xset

Reviews – Logitech Alto, Plantronics Voyager 510 & Casio G-Shock Mudman

// October 31st, 2007 // Tech

Hey hey kids. It’s been a while! But then I have just got back from a 2 week holiday and prior to that had possibly the most stressful 2 weeks at work in the history of high blood pressure so I suppose I can forgive myself for not being as verbose as normal in the bloggy sense.

Anyhoo, as the three remaining readers of this site will be aware, I have more than a slight weakness for gadgets and, having found myself with a little spare cash, have recently acquired some very cool new toys! In the absence of any decent content I figure a quick whip round review of each one is worth trying:

Logitech Alto – Keyboard and Laptop Stand

As my Mac is now safely ensconced at home (albeit without a desk to live on) and the new work PC is running well (albeit still with Vista installed) I needed a replacement for my Griffin iCurve. I also needed a new keyboard as using a laptop KB for day to day use is frankly annoying. Consequently, I went shopping and was amazed to find the perfect solution in one box – Logitech’s Alto

I’ve spoken before about my hatred of Logitech but recent purchases have turned me around somewhat in my opinion. The 2 laser mice I use are both Logitech and have performed wonderfully (despite one being dunked in coffee) and the Alto is a fantastic product.

Simply put, the Alto is a USB keyboard with a built in laptop stand and USB hub. The whole thing comes in black and folds up into a neat little package, slightly larger than the laptop itself. The keyboard is well built and uses Logitech’s preferred soft touch technology which makes typing very quiet (I’m not going to get into the debate of quiet vs clicky keyboards aside from stating the my preference is for an input device that doesn’t advertise my blogging to all an sundry). The keys are well spaced with sufficient play and a light retort making typing a pleasure. The function keys are neat and the only additional buttons are a small cluster of volume controls beneath the cursor keys, a sleep button (which I’ve disabled due to my complete inability to get Vista to wake again) and, my personal fave, a dedicated button that pulls up a calculator! This may sound silly but the number of times each day that I need a quick calc and the lack of quicksilver make this an awesome addition.

The stand works well … that is to say it holds my laptop up to a sensible height without wobbling or falling over. The base is a little large when fully folded out but does provide subtle feedback of the status of lock keys in the form of some orange lights to the right of the stand. Oh and there’s a little switch to lock the keyboard out which is meant to allow you to fold the board up over the laptop to save desk space but is more useful for messing with co workers J

The only complaint I have is that the USB hub is not powered (you can buy and external AC adapter if you need this but for £60 I’d expect the damn thing to be included).

And the final thing that makes this board fantastic? No crappy Logitech driver needed. Under Vista everything just works out of the box! All in all – a 4.5 out of 5.

Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth Headset

I’ve managed to lose my other headset and thought I would move up in the market a little. So far, the Plantronics unit does everything it says on the tin. The battery life is good, it’s very comfy to wear and the call quality is pretty cool (despite an issue with Skype on the mac but I’m willing to blame that on the other party as I’ve experienced no such problems at work or in other uses at home)

The multipoint functions (you can pair with more than one device) works well and has so far allowed me to use it with the softphone at work, the apple at home and the blackberry wherever. Of course you still look like a complete gimpoid wearing it but at least it is a little more discrete than the old unit as the battery is located in the behind ear area.

So far 4 out of 5 with points being lost for no additional charger or USB charging option.

Casio G-Shock Mudman

“Is that a new watch?”

“Yes”

“Oh. Have you been on holiday?”

Well I have been on holiday but the driver behind needing a new watch are mostly to do with wanting something rugged and reliable that kept near perfect time. The G-Shock series are renowned for their durability so taking a server hit (I tend to drop computers on my watch with alarming regularity) shouldn’t phase it and the multi band time sync keeps the clock up to speed once a day. Plus, it’s solar powered so the battery should last for ages.

Style wise? Well it’s pretty chunky but not overly huge with easy access to buttons and a clear face reporting the time and date. The additional functions are much what I’d expect from a modern digital watch – stopwatch, countdown timer and multi alarms as well as world time for keeping track of the time in the world. The safety bracelet is very comfy (it’s difficult for me to say that about most watches as my wrists are ridiculously slim) and all in all it does what I need.

Score? 3.5 out of 5 – it’s not the last watch I’ll ever buy but it ticks the right boxes for now