Customer Reviews

Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 300

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased this keyboard/mouse combo because of the price and the brand. I have always had good experiences with Logitech, so I thought that the negative reviews were just flukes. Unfortunately, there does appear to be a problem with this product. First, I could not get it to work when using the USB connection I don't know why, but I tried everything I could think of and it never worked. Using the PS2 connections, it eventually started working.

Unlike the other wireless products I own, the placement of the receiver makes a huge difference in functionality. The receiver is very prone to interference, so it must stay several inches away from the monitor and CPU case. Even worse, the wireless range is very short. As I am writing this review, I must keep the keyboard about 8" away from the receiver in order for it to work. Any further distance, and it does not function at all.

Finally, the mouse, while exhibiting fewer problems than the keyboard, is still prone to "jumping" and "freezing" (sometimes the pointer jumps erratically, other times it gets stuck in once place).

I am disappointed with this product, and will be returning it. I expected more from Logitech.

I don't know what happened with this particular item but I have nothing but problems with the mouse! The keyboard works great, I have never has to use the connect button, or reset for it either - but the mouse is another story. I am always having to click the connect button! Everytime I go to use the computer, connect, or reset has become part of the process! I thought maybe it is just the batteries I use, so I tried rechargebale ones, and ones meant to last longer, and the more traditional ones too - problem still exist! I gave up finally put the mouse away - still use the keyboard. The quick access buttons are great, took some getting use to because I was always use to using the mouse to do everything. Overall I would said it is worth the money!

I received my LX300 Wireless Desktop yesterday. The moment I opened the covers, I realized how light the whole product felt. I was happy. The keyboard is excellent. It's light, and wears a nice professional looking black color. There are so many useful pre-programmed buttons, which launches commonly used programs like Outlook, Word, Media Player, browser. To top it, there are 4 extra buttons which you can program to open your own choice of applications. Since I am using notepad for practically, all my text related activities, the first button went to Notepad.exe without a thought!! Oh man, how much I love this keyboard!! And all these niceties without the clutter of wires dangling around from the back of my laptop. I have tested the keyboard as far as 15 feet away and it WORKS!! It's only limited by my vision that I cannot understand a single line of text from 15 feet away .... (well, can't blame the keyboard by stretch of imagination).

Now the mouse: In short, an obese spoilsport.

Nowhere near it's talented lean looking brother (keyboard). The moment you touch the mouse, you feel like moving a heavy pebble beside a riverside!!! Man, if this thing ever falls on my head, I'd surely develop cracks on my cranium!! Blame the two heavy AA batteries for this. It ought to be AAAs.

The mouse is also, not very accurate. All of a sudden and out of the blue, the pointer wanders away on its own sweet trail. There is a slight noticeable lag too. You cannot rely on this mouse to do any accurate stuff like removing red eye in Adobe Photoshop. Today morning, I was surprised when I was moving the mouse southwards on the pad, and the pointer was actually moving westwards on the screen!!

Maybe I will stick to my old wired USB mouse by Microsoft for now.

In brief, a good purchase, if you can live with the fat mouse.
The keyboard is a gem.

From 5 stars down to 3 stars, thanks to the mouse.

UPDATE: FOR MAC USERS
---------------------------
Beware, Mac users.

Although the specs say its "Designed for XP", it still works with a Mac, nonetheless.
But if you are thinking to use it with a Mac, be prepared for a frustrating experience.
Occasionally, Mac OS X will fail to "recognize" the wireless unit and you have to set up the whole thing again. When it is connected, the lag of the mouse is very noticeable. And the keyboard is also not spared. This lag can be really frustrating, since 99.99% of your time you are using either one of the two or both. The colorful spinning ball will greet you everytime you comeback to your Mac after a break. All the features like scrolling, program keys work, but you wont have the "smooth" feeling using them.

Out of this disgusting computing experience, I just disconnected the whole Logitech unit from my Mac minutes back and connected the matching white Apple keyboard and mouse (USB, wired). This all-black logitech wireless combo does not even look good with an all-white Mac desktop!!! :-)

So, Mac users, buy something Mac compatible which is clearly mentioned in the specs. Logitech has other wireless comBos that are designed for a Mac.

But NOT THIS one, DEFINITELY.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PURCHASE.
MAY YOUR HARD-EARNED BUCKS FIND THE TRUE VALUE FOR MONEY.

They keyboard has a much better feel than I expected. In fact, it does have little legs on the back that can flip down to put the keyboard at a slight incline if that feels better for you. The mouse is very responsive, which I had been worried about...I have a (cheaper) logitech wireless laptop mouse that has a slight lag whenever you begin to move it, this one has absolutely no lag and works great.

The picture of the keyboard shows a palmrest, but when you open the package there doesn't appear to be a plamrest. HOWEVER...if you rip the packaging apart you will find the palmrest hidden on the bottom side of the packaging. If I hadn't seen the picture on amazon I would never have found the palmrest!

Also, I did NOT install the software that comes with the unit. Although this will add more functionality, I've had problems in the past with driver conflicts on pointing devices. So, for those of you with concerns about yet another driver conflict you don't need to install anything (on an XP system) to make the unit work.

Overall, great value for the price!

I've been looking for ways to gain more real-estate on my desk, so I picked up this wireless keyboard and mouse. Now my computer is about 4 feet out of the way, there are no keyboard and mouse wires in the way.

I had no difficulty installing the hardware and software and within a few minutes, I was up and running.

I have not noticed a performance hit.

Features:
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1) Striking new keyboard design delivers ergonomic comfort -- without changing the way you work.
2) Precision refinements to key shape, feel, identification, and layout make keystrokes effortless and sure.
3) Use your left hand for moving forward and back in your browser
4) Encrypted wireless technology avoids interference for completely reliable performance with no cord clutter.
5) Smooth, precise tracking on a wide range of surfaces and no mouse ball means you'll never have to stop to clean it.
6) Buttons to control audio/video playback (e.g., mute with a single button press), access email, launch Microsoft Office applications, access home page, access favorite shopping site (e.g., Amazon), and more -- or reprogram the buttons to do whatever you want through the iTouch tool.
7) Setup to have Logitech Desktop Messenger automatically check for software upgrades


System Requirements:
-----------------------------
IBM-compatible PC
Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
1 USB port or 2 PS/2 ports
CD-ROM drive

I bought one of these devices to replace a Microsoft cordless desktop system that had gone bad.

I find that it has greater range than the Microsoft products I have used previously, although I did have to get used to the "flat" keyboard ergonomics again after using the flowing Microsoft keyboards. I gave up on the Microsoft product after two keyboards failed within 12 months.

I like that it does not have such a huge "dongle" as the Microsoft products had and the range of the connection is about double the Microsoft keyboards' range -- I work about 12 feet away from the computer and sensor unit without any problems. I had to keep the Microsoft sensor dongle about 4 feet away to keep from losing my conenciton, which meant running a cable to extend its location closer to my recliner.

This Logitech does everything I was doing with the other desktops for half the price and I like it so much I bought a second one for the computer in my bedroom which I use as a personal digital recorder.

Have just bought one of these and am very pleased with it. It was either this or a Microsoft product but when I discovered that their keyboards are not UK locale (yes I live in Great Britain, Bill, not the US of A and a £ sign IS required) I decided to go with Logitech. The freedom from wires is a revelation.

The quality is good, considering the price and I find the keys lighter and more responsive than my old keyboard (an ancient Microsoft Natural Elite from the days when they did UK localisation). Had no problems during installation and I'm using Windows XP Pro and usually log in as a restricted user. Some manufacturers software you install fouls up when you install it as an Administrator and then log in as another user due to not having sufficient access rights to a file, folder or registry setting but Logitech's effort (called SetPoint) worked ok without the need for any detective work. I'm using the PS/2 ports since I don't have any spare USBs left on my PC so I don't know if the latter works well or not. I know some have complained about interference and the need to keep the receiver away from the PC and monitor but I have had no problems in this area. This could be because my monitor is a TFT, not a CRT with nasty coils and X-rays. My only real complaint is that they've put the keyboard status lights (caps lock, mode/function key, shift lock and num lock) on the receiver. Should be on the keyboard. They've also laid out the navigation keys (home, end, page up and down) in a new ergonomic layout which will take some getting used to.

On the subject of keys, the function keys are programmable. F1 to F8 have symbols on them for help, word, excel etc. F9 to F12 are labelled a to d and are intended to be used for user definable operations. Although F1 to F8 are `pre-assigned' you can change the functionality of these too. The functions that can be assigned are: default task, open web page, launch program, open file, open folder, show custom menu, keystroke assignment or do nothing. These keys are round which I prefer to the old square shape the corners of which would sometimes uncomfortably catch on a nail.

You've also got hot keys and media keys. These can also be re programmed in a similar way to the function keys. By default, the browser nav keys on the left only work with Internet Explorer - I had to change these from their default settings to a keyboard shortcut to work with FireFox.

The supplied optical mouse is adequate but nothing spectacular which is to be expected since this is the entry level in the LX series. Its functionality is basic but it's nice to have a scroll wheel (used to have a track ball before). The upside of an optical device is that you don't need a pesky mouse mat.

As it's early days, I can't comment on battery life yet but all in all well worth the small amount of money - £30 in the UK.

While others have complained about the usable range, I've had no problems using the mouse and keyboard 10+ feet from the receiver. Perhaps it helps that there are some twelve inches and three, one-inch thick wooden desk surfaces between my receiver and the computer case. At any rate, reception was perfect from the start and hasn't been a problem.

The only real complaint I have is with the keyboard layout. The Home, End, Delete, PgUp, and PgDn keys have been rearranged, and the 'Windows' and Ctrl keys to the right of the spacebar have been eliminated and moved leftward, respectively. Also, the Insert key has been moved upward to share the Scroll Lock key.

The reason for these changes is to free up some space for three "hot keys" on the far-left side. By default, these are programmed to invoke the browser's "Search," "Forward" and "Back" functions. (I had to re-program the latter two for Firefox.)

If you're a heavy keyboard user like me, be advised that this layout can be bothersome. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it. In my opinion, Logitech should have put the Forward and Back buttons on the mouse and gone with the standard keyboard layout.

Still, if you can find the right place for the receiver, and can live with the nonstandard keyboard layout, this setup can be a real bargain (recently under $10 after rebates).

The real products that well suits for the name "cordless desktop". If you are buying cordless desktop either for xp or vista you can buy them without second thought. I am using them with both vista and xp and they are simply superb.

I was looking for good balance of features and price and this product delivered. Absolutely easy to install, worked first time, and has functioned as advertised. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the feel of the keyboard is. Can't go wrong with package.