Cordless keyboards & mice: can anyone recommend a good model?

[Memnoch]

Geez there are a LOT of models of cordless keyboards and mice out there. I'm looking at getting a cordless keyboard and mouse for my PC, and I thought I'd get either a Logitech or a Microsoft one, but I've gotten a bit lost in the size of the ranges from these manufacturers. For example:


Logitech Range of Cordless keyboards


Cordless Access Duo Optical $129 (AUD)
Cordless Navigator Duo $169
Cordless Comfort Duo $199
Cordless MX Duo $199

Buggered if I know the difference between all that - something about MX, optical and some other technology. Can anyone out there recommend a decent type of cordless keyboard and mouse (reasonably priced as well ).

Cheers fellas!

[ 05-23-2004, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

[Bahamut]

The Cordless MX Duo is the top of the line... they have lots of features, and they look nice too. It really depends on what you want. If you want optical then MX Duo. it's great Expensive though... well Logitech and Microsoft products are expensive to start with anyway

[Stormymystic]

I paid $40 dollars for mine at walmart but really found that I hate the mouse, it uses a lot of batteries, the first week I had it, I replaced the batteries 4 times in it, as for the best, I am not sure, silly me did not research them :/ I do know this, if you do decide on one, go with a rechargable one, cost more, but cheaper in the long run [img]smile.gif[/img] as for the ranges, the more the number, the further away from the source you can have them, mine is a short range so it has to be right there, can not be taken away from the desk

[Aelia Jusa]

I have a logitech cordless click plus optical mouse for my laptop. It works fine. I don't really know why anyone would need all the features some mice have - I turn off all the extra side buttons anyway because they're too easy to accidently click!

One thing I'm finding really annoying about it though, is that I seem to have to take the batteries out of it every time I finish using my laptop - if I leave them in and the computer is off and the mouse cord thingies are out of the machine, the light is still on on the mouse - clearly the batteries are still running! What a waste of power! So I have to remove them then put them back in everytime [img]graemlins/idontagreeatall.gif[/img]

[Firestormalpha]

Stormy for the batteries, just get a set of at least 4 rechargeable AA batteries and a charger. While one set of 2 is being the drained the other is either being charged or is already charged, that's how I run it.

Memnoch, basically the more $ the more extra buttons and the cooler it looks (well as far as looks go that's debatable).

[Vaskez]

Well, some GREAT technical help you got here, bro Unfortunately, I'm no expert on cordless keyboards and mice either, for the precise reason that they're extremely annoying cos you need batteries! What's the problem with cords anyway, as long as they're long enough?

Anyway, I had a look at that site you linked. All the features are listed, all you have to do is compare them - the features are all described in the list on the right. For example, the only difference between the top two is the top one has a "detached Media pad" - sounds like a load of bollocks to me - why do you want your keypad seperate with media player controls? That just makes your software interfaces obsolete in the programs. A lot of useless fluff if you ask me.

All the info is there, you just need someone to interpret it for you? Or are you just lazy?

USB, PS/2 means how the transceiver connects to your PC.

Bluetooth is how the higher-end ones communicate with the transceiver. Bluetooth is a short-range 2.4GHz band RF comms system. Others connect by other RF - it doesn't matter as long as it's RF i.e. not line-of-sight like infra-red.

Optical mice (I DO have one of these ) are obviously much better than ball-mice, that's what the "optical" refers to.

Whether the mouse is rechargable or not could be important: rechargable is cool until the battery dies then you have to shell out cos it's proprietory - unless it uses an AA battery pack or something standard.

All the rest of the stuff is just like internet forward/backward buttons etc.- quite nice to have on the mouse, but pointless on the keyboard since backspace etc. does this already. Programmable buttons on mice are nice - unlike Aelia, I find them really useful - I have the MS Optical Intellimouse Explorer - expensive but very good mouse.

In general, MS and Logitech are both good for mice, dunno about keyboards.

Is this helping??

[ 05-23-2004, 09:55 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

[Stormymystic]

probably better than the rest of us vaskez [img]tongue.gif[/img] I am not sure about the tech stuff of a keyboard or mouse, just wanted to point out the annoying hassle of having to replace the batteries so much in them, and FSA, I have a charger and batteries for it, still does not help much in the long run of things, still have to change them when they die, wish now I had not talked hubby into buying them for me, should have kept the old one :/

[Vaskez]

Yeah stormy, as I mentioned in my post, the battery issue is the main reason I don't have a cordless mouse or keyboard. But I think the point was that there are some mice that come with rechargable built-in battery packs, or a proprietory rechargeable battery. Those are cool, esp. if it's Lithium Ion cos then you can charge it before it is fully discharged, so you can just put it on the charger when not in use, and it should never be unpowered. However, when the battery expires, it's expensive to replace as it's proprietory - in that sense, AA batteries are better - cheap to replace.

What I'm interested in is how effective the multiple-access techniques are to avoid Bluetooth interfering with Wifi, since they both operate in the 2.4GHz band (well 802.11b does). Anyone know?

[Bokken]

The Cordless MX700 Duo hands down mate. Got two of them here and wouldn't replace them with anything!

The cordless MX900 is a sensational unit also considering the multimedia capabilities but the mouse responce is slow for fast paced gaming which is a shame and odd considering it's bluetooth. Still taking into consideration the pricetag it's not much of a loss.

[Harkoliar]

im using both bluetooth (for my cellphone) and Wifi to connect my computer to a lan based network. No problems at all but I only use my blue tooth for like 1hour at most so the problem may not be shown easily.