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by seanp2k2 3482 days ago
Yep, I wanted to love Bluetooth for keyboards, but my Logitech and Microsoft wireless keyboards (work and home, respectively) work great with their proprietary receivers (basically like a wireless wire), while the Logitech K810 has random key lag and connectivity issues (try typing your password when Bluetooth doesn't work and you can't log in to re-pair it).

Windows 10 also seems monumentally bad at Bluetooth, and I've tried with a few different Bluetooth dongles with different chipsets. I've had the best luck with the one from Pluggable, which IIRC uses a Cambridge Silicon radio / driver stack. I really wish we had wireless serial instead of wireless USB, as most of the time, that's basically what I want, and stuff like the ESP, nRF24*, or even RFM69 does this quite well. I honestly wish they'd do a 433/900mhz standard for wireless HID only, and another for audio only.

OTOH, I have a Logitech Megaboom which always works amazingly well. Whoever did the Bluetooth radio on that...A+ .

5 comments

> try typing your password when Bluetooth doesn't work and you can't log in to re-pair it

Haha. That reminds me of the classic, "Simply goto to http://example.com/drivers to download the network drivers for your new desktop".

I once bought a brand new Acer Aspire series desktop. Shame it didnt ship with network drivers preinstalled...
> basically like a wireless wire

Yeah, watch out with those, because a wireless wire is about accurate security wise too. Typically the proprietary dongles have very little security wise.

It can be even worse than I suspected. Turns out, even your mouse dongle can be used to inject keystrokes: https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2024/DEF%20CON%2024%20pre...
I recall when the first Logitech wireless keyboards came out.

Me and a friend were at a regional lan party, and he had one of those keyboard. As we soon learned someone else in the locale also had one, because he would ever so often get random inputs on screen...

The Logitech 810 is a fantastic keyboard however I pretend to ignore the connectivity shortcomings that you describe...

What I would like with the Logitech keyboards and mice is an option to plug in with micro USB or to go Bluetooth, i.e. wired but detachable if your Bluetooth happens to be reliable that day.

There already is a micro USB socket for power on the 810 keyboard, sadly they don't do a mouse that charges on microUSB and can also work on micro USB. Regardless, there is not a lot that really needs to be added on the hardware side to implement such a feature.

If such goodies existed then I would not need that normal keyboard/mouse that I have in my draw for the unpaired situation you describe. I could also do things such as BIOS UEFI settings without having to reach for the emergency input devices.

Despite deficiencies, I find the 810 to be the best keyboard going, I carry mine around instead of a laptop, it works great with work PC, my phone and my home PC.

What use cases do you find Bluetooth keyboard / mice enable? Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I've never been able to come up with a compelling answer for myself.
Another gripe I have with bluetooth on PCs (I also have the K810) is that most bluetooth receivers don't come with what's called the "HID Proxy" mode.

If most bluetooth adapters had that, I could use it to navigate the BIOS, etc.

Similar experiences with Windows, but my Bluetooth devices usually work without any issues on Macs though.