Logitech Cordless Wave Desktop Set Review

The Logitech Wave Keyboard
The Wave keyboard is full size measuring in at 19" x 10". With the full size design Logitech was able to cram lots of short cut keys onto the keyboard. You get the standard media control keys with pause/play, forward, back, volume up/down and a mute key located right above the F4, F5, F6 keys within easy reach. To the right of the media keys are shortcut keys for accessing your preferred music software like iTunes or Rhapsody. Next to the music shortcut key is a key that takes you directly to media center in Vista or in XP. On the left side of the media control keys are a short cut key to My Pictures and a shortcut key to Vista gadgets or Yahoo! Widgets if you don't use Vista.

On the far left side of the keyboard are keys dedicated to zooming in and out on documents and web pages along with a button that defaults to Flip3D on Vista and Logitech Document Flip on XP. On the right side of the keyboard above the number pad are a pair of keys with one putting the computer into sleep mode and waking it up and the other a shortcut key to the calculator.

A FN key on the bottom of the keyboard between the right ALT and CTRL key allows for doubling the function of a few of the keys on the keyboard. Mostly it's the F keys that are affected by this with F1, F2, and F3 doubling as short cut keys to Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook Calendar. F4, F5, and F6 double as customizable shortcut keys that can launch any application or webpage that you want. Next to those keys are the F7, F8, and F9 keys, which launch Internet Explorer, messenger, and your email application. F10, F11, and F12 also have double functions starting one touch search, showing battery life and ejecting your CD/DVD drive respectively.

The Wave keyboard gets its name from the design of the keyboard. The home row keys A, S, D, F and J, K, L, : are a bit lower than the T, G, B, Y, H, N keys. When you are typing this makes the center keys on the keyboard, which are often a stretch for those with smaller hands, easier to reach buy angling them more towards your other fingers and lifting them a bit. The outer keys on the keyboard are also lifted and tilted towards the inside of the keyboard to make for less of a reach.

This layout of the keys gives a more comfortable typing feel, but requires no learning curve like the split ergonomic arrangements you see from Microsoft. The remainder of the keys on the Wave keyboard are standard in their layout. Personally, I tend to not keep my fingers on the home row and hover over the keys as I type rather than resting on them negating some of the benefit of the Wave design. However, I can tell the difference the Wave design makes when I type from the home row. Typing feel is good with keys that offer good tactile feedback and a slight click. The keys offer less resistance than the Microsoft Reclusa I normally type on, and are quieter when pressed.

With the Logitech SetPoint 4 software every one of the shortcut keys and F keys can be remapped to other functions. You can make them launch different applications, open specific files or web pages, assign keystrokes from single key presses to multiple key macros that are activated by a single key press. One of the more interesting options is mapping the keys to a custom menu that you can create in the SetPoint software. This menu can be used to launch multiple programs or websites from one location that are launched by clicking them with the mouse.

Inside the SetPoint software you can also choose to encrypt the link between the keyboard and the computer to prevent other systems from intercepting keystrokes as well as check your keyboards battery life. Logitech claims the Wave keyboard's pair of AA batteries will last for up to 16 months of use. Battery life is good for the Wave keyboard and while I can't verify the claim of 16 months, I did use the keyboard for weeks and the battery life still shows to be full. Casual gamers will find you can use the Wave for gaming. I don't recommend it for FPS gaming as I did notice at times when I held any of the WASD keys down for too long ghosting would occur. The Wave keyboard is Mac compatible as well.

Cordless Desktop Wave keyboard's battery compartment.

The Logitech LX8 Cordless Mouse
The mouse isn't up to the same standard as the Wave keyboard. It is sized well at about 5.5" x 3.5" at its fattest point. Logitech used an ambidextrous design with a scroll wheel and one button on each side of the mouse right above the rubberized, dimpled black thumb rest area. These buttons were the source of frustration during my time with the Wave's LX8 cordless laser mouse. I found that the button on the right side was located poorly.

The right side button is mapped to browser forward by default and it's positioned exactly where my right pinky sits. When I used the mouse I often hit the button by accident, which is a big problem if you navigate from a webpage where you are entering lots of text or information and loose your data. The black rubberized scroll wheel is notched for a better grip and has noticeable indents for accurate scrolling. The scroll wheel can be clicked to the left and right for horizontal scrolling.

SetPoint can be used to customize the buttons on the mouse as well, with the exception of the left and right main buttons, which can only be swapped for use in the left hand. The side buttons and scroll wheel up, down, left and right functions can all be changed to other key strokes or to perform tasks like cut or paste. You can also bind multiple keystrokes to one button like ctrl, alt, del. The LX8 mouse doesn't have adjustable sensitivity, but you can change the speed of the cursor from within SetPoint, which helps if you use a large monitor. However, if you accelerate the mouse pointer you will give up accuracy.

Interestingly the LX8 mouse has a section in SetPoint where you can activate game detection. This strikes me as odd because this obviously isn't a mouse aimed at hard-core gamers with a resolution of only 800 dpi. The mouse simply lacks the sensitivity and accuracy for FPS gamers. However, casual gamers playing something like The Sims or web based games like Zuma will find that the mouse works decently enough for them. Logitech rates the pair of AA batteries inside the mouse for six months of life and you can check charge levels here as well. I found accuracy to be decent in applications like Photoshop, but not as accurate as mice like the Logitech G7 or the Razer Copperhead.

On the bottom of the mouse you will find a power button to turn the mouse off to save on battery life as well as a connect button for syncing it up with the wireless receiver attached to your computer. The battery door sits on the bottom rear of the mouse and the pair of AA batteries included sit at an angle under the battery door. The mouse is weighted well and is comfortable to use.

The LX8 mouse uses four smaller plastic mouse feet that give up surface area to some wireless mice on the market, but do a good job of gliding the mouse around your mouse pad. Tracking is good with accurate use possible on plastic and fabric mouse pads, wood grain desktops, cloth, and more. You should be able to get good tracking as long as you aren't on a mirrored or clear glass surface. While I was unable to verify if Logitech's claim of a six month battery life was accurate, I did use the mouse for 8-12 hour days for several weeks and the batteries still show a good charge. The mouse will work for Mac as well.

Wireless Performance
The Cordless Desktop Wave uses what Logitech calls a mini-receiver. To my eyes after seeing the receiver Logitech used in the VX Nano wireless mouse, the Wave's receiver is gigantic. In reality the receiver is about the same size as most flash drives, and nearly dead on for the SanDisk Cruzer in dimensions. The wireless performance is very good and in testing connectivity worked perfectly and accurately from across the room with the mouse and keyboard. In fact I was able to use the keyboard in a different room with two walls between me and the receiver. If you are looking to use the Wave for your media center computer it's up to the task.

I have lots of wireless signals flying around my home from my WiFi router, the microwave, my cellular phone and more. I noticed no interference at all when using the Cordless Desktop Wave. If you are using the Wave while watching a movie, taking a phone call and popping popcorn you will have no problems. I also noticed no problems with interference between the Wave in other wireless gear in my home.

Recap
In the end I found that the Wave keyboard was very good offering great typing feel, good battery life and excellent connectivity even through walls and across the room. A wealth of programmable shortcut buttons makes it easy to add your own shortcuts. The mouse has decent accuracy for general PC work and casual gaming; FPS gamers will want to shop elsewhere. Mac users can also enjoy the unique Wave design thanks to OS X compatibility. In the end typists looking for a more comfortable keyboard without the learning curve of many split ergonomic designs will appreciate the Wave keyboard's design.