Physical installation is quite easy. After installing the batteries and plugging the receiver into your computer, you'll need to "connect" each device to the receiver. This is done by pressing the "connect" button on the receiver, then the "connect" button on the mouse, and repeating the process for the keyboard. After that, both should have established a connection to your computer and you'll be able to use them as you would a normal keyboard and mouse. Logitech recommends placing the receiver at least 20cm (8") away from electronic devices like a monitor.

   After this, you're done - the keyboard and mouse will work fine. However, if you want to be able to use all of the keyboard's hotkeys and customize functions on the mouse and keyboard, you'll need to install the software on the CD, that being Logitech's SetPoint software for mouse and keyboard control. It's not necessary, but in this case, I would recommend it since it does add quite a bit of value to the setup.

   After installation, a Quick Tour program launches, giving you access to a guide on the features of the keyboard and mouse. It is very interactive and provides the user with a quick how-to on all of the functions available, and how to configure the keyboard and mouse to do what you want. For example, it shows you how to select what media player you want to launch with the keyboard's hot keys. It also shows you how to customize the use of the mouse's buttons. In short, it is a very helpful app that shows you how to get the most out of the keyboard and mouse, and this was unexpected.

   Curiously, the Tour software won't launch the configuration app for you; this was weird since it sets the stage for this by providing useful information on setup. However, it does show you how to easily access it by way of the systray icon.

   Everything but the iNav wheel on the keyboard is configurable. (The iNav wheel is basically the same as the wheel on the mouse - it allows you to scroll through documents. You can use it in the same way you'd use a mouse wheel.)

   It also doesn't appear that you can configure the tilt wheel side-to-side functions to do whatever you want, but each of the other four buttons can be configured to do a variety of things, from the default to launching programs or performing keystrokes. The new Application switch button (on the mouse and keyboard) functions like alt-tab, but it is perhaps better since you don't have to use the keyboard. When you press it, a list of programs appears on screen in a small window, allowing you to scroll to or click on the program you want to switch focus to.

   Configuration was very easy with this software. Pictures clearly show you what hot key you are configuring, and options are explained. Though you may not need the F-key's functionality, they can be configured. What's more important, however, is that I found that the F-key's "enhanced" functionality was disabled by default - so that when you boot up, your function keys work as normal, and you must press the F-Lock key on the keyboard to explicitly toggle them to the "enhanced" mode, which I doubt I'll use since they remove regular functionality.

   I won't cover the MediaLife software in detail, since this not a software review, but as you can see, it has a very distinct "Media Center" feel to it. Clickable elements are displayed very large, for easy navigation, and the file browsing interface is simplified and designed for viewing from a distance. It's clear, both from the default hotkey used to launch this application, and the look and feel of this app., that it was designed to be used with Home Theatre PCs. (HTPCs). If you have such a PC, this software will work well with it, especially if you hook it up to your TV and use the cordless keyboard and mouse in conjunction with the PC. Since this is a natural use of these devices, it was nice to see Logitech include a product that only makes their use in this situation even easier.

Testing

   I've been using this keyboard and mouse for some time now, and have used it to do a variety of things from gaming, to web browsing, to image editing and of course, general Windows usage. I did notice a wee bit of lag when typing very fast on this keyboard. It was nothing too big, but just a little bit, only noticeable when I wanted to notice it, and only when typing very fast, like when you get a grouping of keys that you can type through very fast. Nevertheless, I found that I could type quite fast on this keyboard because it felt very comfortable and the layout was decent.

   The new F-keys and ESC key were initially weird to me - They feel different than the other keys in that they don't have as much play to them, and "click" more when pressed. It took sometime to get used to pressing them when doing, for example, an ALT-F4. It just didn't seem right to press what looked like an "extra hotkey" for what was supposed to be a function key's job. Also, the placement was kind of off, like for f9-f12 since they are in the "programmable" section.

   The new key arrangement took some time to get used to. I didn't miss the insert key at all, but the placement of home/end beside each other required some familiarization, with the slightly different location of page up/page down requiring less so time.

   The repositioning of the cursor keys was actually nicer as they're now closer to the rest of the keys. I didn't find them to be problem at all. Additionally, the curved keycaps at the bottom of the keyboard felt very nice and more natural to type on than the often flat or convex shapes of standard keyboards' bottom rows. The Windows key on the right hand side has also been removed. I hardly or never used this key, so I can't complain. This was to allow for closer positioning of the arrow keys.

   The new hotkeys emphasize My Documents, Media and Email, and other hot keys such as messenger, webcam; my music/pictures are given less prominence by way of smaller keys. This is a good thing, since it allows users to more easily do the common things.

   The media area was pretty well designed. Some of the buttons are cryptic due to their small icons and lack of description and have similar/same functions by default. However, the play/stop/forward/back area is nicely designed, with a single D-pad like device controlling them all - this is much more intuitive than having separate physical buttons or keycaps for each - it's more like a digital music player's controls. There's also an eject button that can open any of your optical drives. (Pressing it opens your first one, while holding it down popups a list for you to select which to open.) This key is very handy, and is especially useful if you've stealthed your optical drives.

   The calculator button, perhaps first seen on MS keyboards, is located right above the numpad, as you'd expect. It's useful if you find yourself needing access to the calc. a lot, but not wanting to navigate through a hell's gate of submenus just to open a basic application. The Sleep/suspend key has found a place here as well, away from the Escape key as was usual on previous Logitech keyboards. This location ensures that you won't press it by accident when going for the commonly-used Escape key.

   The escape key, by the way, has also been re-designed, being part of the f-key row. Instead of being convex like most of the function keys, it is instead the only circular and concave key on the keyboard. This makes it feel quite a bit different, and at first you'll think you're pressing a hot key when you go for it. That took a little while to get used to.

   Since there are no LEDs on the keyboard, on-screen notifications of capslock/numlock scrollock, f-lock are enabled by default. The OSD also lets you know when you activate a hotkey or change things like the volume.

   The iNav area is useful for web browsing. It contains a back button, an application switcher (same as on the mouse, perhaps redundant unless you're only using the keyboard), a scroll wheel (which cannot be clicked) and search and home buttons. I'd rarely use the home button, but the search *could* be useful - though I almost exclusively use search widgets built into a toolbar of the web browser I'm using. The scroll wheel is used to scroll through long pages (big surprise), but also intuitively allows you scroll through the programs list of the application switcher.

   Overall, I very much enjoyed the feel of the keys. They were very responsive and provided nice feedback. My biggest complain would just have to be the re-designed f-keys. Perhaps I'm a little stubborn and resistant to change, but I'd just prefer for them to be the same as always. Logitech claims that the new design will help users to realize that the keys are meant to perform different functions than regular keys, but I'd much prefer the old style. The keyboard felt very sturdy, (partially thanks to its weight), and had quality written on it. Despite the extra space occupied by the wrist rest, I found its use to increase comfort.

   The wheel button feels distinctly different from any I've used. It has little play, and clicks very tactically and makes a little more noise that I would've expected. It has a very "hard click" feeling to it, that was quite resounding, and I might add that I didn't mind it at all.

   I suppose this new wheel button feeling was to make its activation distinctly different from the tilt wheel from side to side, which produces a sound and feeling like a regular mouse wheel's depression; thus the need for differentiating the two. The application switch button also has a very distinct and hard click. The main two mouse buttons remain the same as Logitech's usual fair, with little place and nice tactile feeling.

   The default use for the wheel button is zoom; press it, and then you can use the scroll wheel to set the zoom level in Internet Explorer or Firefox. I didn't find this too useful and instead changed it back to "Middle Button", as with the regular usage, you can just use Ctrl+Wheel to set the zoom level. (Logitech even indicates this as shortcut on their keyboard.)

   Lastly, the feature I was most looking forwards to experiencing was the FastRF feature for the mouse. This increasing the update rate from 50Hz to 125Hz, and it definitely shows, as mouse movements were much more fluid and equivalent to a wired mouse's feel. Just for testing, I tested out the LX 501's mouse using Mouse Rate Checker, and you can see the results above. I don't think many will have trouble using this mouse, even if they are die hard wired mouse fans.

Conclusion

   I was very impressed with the LX 501. Initially, I was worried that this setup would just be a cosmetic makeover and not one that would increase the effectiveness of the keyboard and mouse, and their ease-of-use. But my fears were quickly allayed when I started using the devices. They were extremely comfortable to use, and despite the layout differences, I didn't have too much of a hard time getting used to them. Both the keyboard and mouse offered good tactile feedback when their keys or buttons were activated, and I believe the layout changes do aid in helping improve usage. I did this entire review using this keyboard and mouse combination and didn't have any major complaints - in fact, I found it very appealing!

   The addition of FastRF makes the mouse equal to a wired one. I didn't have any problems using it, even when directly switching to it from a wired mouse. I truly believe that it can replace a wired mouse in terms of performance. The only thing you'll have to think about is batteries. But Logitech has good power consumption-limiting features built in, so the battery life should be pretty good.

   In the end, I can wholeheartedly recommend the LX 501 to anyone looking for a keyboard choke-full of useful features, and that feels good to type on; the mouse is also well suited and compliments the keyboard nicely. This is a safe buy.

Pros

• Plenty of features on the keyboard and mouse

• Easy to setup, and no connectivity problems

• New layout was easy to get familiar with

• Keyboard and Mouse feel comfortable to work with

• Mouse is just as accurate as a wired one

• SetPoint software very easy to use and allow customization

• Batteries included

• Looks nice

Cons

• You may need to buy batteries in the future

   Thanks go out to Logitech for making this review possible.