I got this keyboard and mouse today from my local Curry’s store as I accidentally broke my old wireless mouse. I’ve been trying to cope with using VNC to access my computer without a mouse, but my patience didn’t last long so I decided I had to go and get a new mouse/keyboard.

I paid just under £20 for the mouse and keyboard, so I was relatively pleased as that isn’t too bad at today’s standard.

In terms of quality and performance, I’m really happy. Set up was really quick and easy. I simply connected the receiver to the computer via USB, placed the batteries in the keyboard and mouse, and off I went. I installed the optional software to provide the function keys on the keyboard, although this isn’t vital and quite a lot of people probably wouldn’t bother.

The keyboard has a really nice comfortable feel which makes it a pleasure to type on. It’s feedback to your fingers is really good – it’s not too hard to press the keys that it becomes tiring to type with, yet not to easy to press the keys that you start double-pressing keys by mistake. Compared to my previous Advent keyboard, it’s really good (my old Advent keyboard was just too hard to type with – made you tired of typing very quickly).

The keyboard’s function keys are handy. It has all the obvious keys you’d expect – Internet, Email, Music player, Skip Track etc. However, the keys are built in to the keyboard itself rather than using separate buttons which makes the keyboard very compact. It makes the keyboard very useful if you are using it on a small desk.

The mouse is also very good. It’s a fairly big mouse which I prefer (I’m not a fan of the mini mice!). It has the usual 3 buttons – left mouse button, right mouse button, and a scroll wheel in the middle with a clicker. The mouse has a really comfortable feel which I would be happy to use for several hours continuously.

The included software is pretty good. Not only does it let you handle which function buttons do what, but it also lets you handle things like “gaming mode”. I actually like the idea of this (I am aware that this is probably not unique to this keyboard). How many times have you been in the middle of a full screen game and then accidentally hit the Windows start key, and the whole game minimises and your start menu appears – arghh! Well that’s solved with this keyboard, as you can have the keyboard’s software detect that you’re in a game and disable the start key. That is a lifesaver.

On top of that, the software also alerts you if either the keyboard or mouse battery is running low, which is helpful. That neatly brings me on to the only downside I can really think of for this keyboard – it doesn’t have a mouse charging cable or dock. Instead, it just uses simple standard AA batteries. Of course, you could just use rechargeable batteries and charge them externally, but this can become annoying when you need the computer and the mouse batteries are on charge. But then for £20, it’s not going to be perfect.

Overall, I’m very happy with the keyboard and mouse. If you’re in need of a good cordless mouse and keyboard set on a budget, this one is a good idea.