A little over a year ago, I purchased a Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless Desktop Keyboard and Mouse to replace my aging ergonomic keyboard, which was also from Microsoft. At the time, choices were limited and even though I didn’t need a keyboard, I ended up with the keyboard and mouse combo setup because that was the only option my local office store had in stock. I had long seen the sculpt mouse and wondered how it felt to use. I was perhaps even more curious about how accessible the tech would be for a blind user.

The Hardware

The Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless Desktop Keyboard and Mouse come in a total of four pieces, the keyboard, sculpt mouse, number pad and the USB receiver. For those of us who don’t like to read directions or look up on the web how to set things up initial setup was a bit frustrating. 

The setup

I have used a lot of wireless devices in my time and usually, you install the batteries, plug in the USB receiver and install the software to get your keyboard and or mouse working. Microsoft veers away from tradition when it comes to hardware with this product, rather than having a normal slide and lock panel to access the batteries on the bottom of the devices, Microsoft opted for a battery compartment on the keyboard and mouse which is held to the device with magnets. The normal slide and push is replaced with finding a small notch to lift the panel. The battery compartment for the number pad is accessed with a small screwdriver to unlock the door. There is no consistency for opening the devices, and there is no consistency with the batteries. The keyboard takes two AAA batteries, both of which face toward the top of the keyboard unlike the usual one up and one down configuration. The mouse is similar, with both batteries facing toward the front of the mouse, and the mouse uses double AA batteries. The number pad uses one of those large flat batteries that are like a watch battery bit bigger. Three different kinds of batteries, three different ways to open the battery compartment, I began at this point to wonder if Microsoft did any accessibility testing on this product at all. 

With my batteries installed in the components, I began the search for the USB dongle. I tore the box apart and dug through the packaging thinking I had dropped it. A quick Google search revealed that the USB receiver was located in a receptacle in the battery compartment of the mouse. It was at this point that I was sure they had done zero accessibility testing. I installed the USB receiver and everything worked. 

Use

As mentioned, it has been a bit over a year now since I got this mouse and keyboard setup. I find the keyboard comfortable to use and comfortable to type on for long periods of time. Battery life for the keyboard has been about a year with daily use. The mouse batteries lasted about six months with similar use. I have not had to replace the battery in the number pad as of yet. 

The ability to move the keyboard anywhere on the desk and not have to worry about wires is great, and as mentioned the keyboard is comfortable to type on even for long periods of time. Where the keyboard excels, the mouse falls short for me. I tried for a very long time to acclimate myself to the height of the mouse, which is very high compared to other lower profile mice like the standard offerings from Logitech or Razer.  I would put the sculpt mouse in the poor category, and would not recommend. I’m also not a big fan of the number pad being separate from the keyboard. I find myself losing it on my desk and productivity suffers compared to using a traditional keyboard with the number pad attached. The keyboard also has a few annoying quirks.  

Troubles

The Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless Desktop Keyboard does a good job of being awake and ready to type on at any time. Some wireless keyboards need a moment to wake up when you first start using them. I’m a pretty fast typist and find that the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless Desktop Keyboard will often miss the first letter of a word after a pause in typing. I have moved the receiver to different ports including a port located on the monitor which is located right above the keyboard to resolve this issue. I am using the latest version of the companion software. 

Another issue which has plagued many users, myself included is the tendency for the keyboard to stop working all together.  At first I pulled the batteries and let the keyboard acquire the signal to the receiver again, but it would stop working again after five minutes or so. The software had no errors and seemed to work fine, the solution ended up being a stuck key. Running my fingers along every key I finally found the stuck key and tapped it a few times, resolving the issue. I mention this specifically because I found this very frustrating, and is a common issue with this keyboard among users online. 

Conclusion

The Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless Desktop Keyboard and Mouse has quite a few odd hardware decisions and some functionality issues. Accessibility should be considered as poor for this product, and I cannot recommend it to anyone regardless of their visual acuity.