Freedom Mini Keyboard

skippy911 · 04-28-2006, 11:26 PM

Hi all,

Promised I would do this review a while ago but I had never went out and bought a bluetooth dongle. I now have a mac mini intel with windows xp running bootcamp so what follows is my review. Ill refer to the "Freedom Mini Keyboard" as FMK for the rest of this review

Item: FMK

This is the keyboard I purchased on ebay. I got it brandnew from the seller. It came with a drivers cd, crappy pouch (not pictured), and the unit itself.

The manufactorer has a website at: http://freedominput.com/mainsite/index.php

Installation:

I turned on the FMK and went into windows xp bluetooth manager. You can find this by going to start -> control panel -> Bluetooth devices. Pressing the link key once on the FMK will put the device into discoverable mode. Now just follow the rest of the prompts and when it asks you to input a passkey just input the one given to you and press enter.

Installation was a breeze but how well does the thing work?

Range:

I am typing what is in italics on the FMK from about 15 feet away, haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. as you can see it got mad and sent about 9 gazillion letter A's.

This is the same test on my porch through a wall only 10 feet away, haha. worked perfectly.

Last but not least a test from 10 feet away no walls, haha. Again perfect.

I am not sure why it messed up from 15 feet away, may be the range of the mac mini's bluetooth radio.

Reconnecting:

When you turn the FMK on and press any of the keys you must wait about 5 seconds and you will see the blue light near the link key blink, that means the FKB has reconnected with windows and is ready to go. Freedom states the unit can be in standby mode for 1000 hours, but since it reconnects so easily I just turn it off and then back on.

Backlight:

Here is a picture of the backlight on the FMK:

I am in total darkness in this shot with no flash on the camera. Looks pretty good to me. The light is bright but not bright enough to light up your car. It is also really easy to turn on and off, just hold the Num key and press link. Do the same combination to turn it off. Strange thing is you can only turn on the backlight when the keyboard is connected to the pc.

Conclusion:

The FMK does what it says it should. Types in windows wirelessly and with a backlit keyboard. I give it a 10 out of 10 for car pc use.

kiztope · 04-30-2006, 08:10 AM

Great review! Is there any way that you can take a pic with the FMK next to something else (soda can, credit card, etc...) to get a better idea of the size?
Thanks!

skippy911 · 04-30-2006, 09:47 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by kiztope

Great review! Is there any way that you can take a pic with the FMK next to something else (soda can, credit card, etc...) to get a better idea of the size?
Thanks!

The card I took the picture with is the same exact size as a credit card. Its my train card for the JR line.

PORTUGAL · 05-22-2006, 08:50 AM

How much did you pay for this ?
Do you have a link to the ebay seller ?

RedGTiVR6 · 05-22-2006, 09:06 AM

ditto to what portugal said, I'd like to know as well.

mostly from the buyer on ebay...

thanks for posting the review!

PORTUGAL · 05-22-2006, 09:13 AM

Found these on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/Freedom-Input-Mi...QQcmdZViewItem 55$

http://cgi.ebay.com/Freedom-Mini-Blu...QQcmdZViewItem 80$

No europe sellers

RedGTiVR6 · 05-22-2006, 10:05 AM

lol

yea for me!

boo for you

acura cl · 05-22-2006, 01:35 PM

Great review! I have the same keyboard, a side note for current or future owners, don't buy a cheap BT receiver. You will have many headaches trying to get the FMK to re-connect.

skippy911 · 05-22-2006, 02:07 PM

Oh and if anyone wants to, freedom works great for use in osx to control frontrow

Now no need to relocate the IR receiver just to control frontrow.

PS: I bought it from the seller getyourtech on ebay.

EricE · 05-22-2006, 02:17 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by acura cl

Great review! I have the same keyboard, a side note for current or future owners, don't buy a cheap BT receiver. You will have many headaches trying to get the FMK to re-connect.

So which BT receiver do you have now that you like?

f1vlad · 05-22-2006, 03:43 PM

Thanks for the review, now I want to buy it

JimmyFitz · 05-22-2006, 06:16 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by acura cl

Great review! I have the same keyboard, a side note for current or future owners, don't buy a cheap BT receiver. You will have many headaches trying to get the FMK to re-connect.

Quote: Originally Posted by EricE

So which BT receiver do you have now that you like?

yeah, which one do you have that works well?

PORTUGAL · 05-23-2006, 02:50 AM

Where is the DEL , i cant see it in the keyboard ??

Stealth97 · 05-25-2006, 07:42 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by acura cl

Great review! I have the same keyboard, a side note for current or future owners, don't buy a cheap BT receiver. You will have many headaches trying to get the FMK to re-connect.

I tried the most expensive one first. Linksys USBBT100 v2 (IIRC). would not auto connect.

Then I tried the MSI adapter, had the same problem.

I contacted freedom input, they stated it was their problem and would fix it in the next release.

Me? I'll be looking for another BT keyboard solution.

konfoo · 06-27-2006, 05:53 PM

The build quality of this keyboard is crap. I lifted the mount on the back and it snapped right off. The batteries barely make contact in the housing. The documentation is for a different keyboard. 2/10 and that's for effort only.