Review on Vilros 2.4GHz Keyboard and Touchpad Hub for Raspberry Pi: Create a Compact Desktop Experience by Alejandro Labustin

1. The keyboard itself is buggy. If you type too fast, random keys will be inserted. If you're reading this on a desktop computer, open Notepad, press and hold the T key, then press and hold the E key while holding the T and E keys, and then start pressing the R key while holding down the T and E keys. What does it do every time you press and release the R key? On my nicer keyboards, the R key is pressed and nothing else, ignoring the T and E you hold down. On my lower quality keyboards, it ignores the R key and keeps spamming the pressed E or T key. In any case, it ignores the fact that you are holding 3 keys but instead only does 1 action, either it types E, R or T. What is this faulty keyboard doing? It ignores the T key and instead types R and E at the same time! It performs 2 actions with one button press. This may seem like a strange test, but what does it prove? Why is it important? Because imagine you're typing very fast, like the word "tree", and you're typing so fast that you press T->R->E almost simultaneously. Because this keyboard is buggy and inserts two keys with one press, you will find that sometimes after typing the word "tree" you have an extra letter! This was quite frustrating and resulted in many typos that I had to correct while coding. There are extra letters throughout my program that I need to correct in the code. I've never seen this problem, even with cheap USB keyboards, so this one is worse than even the cheap ones. The attached video shows how it works well when I type the word "Tree" slowly, but when I type it fast I get "Trere". I can even repeat this test on my cheap USB membrane keyboards and have never seen this problem. If you press 4 keys, you expect 4 actions, even if you accidentally typed them wrong. But this will do 5 things like hitting a key that you never did, resulting in a bunch of random characters in the middle of your code if you're typing really fast. This also happens with the word "string", often doubling the R to give you "string". Obviously, "string" is a word you'll likely type a lot when writing code. So expect tons of compiler errors only to see you have duplicate Rs scattered throughout your code. I have never experienced this problem on any keyboard in my entire life.2. The covers have to be pried off with a knife to access the power button and the SD card slot. The keyboard's power button is hidden behind a cover. So was the SD card slot for the Pi. Whatever geniuses came up with this thought it would be a good idea to make the lid so damn hard to open that I actually cut my finger to the point where it started bleeding when I tried to open the lid before giving up and took a knife from my kitchen to pry the lid off. It's just a matter of changing the SD card or turning on the damn keyboard! Why?! I mean it's pretty easy to open with a knife, but good luck opening without a knife. 3. Screws to access the battery compartment. If your batteries are dead, you'll need to remove a few screws to access the battery compartment. What genius thought it was a good idea? Why not just make the same cover you use to access the SD card slot so you can get to the batteries too? Who designed it? I would like to know.4. Poor build quality. I assume Vilros has no quality control. Another review says you have to unscrew 6 screws to get to the battery compartment. Here? Not on mine. They didn't mold the plastic properly so one of the screws can't even reach the threads. So they give you 6 screws, but only 5 actually work. You can also keep the sixth screw as a backup in case you lose it because it doesn't really fit in the hole. The fan cannot be fixed. The fan is held in place by friction alone. There are no screws at all. If you drop the case it can shift, and I often accidentally move it when trying to open the case, causing me to reposition it. A very strange decision. Note that I didn't complain that batteries are required or that you need a USB adapter. These are lazy solutions too, but I kind of expected that. If those were the only "problems" I would have nothing to complain about. But the problems with this thing don't stop there. I bought it because it's the only case I know of. I wanted an all-in-one device for my Pi, similar to old computers, with the keyboard and computer as one device. This is the only product I know of, other than maybe the Pi 100 case, but they don't sell that case separately and there's no option to add a fan like this. To my knowledge this is the only such case, which surprises me as it is such an obvious type of case that it would have been one of my first ideas. Considering there aren't many other options, can I recommend these? Only if you absolutely must have such a suitcase, since there are not many other options. But that's not very good. I'm giving it a 2 instead of a 1 because the keyboard is nice and at least nice to look at.