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Edit: After some conversations on this forums I have new findings regarding the software:
1. It seems that most settings are saved in the device. For the Z15 keyboard I am told that only the custom RGB lighting cannot be saved.
2. The mouse DOES save the custom DPI settings in the device, hence the corrections and edits below. The trouble was that as soon as I closed the software the mouse switched to another profile that was on the device, hence effectively giving me the experience of it losing all the settings I had set when the software closed.
With this new information, some of my complaints are addressed.
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Unfortunately I'm not that impressed with my recent purchase so far... My biggest problem with the EVGA keyboard and mouse are the fact that the profile is only saved and applied in the software only. They have updated the software and software can be debugged, changed, and fixed, if the company wants to support their users. What they cannot do is to pull of a miracle and fix lack of design and care in the hardware. I could be wrong, maybe something can still be done to address this via a firmware update, but I seriously doubt it.
My problem is total dependence on this software in the first place. Not being able to save custom RGB profile to they keyboard itself is also really a major flaw. When the program quits or when system is booted to another OS, or just moving the mouse and keyboard to another computer causes all customizations to be lost.
ESPECIALLY the DPI settings in the mouse are lost... that one is really painful to me... even the cheapest off-brand Chinese keyboard and mouse save profile to the keyboard/mouse itself and can even operate without any need for special software. This is just a mouse, and this feature has been the norm for gaming mice since 2000's! I get that EVGA is new to accessories,
but are they actually 30 years behind? (edit, they are not... Figured out that the DPI profiles are saved in the device)...
Additionally the keyboard is lacking in features compared to competition. I'm not saying that they PCB, or keys are lacking in quality, but the rest of it is missing major features. I think the EVGA keyboard and mouse are very VERY overpriced for the features they provide. For what these things cost, I'm very disappointed. I have two other mechanical keyboards and a mouse from other "Chinese" brands, and they cost much much less that the EVGA, and they are not only better equipped with the onboard features (such as not needing a darn software to configure things, having the memory in the device to save profiles (Edit: even the custom RGB profiles, and come with many more RGB patterns that can be configured from the keyboard itself), and having many more functionality by taking full advantage of the FN key (Edit: custom FN keys can be set via software, but keyboard comes with nothing...), for example to launch other commonly used programs and more media control shortcuts, and many more things) the build quality of the Chinese branded products is the same, or better than this keyboard. Even after the 50% discount those keyboards are less expensive than Z15. I would probably think twice before buying any EVGA branded accessories and do not recommend them... That little metal plate with EVGA logo is not worth $100 more.
I'm not unhappy with any other EVGA products, and I still think very highly of some of EVGA product lines. I do have EVGA power supplies which have absolutely impressed me. The price for those power supplies are also for very reasonable. This was the reason that I was willing to pay the price premium to give them a chance, but this time they blew it. I would advice people against buying the keyboards, mice and potentially other accessories that rely on this software since they don't seem to have gotten this right yet.
Edit: Just having the mouse saving the DPI profiles inside the device solved my complaints with the X17 mouse. This is working for me now, so the only remaining hurdle is the price. If this is on discount (like it was 50% off when I bought it) this becomes much easier to recommend... Keyboard is still too pricy even after 50% discount given that my other hot-pluggable opto-mechanical Chinese keyboard is capable of doing a lot more without any software, and has slightly better build quality, while costing less than Z15 at 50% discount. That's some stiff competition EVGA is facing.