Best back lit Keyboard
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Gneisenau
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- Aug 18, 2006
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http://www.saitekusa.com/usa/prod/eclispekeyii.htm
I have one and have had no problems with it at all. It's better than the previous version and I think better than then G-15. That one the paint on the key's came off after a few weeks for me.
I have one and have had no problems with it at all. It's better than the previous version and I think better than then G-15. That one the paint on the key's came off after a few weeks for me.
Spikke
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- May 16, 2006
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I have a Saitek Eclipse(the first one) and a Logitech G15. The quality and backlighting on them is equal imo. If you want a simplistic keyboard at a very reasonable price then the Eclipse is for you. If you want a keyboard with all the bells and whistles for a premium then a G15 is for you, the macros and lcd are pretty handy imo.
ryanthesav
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- May 27, 2007
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- Apr 2, 2007
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I bought an Eclipse II today but I can't get Windows XP to install it. It doesn't recognize any drivers for the keyboard and the thing just wont work.
As a matter of fact it somehow erased all of my Windows keyboard drivers. I had to do a system restore to three days ago to use my old keyboard. HUGE pain in the a--.
I'm assuming it's faulty hardware; I'll return it and try again.
But the store I where I bought it had Tarantula keyboards on sale for $90. That's more than I wanted to spend but maybe I should consider them?
As a matter of fact it somehow erased all of my Windows keyboard drivers. I had to do a system restore to three days ago to use my old keyboard. HUGE pain in the a--.
I'm assuming it's faulty hardware; I'll return it and try again.
But the store I where I bought it had Tarantula keyboards on sale for $90. That's more than I wanted to spend but maybe I should consider them?
aziraphale
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Hawkeye22
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- Feb 10, 2006
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That's odd. I have two eclipse I's. They don't come with any drivers. Looking on the Saitek web site, doesn't look the the eclipse II's come with any drivers either. XP should detect it on the USB port and install it's own drivers.
It definately shouldn't remove any existing drivers. If your old keyboard has it's own utilities (like logitech setpoint), then you should probably remove those first.
- Apr 2, 2007
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It was very odd (my old keyboard is just a generic Dell from an older system).
I actually forgot to mention that after I plugged it in for the first time my mouse stopped working. So I had to reboot. After a few tries with no success to get the mouse working I went back to my old keyboard and the mouse worked again (after a reboot).
So I unplugged my old keyboard while the PC was on and plugged in the Eclipse; the driver installation started and I was finally able to click on it to continue.
It couldn't find any drivers for the Saitek. Seemed weird but by this time I was pretty fed up and plugged my old keyboard back in. It looked for drivers for the old keyboard and couldn't find any either. I tried everything - my version of XP apparently no longer had any sort keyboard driver in its driver database. I don't know what happened.
So I finally ended up doing a system restore to get my drivers back. I'm not plugging that damn keyboard in again. I'm going to go ahead and exchange it for the same model and try again.
One more note - the button that changes the backlight color didn't work. Could be another sign this particular one is defective.
I actually forgot to mention that after I plugged it in for the first time my mouse stopped working. So I had to reboot. After a few tries with no success to get the mouse working I went back to my old keyboard and the mouse worked again (after a reboot).
So I unplugged my old keyboard while the PC was on and plugged in the Eclipse; the driver installation started and I was finally able to click on it to continue.
It couldn't find any drivers for the Saitek. Seemed weird but by this time I was pretty fed up and plugged my old keyboard back in. It looked for drivers for the old keyboard and couldn't find any either. I tried everything - my version of XP apparently no longer had any sort keyboard driver in its driver database. I don't know what happened.
So I finally ended up doing a system restore to get my drivers back. I'm not plugging that damn keyboard in again. I'm going to go ahead and exchange it for the same model and try again.
One more note - the button that changes the backlight color didn't work. Could be another sign this particular one is defective.
IcY18
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- May 1, 2006
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I had the G15 but returned it for the Saitek Eclipse, i had best buy gift certificates so i had to buy it at a higher retail price than online but to me the price difference between it and the Eclipse was too much. I found both keyboards to feel very good.
The eclipse was brighter, which i liked, although you can adjust it. The Eclipse is very quiet and smooth sounding. The G15 was huge and felt very good but i felt for what i got out of it it wasnt worth it.
If you want the same feel and look with the macro keys but dont want to waste all that money on the miniture lcd screen that does very little get the G11, imho its a much better buy.
The eclipse was brighter, which i liked, although you can adjust it. The Eclipse is very quiet and smooth sounding. The G15 was huge and felt very good but i felt for what i got out of it it wasnt worth it.
If you want the same feel and look with the macro keys but dont want to waste all that money on the miniture lcd screen that does very little get the G11, imho its a much better buy.
TSIMonster
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- Mar 10, 2006
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The eclipse is pretty nice. I got mine for $25 and would recommend it. Some of the letters aren't exactly straight, but it still looks good.
skittle
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- Dec 27, 2006
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I have the G11, and my friend has the Eclipse... I hate the eclipse... its too small and seems flimsy.
My G11 looks very professional, and the keys have great tactile response. plus it has some cool programable keys!!! you can record macros, or even assign it to start a program.
My G11 looks very professional, and the keys have great tactile response. plus it has some cool programable keys!!! you can record macros, or even assign it to start a program.
truromeo4juliet
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- Jan 24, 2006
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firstly, I've used hundreds of keyboards... I'm a computer tech, and for some reason, people feel absolutely compelled to bring in their keyboards and mice when we do repairs...
I've personally used Logitech Keyboards in my home on my 4 machines for about 4 years (gaming/file server, arcade/console emulator, personal gaming machine, and at-home repair station for repairing friend's computers)...
I have to tell you that the simple logitech keyboards and mice are awesome! they work like a charm... but the more complicated the keyboards get, the worse it becomes... I personally used the LX300 wireless keyboard/mouse combination (mouse was replaced with an MX1000 because the receivers worked off the same signal)... with the newer logitech drivers, half of their products aren't even supported... it's ridiculous because I had a top of the line product that just simply wouldn't work to full functionality (MX1000 mouse was no longer being detected... it was after a few years of usage, but it was all driver issues)... I could take the mouse, install the drivers onto a new machine, or a machine that didn't previously have the drivers, and it would work fine... once it auto-updated drivers, the mouse was no longer detected in SetPoint...
One day, I finally got fed up... I need all the extra mouse buttons for gaming (11 buttons on that mouse, each one had a purpose in UT2K4 and Age of Series)... I went out and contemplated the G15, or the Saitek II (I like gaming in the dark, too)... I came home and did tons of research and found that both were about equal in terms of performance, reviews, etc... my final decision came when i started researching new MICE... logitech G7, or Microsoft Habu (a Razor branded mouse)... the logitech G7 returned related results on bluetooth products, and then hthe researched turned bad... all the reviews for their bluetooth products were horrible (albeit the G7 and G15 aren't bluetooth)... but there were so many complaints about logitech's drivers breaking after a while that I decided to turn a cheek and try the eclipse II... it was a lot cheaper, and I liked the fact that it DIDN'T have the stupid logitech-proprietary "Function" keys (which become a big annoyance if you need to access one of the regular F-keys and don't know which mode you're in and you accidentally bring up MS Word and Excel at the same time while you're in the middle of a full-screen frag-fest...)
I've been using my Eclipse II keyboard for about 3 months now without a problem... I was surprised that there was no driver disk in the box, and actually considered returning it for one WITH a disk, until I read the manual and realized there was no disk provided... I plugged it in, it was recognized immediately, and I've never had a problem since...
My advice, return your eclipse II for one that's not defective, and live happily ever after... logitech drivers are horrid... that's my 2 cents
- Apr 2, 2007
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So I return the Saitek and the store has G15 on sale for $69 (they must have just dropped them from over $100).
Plug in the G15 - same issue. My PC will not recognize the keyboard.
The answer: stupid, stupid,stupid,stupid.
USB keyboard was disabled in the BIOS. WHY oh WHY didn't I just check the BIOS first?
stupid,stupid,stupid,stupid.
That ends that issue. At least I have a G15 for the same price as the Eclipse II. I really like it.
Plug in the G15 - same issue. My PC will not recognize the keyboard.
The answer: stupid, stupid,stupid,stupid.
USB keyboard was disabled in the BIOS. WHY oh WHY didn't I just check the BIOS first?
stupid,stupid,stupid,stupid.
That ends that issue. At least I have a G15 for the same price as the Eclipse II. I really like it.
sailer
Splendid
- Apr 9, 2006
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Oho! This invites a tell all of the stupid mistakes we all have made. Don't feel alone in the stupid mistake dept. I know I've had my share. Last one happened just a month or so ago. Major thing I see is to learn by it so that it doesn't happen again, or at least not too often.
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