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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Row009 on Wed, 22 March 2017, 10:48:22

Title: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Row009 on Wed, 22 March 2017, 10:48:22
Hi,

I use a CM Storm QuickFire Ultimate mostly (I have a few other boards that I swap from time to time) it is obviously wired and situated on my desk.
I would like to have an extra wireless keyboard for when I lean back in my chair and don't want to stretch my lazy a**...
So I'm basically looking for the cheapest piece out there - simple as that. Any recommendations?
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Krakob on Thu, 23 March 2017, 07:31:55
Anne Pro is pretty nice and relatively cheap. Bluetooth is pretty painful to deal with though.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Row009 on Thu, 23 March 2017, 07:59:31
Anne Pro is pretty nice and relatively cheap. Bluetooth is pretty painful to deal with though.

Yeah it seems pretty nice. Gateron and RGB for 70$ (found it on Banggood, including discount) is really cheap in my opinion, which is great for my intended purpose.
Can you elaborate on the Bluetooth issues?
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Krakob on Thu, 23 March 2017, 08:02:35
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Row009 on Thu, 23 March 2017, 09:41:27
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)

OK, I'll look further into it. Thanks.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: _rubik on Thu, 23 March 2017, 12:33:20
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)

What's the response time like with bluetooth? I heard it can be a bit sluggish at times.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: tp4tissue on Thu, 23 March 2017, 13:32:01
they sell these wireless usb peripheral adapters i believe.   they probably won't have enough juice to power a backlit keyboard, or something with a larger microcontroller,    But you can hookup another 5v battery in parallel to power the board.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Krakob on Thu, 23 March 2017, 14:06:45
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)

What's the response time like with bluetooth? I heard it can be a bit sluggish at times.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I don't know any numbers but it's notable. Definitely not fit for gaming.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: pomk on Thu, 23 March 2017, 18:02:27
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)

What's the response time like with bluetooth? I heard it can be a bit sluggish at times.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I don't know any numbers but it's notable. Definitely not fit for gaming.
The delay imposed by bluetooth 4.x is minimal, only about 1-3 ms more than with a USB keyboard. The limiting factor being the maximum polling rate of 100 Hz with the default HID driver. Pre-bluetooth 4 was pretty horrible however.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Krakob on Thu, 23 March 2017, 18:16:31
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)

What's the response time like with bluetooth? I heard it can be a bit sluggish at times.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I don't know any numbers but it's notable. Definitely not fit for gaming.
The delay imposed by bluetooth 4.x is minimal, only about 1-3 ms more than with a USB keyboard. The limiting factor being the maximum polling rate of 100 Hz with the default HID driver. Pre-bluetooth 4 was pretty horrible however.
Ahh, that is good to know! I haven't used BT 4 since I'm sticking to Windows 7.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: pomk on Thu, 23 March 2017, 18:30:14
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)

What's the response time like with bluetooth? I heard it can be a bit sluggish at times.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I don't know any numbers but it's notable. Definitely not fit for gaming.
The delay imposed by bluetooth 4.x is minimal, only about 1-3 ms more than with a USB keyboard. The limiting factor being the maximum polling rate of 100 Hz with the default HID driver. Pre-bluetooth 4 was pretty horrible however.
Ahh, that is good to know! I haven't used BT 4 since I'm sticking to Windows 7.
Haha, and you talk about dated protocols while using an operating system from 2009.  ;)
The stack provided with windows is in such a good state now that the problems with manufacturer specific stacks and flimsy compatibility are mostly in the past. I have not had any problems with getting any bt4 devices to work together.
Title: Re: So what's the cheapest wireless mech out there?
Post by: Krakob on Thu, 23 March 2017, 18:32:53
Well, bluetooth is in general a pretty dated protocol. It's flimsy to set up, troubleshooting a connection is an absolute headache, support varies between machines and dongles, and so on. You can absolutely get it working, but I'd rather just use a wire, even for a laptop. Just get a relatively short, coiled one ;)

What's the response time like with bluetooth? I heard it can be a bit sluggish at times.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I don't know any numbers but it's notable. Definitely not fit for gaming.
The delay imposed by bluetooth 4.x is minimal, only about 1-3 ms more than with a USB keyboard. The limiting factor being the maximum polling rate of 100 Hz with the default HID driver. Pre-bluetooth 4 was pretty horrible however.
Ahh, that is good to know! I haven't used BT 4 since I'm sticking to Windows 7.
Haha, and you talk about dated protocols while using an operating system from 2009.  ;)
The stack provided with windows is in such a good state now that the problems with manufacturer specific stacks and flimsy compatibility are mostly in the past. I have not had any problems with getting any bt4 devices to work together.
I'm not ever touching windows 10 and 8 is pretty much the same as 7 as I understand it, especially with Microsoft trying to phase out both of them. Jumping on the Linux train the moment I can ;)