Digital Trends

Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave August 19th, 2007 | by Josh Norem

Use and Testing

In order to test the Wave, we set up a rigorous schedule of mousing, typing, and then more mousing and typing. We also used it on a Vista computer and an XP PC to see what the difference was. 

The Keyboard 

They keyboard is comfortable, for sure, but it’s subtle. If you’ve ever used an ergonomic keyboard before, you know that it can take some getting used to. The Wave is not too hard to get used to, and in fact, we felt the molded wrist rest to be almost more comfortable than the size of the keys. The action on the keys feels just like the MX 3200, which is to say, it’s a bit squishy for our tastes. We prefer our keyboards to be a bit crisper in terms of feel and feedback, and at first we made a lot of typing mistakes on the keyboard, but we made less as we used it more. 

The shortcut keys are actually useful and were appreciated. All of them worked as they should once we installed the SetPoint software. The only situation we had issues with was that we read the marketing materials that came with this keyboard, and it stated that Logitech developed three Windows Vista gadgets to accompany the keyboard, including a Caps/Num lock status (useful, since there are no lights on the keyboard), a typing speed indicator, and an error calculator. We had just one problem: We could not find them, anywhere. They were not installed with the software, and when we typed in “Logitech Wave” on the Vista gadget site, we did not find anything. (Update: Logitech has pointed out that the gadgets for the Wave are on its support site at this link.)

The Mouse

The LX8 mouse was surprisingly comfortable and easy to use. We’re not too fond of cordless mice unless they have an insane dpi, like the Logitech G7, but we found the LX8 to be sufficiently accurate, even while gaming. Also, we especially liked the design of the “forward” button on this mouse. We’ve always found the “back” button to be very useful, but have never found a “forward” button that didn’t aggravate us — until now, that is. Since you grip the mouse on the right side with your fingers, the button for “forward” that was placed there has always gotten in the way, resulting in accidental clicks. On the LX8, however, Logitech made it flush with the mouse’s edge, so gripping it normally does not activate it. If you want to go forward, you just squeeze your fingers and it clicks. It’s a great design. 

The only special trick the mouse has is that in Vista, when you depress the mouse wheel, it opens up Flip3D, which is very useful. If you are using XP, it opens up a small window that lists your currently open windows, essentially accomplishing the same task with less transparent windows.

Battery Life

Since we tested the Wave for just a few weeks, we can’t comment on the overall battery life, except to say it remained good at all times. If you hover the mouse pointer over the Logitech icon in the system tray, it tells you what the battery status is at that time, and when it gets low, a light on the mouse illuminates. Logitech claims the keyboard will be good for up to 15 months on two AA batteries, while the mouse will last for six months on the same battery ration.

You can get a battery status update by hovering the mouse over the icon in the system tray.