Customer Reviews

Logitech diNovo Edge Mac Edition Cordless Keyboard

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

While it certainly isn't a cheap keybooard, the diNovo Edge for the the Mac is a beautiful keyboard and will compliment your mac. I used to have a msft bluetooth keyboard that I used and it stuck out like a sore thumb next to my iMac (in addition, it didn't have the Mac specific keys like cmd). Once I got my Edge, all was harmonized in the world again. Only con for this product is that if your keyboard power dies, it takes a few minutes to do a quick recharge. Therefore I try to put the keyboard in the cradle at the end of each week to prevent this from happening.

Pros: compatibility, design, easy to install, easy to use
Cons: Build Quality, expensive

The keyboard is just beautiful and elegant especially because of the brushed aluminum palm rest to contrast the piano black. Although the keyboard is beautiful, the unit I received has some cosmetic defects most likely from Logitech's manufacturing. The aluminum palm rest on my unit is not tightly flushed on one side and there are some scuffs. Here's an image uploaded by another Amazon user that illustrates the issue: http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000J43HJ8/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_2?ie=UTF8&index=2 . It's quite noticeable. I will be contacting Logitech to see if I can get a replacement (I'll update as to whether or not they'll honor their warranty). This is disappointing since its such an expensive keyboard. Personally, I found the keys on the Dinovo to be smaller than regular keyboards. The spacing also seemed off when I began using it initially. It'll take some getting used to. Typing on this keyboard is very quite as well which is a major plus considering the keys aren't completely flushed and flat (like the new HP Wireless Elite Keyboard, which is also a terrific keyboard by the way).

I've read some reviews where users were complaining about the volume control on the keyboard isn't very responsive however I didn't think so. I found the volume control to be very responsive. The touch disk is fairly responsive however when using the touch disc the cursor on the display shows a tail that seems to be due to a lag. The tap to click on the touch disc isn't terrific but it does do the job. Sometimes I find myself having to tap multiple times to get the thing to work. On the left side there's a dedicated cursor button that I'm not really sure why Logitech decided to put it there since there are already dedicated left and right click buttons under the touch disc. What's the point of having another cursor button on the other side of the touch disc anyway?

Something that I would have liked to see Logitech do was make the keyboard both wireless and wired (charging through a USB port as another option). I don't like having to charge it on the base...seems sort of ridiculous. I also would have liked to see a user replaceable battery, this isn't a very green product.

All in all, its functions well for what it is....a keyboard. Some may still find it hard to justify the price. There aren't many slick keyboards out there that are wireless.

FOR WINDOWS USERS:
For those of you who are looking to purchase the Dinovo (Mac edition) for a Windows machine in order to save money like myself (wasn't purchased from Amazon), the keyboard does work on a Windows OS (I'm using Vista).
What to know for Windows users:
The command key acts as the windows key and option acts as alt. The eject button does not work, all of the other keys work fine. The touch disc works however the scrolling doesn't work. The keyboard runs under a generic driver. If you have SetPoint installed for another Logitech product, it will not be recognized by SetPoint. I thought this would be useful to some since I wasn't able to find this type of information on the web before I decided to by the Mac version. In sum, its probably wiser to get the Windows version to get the options in SetPoint, but that's decisions is yours! :p

What was once a great keyboard (I've had mine a year and loved it) is now approaching useless with my upgrade to OS X 10.5.8. During clicking and dragging operations, the keyboard drops whatever you are dragging exactly 2 seconds after you have begun. No matter what. There's some chaos for you.

Logitech has acknowledged the problem and offers no solution. Well, actually, their "solution" was to drop the mac version of the product and leave their customers hanging. You can read about it in the logitec forums, search for "DiNovo Edge Mac Edition Touchdisc Issue". And you'll note the Mac version is no longer listed as a product on their website.

Avoid this one like the plague.

You can read more in the reviews for the older version/ other sellers of this keyboard, but to summarize: I agree with other reviewers that the trackpad ruins what is otherwise a lovely keyboard. The trackpad buttons are small and require a very hard press, which is especially un-ergonomic being far over on the right-- and a shock when you're used to being able to click with your thumb in a very natural position in the middle of a MacBook keyboard. Yes, you can get around it somewhat by changing your habit to tap instead of click. But even the scrolling is awkward because the pad is so small-- and on top of it, you end up clicking on things by mistake a lot that way.

The whole point of this keyboard for me was to get more ergonomic and have all the controls in one place (rather than keyboard plus separate trackball). It failed in that. Not sure what I'll do with it now, and too late to return it-- that's why the disappointed two stars. Please, Logitech, why couldn't you make one with a proper trackpad in the proper place (the middle)?

Jan 22, 2010 update:
Logitech continues to ignore email. When I eventually got to talk to a support person back in October, Logitech quickly acknowledged the DiNovo was faulty and sent me a return UPS label. The support guy told me they were expecting a new shipment of replacements the first of December. The keyboard was received by them and I was notified by email I would be contacted when the keyboard was returned.

After 2 months, I sent an email requesting information when I could expect the replacement. Nothing. Just like previous email attempts. In January, almost 3 months after they received my keyboard, I went through the hoops again by phone only to be told Logitech is no longer selling the Di Novo edge mac edition and I would need to apply for a refund!

The people on the phone are polite and contrite but Logitech obviously really cares little about their customers. I've bought Logitech mice for years, and watched them grow. A success story? But I will be very reluctant to buy any of their products again. Maybe they have grown big enough that screwing their customers is the norm.

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Original review:

I really wanted to like this keyboard! And until the keys went berserk did, mostly.

To keep this short, I didn't like the sticky plastic keys on the Apple keyboard. The Apple wireless chicklet keyboard without number pad ($80) with its small footprint was unsatisfactory so I pawned it off on my son, who loves it. After reading it could be made to work with the mac I bought the Microsoft wireless entertainment 700 keyboard (another $80 bucks). With its Windows key layout getting it to work on the Mac was an exercise in frustration. I tried the DiNovo Edge several times at Fry's and it got mostly good Amazon reviews. Amazon delivered it within two days. After several weeks use, I was convinced this was the keyboard.

One aggravation though, brush the Touchdisk with an errant little finger and the cursor jumps! And you can't disable the touchdisk! However, with my keyboard history, I was determined to make whatever adjustments I needed to stay away from the touchdisk and keep this keyboard! The touchdisk was an aggravation but I could live with it.

Then after about 5 months, the keys started "bouncing", all keys, including the delete and back space. By bouncing, I mean a key repeats 2-30 times! Usually this is accompanied by long pauses. This behavior usually starts after the mac has been on a couple of hours. Turning the keyboard off then on solves the problem for only just a bit. The keyboard is fully charged. This behavior is intolerable while writing.

The Logitech software hadn't been changed but, just to rule it out, I apzapped it and reinstalled. No change. Software didn't appear to be the problem. Next, I used the DeNovo on a new Macbook, but the same thing happened.

As every key can display this behavior, it can't be a traditional electromechanical switch bounce problem. Anyway, those were solved years ago. It has to be something in the keyboard's bluetooth transmission. I emailed Logitech back in July with this information, but all I ever received was their automatic response. The keyboard is still within warranty but how I can get it replaced is not easily discoverable. So, I'm back with the sticky apple USB keyboard.

After using the Macbook for a couple of months, I may be able to live with the Apple wireless after all, if I can wrestle it from my son's grasp.

Keyboard looks good, but there are issues with random characters being generated. Pressing "d" or "f: generates random keys, "o" generates an "Option o", so depending on the application, it opens finder so you can open a file. "p" usually opens iTunes and "z" is multi-functional, it opens Mail, Spaces and adjusts the volume!

Logitech support is overall pretty craptacular; emails are returned with this notice: "Email support will not be available from August 30 until September 21. We will not be able to receive new e-mails or respond to any prior e-mails during this time." and phone calls are directed to their automated system, but no human contact, even after leaving several messages.

After searching for a while for a keyboard to use with my Mac as a home theatre PC, I came across this keyboard. Not only was it the amazing price listed on amazon that drew me in but the value of the feature set for that price compared to other more flimsy and cheap looking keyboards. This keyboard has pretty much everything you'd want, customizable function buttons, amazing feel in the keys, thin and sleek looking, touch volume slider, and a recharging base (though this could be a detractor as there is no replaceble battery). The only reason I rated this keyboard a 4 was because even though I was amazed to find such a high quality keyboard that included a trackpad (or TouchDisk) it was a little small and finnicky at times. The scroll features take a while to get used to and they don't always register. Also, dragging and dropping anything with this can be a chore due to the small pad size, things often get dropped in the wrong place as you have to lift your finger to continue sliding long distances. It does however have the nice feature of being able to click in three different ways: there is a left click button on the far right of the keyboard which makes it more comfortable to ust casually use the TouchDisk with your right thumb, you can also tap the pad which is pretty accurate most times, or there is a left and right click under the TouchDisk, which surprisingly I found to be the least responsive and therefore only use the right mouse click as it is the most convenient way to do so.

All in all, this keyboard is perfect for the task I bought it for, functioning as an inexpensive, high quality, slick looking keyboard to be used from my couch to control my home theatre Mac mini. If this is the reason you're thinking of purchasing this keyboard, I've looked around and not only was this the best quality keyboard I could find, but it's the best I could find for this price, with more than double the features of other, seemingly lower quality, wireless keyboards designed for Mac.

There's no questioning the attractiveness of this keyboard, and it has a great key layout and certainly feels good under the fingers, but it is so dysfunctional I don't understand how anyone could rate it above one or two stars.

First, its keys "bounce"; i.e., produce more than one character when a key is pressed only once. Only, usually, physical bounces produce just a couple of characters, whereas I've sat and watched this keyboard send a stream of 20 or 30 characters after a single key press. This is the case whether one is using their driver software or not, so it must be originating in the keyboard hardware itself. When it gets in this mode, it is basically impossible to enter text, and it happens two or three times (at least) per day.

Second, it loses its Bluetooth connection fairly frequently (every other day or so). Power cycling the keyboard has always reestablished the connection, but it's annoying to have to do this routinely.

Third, the trackpad substitute frequently becomes sluggish and unresponsive. And after two months of use, this trackpad substitute is still very uncomfortable to use. It never feels natural. Dragging something, because you must both click and mouse, is a two-handed operation (you have to use one hand to hold down the separate click button and the other to move the selected item). The scrolling operation is so difficult to invoke that I've just given up and resorted to scrolling by either the page up/down keys or clicking in the scrollbar.

Fourth, there is no way to disable tap-to-click on this trackpad substitute. This produces unwanted clicks quite frequently. This, combined with an unreliable alternative dragging method involving a pair of clicks and a drag, plus the general difficulties with the pad, have resulted in me unintentionally moving one random folder inside another and even accidentally throwing one folder into the Trash. So far I've corrected all such errors without data loss, but this is unacceptable behavior, and makes me downright afraid to use the keyboard. Granted, I turn this feature off on laptop trackpads as well and it might, to a certain extent, be a matter of personal preference, but the inability to turn this off is reason enough to avoid this product for me.

Finally, Logitech's customer service for this product is abysmal. (I qualify that statement "for this product", because I have a Logitech Harmony universal remote and like it a lot, and have had good luck with their support services for that product.) I submitted a question to their web site asking if there was a way to disable tap-to-click, and went through two rounds of replies in which the support person suggested I try things that A) didn't help and B) I'd already stated I had discovered and tried in my original query. The third and final response from them was that it was not possible to turn off just this "half function", which, given the context, one could figure out meant "tap-to-click". I don't believe the support for this product is being handled by native English speakers.

All in all, I sincerely wish I'd trusted my early impressions of this device and sent it back to Amazon during the 30-day return period. Instead I have a very expensive, very attractive boat anchor, along with a much-reduced opinion of Logitech in general.

As expected this keyboard absolutely rocks. It would be perfect and I would give it a 5 star rating except for 2 teeny weeny things:

1. This would be a PERFECT ride for my fingers IF the space bar didn't make this annoying clicking noise when you hit it. When you hit the space bar it feels like a $10 keyboard BUT all the other keys are a pleasure to hit...absolutely no noise, very soft and light touch...even better than my Macbook Pro keyboard UNTIL...like I said...you hit the space bar. Logitech what is up with that?

2. And to be fair I knew this when I bought it but I don't get why Logitech would leave off the numeric keypad? You'll find out how much you use it when you buy this keyboard and I'm not really complaining about this one...I'll adjust...I just don't get why it's gone :/

I found this to be a good media center keyboard. Having the built in track pad is nice so that you do not need a mouse. The scroll function is a little hard to use, but workable. I did not load the supplied software as I do not believe it is currently compatible with the Snow Leopard OS.

The only strange thing I have found is the the F4 ( widgits ) and the F12 ( Search ) function keys seem to be reversed....

It works great, the batteries last a long time, and it looks great...

--- Update 11/20/2009

I downloaded the new drivers for Snow Leopard and all of the function keys operations now match the Icons on the keys....

Still a great keyboard....