Logitech G19s Gaming Keyboard

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
The fellas at Overclockers Club have put their grubby little mitts all over Logitech's G19s gaming keyboard in the name of science today. How is it? Well, they tossed around words like "full RGB backlighting, gimmicky and expensive," if that tells you anything.

In the end the Logitech G19s was quite the spin on keyboards. It's not quite what Razer has with its touchpad screen, but it is quite fancy when it comes to just being a discrete screen. Other keyboards on the market (at least in the past) either lacked color, lacked so many app choices, and were just a neat, clunky, expensive add-on. I will say I'm not sure that I'd choose the G19s over the G510s despite the full color display and additional apps. The upcharge to get such effects is almost a full $50 from the G510s (and more depending on where you are shopping) making this keyboard quite the costly chunk of keys.
Click to expand...
 
I have the original G19 and it was the biggest waste of money I have spent on PC equipment. The software is unstable and most of the time the screen is just blank.
 
A 2.1amp power wart? WTF do they have under the hood? And to think there are 15" USB LCD monitors.
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
I have the original G19 and it was the biggest waste of money I have spent on PC equipment. The software is unstable and most of the time the screen is just blank.
Click to expand...

I hope my G15 never dies. I actually use the screen on many occasions and it seems to work fine. Sad to hear the G19 screen is unstable.
 
I've been using a G19 for a couple years now, and I like it for the most part.
The screen isn't the most useful thing in the world, but there are a couple apps out there that make it nifty. I use mine mostly with Precision-X to monitor my GPU temps/clocks/usage while gaming. The screen also works pretty good with Ventrillo. I wish more games supported it though. The programmability of the G-keys is pretty cool. You can pretty much set them up to do anything.
 
Just buy a Unicomp (same as the old IBM Model M) keyboard.

Eventually, everyone who cares about the actual quality of the keyboard's construction, keystroke feel and feedback ends up getting a buckling spring kb.

Once you go buckling spring, every other keyboard feels like a piece of crap.
 
Here's an idea I'd like to see in a gaming keyboard: both standard and ergo layouts, 4.5" 960X540 or 1280X800 color LCD or OLED screen hooked to a DisplayLink adapter coupled with a software app that can sit on the small screen and show game specific information. Using parts that are already in use elsewhere (screen from smartphone production, DisplayLink adapter) would bring the cost down from the fully custom stuff we're seeing in keyboards these days. It would still be far more expensive than a standard keyboard, though.
 
I've been using the logitech K750 solar keyboard, and it's really nice, perfect size, sleek, and does the job. They really fucked up not having a micro usb charge port on it though.

Anyways -- so after about 1 or so years of ownership its really failing to hold a charge. I open a support ticket, call them, it was verified to be under warranty. They wanted me to produce a reciept from 1+ year ago on a cash purchase at god knows what store. Ummm okay? So basically they don't want to honor the manufacturer warranty if you can't prove you bought it?

I've sent emails, spammed their facebook page, and all it's gotten me "we are going to escalate your case"

I'm not looking for some magical upgrade, I want the same keyboard with a working battery/charging circuit. I really like logitech's usual design and functionality, but they really dropped the ball supporting their products.

I actually held off buying a nice bluetooth illuminated keyboard from logitech with their $30 promotion a few days ago because all I could think was "if I buy it and it breaks, I'm up shit creek"

Doubt there are any logitech reps here - but there is nothing normal about charging your keyboard all day in DIRECT sunlight and having it last a hour. Their warranty doesn't mean shit, even when they verify that your product is covered. They wouldn't send me information i needed to ship the keyboard back to them, (didn't even offer to direct replace it)
 
GlowingGhoul said:
Just buy a Unicomp (same as the old IBM Model M) keyboard.

Eventually, everyone who cares about the actual quality of the keyboard's construction, keystroke feel and feedback ends up getting a buckling spring kb.

Once you go buckling spring, every other keyboard feels like a piece of crap.
Click to expand...

Problem is with those keyboards is they are LOUD, and when I'm gaming or writing emails for hours on end, the sound would just annoy me.

We have those style keyboards on our AS400 terminals and all of our thin clients at work, they are built rather solid but the clicking and clacking is just too much for me (and others) to take on a constant basis.
 
Honestly the Logitech G line has been going downhill since the original G15. In both quality and general functionality. Less G keys, fewer usb ports, failure to keep up with usb standards, lack of a mechanical option. That is just the start of it. Couple that with logitechs new extremely anti consumer stance when it comes to RMA's and I find myself disinclined to continue buying their products after years of nothing but. To answer the question on how their RMA is anti consumer. Basically in the past all you needed was the Pid and serial for them to generate an RMA. If the product was over a certain price they made you send it in. It was simple and easy. Now they require you to have a receipt no matter if the item is under warranty or not. They can see clearly in their system the item is under warranty, but no receipt no rma, no exceptions. This to me is just unacceptable on any product that is required to be sent in first. If I have to send it in, then clearly I am not "gaming" the system. Now if they did this on stuff you didn't have to send in, ok sure I get that. The further infuriating thing is them now trying to no longer replace with like kind and quality. I had one of my G7 mice die. Now at the time I bought it I spent $100 on it. The G9x is the only obvious replacement they have for it since they killed the G7 line. They sat and argued with me for 30 minutes that I should accept a G500 (The relabeled G5) a Wired mouse that is half the value of what I had because the G7 is no longer a premium mouse. Why on earth they would expect me to take a "Wired" mouse when I clearly bought a wireless gaming mouse is beyond me.

I like my G700, but honestly I will find myself hard pressed to buy much more from them. My Corsair K90 is one of the best keyboards I have ever had and competition is getting pretty damn fierce when it comes to mice.
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
I have the original G19 and it was the biggest waste of money I have spent on PC equipment. The software is unstable and most of the time the screen is just blank.
Click to expand...

Same here.
The screen worked for a bit more than a year then started randomly disconnecting.
When this happens the Logitech software wont see the keyboard and you cant make the keyboard backlighting work, the keys are black and very hard to see.
You cant control anything except the volume.

Now, after 2+ years, it never works unless I do the following:
Disassemble the screen, disconnect/reconnect the 2 multi pin connections then put it back together.
It will work for 15 minutes to a few hours so I set the keyboard backlight up and then leave it permanently plugged into the mains power adapter which keeps the backlights on when the screen dies again.
Often when the screen stops responding, it flashes white/black for days, really really annoying.
Bloody thing, I wont buy another Logitech keyboard, crap designed hardware and software.
 
collegeboy69us said:
I've been using the logitech K750 solar keyboard, and it's really nice, perfect size, sleek, and does the job. They really fucked up not having a micro usb charge port on it though.

Anyways -- so after about 1 or so years of ownership its really failing to hold a charge. I open a support ticket, call them, it was verified to be under warranty. They wanted me to produce a reciept from 1+ year ago on a cash purchase at god knows what store. Ummm okay? So basically they don't want to honor the manufacturer warranty if you can't prove you bought it?

I've sent emails, spammed their facebook page, and all it's gotten me "we are going to escalate your case"

I'm not looking for some magical upgrade, I want the same keyboard with a working battery/charging circuit. I really like logitech's usual design and functionality, but they really dropped the ball supporting their products.

I actually held off buying a nice bluetooth illuminated keyboard from logitech with their $30 promotion a few days ago because all I could think was "if I buy it and it breaks, I'm up shit creek"

Doubt there are any logitech reps here - but there is nothing normal about charging your keyboard all day in DIRECT sunlight and having it last a hour. Their warranty doesn't mean shit, even when they verify that your product is covered. They wouldn't send me information i needed to ship the keyboard back to them, (didn't even offer to direct replace it)
Click to expand...

Crazy. That's the exact same issue I had with the k750 and their tech support that seemed like a great option for the HTPC in my living room.

Nenu said:
Same here.
The screen worked for a bit more than a year then started randomly disconnecting.
When this happens the Logitech software wont see the keyboard and you cant make the keyboard backlighting work, the keys are black and very hard to see.
You cant control anything except the volume.

Now, after 2+ years, it never works unless I do the following:
Disassemble the screen, disconnect/reconnect the 2 multi pin connections then put it back together.
It will work for 15 minutes to a few hours so I set the keyboard backlight up and then leave it permanently plugged into the mains power adapter which keeps the backlights on when the screen dies again.
Often when the screen stops responding, it flashes white/black for days, really really annoying.
Bloody thing, I wont buy another Logitech keyboard, crap designed hardware and software.
Click to expand...

LOL, why haven't you just thrown it in the trash yet? I had the original g15, was ok for what I paid for it, rarely used the LCD. Eventually it just quit working, replaced it with the second version of the g15, never bothered to use the LCD. I considered the g19 for a split second before getting another g15, Fortunately some time ago I had the sense to realize that goofy gimmicks and paint schemes aren't as important as the actual usability of the keyboard.
 
I hate replacing things that are still useful although I have been looking for a good alternative, but there doesnt appear to be one.
I occasionally use the screen for monitoring, so take it apart and get it going for a short period.
 
I've had the G15 with no problems till it just got to damn old and bought a G19.

Never had any problems with the G19 it's self, just the logitech software. While it was buggy and not very user friendly, it did work.

Now after 5 years I gave my old G19 to my friend cause I went out and bought the G19s. :D

I just don't have any problems with these keyboards, while I do kind of agree that logitech has been lazy on development of some products (aka their damn software, lower end mice, some high end ones, and they went to shit on speakers) they have made some solid G13's, G700's and I do enjoy the G600 for MMO's and Mechwarrior Online. So far the ONLY three button mouse I could find that works great with Mechwarrior.


Edit: I did forget to mention I do use ADIA64 and the custom monitoring tools for the G19.

I haven't updated it since I got my Titan and 9590, so this is a little behind. :D

64g19.png


Here is the sensor panel I use on my left screen when I don't have it cluttered :D

Zeussensorpanel.png
 
Last edited:
I had the original G15 and today my girlfriend is using the G19....I honestly feel like there's just no point anymore. The software for the LCD screen never went anywhere. Integrating Vent/Teamspeak is useless considering these programs come with their own integration right into your game these days. Take note of something like Overwolf for Teamspeak. It's pretty impractical to have to look down at a small screen to see who's talking anyway.

I just feel like these keyboards offer SO much fluff. Does anyone really find the G-macro keys useless these days? Back when I had my g15 I just used the macro keys for websites I browse in the morning. Email, etc. etc.

For them to charge so much for an RGB back lighting set up, a color screen in which you can watch youtube videos, and a wasted power socket is just not in the books for me. It's not even like you're purchasing a Ferrari aka paying unnecessary amounts of money for something, but getting terrific quality. The G series have always felt cheap and just plastic that was molded together by some rundown machine in a foreign warehouse.
 
I like eyecandy and when my G15 died after many long years I really wanted something with a screen. I need my data to glace at. It's overpriced but it looks ok. Don't really use G-keys as I don't game with keyboards anyway.
 
My first keyboard was a G510. Like it a lot. Moved to mechanical. Had both browns and blues, and buckling spring. Browns were my favorite by far.

However.

I have since moved back to a G105, and Im happy I did. I may be among the few, but I really like the squishy soft feel of these logitech boards. Always have.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top