Cherry Sirius XT Wireless Multimedia Desktop review

There’s a minimalist feel to the package that Cherry has put together for its Sirius XT wireless multimedia desktop set.

The box that houses the keyboard and mouse opens to reveal a small multi-lingual instruction guide and the necessary hardware, and that’s your lot. Fortunately, the wireless keyboard and mouse are a breeze to set up, and once you’ve inserted the supplied batteries and slotted in the receiver, Windows does the rest. There’s no software installation to cope with, and no need to hold down buttons or chant incantations to get everything talking to each other.

Sadly, though, the minimal feel extends to the quality of the hardware. The keyboard is thin, and the keys have very little travel. It’s adorned with a collection of media shortcuts just above the wrist rest and some keys at the top right for launching things like your email program and the Windows Calculator. The problem is that it’s just not a comfortable keyboard to use for any length of time. If you’re looking for a keyboard to use on your lap as part of a living room media PC setup, it could fit the bill. But for long periods of typing, it’s a no-no.

The clunky mouse is a little better, only really coming a cropper by going one extra feature too far. There are two cheap-feeling buttons mounted on the left hand side of the mouse that make the whole unit really quite uncomfortable to use. They’re an odd inclusion, and Cherry would surely have been wiser to either opt for something more discreet or forget about them altogether.

The lack of software to set up may seem like a benefit, but nor is there any software in the box to customise the keyboard commands in any way. All in all, while this is certainly a functional keyboard and mouse set, it’s not one that you should really consider for anything other than occasional light use. There are some terrific value budget input sets around, but this isn’t one of them.