Logitech G510
The beginning of this year, I reviewed the Logitech G110 keyboard, which was an update to the G11 gaming keyboard. The G110 was a more affordable gaming keyboard since it was missing the LCD screen that’s prominent on the high end Logitech gaming keyboards out there. At CES, I caught a glimpse of the G510, their next gaming keyboard with an LCD. Today, we’re going to take a look at said keyboard and see how well it does.
Design wise, it’s got a little bit of a different color scheme than the G110. Imagine the G110 merged with a G15 with some added G keys and you have the G510 in a nutshell. The G510 is a little bit wider than the G110 because Logitech has added in more G keys, or in reality given back the G keys they took out in the G110 and the main keys seem to be spaced a little bit wider as well. I placed the G510 up next to the G110 and from the left Caps Lock to the Return key, the G510 was wider. So, while it might look like the G110 with an added LCD screen, there are some minor physical changes in the typing area as well.
There are now three rows of six programmable G keys compared to three rows of 4 in the G110. I, for one, am glad Logitech reverted back to the original number of programmable keys as you can never have enough in certain games. There are three profiles you can select via the three M keys above the G keys giving you a good 54 different functions that the G keys can perform. You can program these keys beforehand and set up some profiles or do the macro recording on the fly, which can be helpful.
The keyboard features a quiet set of keys and feels solid when pressed. The increased spacing over the G110 in the main typing area made it feel less cramped and I enjoyed the spacing a little bit more. Like the G110, all the keys are back lit with a color of your choosing. Just go into the control panel and you can set the color you wish the keyboard to light up in. You’re not limited in the range of color so enjoy almost any hue from the spectrum that you enjoy looking at.
As with the G110, the G510 features a USB audio feature whereby you can plug in any 3.5mm headset into the two ports on the top part of the keyboard and have the audio relayed to the computer via the USB cable. I was never one to notice any difference between USB and analog audio but the plug can provide a small level of convenience should your computer be tough to get to to plug in your headset or your speakers don’t provide a headset and mic jack to use.
Overall, the layout is pretty much the same as the G110, which I reviewed earlier this year so if you’re familiar with that then you know how the G510 is oriented. So, let’s get into the differentiators of this keyboard to the G110.
On the center top portion of the G510 is a monochrome LCD screen that will display various bits of information to you based on the widgets you have running. More and more games are being added with support for the LCD screen and I do run a few utilities on there that help me monitor my system. The usefulness of the LCD screen has been debated before as it does take your eyes away from the action on the monitor but there are times where it’s nice to quickly glance down to grab a peek at something there. I remember when the LCD screen debuted with the G15 and it’s come a long way since then with support and the amount of widgets that are available for it. You do pay a little premium for the LCD screen, albeit not nearly as much as the G19 since it’s not a full color LCD screen, but compared to the G110, it’s not that much more expensive.
The G510 comes in at $99.99 and when you compare it to the G110 which retails for $79.99, you do get a few things for the extra $20. Most notably, the LCD screen puts a little bump into the pricing and you do get an extra six programmable G keys for those that need it. MMO players and RTS gamers would most likely benefit out of the extra keys in the G510. Logitech makes solid keyboards and the G510 is in that area with a good feel to the keys, gaming specific features, and the cool LCD screen.
Design wise, it’s got a little bit of a different color scheme than the G110. Imagine the G110 merged with a G15 with some added G keys and you have the G510 in a nutshell. The G510 is a little bit wider than the G110 because Logitech has added in more G keys, or in reality given back the G keys they took out in the G110 and the main keys seem to be spaced a little bit wider as well. I placed the G510 up next to the G110 and from the left Caps Lock to the Return key, the G510 was wider. So, while it might look like the G110 with an added LCD screen, there are some minor physical changes in the typing area as well.
There are now three rows of six programmable G keys compared to three rows of 4 in the G110. I, for one, am glad Logitech reverted back to the original number of programmable keys as you can never have enough in certain games. There are three profiles you can select via the three M keys above the G keys giving you a good 54 different functions that the G keys can perform. You can program these keys beforehand and set up some profiles or do the macro recording on the fly, which can be helpful.
As with the G110, the G510 features a USB audio feature whereby you can plug in any 3.5mm headset into the two ports on the top part of the keyboard and have the audio relayed to the computer via the USB cable. I was never one to notice any difference between USB and analog audio but the plug can provide a small level of convenience should your computer be tough to get to to plug in your headset or your speakers don’t provide a headset and mic jack to use.
Overall, the layout is pretty much the same as the G110, which I reviewed earlier this year so if you’re familiar with that then you know how the G510 is oriented. So, let’s get into the differentiators of this keyboard to the G110.
On the center top portion of the G510 is a monochrome LCD screen that will display various bits of information to you based on the widgets you have running. More and more games are being added with support for the LCD screen and I do run a few utilities on there that help me monitor my system. The usefulness of the LCD screen has been debated before as it does take your eyes away from the action on the monitor but there are times where it’s nice to quickly glance down to grab a peek at something there. I remember when the LCD screen debuted with the G15 and it’s come a long way since then with support and the amount of widgets that are available for it. You do pay a little premium for the LCD screen, albeit not nearly as much as the G19 since it’s not a full color LCD screen, but compared to the G110, it’s not that much more expensive.
The G510 comes in at $99.99 and when you compare it to the G110 which retails for $79.99, you do get a few things for the extra $20. Most notably, the LCD screen puts a little bump into the pricing and you do get an extra six programmable G keys for those that need it. MMO players and RTS gamers would most likely benefit out of the extra keys in the G510. Logitech makes solid keyboards and the G510 is in that area with a good feel to the keys, gaming specific features, and the cool LCD screen.
I've always enjoyed Logitech keyboards and the G510 continues that trend. The width increase over the G110 is nice and you get more programmable keys to boot. It's not too much more than the G110 and the LCD screen can be helpful at times.
Rating: 9 Excellent
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
I've been reviewing products since 1997 and started out at Gaming Nexus. As one of the original writers, I was tapped to do action games and hardware. Nowadays, I work with a great group of folks on here to bring to you news and reviews on all things PC and consoles.
As for what I enjoy, I love action and survival games. I'm more of a PC gamer now than I used to be, but still enjoy the occasional console fair. Lately, I've been really playing a ton of retro games after building an arcade cabinet for myself and the kids. There's some old games I love to revisit and the cabinet really does a great job at bringing back that nostalgic feeling of going to the arcade.
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