Great idea, nice design, complete failure from a user standpoint.
The idea is great since Apple doesn't currently offer an extended bluetooth keyboard. I've looked at several from other vendors and they are just too big for the space I have for my keyboard/trackball. The unit matches and connects to the aluminum keyboard nicely and looks good. Then the trouble starts.
The keypad is constantly going to sleep which gives you the "connection lost" notice and the "connected" notice when it wakes up. Of course, the keyboard assistant wants to identify the keyboard each time so you are constantly having to close that window. The keypad also has a tendency to lag so you aren't always sure if the keystroke will show up and sometimes stutters and inserts the number multiple times even if you only hit the key once and are not even making contact with the keypad.
The docs indicate these problem can be caused by low power. So every time the problem gets to bad to ignore I change the batteries. In 10 days I have changed the batteries 4 times. I used the alkalines that came with the board and 3 sets of freshly charge NiMHs. I checked the NiMH and the are showing good on my charger, they are less than a year old, and they are the LSD type. The same batteries last a couple of months in the Apple keyboard. The keyboard and keypad are located less than 3 feet from my Mac MIni and there are no significant obstructions or objects to block the signal.
So, either I have a unit that is bad out of the box, which bring their QC in to question, or the design is inherently flawed.
Response from OWC, Technical Support
January 4, 2012
OWC has shipped thousands upon thousands of this item to very satisfied customers and Apple even now offers this in their own stores. Cropmark has improved both the directions and the pairing explanation since the this product began shipping in 2010 - to address a misunderstanding with how this worked that was reponsible for complaints such as yours.
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