This is the best wireless keyboard and mouse I have owned. I have owned an older Microsoft wireless keyboard & mouse in the past. When this arrived from buy.com (courtesy of epinions) I was a little disappointed since I already owned a similar setup (but not too disappointed since it was free). Well I removed my older wireless setup and installed this one. After using it for 5 minutes I quickly realized it was a much better set that what I had been using.
I bought my original Wireless setup so I can put the keyboard on the shelf when I was not using it. This way my son could not play with it. It worked and I felt it was worthwhile purchase. My biggest complaint was the mouse did not react quite right. The reaction time was a bit off in my games. So after a couple of months I replaced the wireless mouse with a USB optical mouse I had been using previously. The keyboard worked well and I had no complaints. I was more worried about the mouse then the keyboard, but just the opposite occurred as you will read below.

Installation
Installation is simple. I first installed the software then powered down the computer. Disconnected the existing cable from the keyboard and mouse ports (your mouse may be in a USB port instead of the mouse port.) Take the wireless receiver and plug in both connectors into the keyboard and mouse ps/2 ports. I took off the adapter and plugged the mouse port into the USB port instead. Boot the computer back up and you are good to go.
You have separate programs for the keyboard and mouse that you can use to customize each device.

What it comes with
Keyboard
Mouse
Wireless receiver with 6 foot cable. (one cable is a ps/2 plug and the other is a usb plug for the mouse)
USB to ps/2 port adapter.
6 Batteries
Installation CD
Instruction manual.

The optical mouse
The mouse is great. In fact it is the better part of the package. I have had not problems with it so far. It feels better than the older wireless mouse. The mouse has 4 buttons on it as well as a wheel. There is the typical left and right button, as well as two thumb buttons for page up/down functionality. The wheel feels very fluid. It does not have the typical clicking mechanism that is found on other mouse wheels. I was also impressed with how fast it could scroll. The mouse wheel could also click.
The red laser is a set at a lower intensity then previous models. But even with the lower light level, it still works great with no apparent problems. This is good because it reduces the battery usage of the device.
The only real complaint about the mouse is it should be bigger. A bigger mouse is generally more comfortable ergonomically, especially for people with bigger hands. Hopefully one day they will size people up for mice.
The wheel can also be pushed from side to side. This is for horizontal scrolling. I really have not used it much. The horizontal scroll features does not get in the way either.

About the keyboard buttons, and a brief description of each.
There are a series of buttons on the top of the keyboard. They are hot keys that open up specific programs. Some are preset but they can all be changed. So if you use a different browser you can set the hotkey to that browser.
When I first installed the software I was able to use the buttons with no problems. Then a couple of days later they stopped working. Well I didn’t use them much so I did not worry about it. Well I needed to do the review so I had to figure out what happened. The problem is that I religiously make sure nothing loads into memory using msconfig. This keeps my old computer from being bogged down by dozens of programs running in memory. What I did not realize was that the Microsoft program for the keyboard needed to be loaded at startup for the hotkeys to work. As soon as I loaded it back up the buttons worked perfectly. So you will need to let the program fun at startup if you want this keyboard to fully function.

Here is the list of the presets for the hotkey buttons; starting from the right.
Messenger-opens up windows messenger
WEB/Home- opens up Internet Explorer
Mail- Opens up outlook express.
My Music- opens the my music folder
My pictures- opens the my pictures folder
My documents- opens the my documents folder
Music player controls- (volume, change track, play/pause, stop, mute, media player)
5 customizable buttons
Show favorites- shows what the customizable buttons are set to.

In addition to these buttons there is a wheel on the left of the keyboard. Why? I do not know since I do not use it. It has the same functionality as the mouse in that is scrolls in 4 directions, and clicks. There are also back and forward buttons just above the wheel.

Wireless lag and range.
I have been having a few problems with the keyboard. Occasionally the keyboard will not react to a key being typed. This appears to be random and occurs once every 3-4 days. I assume it is some sort of interference but I do not know. But if it continues then I will be replacing this with my original keyboard.
I ran a test with the keyboard and found that the range is only 6-7 yards (around 20 feet). Far enough to operate while using a big screen TV but not far enough for a lecture hall. It can be used in the typical classroom as long as each unit is not at the opposite side of the room. The unit also has trouble transmitting through solid objects.

Ergonomics
The ergonomics are pretty good. The wrist pad is comfortable to use. The keys are slightly contoured in relation to each other which makes typing a little easier. Overall I really like the ergonomic design of the keyboard. The only complaint is the keyboard is not split into two sections like some corded keyboards are.
The mouse has a few more curves in it that adds to the overall comfort level. As mentioned previously, my main complaint is the mouse is not big enough for me. But other than that the mouse is great.

Durability
My last keyboard has lasted for a year and a half with no problems. I expect the same from this piece of gear. This section will be updated when appropriate.

Battery life
There are 4 batteries in the keyboard and 2 in the mouse. So it has been over 3 weeks since I put in the batteries and so far it is still working. The mouse uses a lower intensity light than with my usb mouse or my other cordless mouse. This certainly lowers power consumption a great deal. My old mouse needed new batteries every week for rechargeable, and a week and a half for disposable.
(As of this writing I have not had to change out the batteries of either device. I installed the system late on January 1st. This is a very important piece of information, so do not worry I’ll update this as soon as the batteries die on me.)

Software
The software is pretty basic. You can access them through the control panel or All programs. In the setup you have the following tabs.
For the mouse
Buttons- change what each button does.
Pointers- typical pointer selection
Pointer option- speed and effects
Scrolling- for vertical and horizontal scrolling
Hardware- lists your mouse
Activities- sets double click speed and clicklock
Wireless- Shows battery life and signal strength.

For the keyboard
Speed- key repeat speed
Hardware- lists your keyboard
Keysetting- this is where you can set your hot keys on the top as well as the some of the function keys.
Scrolling- for the wheel on the keyboard
Wireless- Shows battery life and signal strength.

Problems
The only problem to date is the interference problems I have occasionally had. It has not occurred for the last week though.

Update, July 19th, 2005
I just changed the batteries for the first time today. The batteries I took out were Energizer. I am very impressed with how long they lasted. Whatever technology they used really worked. So if this is the same technology that is used on the next Xbox then I'll be very happy.
So far the only problem I have had is when I double tap the same letter. Sometimes it only displays the letter once and not twice. I'd say this happens about 5 percent of the time. I have not noticed any other problems in the 6.5 months I have owned it.

Summary
This is a nice system for those people that need to cut the wires from their computer. It is easy to install and easy to use. Anyone can install and use this set up. The additional hotkeys are nice to have but not necessary. The only real problem at this point is minor interference that affects the keyboard only. But other than that I am very happy with the gift.

Other reviews you might be interested in.
Sony dual layer DVD burner
Canon SD 300
Targus universal wireless keyboard


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): gift