buttons to go forward/back, which makes web surfing and music navigation a snap.
The battery life of both products is great. There is no way to turn the keyboard off, but it's not really needed, as 4 AA's last for 180 days. The mouse includes a recharging dock, but it easily goes for two weeks if you don't turn it off overnight.
I really like the fact that both devices connected to my computer's internal bluetooth. The dongle that is included connects very quickly, but moving the mouse and pressing a few keys on the keyboard is all it takes to reactivate the devices.
I haven't had an issue with range. I haven't been able to go far enough away from my computer that either of the devices stop working. I could get about 20 feet before I couldn't see my screen anymore. There should be few situations in which the range won't be long enough.
The software is nice, and allows customization of almost all of the buttons. I wish you could customize the LCD, but it's not a major concern. The software works perfectly on 64-bit Vista. It should be noted that you can't use the keyboard while booting the computer, but that's not an issue for me.
I think this set was worth everything I paid for it. I recommend it highly.
Digital camera Review: Beware the 30' Range Claims With the Mouse
Summary: 3 Stars
Bought this to go with a HTPC I had built and the PC is about ten feet away. The keyboard works fine, the mouse will not work unless it is within six feet of the PC. I am surprised because I have always had good luck with Logitech.Digital camera Review: Bluetooth Bundle - Logitech May Have Done It Right This Time!
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been a fan of Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse combos for several years, and have owned nearly every new model they have come out with. My family has three computers, and all of them get used several hours a day, so I replace they keyboards and mice quite regularly. Logitech has always impressed me with their RF combo models, which have a great range and an extremely reliable signal. However, recently Logitech started dabbling with Bluetooth, and I have been disappointed with them for doing so. When the MX 5000 desktop combo was first released, I was quick to snag one immediately. It took me over two hours, and several reinstallations of the SetPoint software in order to get the combo to work. I encountered similar frustrations when I purchased the diNovo Laser combo for my wife's PC. Both of these keyboard/mouse combos use Bluetooth wireless to communicate with the PC, and both have proven to be extremely unreliable and frustrating to use. Many of the problems involved keystrokes not being recognized, sluggish mouse response, or even one of the devices losing connection entirely; requiring device reset or a complete reboot of the computer. I recently replaced both the MX 5000 and diNovo combos with Logitech's RF model MX 3200, which works flawlessly, and I swore that I would never buy a Bluetooth wireless desktop combo from Logitech again. Well, when I saw that Logitech was releasing a combo that offered the MX Revolution mouse, I just had to have it. You can imagine how disappointed I was to see that Logitech had decided to make this a Bluetooth set. Why would they do this? After all of the problems people have had with recent Bluetooth models, and all of the complaints that have been posted all over the net, I Should think that Logitech would have learned their lesson! Yet I had hope that maybe Logitech had learned from their mistakes and had improved the design and communication of this new model. I decided to order the MX 5500, as soon as it was released, and I have been using mine for the past few days. So far I am VERY impressed.
Installing the MX 5500 system was far better than my previous experience with Logitech Bluetooth combos. As recommended by Logitech, I first uninstalled my previous SetPoint installation and rebooted the computer. I still found that I had to use my MX 3200 keyboard and mouse to let logged into my computer, as Windows had still not detected the new Bluetooth dongle (included with the MX 5500) I had inserted into a USB port. Once I was logged into my Windows account it popped up a message saying that new hardware had been detected. Windows first sees it as a USB hub, and soon installs a two new HID devices, one for the keyboard and one for the mouse. I was then able to remove my 2.4GHz RF dongle for the MX 3200 combo, and my new MX 5500 was working just fine. This is BEFORE I reinstalled the SetPoint software! Logitech has found a way to pair the MX 5500 devices at the factory, to make it easier to install your new devices. This improvement alone won some big points with me. I then proceeded to install the included SetPoint 4.24 software, included with the MX 5500 combo. Installation was a breeze and a Bluetooth Connection Assistant soon popped up on the screen. It showed that the MX Revolution mouse was connected but that the keyboard was not. As the Connection Assistant suggested, I pushed the little red "Connect" button, located on the bottom of the keyboard, and was soon prompted to enter a 4-digit PIN number from the keyboard. After completing these simple steps my keyboard was successfully connected, and both the keyboard and mouse have remained connected every since.
I spent some time customizing the features of my new MX 5500, which can take a while since there are so many possibilities with this combo. The so-called backlit 2.95- x .79-inch LCD on the keyboard is very nice. This display can be toggled to several different modes, including time/date, media (shows artist name, song title, and progress bar), temperature, ABCD "favorites" key assignments, key counter, and e-mail inbox. Very impressive is the fact that the LCD updates quite quickly, when you receive a new e-mail or start playing a music track. This LCD also displays information like Caps Lock status, calculator, volume level, mute indicator, low battery warning, etc. The LCD is not really backlit, persé, but rather has a type of reflective property that shows up really well (if you have enough ambient light in the room).
I will not go on about every feature of this desktop combo. Most everyone will have already heard of (or used) the Logitech MX Revolution wireless laser mouse. The only change made to MX Revolution, from the original, is the change from 2.4GHz RF to Bluetooth. For a complete review of the new MX 5500 wireless keyboard/mouse combo, please look here:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2252551,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532
As mentioned before, I have never been impressed by Logitech Bluetooth keyboard/mouse combos. In fact, I have not been impressed with Bluetooth technology as a whole. RF seems far more reliable and works at much greater distances. Bluetooth is OK for cell phone headsets but I have never thought of it as a sensible wireless technology for keyboards, mice, or anything else in my home. I am happy to say that Logitech has changed my mind, and has proven to me that this technology can work in a home or office setting. They now use Bluetooth 2.0 technology and claim a range of 30 feet. I have tested both the mouse and keyboard at a range of roughly 16 feet and they continue to work very well. My only complaints are as follows:
- Scrolling feature on mouse sometimes hesitates, but eventually smooths out.
- Caluculator button on keyboard uses keyboard LCD as a calculator, rather than bringing up the Windows calculator.
- Keyboard volume controls use LCD to display volume level, and the level indicated is not very accurate.
- No included USB extension cable and/or desktop Bluetooth receiver (they just give you a USB dongle).
Other than these small complaints, I am very happy with my new MX 5500 wireless keyboard/mouse combo. It appears that Logitech got it right this time. I am still not a big fan of Bluetooth technology, but the MX 5500 may potentially change my outlook altogether. One little thing to mention, the Bluetooth USB dongle that Logitech gives you should really not be plugged into the back of a PC, but rather out in front or preferably up on the desktop itself. I would suggest using a USB extension cable. Logitech should have included one with the MX 5500 kit. In fact, I am using the little USB cable and stand that Logitech included with the MX 3200 RF combo kit. Why they didn't include one of these with the MX 5500 is anybody's guess. So if you are considering the MX 5500 for youself, but have been holding back because of the troubled Bluetooth problems from previous models, I can honestly tell you that my experience has been wonderful and trouble free. At over $160, this combo is not for everyone. But if you have been waiting, as I have, for a wireless combo that includes the fabulous MX Revolution laser mouse, then order up the MX 5500 today and try it for yourself. I think Logitech has really done it right this time! =o)