Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5000 Laser (967558-0403)

I was a bit leery at first since this is my first wireless keyboard and mouse but I bit anyway. I am using my LCD TV in my office for my monitor so this not only adds comvenience, it looks pretty cool too.Beyond the cosmetics, the functionality is simple. The hot keys are intuitive, can be customized and the setting up is simple and quick. The keyboard has nice response to it. The only thing I did not like is the wrist rest (removeable) that came with it. It is hard and I believe it should be gel filled. I got a gel wrist rest and all is well. The mouse is a real gem. It has a lot of features that are all practical and really work. I rated this five stars because this is a product that actually does what it says it will do. Don't you hate it when you wait to buy something and when you finally do, it turns out to be a dud? well, this is not the case. It was well thought out and has a lot of bells and whistles that a person will actually use.This is a great product at a great price and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for this type of combo.

Previous to this keyboard/mouse set, I had the Microsoft Optical Desktop Elite for Bluetooth, and compared to that product, this is a significant upgrade.First off, because my dekstop doesn't have built-in Bluetooth, I've had to and will continue to need to use a USB dongle. The MS dongle was huge, and because of its design, it had actually gotten bent over two years of use. (And previous to WinXP SP2, I had to hack it to make it work with my other devices).The Logitech dongle is much smaller, and is less likely to break in the long run. In addition, with the MS set, there was a latency in response at startup or from sleep that was frustrating to an extent that whenever I restarted the machine, I had to tap the space bar for several seconds for the keyboard to "start up," delete whichever spaces that were entered into the password field of the Windows login screen, then actually type my password. This type of latency was existent even when returning to the computer and after the keyboard and mouse had "gone to sleep."There is no such latency I've experienced with the Logitech, except when the computer's processor is under heavy load, and even then, it has been miles ahead in performance in comparison to the MS set.Secondly, the battery life. The MS mouse required a new set of batteries almost every other week (the keyboard, every other month), which forced me to get rechargeable batteries. Even then, it seemed silly that I had to continue to replace the batteries as often to begin with, and there was no simple way to gauge how much battery life was left.The Logitech mouse is rechargeable, with a small, unobtrusive docking station. In addition, there is a bettery meter built into the mouse that allows me to gauge when I should dock the mouse. I've also noticed that the amount of time the mouse needs to fully recharge is relatively minimal -- a few minutes of recharge is enough to get it going again after a fully depleted battery, and I usually leave it docked at the end of the day to let it recharge fully, although the mouse can go several days (longer than the MS mouse ever did) without recharge.Thirdly, the functionality of the features is comparable to the MS set I used to have, but with one key drawback. On my machine, an AMD Athlon 64 machine with WinXP Pro, the Logitech SetPoint software crashes every time I receive messages in Outlook, thereby rendering most of my customizations useless. This, however, only affects the six customizable keys on the keyboard, so it's not detrimental to the overall performance in any way -- the rest of the keyboard works just fine even when the SetPoint software crashes.That said, there are some quirks in the "hardwired" keys:The Media Control Keys: the "touch" keys on the Logitech is somewhat gimmicky, but they do work. The only problem (and this is a really small, nitpicky issue) is that, as compared to actual buttons and keys, the feedback is not tactile but visual. You have to look at the button to see where they are and to determine if the keys have been pressed, since you don't get the tactile feedback of a button press, and the key lights up instead. It looks nice, and this is a small tradeoff. ANother problem is that, with the MS desktop, I also used to get an on-screen feedback (e.g., for volume, Play, Mute, Caps Lock, F Lock, etc.), which I do not get with the Logitech.Calculator key: rather than launching the Windows Calculator, the Logitech keyboard has a built in Calculator that shows the calculations on the Keyboard's screen, then copies the result figure into the Windows clipboard. I much prefer using the Windows claculator for a variety of reasons, but there is no way to change this feature.NumLock key: this might only affect people that play games, so it may not be a tremendous deal, but there is no NumLock key on the Logitech keyboard, and I've asked Logitech whether I can somehow hack this in. No response as of yet.Synch key: if I were using a Nokia or a SonyEricsson mobile phone, this may be a handy feature to have a Synch key on the keyboard, but I don't use it -- instead, I've assigned it to open a spreadsheet I use regularly.Other general keyboard related: the overall feel of the keyboard is much better in myopinion than that of the MS keyboard. Also, the Logitech keyboard is much smaller in its footprint, which has opened up my desktop space considerably.Overall, I'm pretty content with the upgrade, save for a major glitch in the software, which may just be an issue specific to my machine -- I'm waiting for Logitech to fix these issues in a patch some day. In the meantime, however, the rechargeable mouse, the small footprint, the "feel" of the keys, and the overall aesthetic are all significant upgrades, and I am happy with the purchase.

The Logitech keyboard and mouse suite worked terribly for me.I am an electronics industry professional and my company sells computers and installs networks. Installing and configuring a product like this is generally child's play for me. The installation went poorly, locked up several times. Once the software was installed I had to call tech support in order to get the keyboard to pair with computer via bluetooth (1 hour on the phone). Once installed (finally) the logitech software locked up every 5 minutes or so disabling all but the most basic features of the system. Called Logitech again and they asked me reinstall software, said they would send directions via email to install after a "clean boot". Directions were never sent and I reinstalled myself with the same result. Called Logitech the next day and was walked through the installation, this time with the clean boot which is essentially stopping all non microsoft services and restarting with all non essential programs disabled. The installation failed the first time, but did work on the second attempt. After restarting the machine throughout this reinstallation process five or six times, the software seemed to be running smoother and the devices paired quickly. I signed off with tech support (2 hours)and the software locked up five minutes later. I am now using my old KB and mouse and I am at least productive again.I installed all of this on a modern 3.0GHZ Intel machine running XP, SP2 fully updated. I spent at least five hours messing with it and it never worked for more than five minutes. Tech support tried to help but they're just reading procedures off of their PCs and have no actual knowledge of how to help.I would avoid this product at all costs.