A few months back I found myself getting more and more frustrated as I moved my mouse with no response on the screen. Thinking it was just the batteries dying in my mouse, I replaced them and soon discovered my keyboard was also having issues – a few tests later and I discovered my keyboard receiver was on the frits. Knowing that “Boxing Day” (non-Canadians may want to Google it) was right around the corner, I decided to hold off in making a purchase so that I could see if there’d be any deals to be had then.
When Boxing Day finally came I looked around and found a variety of deals. Most keyboard sets were about $20 off and were placed in the $29-$49 price point and just as I thought I had made my decision, I found a sale on a Logitech Keyboard set (MK710) which was $104.99 regularly, but was on for $49.99. I decided that I’d buy it and give it a shot – what did I have to lose with 30 day return policies?
After hooking up the Logitech MK710 there were immediately a few things that impressed me but also a few that had me worried. Let’s start with the pros. The first neat thing that I noticed was that the keyboard features an LCD display on the top with a battery indicator, as well as some other indicators such as Caps Lock, Num Lock, Mute, etc. While I would be more impressed if this display did more dynamic functions, it still looks pretty neat. The next thing that I fell in love with quickly was the profile of the keyboard itself. It has two tilt options so that you can set it in the position that works best for you. I was fairly impressed with the simplicity of the audio controls and the layout – they are functional yet aesthetically pleasing. Now, on the opposite side of the coin – the things that had me concerned. When I unpacked the mouse I realized it was bigger than a mobile mouse, but smaller than a standard desktop. The MK710 also features soft touch keys, but because of this they are quite a bit flatter than keys on a regular keyboard. I will admit that after a few minutes of using the keyboard set I was pretty confident that I was going to return it after a few days… that changed after a day or two of use.
While the differences were hard to adapt to at first, I found myself liking how well the mouse fit into my hand, as well as how easy the keys were to push. The design of both the keyboard and mouse has clearly been well thought out and makes the MK710 by far one of the best keyboard sets I’ve ever owned. I also really enjoy the low profile receiver as well as the simple operation of the function keys on the keyboard. The mouse also has some well placed “forward” and “backward” buttons that are easy to access when browsing. There is a neat feature on the mouse which is the ability to change the scroll speed with the push of a toggle button. While the feature is neat, I found myself leaving it on the standard setting as the “Hyper-fast” setting was a little too much for me. Although it’s nice to have the options for those times that I need the fast scrolling, the toggle switch could use some work as it is clunky and feels out of place compared to the smooth sense of the rest of the keyboard set.
Overall I am very impressed with the Logitech MK710 Desktop set – it’s functional, smooth to operate and very comfortable to use. With that being said, I am glad that I bought it on sale as I don’t personally think the set is worth the regular price of $104.99 – but maybe I’m just cheap.
