Home > Consumer Reviews > Adesso 2.4 GHz RF Wireless Mini Keyboard with Optical Trackball

I bought two of these, one for each of two HTPCs. The first one died after roughly a month. The second one, which I've been using for about a year now, works, but here are the problems I've noticed with it:

--The signal becomes shoddy more than just a few feet away from the TV, so I find myself constantly having to leave the couch to type.
--The keys aren't very responsive, particularly the mouse buttons, and this has gotten worse over time.
--The trackball sticks.

On the whole, I'm disappointed.

Over the past few months, I built a HTPC and I really agonized over part selections. Then when it was all built, the last item I needed was a wireless keyboard. If you done any research, you've probably seen some pretty spotty reviews of wireless keyboards with built in mouse. I dragged my feet for a couple of weeks, unable to pick the best of the worst, but I ended up picking this one. Great choice. I don't have any regrets.

I'm running Ubuntu on the HTPC. The box sits about ten yards from the couch. I've got the USB receiver for the keyboard plugged into the back of the machine, so it's out of sight. The computer/OS recognized the keyboard as soon as it booted, and I didn't have to install any other software. The keyboard is responsive and I don't think I've had a dropped keystroke yet. It comes right out of sleep mode when I tap a directional key, and then it's off to the races. It's even responsive enough to get me into BIOS at boot time, which many people have expressed reservations about. I've been using it almost daily for about a month now and there hasn't been a glitch yet.

The built-in mouse is a trackball. It took a little while to get used to it, but now it's unnoticeable. I can work the trackball with my right hand while I click the two mouse buttons with my left hand. Very comfortable layout. I'm using a 48" HDTV for the monitor. The mouse pointer can move across the screen just as fast as I need it to, which has also been brought up in other reviews. When the keyboard first came out of the box, the trackball was a little "sticky" (not like grape jelly sticky, but you get the drift). After a few minutes of usage though, the factory stickiness wore off and I was able to click on the smallest of areas without moving the pointer. Just takes a little getting used to.

The key layout also takes a little getting used to, as it isn't laid out exactly the same as your typical desktop QWERTY board. No big deal. They just had to adjust things around a bit to accommodate for size. Speaking of size, I was a bit concerned that the keyboard wouldn't be big enough to be comfortable. I'm about 6 foot 4 and I have big hands, so I didn't want a cramped little keyboard that I had to peck at. No problems at all here. My hands rest comfortably on the home row, and I don't have any trouble with fat-fingering keys when I type at normal/fast speed.

If this keyboard was at all a compromise, I would have boxed it back up and returned it. I wasn't about to spend a grand or so on a home theater PC, just to have some crappy keyboard make the whole setup annoying to use. Thankfully, this product is exactly what I was hoping for and it works great. I'm glad I didn't spend twice as much on a Logitech or something, as I don't see what the extra money could have done for me. It's just a keyboard, and if it works, it works. Hope this helps!

I am very excited to get one that works properly. Its a nice design and has a good feel. The one I received works best at 5 feet or closer, and even at that, I frequently have to hit a key 10 times until it registers. I'm within my 30 days so it's going back and I'll replace it with the same one. I'll be happy to follow up with a better review.

Picked this keyboard up after I saw it used in an HTPC for less than $1,000 article on Engadget to give it a whirl at home.

Pros
-Cost
-Decent trackball accuracy
-Comfortable to use whether sitting on your lap, or held in mid-air just navigating.

Cons
-World's cheapest quality keyboard. The keys feel horrible. In contrast to the sturdy frame construction, the pretty good trackball, and the mouse/media keys, the actual keyboard is HORRIFIC.
-Sleep mode. Sometimes the keyboard goes into sleep mode and there's no visual indication of this except for the lack of on-screen response. I found that rolling the trackball a few times then hitting the left mouse button brings it out of sleep better than any other method. Which admittedly makes absolutely no sense, but IT WORKS!
-Have to keep a spare wired keyboard around because with this keyboard you can't access BIOS settings or force the PC to boot from CD/DVD instead of HDD.
-Misses keystrokes. This is probably due to the crappy keyboard quality, but if you type reasonably fast this thing misses letters all over the place. Good enough for a quick IM, but don't write an e-mail to your boss.

Other thoughts...
Despite the keyboard quality, I would recommend this keyboard to others who are looking for something simple yet effective. Just don't try putting the adapter anywhere other than line-of-sight maybe fifteen feet. My PC sits behind a smoked glass door with the rest of the home entertainment gear, otherwise this thing would stick out like a unicorn horn.

I had just finished setting up my mediaPC and was ready to try out this wireless keyboard. Setup was a breeze (plug and play) and it worked great while standing next to the PC. Now my situation may be different since my mediaPC is tucked away in a closet next to the media room. So with that in mind, I can still use the keyboard in the media room within about 10' of the closet but anywhere beyond that distance and it becomes a paperweight. I may try getting a USB extension cable to move the RF unit closer. Also don't expect to be able to type 50+ words per minute on this thing. It's just not quick enough to keep up even if the signal quality is excellent. Therefore I give this a 3 out of 5 since it does it's job - just not well enough for my situation.