2.4 GHZ MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD

Comment:
Quick, automatic, robust connection to reciever. Long range. Easy to operate with two hands (similar to a game controller) with position of mouse click, scroll and position controls at top right and left of unit. Very nice compact full function all-in-one mouse -keyboard unit. I have tried many and this unit is the absolute best.

Comment:
trackball is horrible even with the dpi settingsis a good idea for a htpc type application but i was so unimpressed with the trackball i had to pawn it off on an unsuspecting n00b

Comment:
I own an Adesso WKB-3000UB, which layout-wise I consider to be the perfect wireless keyboard for both HTPC and general use, though obviously not for gaming. I purchased the Iogear to see how well it compares, seeing as it is the closest out there in terms of design. I've also recently played with the Microsoft Arc wireless (odd key placement) and HP Wireless Mini-Keyboard (useless mouse features) among others. Finding the perfect wireless keyboard is no easy task, let me tell you. I do think a trackball is the way to go though, so long as it can be removed for cleaning once in a while. Track pads and eraser style nubs are alright for simple tasks too, just not heavy use.Unlike the other reviewers here, I have not experienced any of the communication troubles or glitches with my Iogear. In fact I feel it is almost perfect quality-wise in terms of construction, despite being all plastic. The keys are responsive and feel good. Signal strength is also perfect with no dropouts to speak of, even when in my lap. If someone were to take the reliability and quality components of the Iogear and put them into the housing of the Adesso keyboard mentioned above, the hunt for the perfect keyboard would be over not just for me, but for almost everyone. No other keyboard for this type of usage would be able to compare and they would sell like hotcakes.The number one thing I dislike the most about the Iogear is how they wasted key space on the right-hand side of the keyboard. There is no need to have the Backspace and (especially) Enter key be quite so large. What should be there are proper Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys. People use those keys a lot, and it is a major pain to have to first press the Fn key to access them. Every time I want to select  an entire line, I have to press Fn+Shift+Arrow which only compounds the confusion. Iogear made the once simple task of jumping around a composition no longer the easy no-brainer it used to be. Thanks for that! Heck, even the forward slash could have been put in the proper location had key size been more sensible.Problem number two involves the lack of mouse key triggers. On the Adesso there are actually two left mouse buttons. One is located on the top left of the keyboard, the other on the right as a trigger. I always wondered why the need for redundancy, but now that I have an Iogear I understand. Say you want to select  some files. Easy enough, right? So you use your left hand to hold the Ctrl key, your right hand to move the trackball, and now you can't click a mouse button because your hands are in too awkward of a position. Well, maybe some can, but it certainly doesn't feel right or accurate. Ok, so lets instead try holding down the other Ctrl key with the right hand, the mouse button with the thumb on your left hand, and... now you can't use the trackball reliably because your hands are once again in an awkward position. Adding additional mouse buttons in the form of triggers would completely overcome this problem. It would also allow you to press them and scroll with the scroll wheel at the same time should there ever be a need. The current layout of the Iogear limits you to your left thumb for left mouse, right mouse, and scroll wheel, and right thumb for the trackball with no consideration to the fact that you have other fingers free while operating the mousing features of this keyboard.The third thing I find annoying is the edges. I find they dig into my palms if I don't have the keyboard in my lap, which would be fine expect for the fact that you have to hold the keyboard in your hands in order to use the mouse buttons and trackball effectively. The rubber they put along the edges helps somewhat, but rounded edges would be far more preferable, especially during those long browsing sessions. Speaking of rubber, this keyboard has rubber grommets on the bottom, presumably for using it on a coffee table. Companies tend to use these on a lot of things these days and they always fall off within the first year. Something that sits in your lap is going to need especially good glue. Pay attention to yours because it won't be long until you are epoxying them back on, provided they don't disappear into the furniture first of course. An easy way to clean out the trackball (which I really like) would have been nice too.Overall I really like this keyboard, despite it's shortcomings. That is why I'm giving it a four out of five stars. This is also what I gave the Adesso. They both suffer from several poor design choices, and if either wants a perfect five out of five, they will have to figure out a way to marry the best that both have to offer. Having experimented with a number of wireless keyboards, I stand by my opinion that you wouldn't want for anything else should such a keyboard ever come to exist. Here is to hoping someone from one of these respective companies reads this review and takes my words to heart.

Comment:
This is actually only 2 stars but the site wants me to put in an OrderID which I don't have. I read lots of reviews on this keyboard and it seemed like a great choice. At first it was, I liked the placement of the mouse buttons and trackball. But as I've used it more and more for my HTPC (changing setings, installing programs), I find the trackball very frustrating. It is difficult to click things b/c the mouse will jump a random distance in a random direction when I click the left mouse button. So you can't use it for drag and drop  at all and it takes sometimes 3 times just to click 'next'.I was using it through a wall before and the distance seemed fine, but now I used it 10ft from the dongle and it sometimes has problems picking it up until I move the keyboard closer. I paid $55 for this keyboard and it is NOT worth the $100 price tag. I will be looking into a bluetooth keyboard/mouse shortly.

Comment:
Don't expect much out of the trackwheel, it's not a replacement for a mouse. It works good for very occasional use though, for example if your htpc rarely ever uses the mouse, but sometimes you just need the cursor for a few seconds. The trackwheel is made very cheap, very plastic and light. I was expecting something like the ball in a ball mouse (heavy and with some 'torque'), but this one just feels like a chunk of hollow light plastic.The trackwheel is also very buggy, for example I want to highlight something in this review to delete, click and drag does NOT work at all; the cursor will jump around like crazy, as others have already mentionned. You can't use the wheel and a button at the same time, it's sorta like ghosting I guess.As I'm typing on this right now, the keyboard itself feels good, other than for the fact that the enter key and backwards slash are seriously screwed up. I guess it's difficult to make a niche htpc keyboard, and I was very well warned by other users about the click while mousing around problem, but for the money I expected more.