Wireless Keyboards

[Vish]

I wanted to ask peoples opinions on what kind of wireless keyboard they have/like/want. I personally want basically a keyboard with a fully functional trackball nailed to the side of it, but so far I havent seen anything that looks perfect. Also, IR/RF/Bluetooth opinions are welcome.

[dneprrider]

I've been using the wireless keyboard combo from

http://www.gyration.com/ultraprosuite_fullkey.htm

and I love them. The mouse is a gyroscopic unit that I can use from the comfort of my arm chair. Very nice high quality unit indeed.

[Vish]

I saw those gyroscopic mouses that let you basically just wave your hand at the screen, very cool. Not sure if it is quite for me though. It's a little expensive, and I would rather only have one piece of hardware instead of a keyboard and a mouse.

Right now I am looking at some of the keyboards with onboard trackballs made by Fentek. I know nothing about the company other then whats on their website so I didn't know if anyone else had used any of their products...
http://www.fentek-ind.com/wireless.htm#kbmtbpsps

Or mabye something similar to this microsoft keyboard, only for windows XP...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6823109151

[herbs]

I'm using BTC RF 9019 (£18 from ebay) http://www.byopvr.com/Sections+index-req...age-1.html. I did have an airboard keyboard which worked well until it started playing up but that ir so needed line of sight.

[Vish]

Thanks herbs! That looks pretty nice. I found a review of it on TomsHardware as well. They were actually reviewing gaming keyboards, but the reviewer says it's much better suited as a HTPC keyboard. And it's pretty reasonablly priced.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/game/200407...ds-05.html

I imagined a trackball would be easier to use than a joystick, but I'm having second thoughts now after reading a few of these reviews.

Here's one more review from XtremeComputing.
http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=82

I'm probably gunna give myself a few more days and order this before the week is over.

[bgowland]

I personally want basically a keyboard with a fully functional trackball nailed to the side of it,...

Trackball? Yick! Maybe I'm getting old but I hate those things. I have to use one at work on an integrated 20-way KVM setup - the keyboard is too small and no matter what I do I can't get the response on the trackball right.

My preference for control is still a mouse - I have a Logitech Desktop MX setup at home - the keyboard is good (done a couple of years service now) and the mouse (LX700) is excellent - I have the settings so I can cover the whole of my screen without lifting my wrist off the mat. The thumb-activated forward and back buttons for web browsing are a must in my opinion.

Also, IR/RF/Bluetooth opinions are welcome.

Forget IR unless you're always going to be mostly in line of sight. Forget Bluetooth unless you already have Bluetooth devices or you're thinking of getting some. Plain RF is the mid-price option and works good for me.

[Vish]

Yeah, I'm a mouse-man as well. But having a mouse pad on my couch isn't that great of an option. Plus I want everything on one piece of hardware...less things to lose in the couch

I am curious about IR though....does it have a better responce to mouse movements? better battery life? Or is it really the same as RF except requiring line of sight?

[tal56]

I think in a Living room setting IR is actually pretty good. I've tried RF Logitech and Microsoft mouse and keyboard before and they both did not work well in the living room because of all the interference from the other devices. I got a IR one and it's been great, works well for range and it's easy to keep it in line of sight.

I'm sure it's different for everyone, but for my situation the IR just worked better.

[marpe]

I recently changed to Logitech Dinova 2.0 (Bluetooth).
Parts: Bluetooth hub, kb, m, mediapad.

Positive:
+ Slim design.
+ Fast keyboard.
+ Good connection between units.

Negative
- Logitech suggests me commercial proprietary players, connected to the media buttons. I´d the same experience with my old Logitech keyboard. I´m not very found of it. So I have some minor programming ahead.
- A lot of configuration to avoid unwanted bluetooth funktions.

Summary I like the keyboard. As always there is alot of gunk to avoid.

/marpe

[maxxgraphix]

I wanted to ask peoples opinions on what kind of wireless keyboard they have/like/want. I personally want basically a keyboard with a fully functional trackball nailed to the side of it, but so far I havent seen anything that looks perfect. Also, IR/RF/Bluetooth opinions are welcome.

Know exactly what you mean.

Answer: Adesso ACK-573

Pro's - Small, black, built in track ball, long range, comands can programmed to your remote, cheap.

Cons - Won't transmit around people who stand in front of the TV

Oh, yeah the ultimate Universal Remote for less than $20 is a URC-8820.
It will run just about anything.