Question Logitech Craft keyboard review

punkncat

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Picked this up and did my first day of work on it yesterday. Figured I would give some initial thoughts about it.

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/craft

I picked this up as an Amazon renewed product. It saved me just at $50 off the new price at the cost of long term warranty. I felt it was a worthwhile chance to take and the product arrived to me as if it was new aside from the retail box and such. It is a very hefty and quality feeling keyboard. It is wireless and can connect to up to three devices via Bluetooth or by the Unifying Receiver. It's a super handy feature particularly if you have to work with multiple devices. It will pair with one of the line of Logitech mouse as well, but I do not own that.

The keyboard comes with a variety of macro buttons along the top and most notably a knob they call the Crown. I won't echo other reviews to parrot everything it does, but most notably it comes out of the box working volume and play/pause function which was an important feature to me. You can download a companion program called Options that allow other features for the Crown as well as some other minor tweaks and software upgrade options. I personally found the app to be buggy and uninstalled it. In the case that I was going to use this with some of the other features it works with (Adobe and such) you have to have it.
The keys themselves have a concave spot that is really comfortable for feel while typing. The keys are shallow scissor switches like what would be found in a laptop-like keyboard. They have a nice tactile feel and are low noise, particularly nice for the home office. The shallowness is a bit off-putting, but seems worth getting used to. My biggest issue right now is "slamming" on the keys and I am still missing keys a bit. The keyboard is backlit as well and senses when your fingers are close. It's a nice feature that I wanted for dim light situations.

My last "premium" keyboard was a Microsoft Sidewinder. It's plastic construction and weight made it feel much less quality than this one does. It's feature set was nice to me and this keyboard offers a lot of it minus the gaming presets and colored flashy lights. The weight of this unit lends a solid feel and it absolutely doesn't move across the desk. It does have a shallow angle as compared to a normal PC keyboard and is much more akin to typing on a laptop/Ultrabook type device. I don't find it uncomfortable at all.

All in all I wouldn't want to pay retail for one, but at the $50 it brought all but one feature I was looking for (USB passthrough) and that was easily overcome doing away with the cord my previous keyboard(s) had. Recommended if you can find it on sale or refurbished. I will follow up later in regard to how well it stands up.
 

punkncat

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Follow up to the follow up. Battery life was a solid day LESS than the week prior. I am still within return, so that will be a thought.

I have gotten to really like the feel and flow of the keyboard itself. Still a few errors here and there but I am self taught typist. The key shortness doesn't bother me at all any more. It's clicks are far more subtle after getting used to it.
My only solid complaint with it thus far is that when using with an Android device it has a tendency to "lose" the space key when using capitals. For instance I went would be Iwent. Not sure what is going on with it. A small window/message pops up on my phone but it's gone before I can register what it's saying.

Overall still a highly recommended at the sale pricing according to this battery issue.
 

punkncat

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Two months in.

The honeymoon is over and I am still satisfied with the purchase so much as relayed in the first post. It's a decent and solid feeling keyboard. I would not have been happy with this at retail price, however am concerned as to manufacturer warranty.

My only two 'complaints' are these. The battery life is fairly bad under constant use and particularly in the dark, unless you turn off the backlight which of course isn't why I wanted one WITH it for. Battery needs charged every 4-5 days so far as I can tell. It may be reducing steadily and is my concern for warranty.
The other aspect that I simply cannot come to terms with is the short stroke of the keys. They are comfortable and have a nice click to them, not distracting. My use of 'long' travel keys for so long I just keep expecting my fingers to be striking before they do and I have yet to stop making simple mistakes with spellings and missed letters, etc. It's not a deal breaker to me but remains distracting and mildly frustrating.

Aside from that my main positive points revolve around the music control via the Crown and it's ability to quickly pair back and forth from PC/phone/laptop. I am strongly considering checking further into the mouse built into this same platform just to make that easier when moving between. Mostly a non issue on the phone, but have to remember when moving to the laptop.
 

punkncat

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Final review.

I have gotten used to the shallow keys, and actually transfer from this to my laptop easier due to it. The keys have worn in to a really nice feel, nice and soft and comfy to use all day long. I actually turned out to like the shallow angle better as well. I use it without a wrist rest.
The battery leveled out to around 5 or so days on a charge according to usage and as stated above, particularly in light of how often it's used at night.

As far as long term use, it's quality and feature set I would highly recommend this keyboard.