Thursday, 31 January 2019

Great deals today on Logitech stuff at Amazon

Logitech stuff is sharply marked down at Amazon today, so I'm going to give you my recommendations and a couple of nopes too. The links here are all affiliate ones, so I'll get a cut.

1. The G-series mice are great. I have the basic model, the G603, and it makes me mad I ever bothered fooling around with other supposedly-premium brands. The "lightspeed" dongle wireless works so well I never have to think about it, but they have Bluetooth too if you don't want to sacrifice a USB port. You do, though, because Bluetooth is trash.

2. However, avoid the K-series and all the basic combo keyboards, with one exception (below). These are the bread-and-butter of the lineup and look OK, but the reality is that they're only marginally better than cheapo generic models. The squidgy, stiff rubbery keys of most of Logitech keyboards are neither one thing (the low-travel laptop fingertip numbers we're at least used to nowadays) or the other (the deep-travel mechanical or rubberdome switches of yore).

Instead, go for:

3. The Romer-G series or the Romer-K840. These may be controversial picks, because Romer is Logitech's attempt to muscle in on the effectively open-standard world of mechanical keyboards with a proprietary switch hardly distinguishable from the ubiquitous Cherry Brown. But they're good gadgets at good prices today, so here they are. (Logitech does makes a Cherry-switch keyboard, the Orion, but it's just OK and doesn't have a rainbow inside it)

4. The C922x streaming webcam is about the best on the market and is half off. This is a solid upgrade on virtually every built-in webcam; the next step up would be to external cameras and monitors and HDMI gadgets and all that bullshit.

5. Another antirecommendation: I don't like the little MX Anywhere mice that are so popular. They look great and work fine and are certainly an upgrade on the ergonomic pain puck that comes with a Mac, but they're too small for any sustained work. Don't hate your body: if you want a fancy mouse that matches your laptop, get the humungous MX Master. Sadly, the new MX Vertical mouse isn't on special and remains too pricey.

6. Another nope: Logitech's iPad keyboards just aren't all that even with discounts. They work, but it inevitably adds so much bulk that the Brydge is surely what you really want.

7. Last nope: avoid Logitech's stiff, workaday game controllers.

8. Final reco: all Logitech's computer speaker gear is high-quality yet inexpensive and will fit in with virtually any system. Its 2.0 Z-series speakers are the best low-end picks and have been for years. Annoying, the white ones are not on special today but I just impulse-bought them to go with my vintage polycarbonate iMac.