Jeremiah Hoyet

I’m one happy go-lucky geek right about now. Last week I decided that I needed to finally purchase a mouse pad and a new keyboard. The cheap piece of junk Logitech media keyboard I have been using for about a year now has overstayed it’s welcome on my desk, and the lack of a mouse pad is sometimes. . . frustrating during online gaming.

So, I have with me today, a shiny new Logitech Wave corded keyboard, and a rather large, suede-feeling XtracPads mouse pad. Both of which I am very happy with indeed.

The Logitech Wave is probably the mose innovative keyboard of today. It sports an ergonomical design, without splitting the keyboard into two halfs and requiring me to change my bad typing habits in order to use the device. Instead, it has a “wave” design, the center keys being the peak of the wave at about 4mm higher than the lowest point. Yes, the wave isn’t extreme, but it’s slight enough that while typing this mini-review, I haven’t had one cramp or had to shift positions in my chair; something I often experienced with my regular Logitech Media keyboard.

Besides the wave, the Logitech Wave also has several really useful features. The top row of “F” keys is completely customizable in the Logitech Setpoint software (included with the keyboard). I now have a key to launch Firefox, a key to launch Gmail, and a key to launch Pidgin. Needless to say, I need to browse through the lacking Windows Vista start menu less frequently during my time at my PC.

I’m not saying the keyboard is perfect. As you can see in the picture, the “comfort pad” doesn’t look like it will be too resistant to normal usage and might end up being a dust magnet. It’s a little hot in my room right now, and just having slightly sweaty palms left clear palm prints on the pad. Something that isn’t very attractive, not at all.

My new mouse pad, well, how many paragraphs do I need to write on that. The only really good thing I have to say is that the size does matter. Too often during online gaming do I run out of space on normal mouse pads, forcing me to lift the mouse off the pad and shift it’s position to continue moving the cursor in one direction. I actually taught myself to play at super high sensitivities in order to counter act this problem. Now I think I can safely return to my old, low sensitivity game play, because I have enough room to do a 720 degree turn around at the lowest sensitivity settings.