While most new PCs come with a decent keyboard and mouse these days (Dell’s keyboards are still a personal favourite of mine) the Solargizer package has all you’d expect from a keyboard (you know, keys with numbers and letters on them, all in the right places) but adds a nice little ‘solar powered’ feature for anyone concerned about chewing up batteries.
The Genius Slimstar 820 Solargizer Wireless Keyboard and Mouse are a great compliment to a #GreenOffice setup. The main problem with standard wireless keyboards is they consume battery power — every time you press a key a small amount of energy is drained from your batteries which will either need to be replaced or recharged. The Solargizer has a small solar panel that helps power the keyboard and keep your batteries alive. Obviously if you work at night or in a basement this feature is pretty useless but as glorious spring sunshine is starting to permeate the UK right now it’s nice to think that the panel is doing some work. The only problem with this setup is that the included mouse has no such feature and, I’m guessing, the batteries will be running out sooner then those in the keyboard.
To run the Solargizer keyboard and mouse you need a spare USB slot for the little wifi receiver and setup is as simple as pressing the ‘sync’ button on the receiver, mouse and keyboard.
Setup on a Mac was a cinch, it started working right away , even the extra function keys (for volume, play/pause, iTunes, etc.) — there is also some extra software that allows you to add applications to the remaining function keys — Word, Excel and Powerpoint and call be launhced with a single keypress, you can go straight to your email in box although, frustratingly, there are four keys (for copy, paste, save and print) that just don’t seem to be programmable using the Mac software (YMMV).
The mouse is lovely to use. Wireless and optical technology gives smoother performance and the usual scroll wheel with third-button works well. The fourth button is a little harder to use, it’s tucked away behind the wheel but this does mean you are not likely to hit it by accident and can give it a powerful function… I chose Cmd-Delete so it’s really easy to pluck files and folders out and send them to the trash with a single click.
All in all the Solargizer set is a pleasure to use, they keyboard is responsive with just enough spring to keep you typing at speed. I wish I could get the extra buttons to do their thing, I’m assuming PC users will have more luck here, but the ability to add keystrokes and even scripts to buttons is fantastic if you’re geeky enough to give it a go — I’ve got a script that will copy a Gmail URL, create a new task, and file the email accordingly, good fun but I do find keystrokes themselves to be quicker than moving from the home keys to press a special function key up top.
Currently retailing for £51.74 inc vat the Solargizer isn’t cheap — I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend £50 on a new keyboard unless it offered something really special, I’m very good at putting up with what I’ve got, but the joy of going a bit minimalist and removing wires from the home office setup was enough for me to enjoy testing the Solargizer and I’ve been testing it heavily since it came out of the box.
By Michael Rose
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