Losing the DNA

I blogged in the past about my love-hate relationships with Bluetooth products and Logitech was brought as the example of a company that maintained technical excellence while losing on the support / delivery side. I was still bringing the excellent product aspects of the KEYS-TO-GO 2. That opinion was based on my initial product experience.

After several months of using the keyboard on a daily basis, I must unfortunately admit the product is not so great after all. As a matter of fact it can be quite annoying (but there are workarounds). The key problem (pun intended!) with KEYS-TO-GO 2 is it is powered by coin-cell batteries. And the batteries die quickly and without any warning.

The power consumption is not as bad as the other Kickstarter keyboard I had in the past. But still since purchasing the keyboard 9 months ago, I had to replace the batteries 3 times. That means batteries last for 3 months on average. That is a far cry from the advertised 3-year lifespan. Although, to be fair, there is a fine print disclaimer the 3-year figure is based on 2-hour usage per day. I use it 10 hours per day, but still that should give me 6 months battery life, while I get barely three.

The other problem is that there is no clear indication the batteries are dying. That is despite me having the "Logi Options" app installed. The keyboard just starts misbehaving - erratic typing, repeating keystrokes etc. It took me a while for the first time to realize the misbehaviors were resulting from the weak batteries.

So once you know the batteries are dying and you are prepared by having a spare set (now I do have a spare set in my cable bag), there are still traps waiting for you before you complete the level of this game. The batteries are secured by two small screws. Knowing that, I have added a small screwdriver with replaceable bits to my cable bag. But it turns out the screws are torx-type while my screwdriver bits are only slotted and Philips (stupid me, should have checked!). Fortunately, with some luck, a small slotted bit can turn (with some abuse) a torx screw.

This all seems like a chain of bad product decisions. In the age of everything-rechargeable, why on Earth did they choose to use coin cells? And why are the coin cells firmly secured with two torx screws? Especially if the batteries must be replaced (without a prior warning) every three months?

I'm close to the point of investigating a DIY upgrade by replacing the coin cell tray with a tray that holds a small flat rechargeable battery and a USB-C charging port. Nuff said.

In the meantime the Logitech CEO keeps hallucinating about mouse-as-a-subscription service. Sur. I see people already lining up for that.

This case is a warning - companies must be very careful not to lose their original DNA when they become too successful. Logitech, unfortunately, is not the only one.