Xenta aims to snag those customers who splash out on their keyboards
When I unpacked the Xenta Washable Waterproof keyboard I had a brief deja vu moment. Like the ones you get if you watch any of the news channels for more than 20 minutes in a row. Eventually the penny dropped, because this keyboard or one disturbingly like it is sold by Logitech as the K310 for about £10 more.
What this product seems designed for are those people who are messy eaters and like to have lunch at their desks, or who have a system where the keyboard is exposed to the elements for whatever reason. Because, other than that - save for, maybe, a system on a boat or at a bar or beer festival - I can't think of many situations that justified needing a keyboard to be waterproof.
The approach here is to avoid having somewhere for liquid to pool under the keys, instead choosing to make them stand proud of a smooth flat surface.
Therefore, should someone drop their beer/coffee/tea/ deadly pathogen on the keyboard it can easily run off, and you can wipe down the structure relatively easily. Should it be something thicker, cup-soup comes to my mind, you can immerse the whole keyboard in up to 6" of water for a proper wash. For stubborn detritus, Xenta includes a small brush for you to get beneath and between the keys. As an added protection there is also a waterproof cover for the USB blade, though that does sort of suggest you're using it generally not plugged in, confusingly.
Having used this device, I was pleasantly surprised that I could actually get up to a reasonable typing speed. Performance is everything to me, and the key action on this is generally positive and the key reset quick, if a little squishy.
It could be better in a couple of areas, I'd suggest. One of these is that the tops of the keys are only slightly dished compared with most USB keyboards, and could do with being more sculpted. The other is that the some fold out legs that raise the rake don't have any rubber feet on them, causing the keyboard to slide awat if you have a smooth table top. Thinking on it, an integrated USB hub might have been nice too, but you can live without that feature.
Overall, this is a much better keyboard than I was expecting it to be, even if I'm still unsure who buys a keyboard with the expectation that it will get wet on a regular basis.
If that is you, however - and please spare me the detail about why - then this keyboard might well be perfect. It's reasonably priced too compared with other contamination resistant designs. Mark Pickavance
A modestly submersible USB keyboard.
Features
• No setup required just plug&play
• Fully submergible up to 6"
• Durable keys up to five million key strokes
• 1.5m USB cable
• Adjustable height
• Full-size UK layout
• Low profile quiet operation keys
• Windows & Mac Compatible