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The Logitech gaming keyboard g510 gives you the tools and Intel you need to win, putting you control of the game with a game panel lcd, custom backlighting*, and integrated usb audio. * requires software installation.
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The G15’s true successor,
After about 3 years of faithful, hardcore gaming service, my first-gen G15 was starting to show its age. Paint coming off, some keys sticking or unresponsive, backlight occasionally cutting out, etc. Despite this, I’d held off on getting a replacement for several reasons. Particularly, the 2nd generation G15 had only 6 macro keys, yet was still more expensive for reasons I can’t fathom. The G110 seemed more like what I was looking for, but still only had 12 G-keys. Ditto the G19, which is probably also the most expensive keyboard on the market. I’m used to having 18 and probably can’t live without that many now. Enter the G510, which I’ve found to be a worthy replacement that is the true successor to the original G15.
Aside from jumbling up the numeric designation, Logitech made several changes to the basic design. The LCD display is now backlit but also smaller and no longer collapsible. The key backlighting has customizable color that is bound to macro keysets. The USB plugs in the back are gone, replaced by a headphone/mic jack that works through the same USB link. A few things are also moved around, such as the ESC key and media controls (moved a bit left and to the right above the num pad, respectively). Also gone are the wire guides in the back panel, and the media controls have been souped up with a barrel volume adjust instead of a wheel. Additionally, the G510 is significantly more compact than the old G15, which is somewhat of a relief for those like me with cramped desk space. In general, the function keys (MR, M1-3, etc.) are larger and have a softer feel to them; it sometimes took a bit of mashing to get them to trigger on my old G15.
The 18 macro keys are effectively unchanged, as is the software. The feet are about the same (which is to say, pretty short) and the feel is very similar. The game mode slider is still there, as is the backlight on/off key. Generally speaking, unless you frequently hit ESC or use the media keys, you’ll not notice anything different going from the 1st gen G15 to this keyboard.
Regarding the loss of the USB ports- I did use one of them to hook up my mouse, but I found in general that few things worked on them due to the power consumption of the keyboard itself. Even hooking up peripherals seemed to make them less responsive, and so I don’t really miss having them. The audio jacks are a better idea; they work well and are much more easily accessible than the ones on the front/rear of my tower. The Logitech G-series profiler hasn’t changed a great deal since version 1.0: it still has issues detecting when certain games are running, especially games that don’t specifically support it. This isn’t too big a problem for me, as I only usually play 2-3 games at a time anyway, so the default configuration is fine for covering them all. As before, there’s quite a few apps you can run on the LCD if you care to; standard ones now include a profile selector that interfaces with the profiler if you’d rather use the LCD instead of your PC. You can also load profiles onto the keyboard itself if you expect to be using it on computers without the software installed.
About my only gripe with the G510 is that- as with the 2nd gen G15 keyboard- it’s significantly more expensive than the old G15 was. It looks prettier and is supposedly USB 2.0 vs 1.0 which presumably increases response time (haven’t really noticed a difference yet) but is otherwise effectively the same keyboard with some cosmetic tweaks. Still, I suppose it’s comparable in cost to Logitech’s other gaming boards, and it’s not like you’ll be buying one every year. As with the G15, the G510 caters towards the hardcore gaming crowd; it works fine for more mundane applications, but is massive overkill for something like run-of-the-mill word processing. There are some uses for the macro keys in office work, especially if you’re a programmer, but it’s a bit of a steep price for just that- and in such cases the LCD, game mode, and backlighting are pretty useless. Overall, for gaming purposes, the G510 is an awesome product that- once you’ve gotten in the habit of using the macro keys- will be very hard for you to live without.
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|A great refresh of a great keyboard,
Logitech is on a roll with their new keyboards. They’ve created an interesting and (usually) easy to follow line of keyboards that range from being perfectly competent (G110) to being absolutely wonderful (G19, G13). Sitting in the middle at one point was the G15. The G15 had very similar features to the G110 (which was a refresh of the G11). It came with an LCD screen where the G110 had none. The only one up the G110 had was in the programmable key department. On the side of all of the G series keyboards is a row of G-keys, which allowed you to do a variety of things, like program specific key strokes or even develop macros. All of these functions are controlled by software, that allows you to sync specific G-keys to specific games. This allows you to load a game, and have a specific key set for that particular game.
The original G15 apparently had 18 G-keys. When they redid the G series keyboards, they reduced that number to six programmable buttons (this is the previous model and the one I used). The new refresh (G510) ups the G-keys back to 18 (with the M buttons, this provides you with 54 unique functions per game). This allows games to have a vast combination of keys to choose from and even trumps the G19, the “top of the line keyboard” in terms of numbers. That is, until the inevitable G19 refresh. The G510 has an monochromatic LCD screen that has a couple of really cool widgets available. It works seamlessly with Ventrilo, so if you’re in the middle of a game and you’re playing with new people, you can see who’s talking, comments people leave, etc. It works very well. I use it all the time with the G19. Other games offers specific widgets. I’ve seen this mostly with Lord of the Rings Online, where you can see your stats on the screen. It also has other non-gaming uses, such as media displays. You can see the song track/artist of music you’re playing, for instance. It can also be used as a clock, a POP3 Monitor or as a RSS feed. These are all features that carry over from the G15 and are a step up from the G110 which lacks the LCD screen. This is also a step down from the G19 which offers the same functionality, but in color. The G19 will allow you to watch videos on the screen, but the small screen doesn’t necessarily make it conducive to video watching on a regular basis.
Otherwise, the keyboard operates like you’d expect. It has backlights that allows you to use a multitude of colors to light your keys. It has both integrated USB for audio for a headset and also separate audio/mic jacks with the option to mute it. One nice feature is a slider that allows you to switch between gaming and Windows, which makes it so you accidently do something to minimize your game. It does lack the USB hub options of the G19, though. Overall, the G510 is a great refresh of an already capable keyboard. For those who have the G15 and are thinking about upgrading, I don’t think I’d necessarily do it (or maybe look at the G19, which I will continue to use). But for those new to the Logitech G series keyboards, this is a great intermediate keyboard that offers most of the functionality of the G19 and offers more functionality than their entry level keyboard (G110). No matter which one you go with, I’m really impressed with Logitech’s keyboards.
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|A few little issues,
I got this as a replacement for my g15, the one with the 18 G keys. That keyboard was starting to flicker some and even had paint worn out where my hand would be for gaming. Anyways, one problem I have is you can’t change the angle of the screen like with the g15, and this keyboard’s screen just isn’t at quite the right angle for me. I can still read what’s on the screen fine, but it could be at a better angle. It doesn’t have brightness changing, only on and off. Which brings me to the choice in colors, I think it’s pretty cool, but find blue to be too dark to see and needs a bit more oomph before I’d choose to use it. That being said I do think the green color looks pretty cool even, and red didn’t look bad either…though most colors in between don’t look that wonderful. I do like that the windows button disabler is now a switch so you don’t forget that it’s on like I had multiple times with the g15 and keep wondering why I couldn’t hit the start button, then think it’s windows and restart.
It would have been nice if the microphone and headphone jack were audio pass through with a cables that split off from the USB so you could still use a higher end soundcard with it. It would also be nice if you could plug just the mic into the keyboard and still get audio from a sound card. I haven’t tested this recently, but when I first got it, this was an issue. I also think it would be neat to have the ability to assign the volume scroll wheel to a certain program as I never adjust my windows volume, just the volume of whatever program I’m using. It would be good too if the mute microphone or headphone was software and not only for the built in audio jacks. I do think they also did a good job on the size of it as the g15 was a behemoth. I speak of the cons most because that’s usually what I use to decide upon a product, this one still has a lot to offer, but I also say these things so that maybe the manufacturer will hear about these things and edit some of their designs in the future.
Edit: If you’re paying the full $120 price tag it’s probably not worth it as it’s basically a g15 revision 1 with a few tweaks. Also the new LGS(logitech gaming software) from their website has been rather glitchy through many of their versions. I’ve found the 8.20 version to be rather stable, with the lcd screen sticking rarely with Foobar2000(music player). If you don’t experience problems with the original software from the disk I’d suggest to continue to use that, and watch the logitech forums to see if a good stable LGS version comes out.
If you would like a link to logitech’s FTP server to test out multiple(older or newer) LGS versions click the link below.
ftp://ftp.logitech.com/pub/techsupport/gaming/
On another note, this keyboard is a dome switch keyboard. Recently I have been thinking about getting a mechanical keyboard as the keys on this don’t feel quite as smooth and soft as I think I’d like, and I feel a mechanical keyboard would fit the bill. I will miss the LCD screen, but I think I’ll survive.
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