Quick Cons:
- No way to adjust the angle - no adjustable feet or levelers (could add your own extended rubber feet if needed)
- Back-lighting level is forgotten
- Battery dies within a few days of heavy use with back-lighting maxed out (default setting)
- Can not customize hotkeys or macros for all keys (only function keys and a few others)
- Hotkey/macro setup on available keys is simple/limited/dumbed-down - advanced hotkeyers will feel handcuffed (get AutoHotKey!)
Quick Pros:
+ Sturdy
+ High Quality
+ Heavy (2LBs - may be a con for some)
+ Extra Knob for app-specific use or volume control (decently customizable)
+ Intuitive key layout
+ Can double as a club or crowbar in critical situations, such as a zombie apocalypse
The first thing I noticed about this keyboard is that its really sturdy. It weighs 2 pounds, and feels like you can pry your door open with it. When you're typing, it feels like its part of the surface, and won't budge in any direction. The keys are like laptop keys, with short travel distance between up and down - not like a standard keyboard, where your fingers have to travel more distance. I personally prefer the shorter travel, because I started with a laptop. So it may depend on what you've grown accustomed to. There is no way to adjust the angle of the keyboard base. So if you don't like the angle, you may have to get creative and add something like rubber feet to get it there.
One possibly overlooked advantage of this keyboard is that it feels "right". I had zero learning curve with it, because it seemed to have everything exactly where I expected. Some keyboards, especially the smaller ones, have things missing or some keys placed in very strange locations, or have them combined with other keys. In that respect, I feel like they really nailed the key layout. I would use this as a starting point if I were to design my perfect keyboard.
One irritating problem I ran into is that the back-light doesn't remember your adjustments. The keyboard has function keys to turn the brightness up or down. But whatever setting you change it to will quickly be forgotten. I'm not sure what events trigger this memory loss, but it happens to me at least 3 times per day. My PC never sleeps, and is never turned off, so I know it can happen at "runtime". This is a known issue, and from what little research I've done, Logitech suggests that you have to install and use the Logitech Options software, then permanently adjust the back-light from within that software. This is not something I've tried yet (maybe out of spite), so I can't comment on how useful or functional it is. In any case, I am annoyed that this thing comes with a maxed out back-light by default (drains battery), and has back-light adjustment keys that don't permanently adjust the back-light (as one would expect).
Getting over that (or pretending to), the proximity feature is pretty neat. When you put your hands near the keyboard, the back-light turns on, then turns back off shortly after moving your hands away. The sensor is not visible, as far as I can tell. It may be some type of static detection (it doesn't react to plastic - only to skin, and it reacts without actually touching it). This feature would be fantastic if the battery could handle it. Charging it every few days becomes tedious, and I sometimes wonder if the lighting is useful enough to warrant it. With it turned off, it seems to last around 3 times longer. Difficult to be sure, due to the back-light forgetfulness issue. One option is to keep the keyboard plugged in indefinitely, but I've been worried that feeding it energy continuously may cause the battery to fail sooner than it should.
As for the battery itself, it is good but not great. I would honestly expect a 2 pound (minus other materials) battery to last for a couple months, not a few days. Especially from a company that gave us the MX Master series mouse, which typically lasts me months without charging. I honestly can't follow this logic, because a mouse generates and transmits a lot more data, on average, than a keyboard. Apart from the lighting, there should not be much energy use unless you're pressing keys.
The crown (rotating knob) is pretty useful - especially for volume control, brush sizing/intensity/etc. It spins either way, without any stopping points, and mechanically switches between smooth mode and ratchet mode (similar to some of their mouse wheels). I have not found the crown to be extremely useful in development apps, but I can't give a good reason. It may just be that I haven't become accustomed to using it for app-specific tools. One problem I have is that you can't really dedicate it to anything that is common between apps. If you find a common, useful feature to use it on (such as volume), you can't use it for anything app-specific without losing your ability to control that common feature (volume). One way around this would be to program (mouse) modifier keys/buttons to change the function of the crown. But I don't believe this is currently possible with the Logitech Options software. However, you may want to do a search on this at the time you're reading if this is a concern. It is a software/driver only adjustment that Logitech could easily add on (and should have already done so). In the meantime, try AutoHotKey (filter the knob axis based on what other buttons are being held down).
In all, this is a very expensive keyboard, and there are a lot of options out there for $200 (as of 2020). So is this one worth this much cash? It feels like they built it out of diamonds and fictional metals, so there is no lack of quality. And you absorb that high-end feeling every time you type on it, which is more satisfying and inspiring than you might think. The only price-related concern would be the features - how many features can $200 buy? Probably a lot. So if you need tons of features and controls (every key being customizable, additional knobs, analog stick on the side, snack bar tray, whatever), then you can easily find something that offers more for this price. But if you just want a very high quality, basic keyboard, with an extra knob, this is perfect. Even though I'm a hotkey addict, I am honestly not disappointed in my $200 purchase, because I know this thing will always be around, even after I use it as a self defense weapon.
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz Radio Frequency |
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