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K83 - Utterly Pathetic Keyboard


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Returned my Corsair K83, because of its terrible anti-customer design.

 

  1. Unreliable 2.4GHz USB dongle (90% of all customer reviews on Amazon and Newegg mention this). Most people use Bluetooth mode instead of the dongle. It is very reliable on Bluetooth but then you lose Precision TouchPad mode and lose gestures and other features. Maybe Corsair Slipstream would have solved these problems, but for some reason the K83 was released after Slipstream came out, but shipped without Slipstream. Sounds like the product should have been held back a few weeks to give it Slipstream... But still not having an updated Slipstream model almost a year later is crazy.
  2. No USB-C charging port (which would give long-term structural integrity, and compatibility with all phone chargers). Instead it uses Micro USB. Why?! A USB-C port only costs $0.15 more than a Micro USB port for manufacturers. How can Corsair justify having a cheap, old Micro USB port on a super expensive keyboard?!
  3. 35-40 hours battery life with LED off, 18 hours with LED on lowest, 6-8 hours with LED on normal. Compare this to the competition which offers around 700 hours when LED is off... how on earth did Corsair mess this up so badly? It is a keyboard with Bluetooth Low Energy technology yet you made it guzzle a 2000 mAh battery in 40 hours when the competition lasts nearly 18x times longer -- and the Lo__tec_ K830 competition uses a 1100 mAh battery, so if they also had a 2000 mAh battery like yours then they would last 1273 hours (32x times longer than the Corsair K83)... How did the Corsair engineers screw this up so badly?! What on earth is pulling all the battery when the LEDs are off?!
  4. The massive battery drain by the keyboard electronics means you need to constantly charge it every 2-3 days, which in turn wears down the battery very fast... And think about that: The awful battery life with a FRESH battery will become UNUSABLY bad when the battery only holds 50-70% charge after two or three years...
  5. And speaking of battery... This is the real anti-customer crime! The battery is a Lithium Polymer (LiPo), which is a battery type that degrades permanently from the moment of manufacture, and has a 2-3 year lifetime from manufacturing to "degraded/near death". Corsair has glued together the whole keyboard. There are no screws at all. Just tons of glue and plastic clips which ALL BREAKS if you try to disassemble the keyboard (see the TechPowerUp review's disassembly section). If you manage to disassemble the keyboard you find a super easily replaced generic battery. But instead Corsair made the keyboard case and all circuit boards super-glued together so that customers CANNOT replace the battery without totally breaking the keyboard. And Corsair gives 2 years battery warranty which is the exact lifetime of LiPo batteries (look it up). So Corsair intends users to throw away their $150 keyboard after 2 years. Thanks. Really nice of you.

 

Corsair could have had a battery hatch for replacement of the LiPo battery. Corsair could have had a screw-based backplate for easy replacement of the battery.

 

Instead, the Corsair engineers, probably on orders from Corsair business department, made a glued-together piece of ____ electronics that has to be thrown away after 2 years. Pure electronic waste. Most likely to sell new keyboards when the battery has been worn down. Because there is no technical reason to glue this keyboard. It would have been the exact same thickness if customer-friendly screws were used instead...

 

My only question is why greed is worth more than customer replaceable batteries... I really don't understand why Corsair did this...

 

It will be interesting to see the unfortunate customer service rep who inevitably will try to answer this. "Well, we at Corsair feel like $150 keyboards should only last 2 years and then be thrown in the trash because... Uh..." ;-)

 

I hope this forum allows criticism and won't just delete this... If it vanishes, I'll post it on Reddit instead, and with significantly harsher words in that case...

Edited by svartchimpans
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I like this keyboard a lot because of the premium build, clicky keys, and the great touchpad - despite most reviews saying it doesn't work well, I found that it works flawlessly.

 

The battery is a huge issue, first because it supposedly degrades completely in three years, and second because the charge capacity is terrible at 40 hours of usage. The connector being micro USB instead of USB C is a bad engineering decision, too.

 

The keyboard configuration requires iCue, which is a waste of time and resources, everything the keyboard does should be handled internally by the keyboard. For example the F-Lock button doesn't actually lock the function keys as function keys, they still default to media keys with F-Lock on when using Bluetooth. You have to install iCue and keep the iCue service open in the background just for the keyboard to have all of its functionality available, a very anti-user move.

 

Being this is the only keyboard on the market that (1) is rechargeable, (2) connects by Bluetooth, and (3) has a touchpad, it was the only product that met my requirements, and I'm glad the build quality and Bluetooth connectivity is very good, but I hope Corsair releases an upgraded version with a better battery, USB C, and proper Bluetooth driver support, or better yet have all the customization be done internally in the keyboard so I don't have to install 1GB of drivers just to get F-Lock to work.

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I like this keyboard a lot because of the premium build, clicky keys, and the great touchpad - despite most reviews saying it doesn't work well, I found that it works flawlessly.

 

Totally agree. The build quality is fantastic. As for touchpad, are you using the RF dongle, or Bluetooth? By bluetooth, it works perfectly for most people (but loses Precision Touchpad support (multi-finger gestures) if you do that). With RF dongle, a lot of people have trouble. That is why they should have put Slipstream (their new RF technology) on this keyboard, sigh.

 

The battery is a huge issue, first because it supposedly degrades completely in three years, and second because the charge capacity is terrible at 40 hours of usage. The connector being micro USB instead of USB C is a bad engineering decision, too.

 

Exactly. A battery hatch would have been trivial to add. And a USB-C connector, which is made for repeated use for years and years, is vital these days. Micro USB ports break down pretty fast. :-/

 

The keyboard configuration requires iCue, which is a waste of time and resources, everything the keyboard does should be handled internally by the keyboard. For example the F-Lock button doesn't actually lock the function keys as function keys, they still default to media keys with F-Lock on when using Bluetooth. You have to install iCue and keep the iCue service open in the background just for the keyboard to have all of its functionality available, a very anti-user move.

 

I totally agree. The keyboard should have a more intelligent processor that handles everything internally, to save battery (to not have to constantly talk via wireless about handling the internal stuff).

 

Being this is the only keyboard on the market that (1) is rechargeable, (2) connects by Bluetooth, and (3) has a touchpad, it was the only product that met my requirements,

 

It's not the only keyboard on the market. Take the "Corsair K83". Take away the word "Corsair" and add the number "0" after "K83", so you get... *drumroll*... "K830", the keyboard that Corsair modeled theirs after. It has bluetooth, RF, touchpad and is rechargeable, with over 700 hours of battery life (and a replaceable battery), and if they had used the same battery capacity as the Corsair they would last 1273 hours. I mentioned this in my initial post. I am stunned that Corsair manages to drain their massive battery in around 40 hours with LEDs off... it's crazy.

 

and I'm glad the build quality and Bluetooth connectivity is very good, but I hope Corsair releases an upgraded version with a better battery, USB C, and proper Bluetooth driver support, or better yet have all the customization be done internally in the keyboard so I don't have to install 1GB of drivers just to get F-Lock to work.

 

Yeah I would be willing to get this keyboard if they release an upgraded version with the following changes:

 

- Fix the crazy battery drain bug. There's no way that the Corsair keyboard should drain a 2000 mAh battery in 40 hours, when the competition drains a 1100 mAh (half-size) in over 700 hours, which means that TODAY'S current Corsair K83 battery would last 1273 hours in the competitor's keyboard.

 

- Replaceable battery (either via battery hatch, or by easily unscrewing the back of the keyboard). This isn't a negotiable demand. It is absolutely vital that they let us replace the batteries, because all LiPo batteries need replacing after 2-3 years. Corsair could then sell overpriced battery packs and make more money that way. And people could also get 3rd party batteries since all LiPo batteries for keyboards use the same connector hehe.

 

- USB C connector to ensure it has the structural integrity to not break after years of plugging and unplugging.

 

- Their new Slipstream RF technology (new RF dongle) for reliable connections. This is important because Bluetooth cannot support Precision Touchpad gestures (it isn't part of the Bluetooth "HID" human-interface-device standard), so we NEED a reliable RF dongle to get the full features of the keyboard.

 

- A bit smaller RF dongle, jesus christ, hehe... The current K83 one is massive. Compare it to the competitor's K830's dongle which is barely larger than the USB port

 

- And lastly; handle more functions internally on the keyboard. Mainly things like key-rebinding (so, make the keyboard itself output different keyboard-codes when keys are pressed), so that the remappings work with ALL connected devices, not just with Windows computers running iCue. The iCue app can be used for configuring (and saving) the remappings, macros, etc, and then save them to the keyboard memory so that they are always in there no matter which computer/device you connect it to. Most of the pro reviews mention wanting this, heh.

 

So yeah K83 has a long way to go on the implementation/software quality and battery drain, but as far as build quality and sexy keys and great keyboard feel, they are already a winner. They are also the only wireless keyboard with Precision Touchpad gestures, although they really need to improve (Slipstream) their RF dongle for that, as mentioned above.

Edited by svartchimpans
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The Logitech K830 is discontinued. Same as the DiNovo Edge which was great. So great they stopped making it because it was built to last, so if you own it you won't be needing new keyboards every few years.

 

Hi. I am not sure which site has misinformed you, but that is totally wrong.

 

As for the DiNovo Edge, I wish that they produced a new premium keyboard like that again! But I guess there was no market for it, otherwise they'd still have it/a successor. :/

Edited by Technobeard
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Apologies for linking to a competing product in the previous message (which was rightfully edited by a mod). It was just to demonstrate that it's definitely not discontinued. The K830 is one of their best selling products. I had already censored the competitor's name earlier in this thread on purpose since I don't want to stir up a "company A vs company B" thing, so I shouldn't have posted the direct product link.

 

Anyway, I am still hoping for a revised version of the Corsair wireless keyboards with removable batteries, bugfixed battery life (no way it should be draining as much as it does so I suspect there's some code that runs very heavily on the keyboard's onboard CPU currently), and the other small issues fixed. Then it would be the perfect wireless keyboard... We'll see if Corsair fixes the keyboard or not... I'd happily buy one if they improve it. The K83 build quality and design is beautiful.

Edited by svartchimpans
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  • 1 year later...
Anyone experienced some keys not working on one press? my left shift, i and 5 are not working properly. I have to press then multiple times before the keys are registered and its frustrating. Anyone knows of a work around for this issue? I did a hard reset, updated it to its latest firmware and is still having the same issue. Issue is happening even when wired, bluetooth and wireless receiver.
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