I have to applaud Logitech for doing something that took me, and a large majority of PC enthusiasts based on the reaction to the announcement, by surprise. Having a configurable keyboard is not new, be it via hardware dip switches or software, to where people have made use of it to assign macros, change language layouts and even complete overhauls from QWERTY to Dvorak or Coleman layouts for more efficient typing. What Logitech has done here instead is an attempt at a device that does the job of a full-size keyboard for Windows and MacOS with some dedicated keys for extra functionality, a USB Type-C connector for future-proofing, and an aptly named "creative input dial".

This dial, which Logitech calls the Crown, is the reason the CRAFT is up for purchase at a whopping $200 price point. The keyboard sans the dial would probably go for $40-$50 at most, even with the more elegant design and good build quality we see here. So the question comes up - is the Crown worth that much extra? You are paying here not just for the hardware dial, but more so for the software developed for it. For content creators that make money off the supported applications, and whose time can be equated at a higher hourly rate than average, the entire $200 can be justified within a month of use, if not less. If anything, the question here comes down to whether it is better to go with the CRAFT and its jack-of-all traits or spend more to go with two dedicated, specialized input devices instead.

On the other hand, if you are considering this at all and are thinking of if this is worth it without having run some numbers, it probably is not. The CRAFT meets the needs of a niche market right now, and with Logitech entering it, I fully expect to see their competitors follow sooner rather than later. It is one of the first of its kind, and with this also come the early adopter problems of the technology. The backlighting, as expected, takes a massive toll on battery life here, which is not up to par with the rest of their peripherals in longevity. The battery is also non-replaceable, so degradation will always be a potential factor down the line. Charging the keyboard takes a good 8-10 hours via a standard USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, but there is ambiguity involved here due to the lack of useful quantitative information on the state of the battery during charge and discharge cycles. Finally, no matter what, a significant portion of the market simply does not like scissor switches, so this ends up alienating them.

Overall, the Logitech CRAFT is more than just a keyboard and should be treated as such. Logitech Options is a stable, feature-rich driver I want to see with added support for more applications, and also more control for the Crown with said applications. If you happen to have a compatible mouse, Logitech Flow is a treat to use and takes what Mouse without Borders did to build upon it for multi-OS use. This is certainly not a gaming keyboard, and that is where Logitech's own gaming division comes in, but it is just as performance-oriented, if not more so.