Logitech G510s Gaming Keyboard with Game Panel LCD Screen

This replaces an old Logitech G11 keyboard I've had for many years. First, I am NOT a gamer, I'm an application programmer. I have all eighteen programmable keys doing something useful for my business. For instance the bottom three keys are Cut, Copy and Paste. Four keys pop the cursor to the center of one each of my four monitors, etc. To my relief, updating the "Logitech Gaming Software" for the new keyboard honored all my old G11 settings, so aside from setting the display programs, and updating the software for G510, the transisition was simple. The improvements: The keyboard backlighting is now excellent, and color settable. The G11, was one color - white-ish and dim. So I was able to set it to a nice red. I would prefer to set it brighter if I could, but it's adequate at the max. The new kb keys are somewhat less clicky (there's less feedback that the key has been pressed) but was easy to get used to. The sound volume control is now a roller, and is a delight to use. The surfaces have a nice feel - especially the wrist rest. The Cons: The old G11 had two USB sockets. This has none. I used them for either a wired mouse or the "Logitech Unifying Receiver" when using a wireless mouse. In its place I've gained a headphone and microphone jack that I will never use. Truly, I thought everyone used a USB headset! The first keyboard I received had a sticky key from the first day. It just happened to be the DEL key. It did not repeat the DEL action, but the key itself just wouldn't pop up without tapping it a couple of times. I did an on-line RMA on a Saturday and had the new keyboard in hand on the following Tuesday. They gave me the UPS prepaid label, I printed that out and returned the old one in the newer shipping box. I have never been disappointed in Amazon service. I'd give Amazon service a 10 star if I could. Read more

I got this keyboard because I needed more Macro keys than what I had on my G110. I like this keyboard better than the G110 but it does have some design flaws. I use this KB mostly for office type applications and not for gaming. Pros: More color selection for the backlighting than on the G110 (which helped to deal with a con). The LCD screen is somewhat handy. More Macro keys which is the main reason I bought this KB. My old G110 had 12 macro keys with three macros per key. Using any more than the top macro on a key was a bit awkward because, when I hit the M2 or M3 key, the backlighting would turn on (I normally kept the backlighting off). I would have to hit the M2 or M3 key, hit the desired macro key, then, after hitting the M1 key, turn off the backlighting. It got to be a royal pain since, with only 12 Macro keys, I had to hit M2 and M3 keys more often. With the G510s, not only do I not have to hit the M2 or M3 keys as often, when I do, the backlighting will not come on. However, since the color selection of the backlighting is so much better on the G510s, I'm able to leave the backlighting on when using the keyboard in a well lit room. The audio controls. They are well laid out and are easy to use. I especially love the volume roller. Improved Macro key programming. Moving macros from one key to another can be accomplished by just dragging them. That makes macro management significantly easier. I don't have any of the problems with the operation of the spacebar that many people reported. It works no matter where I hit it and doesn't squeak, Cons: The silver keys: The sliver keys are a very bad idea. It is difficult to see the characters on the silver keys when the backlighting is off but, when it is on, it becomes pretty much impossible unless the room lights are off. I had to compromise on color for the M1 setting to be able to read the WASD keys and still be able to read the LCD screen easily. The arrow keys are still pretty much impossible to see unless the room lights are off. I rarely type with the room lights off because it is harder on my old eyes (I'm a senior citizen) plus I often have to read copy while typing. The WASD keys could have been marked with a second character on the keys or a circle around the characters. I realize the WASD keys are handier for gamers than the arrow keys but making them silver hurts both gamers and nongamers. Also, not all people touch type so they need to be able to see the characters (in my case, it is due to learning disabilities). The KB should have separate backlighting controls for the keys and the LCD screen. As I stated above, I had to find a compromise in backlight color to be able to read the WASD keys and the LCD screen. Brighter backlighting would have also been nice. The LCD screen is surrounded by a shiny surface that collects dust and finger prints, shows scratches, and reflects room lighting, obscuring the LCD screen itself if the board is at the wrong angle. There are a very limited amount of independent applets available for the LCD screen. The only two that were of any use to me were the clock (and the analog portion is a joke) and the performance monitor that displays CPU and RAM usage. The media display was worthless to me because it only shows the Artist of the selection playing. If the artist's name was too long to fit on the screen, it would continuously scroll across the screen, which is very distracting when typing. The CPU monitoring program I use has an applet for the G15 which I found would work with the G510s. Since it also has a time and date display, I don't even use the clock applet that came with the KB. The LCD screen was a huge disappointment for me but, since I got this KB primarily for the larger number of macro keys, I'm not taking anything off for the LCD screen. Macro key programming. While some functions of the macro key program were a huge improvement over the G110, such as being able to drag macros from key to key, store unassigned macros, and use macros from my G110, other changes were problematic. When I first tried to make some text macros the right click context menu wouldn't work. I had to look up the keyboard command to paste. I normally do not use keyboard commands because, with my learning disabilities, there is no way I can remember all of them. The right click context menu worked in the G110, why did Logitech take that away in the G510s? I often provide URLs leading to software websites on various computer forums. I was able to just type those into text macros, usually with additional text to describe what them. However, when I tried to do the same in the G510s, pressing the macro button would return a completely messed up string of characters. After wracking my brains for a couple of hours, I gave up and emailed Logitech asking what I was doing wrong and how to fix it because, if I couldn't use the macro keys the way I could with the G110, I was going to return the G510s. I finally figured it out the next day while waiting for Logitech to reply. There is a selection for Unicode playback that had to be checked even though I wasn't using Unicode. I also had to put in a three millisecond delay between characters. Otherwise, double and triple repeated characters would get one character dropped (example: www became ww; free became fre). Poor documentation. When I had the problem programming URLs into macros, I went through all the help screens and found nothing about using Unicode playback. I found out about being able to drag macros by accident. Nothing was said about how to how to create one's own LCD screen applets even though it's supposedly possible to do so. I found out about the CoreTemp applet purely by accident. The legs that elevate the top of the KB are too short. However, it is also impossible to elevate the top of the KB any higher because of the bulge in the bottom edge of the KB would lift the KB off the rubber feet at the bottom. Also, raising the top of the KB would also increase glare from the LCD screen surround. Customer support is less than stellar. When I emailed Logitech about the macro key programming issue, they responded two days later (which was within the 48 hour window promised), asking me to describe the problem even though I already had. that was not exactly useful. While not a serious problem, the characters on some of the key caps are just wrong. The comma looks just like the period, The colon looks just like the semicolon. The parenthesis look like brackets. The brackets look like an upper case I. The braces look like parenthesis unless one looks at them with a magnifier. The ampersand looks like a crude blocky upper case G. The ampersat just looks crude. There is just no excuse for such sloppiness and ambiguity. No USB port. My G110 had a USB port on it which was a handy place to put the receiver for my wireless mouse that wouldn't shield it (I had to relocate the receiver to the back of my computer and use a short extension to get it out where the computer wouldn't shield it from the mouse). I understand this was done to ensure the KB would work at full USB 2.0 speeds and have adequate power. Since not everyone types fast enough for that to be an issue, it would have been nice to have provide the port anyway and warn that using it could slow the KB, that way, people could have had a choice. One alternative would have been to make the USB connection USB 3.0, then speed and power wouldn't be an issue if another device or two shared the connection, Or just add a second USB 2.0 cable connection to the computer as another keyboard manufacturer did. I've noticed that I will occasionally get some key bounce (repeated characters) if I don't press the key down firmly (part of that is somewhat my fault; with my arthritis, my keystrokes just don't have the "authority" they used to). I'm hoping that this will improve with time as the keyboard loosens up with use. While my list of cons is much longer than the list of pros, the pros are strong enough to rate the KB at four stars. Also, the pros are strong enough I'm willing to deal with the cons, most of which are more annoyances than actual problems Read more

After about a year and a half of use, this little wonder still holds up. In a growing world of mechanical-keyboard supremacy, I took a chance to upgrade my 5 year old Logitech G15 to the G510s instead of a mechanical keyboard and I am quite pleased. These keyboards are quite durable and the 510s even moreso. My old G15 only broke due to my own repeated fiddling with the keys and constant (admittedly reckless) popping out and back in to clean quickly instead of the right way. The only actual qualms I had with the old G15 was that the key labels started to fade after about a year of use. It's been a year and a half with this G510s and it has not only survived a move, but still is as sturdy and vivid in colour and key labels as the day I got it. Though it does retain the soft, squishy keyboard feel of non-mechanicals, it doesn't feel bad to use on its own. The keys are comfortable, not too loud and fits nice with my (I believe average-sized) hands. The best part, of course, is the LCD screen that it comes equipped with. It gives you a quick overview of your basic computer performance, the time & date, or your current game's stats if enabled (League of Legends, Borderlands, etc) and is actually the primary reason I chose this keyboard. Though I bought mine on a great sale of $60, I would definitely recommend this keyboard in the sub-$100 range. In fact, I would like to go as far as to say that this might be the best non-mechanical keyboard out there, though I still have yet to get to try Logitech's G19 model, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Read more