FYI.. 2011 model Lenovo n5902 HTPC remote! - Page 3

Bought one earlier this week for $49.99 at Frys. So far so good. Much easier than mouse and keyboard. Tracking takes a bit to get used to, but after a while it becomes second nature. Great buy

Gladly! Suggestions?

I already ditched a XY Board due to horrible mouse functionality.
Touch screens thru Android or iOS are not "always on" and can't be used without looking down.
My Rii Mini is pretty good. Waiting impatiently for an evolution.
DiNovo Mini is not one hand friendly and the lid is stupid.
Just ordered the N9502, but not expecting it to outperform the Rii.
Considering an AirBoard Optical, but the sketchy retailers concern me and I can't use PayPal (long story)

Harmony, Pronto, etc. don't have mouse or keyboard, so not an option.

I haven't been able to find anything else that even remotely (pun intended) fits the bill, but I'm always looking...

You need a real remote. for $200 there is plenty of options.

What would you recommend?

Hi all-
I got two of these last year when they were ~$35 and I have to say that I love (one of) them. I use one in my home theater and it's been fantastic and one in the living room. The batteries in the one in the theater last a LONG time - literally months of daily use. The batteries in the living room N5902 die FAST. With very little use. The difference is amazing and very frustrating. I'm just wondering if anyone else has found battery life to be an issue? Both remotes work identically function and distance wise so I'm stumped. If I turn the power switch to OFFon the living room one, it lasts fine but if I leave it ON or on the LIGHT setting, batteries will be dead in no time. No keys are stuck, the light turns on and off perfectly as well - So just reaching out to see if anyone else found this -
Thanks
Trouble
(Hope they go on sale again this year for $35! I'll grab another two or four!)

Mass production of products. Always reveals a Lemon eventually.

Just an update of my saga... the Lenovo didn't work for me. Functionality was OK, but Ergonomics were wrong for me. The AirBoard Optical was the same.

Still using the Rii Mini. Still the best I've yet tried. After the holiday anarchy is over I'll order the new bluetooth dual-sided Rii mini.

Also interested in the Vizio flipper. Need to research it a bit to see about compatibility.

I have the N5902 on my new HTPC with the dongle on the front of the Silverstone case, which is behind the seating position (AV rack is in the back of the room and screen is on the front wall). This really doesn't work for me. If I cup the keyboard in my hand, like the ergonomic shape would suggest, the signal doesn't get through all the time (missing keys strokes). If I hold it from the bottom and peck at the keys with my fingers, then it works fairly reliably. I measured the range as follows:

Facing dongle, not cupping keyboard (holding from bottom and pecking with other hand): 20 feet away (at the screen) it works and only occasionally misses a keystroke

Facing dongle, cupping keyboard to type (as I think it was intended to be used): 10 feet away it starts to miss keystrokes

Facing the screen (body is blocking the line of sight to the dongle) and cupping the keyboard: 6 feet away it starts to miss keystrokes.

I'm going to try running a USB extension toward the front of the room (like I think Assassin described) and I think that will let me face the screen and type from the seats. The thing that gets me is that a PS3 bluetooth controller seems to work fine from the seating position -- a keyboard with that kind of connection should work, but I've yet to find one in this Lenovo or various (older) Logitech keyboards.

Lacartus, is your PC close to the floor?

I also have a Silverstone case which is on a shelf about 4 ins. off of the floor. I plugged the dongle in the front of the case, and the 5902 behaved horribly . The curser kept stopping and starting; and the keyboard would miss keystrokes regularly.

I then got a long USB cable, plugged it in the back of the PC, snaked it up the back of the TV and taped it to the top of the TV. The dongle is now about 5 ½ feet above the floor and I can't believe the difference. The curser is steady and I very seldom miss a keystroke. I sit about 11 feet from the TV.

If anyone is having trouble like I did, I strongly suggest experimenting with the location of the dongle.

I just bought a N5902 from an eBay vendor and this one does NOT have the back lit keyboard! The back of the case says Lenovo Multimedia Remote with Keyboard N5902, but the Fn key is just that, only Fn is on the key and there's no LIGHT symbol.

Also, the SWITCH is only OFF and ON, no middle position.

DPN

For you guys that ran a USB extension... How long of an extension did you run? I tried a little 1 foot extension off the front of my GD05 case, but I still can't get more than 5 feet away reliably. Looking at cables, I guess the USB specification has a 5 meter limit. My cabinet is behind me and I'm thinking that my best bet is to run the USB receiver up to the ceiling near the projector. (Then most of the cable is hiding behind ceiling tiles and I can just have the reciever pop through.) Going this route, I'm pretty sure I'd need more than 5 meters / 16 feet. (Murphy's law says I'd need 17 feet ) I see on Amazon and Monoprice "active" USB cables that can go longer than 5 meters... Anyone ever try these? Any reason why they wouldn't work with the Lenovo USB receiver?

Thanks

I use one to connect my IR USB receiver (OVU series from Dell/Philips), to the PC run is about 15-18 feet with an active USB extender.
I would get one locally as I had to try a couple different ones, I had an issue where the extender would stop working after the PC came out of suspend.

Does the N5902 use IR, or is it BT or RF? I just got all of my components behind cabinet doors using an Impact Acoustics IR repeater. Unfortunately, my N5902 doesn't respond. In fact, the IR repeater receiver doesn't flash when the keypad is used. Has anyone successfully used a N5902 with an IR repeater? Am I going to have to run miles of USB extension cable?

I am having an intermittent problem with my N5902, and I was wondering if anyone else is having the same problem.

The cursor tracks OK like I said in my previous post, but what I am pointing at does not necessarily get highlighted. For instance, in WMC, on the main menu, I might have the arrow pointed at 'TV', but 'Pictures + Videos” (several menu icons above) might get highlighted. Also, I might be pointed at 'TV'; and 'TV' might be highlighted, but as soon as I push the cursor button, something else, several menu ikons away will get picked.

The same thing happens outside of WMC. I have noticed the problem in Windows Explorer, NetFlix and Amazon.

All of the keys work OK, the only problem is selecting somethng.

I have tried different usb ports and cables. I have also tried positioning the dongle in different locations but it does not help.

To answer the last two posts, I have about 15 ft. of USB cord. Also, I believe the N5902 uses RF. I have never tried it through closed cabinet doors.

Just a follow up... I got an active USB cable made by BlueRigger on Amazon. Now the remote works great. I ran the cable up into my ceiling tiles and dropped the receiver down right behind the back of my projector.

I guess no one else has my problem.