Logitech G510s Review

Brand: Logitech
Model: G510 Gaming keyboard
Price: £99.99 (at time of review)

For review today I have the Logitech g510s Gaming keyboard, designed with a multitude of features that benefit all gamers.  Eighteen G keys or macro keys, seven key NKR function, a backlit LCD panel.

Logitech are one of the largest peripheral and computer accessory manufacturers and sellers in the world. They have been providing quality products in all price brackets for as long as I can remember and are certainly one of the first manufacturers that come to mind.  The Logitech gaming range has continued to expand and the quality of the design and products available has been well received world wide.  I think we can expect some pretty awesome things to come from Logitech.

Without further ado we’ll begin looking at the keyboard and see how it fairs in our review.

Specifications

Like all recent products from Logitech, the outer packaging has an X-ray theme showing internals of the product inside, this flows with the design of the website layout which also has the same X-ray theme.

Looking at the back of the box we see more keyboard specifications in various languages and a more detail overview of the keyboard itself.

Taking a look at the keyboard, we can see it’s quite a large one. The G510s is part of a range of gaming keyboards, but this one has less features than it’s bigger brothers. This is also reflected in the price, you get more features that come with increased cost.

Looking at the back of the keyboard we see the rubber feet which helps stop the keyboard moving whilst in use, as well as two small feet which flip down to raise the keyboard up ever so slightly. Some people find this very useful, others don’t. It’s down to personal preference at the end of the day.

The center of the keyboard is dominated by the LCD display which has various features which connect to software with the appropriate plugins.  The buttons under the display allow you to scroll through the menus to select different features that you want it to display.

On the right hand side of the keyboard we have media controls which are within easy reach of the user, as well as a brightness control for the keyboards back lighting.

The here we have the slide switch which disables the windows key on the keyboard which as we all know can be an irritating problem during intensive gaming sessions as it can cause the game to minimize, go into windowed mode or even crash the more sensitive games.  To the left of it we have mute buttons for the headphones and microphone jacks which are built into the keyboard.

As mentioned before, here we have the two audio jacks, marked as microphone and headphone ports.

The WASD keys are silver instead of black like the rest of the keys on the keyboard which to some would seem insignificant but this is a gaming keyboard after all.

When I sat down to test the performance of the keyboard I first looked at how well it interacts with the Logitech Gaming Software, like many gaming keyboards the G510s has eighteen programmable macro buttons. Programming the macro keys was a simple affair using the software as I detailed earlier and once recorded I was able to use them at will whenever I required them.

The build quality on this keyboard is excellent, from the finish to every part of the keyboards to its solid build quality and ergonomic design, the wrist rest which is detachable was extremely comfortable to use. The design of the rest flows really well with the rest of the keyboard right down to the Logitech Gaming Logo in the middle of the rest.

Another key feature that impressed me was the seven key rollover that Logitech have used on the G510s, whilst most traditional gaming keyboards or none mechanical keyboards do not usually have any NKR ability Logitech have chosen to implement a seven key rollover on the G510s.

I tested this whilst I played Battlefield 3, which at times needs you to be able to depress several keys at the same time. Having previously used a keyboard that does not have NKR I did notice that actions were not being performed at times because the keyboard was not capable of differentiating between the different keys pressed. Something which can be quite frustrating at times, luckily the G510s did not have this problem.

When I first received this keyboard I thought it was massive compared to my usual keyboard which as it happens is a ten keyless mechanical keyboard which is essence is around a third of the size of the G510s. But having used it for several days now I don’t really notice how much larger it is compared to my own keyboard. One thing I did notice and I feel that Logitech clearly thought about the layout of this keyboard. As with keyboards of this size and price range you can expect some extra features

All of the features available on this keyboard are designed for gaming. The G Keys are typically placed on the right hand side of the keyboard allowing easy access. The amount of keys is quite amazing and programming them was extremely easy as the Logitech Gaming software is extremely intuitive. You can program specific commands or sequences that are dependent on the game being played. The commands can range from the generic commands right up to your own tailored requirements that will be tied to game profiles that change on the fly as and when the game is launched. Another fantastic feature an something quite uncommon is the slide switch which allows you to disable the Windows keys. There is nothing more annoying than accidentally pressing the Windows key during intense gaming sessions to find your game minimized when you’re about to pull off an epic headshot.

Many gaming keyboards have audio inputs and USB ports built into them. Whilst the latter is missing from the G510s, it does have audio ports which I immediately used in conjunction with a Logitech headset. Unlike normal audio devices this was not seen by my computer but the Logitech Gaming software allowed me to control the headset in the same manner. I really liked this feature and it worked really well as it means no scrambling under desks or fiddling behind your system to plug the headset in.

The LCD Display was another welcome feature of this keyboard. It’s designed to extend your experience with extra information given to you directly on the panel instead of having to tab through separate windows. Logitech have implemented some basic system information such as the temperature of your system, CPU usage. RAM usage etc. There are a number of other applications which support the LCD panel, Aida64 supports the panel as well as VOIP services like Mumble which displays the name of the person speaking on the panel. This benefits the user who does not want to enable on screen overlays whilst gaming.

Many keyboards offer some form of media control whether this is by adding an additional functions on regular keys on the keyboard or even simply adding media keys themselves.  Logitech have chosen to place media keys well away from other gaming related keys on the keyboard.  Like many people I use the computer not just for gaming but for media playback, whether this is a DVD a Bluray or even an AVI file these media keys work really well, I tested them using several different media playback applications and every time I had no problem using them.

Overall the performance of the G510s is exceptional everything worked as described and the keyboard was comfortable, not only for gaming but also for general typing requirements. After all, this is a keyboard and if it is not functional what use is it?

Having used the keyboard for several days for general day to day usage as well as gaming I feel that the keyboard is an excellent addition to anyone’s gaming setup. All of the additional features create an excellent keyboard and the solid design and build quality live up to Logitech’s high standards.

Using such a large keyboard took a small amount of adapting as I stated earlier I use a much smaller mechanical keyboard normally and this larger design with rubber domed keys felt odd at first but once I started using it I found it much easier to type with than I thought it might be. Being familiar with Logitech Gaming software helped in creating macros and setting up the G keys.

Creating macros was easy and deploying them in game was as simple as pressing the key which was assigned for said macro. For this I set up a sequence of keys for a section of Guild Wars where I had previously farmed and needed to press a specific sequence of keys to do so. Using the G keys made this task much simpler and once you got used to doing so it made the process much easier than it had previously been. For the macro keys alone it is most definitely a worthwhile purchase for anyone who plays MMO’s and solo farms on a regular basis. I assume this would work well in other arenas etc. as some builds can require a specific sequence of skills to be used.

All in all I found the Logitech G510s keyboard a pleasure to use, the many features where simple to set up and having media controls, volume and being able to turn the Windows key off were a welcome to my computer needs. Overall I really enjoyed using this keyboard, the abundance of features and the design where quite appealing, though in my opinion if your budget allows for this kind of price range and the extra features aren’t something that you need, you may want to look at a  mechanical keyboard instead.  Because of the price point and though the keyboard is feature rich I do not feel that it deserves an award at this time.  The G510s is an excellent keyboard but it is rather steeply priced whilst it is in the price range of a mechanical keyboard.

I would like to say thank you to Logitech for providing the G510s for review.