Commence waving and smiling!
The new Wave combo uses a different receiver - a tiny stick, vs the previous, which was about like a memory stick. You can still remote it as was the case in the previous style if your available USB slots don't present well for your activity with either keyboard or mouse. This is their universal receiver - handling up to 6 devices. As my wife has a Logitech mouse, with the presumed same receiver, I wondered about conflict. So far, neither of our devices have triggered the other's receiver. So, I am guessing/presuming that there are a large number of frequencies used. However, I have no idea how they associate, as there aren't the "connect" buttons on the mouse or keyboard as there were on the earlier version. How, you might ask, do I know so much about the earlier version? I had one, and the mouse failed. I gave away the perfectly good keyboard (and the dead mouse), as the mouse could not be replaced, being supplanted by their new universal system. That being the only negative I had regarding the previous version, let's move on to my real review... This style keyboard instantly cured me of my carpal tunnel equivalent in my elbows. I'm 6-4, with 38" sleeves, which should minimize the distortion needed to place my hands in accordance with the usual keyboard layout - but it wasn't. My first swept keyboard was a wired Microsoft Natural. The second was a wireless keyboard and mouse, also Microsoft Natural. In that case, the failure was on the keyboard - one of the keys' circuit film's trace lines broke, depriving me of many keys on the bottom row. Repair was not an option. Going looking, at the time (many years ago, now), I found that Logitech had a competitor. Better, it was less expensive. I ordered it. This one is contoured. My fingers fall naturally to the level of the keys, which are - as the name suggests - in a wave pattern. That's a bonus over the Microsoft version, and at a substantially lesser price. I finally got to looking (I expect the prior one had them also) at the hotkeys, which actually work, on my keyboard. I've become spoiled. The "off" button on the keyboard (extreme top right) is very much faster at shutting down my XP system than any other I'd used previously. The media center buttons are a joy, and all the others I've tried are like playing in the toy store for me. The new keyboard has a much softer touch and sound than the previous, which, as I'm heavy handed (I learned on manual typewriters), is a relief to the neighbors (we live on a boat; I'm kidding, but my wife appreciates the relative quiet). As my computer has only two USB slots on the front, I use the extension for the receiver because we have the computer mounted under a shelf and behind a bench, making reception a bit dicey in general, but especially for the desk I use, which is directly in front of the computer where the receiver would be behind all the various metal and electronics as relates to the "view" of both keyboard and mouse. We routinely use the mouse remotely, as that's how we do our movies aboard; we move the monitor to a shelf, and the mouse does all the navigation from that point forward, sitting at 90° from my desk, and out several feet. I simply can't, for any extended period of time, be without a "natural" keyboard. Just the couple of weeks where I used my backup, PS2-wired keyboard and mouse, led to my elbows complaining loudly. Thus, this was a no-brainer for me. However, it goes beyond merely a sweeping set of keys; it's comfortable, quiet, my hand falls naturally to the wave pattern (your - longest - middle fingers' keys are lower than the surrounding keys, and so on out from there) and fully featured. Fortunately, when one of these eventually dies, I'll now be able to replace the individual component (all of these devices are available separately), instead of having to buy a whole set. Can you tell I like it? Read more
