Best back lit Keyboard

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 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.

just get a logitech they kick buttt

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?

If you are going to spend that much on a keyboard you may as well get the G15, it really has everything you could ever need.

i know it wont be popular rounf here, but MS have made a gaming (backlit i think) keyboard, but if its anything like the habu it would be good just not enough people will use it with an open mind to give a good review

They had the G15 too - but they were $105. I guess $15 isn't that much overall but it sure seems like a lot to spend on a keyboard.

Go for the G15. there's no alternative in my eyes...

I have have the Saitek, it's a pretty good key board. It works well and hasn't given me a problem so far. I won't comment on th G15 since I never use one but usually Logitec make good product overall.

You can get the G15 for around $70 online.

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.

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.

That's some odd stuff. I've had my Eclipse for around 2 years now and have never had an issue with it.

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 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.

The g15 is nice, but if you don't really care about that facy little screen that tells you stuff and has cool logos for your internals... Then check out the G11, same basic function as the G15, without the screen...

I've got a G11 and i really like it, good feel, adjustable backlite and i cant live with ought the programmable G keys now. It's the same as the G15 minus the LCD, which i would never have used anyway.

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.

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  

I've got a Logitech G11. I think it is really nice; I'd readily buy another. I've also got a G5 mouse, in fact two of them because I liked the first one so much. I've never had a driver problem.

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.

Haha, that's pretty funny man. Hey at least you got the G15 for a good price. I think I paid $75 for mine.

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.

This was almost a blessing in disguise...IMO the g15(or 11) is better than the saitek...gl and happy fraggin.

I’m glad I ran across this thread. I’ve been looking for a keyboard and just ordered the G15 from Newegg for $47.00 after MIR with free shipping.
Promo Code Discount: EMC726IODE09 = -$5.00. This code expires at midnight tonight (8/01/07).

I have been thinking about selling my Saitek Eclipse in favor of the G11. I am not overly impressed with the quality of the Eclipse. To me, it is a standard keyboard with some blue LEDs. The G11 at least has the customizable keys and Logitech stuff is almost always nice.

Ther G15 is a nice keyboard.

Typing feels good, backlighting is good, tons of customizable keys.

I've really gotten used to the volume dial; I like it.

The LCD screen is interesting but I haven't found a ton of actual use for it. I like the RAM usage monitor. But who cares right now - it's there and it's cool, and maybe the little thing will come in handy at some other time.

The main thing is - I no longer strain my eyes while using my keyboard in a darkened room. That's worth a ton more than money.

Good to know i am just about to buy a new keyboard and i was looking at the g15 2005 version as well, i prefer the external lcd than the built in one (2007 version)
first im just waiting to get my new speaker system (log. z5500) coming today or morrow.

I have used the Zippy EL 620 for a while. It has a nice glow, not too bright. I like that I can shut it off when I dont need the light. The best part is it is cheep. Google it I found mine for $31.00 plus shipping about $14.00.