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Need a new keyboard and mouse or gamepad? We put a dozen through their paces and tell you which one is deserving of your cash

Belkin Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Manufacturer:	Price:
Belkin	£35.24 inc VAT
Reviewer:	Review Date:
	Apr 2004

	OVERALL RATING

SCORE

4/6

Verdict: Mediocre design and no rechargeable batteries

Belkin's bundle is one of the cheapest wireless sets around. Using RF technology, there's no need for line-of-sight between either keyboard or mouse and the receiver. The receiver is fairly small and discreet, and has a power LED to indicate when it's working.

Once you've plugged the two PS/2 connectors into your PC, the receiver automatically scans for the keyboard and mouse and connects with them. There are also manual connect buttons on each device.

The keyboard has nine additional buttons for functions such as music playback,Internet Explorer, email and searching. You have to install a small utility to use the buttons, and it doesn't let you reprogram them, which is frustrating.

We didn't like the integrated wrist rest, as it's too shallow, and the three-button mouse is large and not very comfortable to use. It's the only one on test to have a ball instead of an optical sensor and was annoyingly unresponsive when gaming, failing to move the camera accurately in Prince of Persia.

When you consider that the Genius set includes rechargeable batteries for just £4 more, the Belkin combo is pretty poor value at £35.

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