Every company should be like Logitech

[Bolty]

The Lurker Lounge. Brought to you by: Logitech. (YES! Sponsorship money!)

Seriously, I too have to state that you can't go wrong buying Logitech products. They generally cost more than their competitors. Guess why, and it isn't because they're ripping you off.

[--Pete]

Hi,

The Lurker Lounge. Brought to you by: Logitech. (YES! Sponsorship money!)

Wouldn't that be sweet.

Non-obtrusive advertising of quality products. Now that I could live with, maybe even like.

--Pete

[DeeBye]

Seriously, I too have to state that you can't go wrong buying Logitech products. They generally cost more than their competitors. Guess why, and it isn't because they're ripping you off.

When I am looking for a new peripheral, I always look to see what Logitech has to offer. After checking out online reviews, I pretty much always buy the Logitech product.

This faulty G5 is the only* Logitech product that has ever failed me, and I have bought dozens of their products over the years. My second computer has my ~5 year old MX510 which despite the huge beating it has taken over the years still works as well as the day I bought it. My main computer has carried over the X-540 speakers I bought many years ago, and I can't find anything that sounds better for any reasonable price.

* my wife bought me a Logitech G15 keyboard (the one with the LCD screen) for a Father's Day, but it failed me when she spilled a full cup of coffee on it. Not Logitech's fault so I don't count that. Yes, I am still bitter about this and my wife and I don't talk about it.

[Mirajj]

* my wife bought me a Logitech G15 keyboard (the one with the LCD screen) for a Father's Day, but it failed me when she spilled a full cup of coffee on it. Not Logitech's fault so I don't count that. Yes, I am still bitter about this and my wife and I don't talk about it.

Last Christmas, I bought my wife a Saitek Cyborg keyboard. Basically because it turns the keys a bright, deep green (her favorite color) and keeps them that color when you turn the keyboard on or off.

Two DAYS after she opened it up, she left her full glass of water on her desk. The cat knocked the water directly into the keyboard. Ruined it pretty quick. It eventually dried out so that most of the keys worked, but nothing in the numberpad did, and any number keys on top of the QWERTY space you pressed resulted in several random numbers.

I still twit her about it occasionally...but bought her a new one, as well.

[DeeBye]

Two DAYS after she opened it up, she left her full glass of water on her desk. The cat knocked the water directly into the keyboard. Ruined it pretty quick.

I got about 2 months of enjoyment out of the G15. She offered to buy me a new one, but I declined. We both usually have a cup full of some sort of drink beside the keyboard and it could just as easily have been me that spilled it. A very expensive keyboard needs a "No drink within 2 feet" rule, which I wasn't prepared to enforce. I bought a Logitech Access keyboard for about $30 to replace it, and I think the actual dial volume control is more practical than the LCD screen on the G15 (but not nearly as cool).

[--Pete]

Hi,

. . . but it failed me when she spilled a full cup of coffee on it.

The cat knocked the water directly into the keyboard. Ruined it pretty quick. It eventually dried out so that most of the keys worked, but nothing in the numberpad did, and any number keys on top of the QWERTY space you pressed resulted in several random numbers.

A very expensive keyboard needs a "No drink within 2 feet" rule, which I wasn't prepared to enforce.

I've given so many keyboards a tea bath that it was a running joke for a while. One of my coworkers even made a label that he put on my keyboard saying "This is *NOT* your mouth". However, I've never lost a keyboard to liquids (yet). It's not like there are any high voltage components that are going to short out. It's just that the moisture gets into the 'works' and never dries out unless you disassemble the keyboard and dry it manually. Typically the problem is in the three layers of membrane that are the actual capacitive switches. Just take everything apart, paying attention to where everything is. If you've spilled anything but clear water, rinse everything in normal tap water. Then dry off with paper or cloth towels, blast with a duster, dry what's just come out, and stick everything in a warm (120F, 50C) spot (I've used a flat box with small holes in the lid, a heating pad, and a wire rack to hold the bits away from the pad). About a day should do it. Reassemble, using a LOT of the duster (tiny specs of grit between the membranes can screw everything up for one to four nearby keys). I've, on two occasions, had to repeat the process because I wasn't careful enough about cleanliness, but it's always worked in the end.

Or, if they're still around, you can always get a KeyTronix keyboard -- for probably about $1000US. Individual gold plated reed switches in a nitrogen filled glass envelope, activated by cobalt magnets in the keys. Bronze steel springs, dual molded keys, blah, blah, blah. They mostly supply medical equipment manufacturers and, I'd guess, the government. Since I don't expect to live to see the next millennium, I'd consider it an overkill, but some of you yong'uns might want to check it out. Like a Rolls, it might be cheap in the long run.

To bed, perchance to sleep -- or at least to pet the cats.

--Pete

[Klaus]

This faulty G5 is the only* Logitech product that has ever failed me, and I have bought dozens of their products over the years.

I had a G7 (like the G5 but wireless), and the right mouse button went flaky. I didn't think to look at warranty info, but I probably should have. I got a G5 for my main computer, and used the G7 for another machine where the right mouse button wasn't as important. Since then, one of the two battery packs for the G7 literally fell apart - the plastic shell separated along the seam.

The G5 I have now is also showing signs of right-button failure. I'll have to see if I have the receipt (or, more like, if I can print a new one from newegg, which is where I got it).

I'm thinking that the switches don't like being held down, which I do a lot playing WoW because I mouse-move.

[Zarathustra]

I've got an old G15 keyboard (original one with the blue lights) and an MX518 gaming mouse which needs to be upgraded to a G9 soon. Both have served me well without problems, and I'll be sticking with Logitech for the forseeable future.

Another company I had a great experience with was Bose. I built a new gaming rig and one of the things I picked up was a Bose Companion 5 surround system. It's just two speakers and a sub, but has simulated surround sound and sounds AMAZING while playing any game. I love it.

Well, I came home from work one night to hear a high-pitched sound coming from my desk. ...not good. It wasn't the speakers at all, but the surge protector on my system. It seemed everything was allright until about a half hour of playing WoW. Suddenly my speakers cut out. I checked everything, restarted the system (both the computer and the sound system) and everything was fine... for about twenty minutes. This continued, dwindling each time until I simply wasn't getting any sound.

The catch is that it'd been about 15 months since I bought the speaker system, and it had a one-year warranty. After a few emails back and forth with a technician, it was decided that my system needed to be sent in for repair. I paid shipping to send it to Bose and that's it. They repaired it free of charge despite it being out of warranty (and possibly due to a bad surge protector) and shipped it right back to me. The invoice read that the total for the repairs was $0.00 and advised that I always protect my electronics with a quality surge protector.

Any company willing to bend on a warranty deadline just to secure your future business has my vote.

[LavCat]

Another company I had a great experience with was Bose. I built a new gaming rig and one of the things I picked up was a Bose Companion 5 surround system. It's just two speakers and a sub, but has simulated surround sound and sounds AMAZING while playing any game. I love it.

I've been using a Bose Companion 5 since 2004. Mine has not had any problems, and it is one of the most satisfying computer equipment purchases I have ever made. I would not call Bose Hi-Fi (for that I use headphones) but it is wonderful for WoW. Not only does it sound good it looks good.