I’m a happy owner of Logitech’s latest cordless desktop product! The Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution.

 


 
On Monday Amazon delivered the keyboard & mouse combo I’ve been ‘craving’ for quite some time. Its a long story, but in a nutshell I was stuck using a stock Dell keyboard, which wasn’t meeting my needs, after my old MX set started acting up - duplicate keystrokes, random characters inserted to what I was typing and just random “bugginess”.

Originally the Amazon order status was showing an expected delivery in the first week in April, so I was thrilled to get an e-mail last week telling me it had shipped (I’m guessing its because the item wasn’t available yet, and they didn’t know how to estimate the stock they would get vs. order volume).

I’m not going into a full review, but wanted to highlight what I think was most notable.

I really like what Logitech has done with the keyboard. The keys are firm, and quiet, the texture on the wrist-pad is comfortable and well finished off (unlike the plasticky and awkward predecessors I would always rip off- this one is actually integrated and does not come off).

What doesn’t convince me about the keyboard is that they opted for no back-lit keys. I also own a Logitech G-15 gaming keyboard, and while that’s a corded keyboard, battery life is not an issue for keeping the keys lit, however its a feature I really like and would have enjoyed having it on the 5500.

 


 
The media controls on the keyboard are logical - I didn’t see value in past wheel type, or touch sensitive buttons. I think they are over rated. Instead this keyboard hosts a vertical row of these controls on the left hand side.

 


 
The LCD screen on the keyboard is pretty handy. My G-15 displays more information, and I’m yet to explore if there are plug ins for the 5500, but one thing’s lacking in this case as well is the back-light. You can compensate by reversing the white-on-black display for more contrast, but it just doesn’t quite do it like a light. One thing I find funny is that the e-mail count caps off at 99 - seems like a poorly planned feature, as I’m starring at my 707 unread e-mails in my Outlook Inbox. I understand that this is probably thought for the home, and not for large corporate company users, but still, why would they not be able to use smaller characters and allow at least 3 digits for the e-mail count?

The rest of the LCD apps are pretty simple and ‘cute’. I like the temperature display and keystroke counter. I specially think the built it calculator, which allow to perform operations on the LCD screen directly - using the numberpad -and exports results to clipboard on command, is very clever! I’m not entirely sure how useful this is, but they added a tiny speaker to the keyboard which beeps at you when you get new mail and when caps lock in engaged and released. For now its on, we’ll see how long before I shut it off.

 


 
The mouse is quite a step up from my previous one! This anatomically and ergonomically correct pointing device is very nice. Its a laser mouse which glides on my mousepad almost as smoothly as my gaming mouse at home. It features a really neat scroll wheel which switches into “free scroll” (no clicking) for super fast scrolling and then re-engages automatically when scrolling slows down. It also has a secondary wheel for document flip, and like the 3D flip on the keyboard they are meant for Windows Vista, but work just as good switching applications on Win XP. Another neat key is a search button on the top of the mouse, which opens your default search engine and performs a query on whatever text you have selected. Still working on learning to incorporate that into my routine, but once I do I will be a true fan of this feature! Finally, the mouse’s thumbgrip is made of the same material as the keyboard’s wrist-pad, and I’m pleased with how it feels.

 


 
The whole combo is connected via Bluetooth, the mouse’s charging station has a single cord for power to charge the batteries, and the USB dongle connects both seamlessly (no more messy cords from the charging cradle to PS2 and USB like my previous set had). All in all I’m very pleased with it and think it rivals the rest of the wireless keyboard mouse combos I’ve seen out there.

 


 
Hope this review is useful in determining this product’s suitability.

- Stumble it!

 

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