"Reviewer Tryouts:" Logitech Cordless Desktop LX710 Review

[Scratch]

Logitech Cordless Desktop LX710 Review

Price: 99.95 CDN
Manufacturer: Logitech
Provided by: Staples Office Center
Reviewed on: Nov 21 2007
Reviewed by: Scratch

Table of Contents

1- Introduction
2- First Impressions
3- Installation
4- Specifications
5- Configuration
6- Testing
7- Conclusion

Introduction:

In search of a comfortable and versatile mouse with an ultrathin multimedia keyboard and functional design? Look no further as the Logitech LX710 provides both with a five button ergonomic mouse and a multifaceted wireless keyboard that is a joy to use.
I have been hesitant to purchase a wireless set as gamers tend to have difficulty with batteries in the middle of important events...like battle. However, with new and better improvement in battery longevity and technology it seems the time has come.
My journey in to the wireless world has begun.

First Impressions:

The keyboard and mouse come tightly packaged in the distinctive green and white Logitech colored box designed for hardware protection.
Inside you will find the keyboard, 5-button mouse, driver CD, installation instructions, 4-AA batteries, a two-piece USB mini-receiver and English-French key layover stickers.

Although I have read of difficulties with other ultrathin designs, the keyboard is both sturdy and efficient in structure with no unnecessary frills adding weight or encumbering the flow of design.

The key placement on the board is excellent with soft touch multimedia buttons running both sides of the keyboard and center top interrupting the F8/F9 low-rise keys.
The soft-touch black matte palm rest reduces fatigue and provides a clean modern look accented by the silver casing.
I was insistent on finding a mouse that had the design features I was looking for as a gamer and the comfort of a sleek ergonomic design.

I was pleasantly surprised as the same style of mouse with a different color combination was being offered as a gaming mouse for $60.00CDN and this one came bundled.

Another interesting feature is the scroll wheel being used as a button with a tilt left/right motion rather than having thumb buttons run down the left side of the mouse

Installation:

Insert the mini-USB in to it's table top host and plug the other end of the USB cable into an available USB port on your computer.
Press the red button on the mini-USB and then the ones on the bottom of both the mouse and keyboard in quick succession in order to activate them.
Insert the supplied driver/setpoint software CD into an optical drive and follow the instructions, reboot your pc and you're good to go.

Specifications:

Keyboard features:
Music and volume controls
Launch calculator button
Web and email controls
Programmable hotkeys - 21
Zoom controls
Integrated soft palm rest
Adjustable keyboard angles - 3
Battery level indicator (app: usage 15-month keyboard)
Wireless encryption

Mouse Features:
Logitech laser
Tilt wheel plus zoom
Programmable buttons – 5
Battery level indicator (app: usage 6-month mouse)
On/off switch

Configuration:

Keyboard
My first wow moment was the ability to add multi-key functions to the F-key layout. In other words I am able to use CTL+F1 or CTL+ALT+DEL or any other key combinations desired to perform specific tasks on my desktop, game or in a specified program.
There are defaults for keys F1-F8 (Documents, Spreadsheets, Calender, Calculator, My Documents, New Folder, Print, and Save) and 4 more presets available for keys F9-F12
Or you can choose to set any or all of these F-keys to perform a multitude of tasks like opening desired web pages, launching specified programs, opening files/folders, etc., or to do nothing at all

There is as much versatility with the 8 Hot Keys.

It seems that the SetPoint program will automatically detect and recognize some programs on you O/S but not all programs, so some may have to be manually set and there are many options available to do just that.
The Picture Application has as default either Adobe Photoshop or Windows Paint program.
Rotate can be set for either left or right rotation dependent on your choice of camera angle.
I have One Touch Search set to Google.ca or you can select your own search engine.
The Email is default set at either Hotmail or Outlook, however, I used the Open Web Page option to access my Gmail account.
The VOIP hot key has defaults for Skype, MSN, or Windows Messenger. I opted to use the Launch Program option and set INX Pro as my VOIP program.
The crescent moon key at the top next to the check battery status key can be configured to either Stand by, Restart, Shutdown, Log Off, or do nothing.
The multimedia key will open WMP9, Power DVD, RealOne Player, or WinDVD by default. I again chose the Launch Program option for MediaMonkey and the Shuffle key does as named.
The defaults can be used for these keys or you may program almost all of them except the rotate and crescent moon key to perform a variety of tasks similar to those available for the F-keys including setting up a custom menu keyboard.
The Zoom settings can be controlled for “Slow – Fast” and “No acceleration – Max. acceleration” to default between either All Programs or Outlook.
There is also a program manager that may be used to easily add or remove programs.
I was also very impressed with the keyboard encryption utility and the length of sequence involved to protect keystroke security

Mouse
The 5-button mouse provides equal versatility as you are able to swap Left/Right Click buttons, and assign Document Flip, Zoom, Auto Scroll, Universal Scroll, Keystroke Assignment or opt to assign any other program function to the scroll wheel.
The smaller Back and Forward buttons may also be set to Cruise Up or Down, Keystroke Assignment or Other option.
The Tilt scroll wheel can be set to Right/Left scroll, Cruise Up/Down, Forward, Back, a Keystoke Assignment or Other option. I currently have my left tilt programmed for Ventrilo push to talk and right tilt for horizontal scrolling web pages.
The Mouse Movement configuration page allows you to control scrolling size, pointer speed, pointer tails, acceleration, and whether or not to enable Smart Move.
The Mouse Game Settings provide Game Detection and the option to switch between SetPoint or O/S implementation. If you choose SetPoint implementation you are given options to keep mouse acceleration, speed, left/right button assignments, key press button assignments, and other button assignments (Double-Click, Auto Scroll..)
Information Resources offers Help Center, Logitech Support, Ergonomic Guidelines and a specific Website.
The Software Access page offers you Web Update options, Configuration, and Status Indicators for Caps Lock with visual or sound notification. If you have never tried one of these options I can tell you it's quite surprising when large green lettering appears telling you your capslock is on

Testing:

OS: Vista Premium 32bit
Office: Open Office 2.1
Media: Windows Media Player 11
Email: gmail.com
Search Engine: Google
Telephony: INX Pro
Photo Editing: Adobe Photoshop CS3
Gaming: Lineage2, F.E.A.R., Prey, Doom3, Quake4, FarCry, WW2 Sniper, War Rock, Crysis, Bioshock

I had no problems with the installation and was actually excited discovering new features present in the software application
It ran efficiently in Open Office with the soft touch keys providing nice weight and little noise.
I was easily able to configure MediaMonkey as my media application and all functions worked accordingly.
The email, telephony and web search options all worked exceptionally well with each application opening quickly without crashing or errors except for one issue I had using Ventrilo.
If I disabled the Setpoint icon from my notification window I had to reset my mouse key button after closing and reopening the Ventrilo program in order to get the mouse to recognize the specific task I had programmed for it. I would then have to reset the key in Vetrilo. The simple fix was to not delete the Pointset icon from my notification window
Photoshop 7 actually opened faster using the keyboard hot key than it does when I double click the desktop icon
All hotkeys worked as programmed in each gaming situation with no hesitation and the appropriate function assigned each key.

Conclusion:

I could not be more enthusiastic over this combo-product offering from Logitech.
The price is reasonable and the keyboard/mouse versatility exceptional.
My fiance was so pleased with it I actually purchased another for her pc.
I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking for a multimedia application and/or gaming platform as it performs all the functions I would desire in a keyboard/mouse and much more

Pros:

5-year warranty
Slim design
Cordless
Fully multimedia programmable
Ergonomic mouse
Excellent gaming response
Long battery life

Cons:

With all the other convenient options available on the keyboard I was a little surprised that there was no volume control.
One software note would be that I was wondering how a 5-button mouse could have 8 options until I looked closer and discovered that #6 was missing...just a small imperfection that does nothing to diminish the performance of this exceptional product

5 out of 5 Stars

[Scratch]

So sorry no packaging but I've moved and anything that could not be packed was recycled lol
If I happen to purchase anything within the next 9 days I'll attempt to submit it

- You must be a Canadian living south of 60°N Latitude Victoria BC
- You must be able to commit to releasing 1-2 reviews per month Yes
- You must be able to work according to the schedules the review staff gives you Yes
- You must have a digital camera and some basic knowledge of image editing programs 8.3 megapixel FujiFilm Finepix, Adobe Photoshop CS3
- You need a recent system; AM2, C2D, C2Q Asus P5W-D E6400 OC'd @ 3.2ghz / EVGA 680i Q6600 Oc'd @ 2.8Ghz
- Experience in overclocking is an asset but not absolutely necessary Yes
- We assume you know the ins and out along with the dos and don'ts of installing components. If you don't have that knowledge....well, stop reading now. Yes
- You should know how to use Excel or any other graphing program to generate graphs Yes

[SKYMTL]

I am guessing those first 3 pics weren't taken with your Fuji camera?

[AkG]

SKYMTL according to the property info the pic it was taken by a Fuji FinePix f40fd 8.3 megapixel compact camera with 1/128 & sec f2.8. Fairly easy to fake...just a PITA...and why bother. :)

BTW Scratch Nice review! You just need more indirect lighting when taking the photos. 2 table lamps w/ wax paper over the front of them (held in place w/ rubber bands) on each side of the "subject", pointed slightly up for "bounce lighting" would help/let you use a slower shutter speed and/or lower f stop (ie LESS grain) and definitely lower "iso" speed as 1600 is way to high.

[Prof. Dr. Silver]

LOL...nice review man! And now you also got a free 'how-to-take-a-photo' class!

But ehm...no volume control? If that's missing on your keyboard...BRING IT BACK...LOL. Aren't those two little loudspeakers on top of the keyboard for the volume? That's for mute/unmute right? And those two big button on the left side....what are they for?

Here's what I mean:



Here's the link for this great keyboard!

[SKYMTL]

Ah, maybe the ISO settings were wonky for those two pics because I see a bit of distortion.

Great review though.

[AkG]

Nah the distortion is because of the cheap ass optics in the point and shoot camera's these days. My Cannon 3IS does the same thing. Its just because they try to cram soooo much zoom in a little package that the results is you get good/bad/bad/WORSE distortion based on how much zoom you are using. Its an easy fix in CS3. Its under Filter->Distort->lens correction. Play w/ the various setting and volia most of the barrel distortions/pincushioning/vignetting/chroma "aberrations" goes bye bye

[Thund3rball]

Nice review, I almost want to replace my current setup... but I like it too much :)

@AKG - Nice Flying Spaghetti Monster, I'm guessing you're a Pastafarian? - LOL

[AkG]

LOL, yeah it drives those "intelligent design" freaks nuts when I agree with them and then start talking about how he gave up his only meatball for us.

[Scratch]

well it was 3am and yes i tried indirect lighting with macro on the camera as I was getting too much reflection at first so next one I'll try during the day when I'm more awake