Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (Rev. 2) Mini-Review

After reading several good (and not-so-good) reviews of the Logitech G15 (Rev. 2) keyboard, I just got my brand new Logitech G15 the other day. Here are some of my first impressions:

1. There is a series of function keys along the left hand side of the keyboard (Labelled "G1" to "G6"). I am so used to the Esc key being at the top left hand side that I kept pressing the G1 to escape out of applications. To solve this, I just mapped the G1 key to Esc in Windows by default
2. The RSS feed feature is very nice - your favourite RSS feeds flash past on your keyboard LCD while you are gaming/at work while not taking up screen space.
3. The illuminated keyboard is very handy to see the keyboard at night (esp for function keys) - and allows 3 different brightness settings.
4. The Windows Lockout key is a godsend. No more dropping out of your games by accidentally pressing the Windows Key!
   
5. This keyboard is HUGE! It is nothing compared to Revision 1 of the G15 but it is large nonetheless (see pictures below). I really have to squeeze it into my laptop bag.
   
6. It is a pain to get the POP email notifier (so you get nice little notifications popping up in the LCD screen) working with Gmail. You actually have to install an application called sTunnel (http://www.stunnel.org)to get the app to talk to the gmail servers via https- http://forums.logitech.com/logitech/board/message?board.id=hardware&message.id=419 Problem is, when the Logitech POP reader finally was able to check my email, it reads 167 emails and then the Logitech application crashes. I will have to try some of the alternative gmail readers for the G15 - but they don't look like they play nice with Vista.
7. There is something different about the left hand side of the G15 key layout. I've never had this problem before on a keyboard - but sometimes I find myself typing at an offset of one key to the left (I don't normally look at the keyboard to type - but with the G15, I have to look to get my bearings occasionally). This is probably the most disconcerting aspect of the keyboard that I've found so far.
8. The auto-update feature in the Logitech software doesn't work. Make sure you go to the Logitech site and download the latest driver software manually - as they have added nice features like the RSS reader.
9. There were some build issues with the keyboard - the caps/number lock led cover was not attached to they keyboard properly when I opened it from the packaging.
   

So all in all I'd give the G15 Revision 2 a score of 4/10 - some of these niggling issues above are too big to ignore. I tried to find a demo model in the stores (in Officeworks, etc), but some of these issues only come out when you have used it for a couple of days. I have to say "Buyer Beware" for this one.