Logitech MK710 Wireless Keyboard and M705 Wireless Marathon Mouse — Review

 

© 2011 Peter Free

 

05 January 2011 (updated 02 September 2016)

 

This review is intended primarily for users who intend to use the MK710 keyboard and companion M705 mouse with an on-desk Windows laptop

 

My keyboard criticisms are specific to laptop use.  For ordinary desktop use, the MK710 wireless keyboard is quite good.

 

The M705 mouse, on the other hand, may not be great for left-handed users in any setup.

 

You can find some reviews of the M705 mouse on Logitech’s reviews webpage.  “TAR from Connecticut” wrote there that, “This mouse is NOT for lefties.”  I agree.

 

 

The “unifying” USB receiver

 

The MK710 keyboard and M705 mouse (boxed set) come with what Logitech calls a 2.4 GHz “unifying” USB receiver.  The latter is quite small and easily plugs into a USB port.

 

I use the keyboard with a desk-positioned laptop.

 

The small USB receiver is a nice feature.  It’s less likely to catch on other items on the desk.  The wireless function makes traveling with a laptop and the keyboard less tangly than attempting to do the same with a wired keyboard/mouse setup.

 

 

Keyboard is good, but nothing special

 

The keyboard is nothing special, either pro or con for most desktop uses.

 

It has a number pad, which is useful.  For example, since I copyright everything, the extended keyboard’s ability to print a “©” symbol in Photoshop (by keying alt+ 0-1-6-9) is convenient.

 

But like similar keyboards, you have to place the keyboard off-center relative to the monitor, so as to have the typing keys centered in front of your body.

 

This do-most-things MK710 keyboard has some over-kill drawbacks that show up in laptop use.  It is 11.5 centimeters deeper (front to back) than necessary for basic uses:

 

It has a row of less than necessary buttons on its away-from-the-user edge.  They add 5+ centimeters to the depth of the keyboard.

 

The keyboard’s near side also has a non-removable 6.5 centimeter wide built in palm rest.

 

In addition to taking more desk space than some users might want, the keyboard’s added depth puts the it that much farther from my laptop’s 15 inch screen.  This makes the LCD harder to see without zooming in on each page.  When I magnify the screen presentation in compensation for the increased distance, I often lose view of the full width of each page.

 

This placement problem will not be an irritation for people with good intermediate distance vision.  For the older set, it might be.   However, the caveat applies mostly to laptops with small displays.  I doubt that someone with a full-size desk display is going to care.

 

 

The left-hand hostile M705 mouse, however, makes this the most annoying setup I have ever used

 

Note — 02 September 2016

 

What follows is outdated, as I discovered today on a new Mac computer, when I went to download Logitech's Mac software for the M705.

Logitech's Control Center application now allows users to completely disable the M705 thumb buttons. Doing this avoids the following problems.

 

The M705 mouse has three left side buttons.  Two are positioned at the center top of the left side panel.  The other is placed at the center of the lower edge of the left side.

 

All three are moderately sensitive to pressure.  They were clearly designed for the user’s right thumb.  Thumbs can be held away from the object being held, until they are needed for control.

 

For left-handed use — the little, ring, and middle fingers have to apply much of one’s ability to control the mouse by remaining in contact with the device.  This can lead to inadvertently triggering one or more of the three left side buttons.

 

In my case, this inadvertent triggering happens frequently, particularly when I have to maneuver the mouse around, as when selecting text or areas for manipulation in Photoshop.

 

Given that the three buttons change function according to the program application one is working in, inadvertent button activation means that I’m frequently:

 

(a) leaving my place on the page/photo I’m typing or altering

 

or

 

(b) depending on the mouse’s programming, getting a warning message that tells me I’ve assigned the button no function.

 

The warning message lands smack in the middle of the page and won’t go away, until I acknowledge it by hitting its on-screen close button.

 

Logitech apparently did not anticipate that some people would want to turn the left side buttons completely off.  The software provides no way to do this simply and directly.  In my sample of the software, one of these button’s “do nothing” choice does not work at all.  This may be an unintended manufacturer’s glitch.

 

Instead, I had to go through a list assigning the three buttons less overtly annoying functions.  I set two of mine to “mute.”  (I only rarely have my computer speakers on.  Obviously, this ploy would not work for someone who works with music playing.)

 

In regard to the silly warning message — if I wanted to assign the mouse button(s) a function, I would have.  I don’t need Logitech to tell me I didn’t.  Especially in a way that makes it impossible to prevent the mouse from physically interrupting what I’m doing.

 

 

Note — 02 September 2016

 

Again, at least for Mac computers, Logitech's downloadable Control Center software now allows users to completely disable the M705's thumb buttons.

 

 

Annoyance doesn’t end there

 

At this writing, Logitech’s “unifying” USB receiver is compatible with two other Logitech mice.

 

Could I easily find another mouse that lacks the mostly-useless-to-me left side buttons?

 

Not quite.

 

Only some Logitech wireless mice are compatible.  For example, the two (very nice) wireless Logitech M305 mice that I already have are not compatible with the MK 710 keyboard.

 

Overall, the MK710/M705 kit is perhaps not the best choice for left-handed people or laptop users

 

The keyboard works well, although it is probably too deep (front to back) to make it ideal as a laptop keyboard substitute.

 

For left-handed people, the programmable mouse can be an annoyance — if all its functions are left intact.  For righties, the mouse is probably really good.

 

 

Addendum (25 January 2013)

 

I posted a two-year durability report on these items, here.