Logitech K860 Missing Keystrokes

Nathan Clark · September 29, 2023

I purchased a Logitech (Logi) K860 keyboard from Best Buy for work. The form fact is great, very comfortable to type on so I purchased another to use for WFH. Later on, I noticed an issue where the certain key combinations (when typed fast) will cause it to miss keystrokes. I opened a ticket with Logitech and they disregarded as (2) bad units and mailed me 2 new keyboards...which I tested and have had the same problem.

Example Keystroke:

ls -larth
I know there are other keystrokes that have been missing but hard to confirm absolutely

Testing / Troubleshooting:

Tried keystrokes with different keyboards (just fine)
Tried the keyboard(s) on Windows and Linux (same behavior)
Tried using Bluetooth vs Logitech Unify receiver (same behavior)
Tried other computers (same behavior)
Tried updating software (no effect)

I really like the keyboards and would love to find out this is a driver issue or something that can be fixed with an update. Any suggestions from the community? Would love to see Linus get this fixed from Logitech :-).

johnt · September 29, 2023

yeah... it's my unpopular opinion but Logitech sucks these days. Move on to a better brand. ALL my Logitech devices have started double registering, not registering, or just flat out breaking. The only keyboard that's still kicking is the G710, but Logitech decided to nuke the BUILT IN macro recording and renders the keyboard a large paperweight.

They also wrecked the software. I have no clue how to use the new version.

I'm also pissed about them killing the Harmony remotes.

They have earned their place on my short list with HP and Dell: do not buy.

GarlicDeliverySystem · September 29, 2023

1 hour ago, Nathan Clark said:

I really like the keyboards and would love to find out this is a driver issue or something that can be fixed with an update. Any suggestions from the community?

After a bit of googling, it would seem that the K860 does not support NKRO, or N-key roll-over. I couldn't find details, but basically this means not every combination of key presses can be distinguished, already based on the design of the PCB/hardware. So I doubt they can fix this with a software update, unless they already bungled such a basic feature in software to begin with.

So I think this was just not designed for people who can type fast, or use a lot of common terminal commands etc.

Maybe some even higher-end Logitech products have NKRO and would work better, but I have my doubts this was a priority for the designers assigned to the ergonomic keyboards (or to the beancounters).

If you like the design, the only other place I know who has them is Keychron:

They all have this ergonomic shape, though obviously not the same and they are BT w/o 2.4GHz. On the plus side, fully NKRO and compatible with VIA/QMK (very easy to make custom keybinds or macros). And of course hotswap etc.