Logitech Just Made a Solar-Powered Wireless Keyboard—No Charge Needed

There’s a downside to wireless computer keyboards. You have to charge them. Repeatedly.

Add that to the long list of things that need to be charged and kept topped off constantly: electric toothbrushes, shavers, Roku remotes, Dyson vacuums, Bluetooth speakers, and headphones. I could keep going.

Logitech just launched the Signature Slim Solar+ K980 wireless keyboard for $100, and it’s got a party trick up its sleeve. It charges not just from sunlight, but also from artificial light, so you never have to plug it in to recharge. Ever.

months of battery life

Once fully charged, the K980 can last up to four months in complete darkness. Effectively, this means you’ll never run out of juice, because if you spend four straight months working in the pitch black indoors, you’ve got bigger problems than the battery life of your keyboard.

There is no option to recharge it via a USB cable, as the keyboard lacks a port that supports it. With such battery life, Logitech understandably saw no need to clutter the K980’s design with an unnecessary port.

The K980 comes with a whole number pad, and so it’s not the most compact keyboard. I’d like to see a TKL version for those who don’t use numbers frequently in their day-to-day usage and would instead appreciate saving some desktop real estate.

I’ve written about the wonders and magic of mechanical keyboards quite a lot. The Logitech K980 isn’t one of them. It’s a standard, non-mechanical keyboard that lacks the physical switches underneath each keycap that define a mechanical keyboard.

If you’re looking for the superior, analog typing experience of a mechanical keyboard, you have to look elsewhere. But if all you want is a wireless keyboard that you can cross off from your long list of devices that need constant plugging into a wall outlet, Logitech’s K980 is your board.