Missing keystrokes/characters in search field

Question

Note: Others have encountered this same problem in the distant path. Wondering if anyone else has lately?
I began to notice that more than a few attempts to enter search terms in the upper right search field resulted in a missing character somewhere in the search string and consequently a borked search a week or two ago. (cannot link it to any changed add-on or silent Firefox update but it's always possible)
Not happening every time but Is occurring far too often to be my speedy typing fingers. Even occurs when I slow down to hunt and peck but not as often, suggesting maybe a buffering glitch. Kinda hard to estimate typing speed in milliseconds.
I would prefer not getting the classic "reset Firefox" non-solution (i.e., "nuke all your settings by throwing the kitchen sink at it")
Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this irritating anomaly and if an actual solution exists.
Something I'd like to see (and it may already be hiding in plain sight?) is the DATE (various add-ons) were installed on my Firefox as opposed to the Last Updated Date of the add-on itself.
Another - on the https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/ page, since the individual "RESEARCH" buttons for STATUS UNKNOWN software leads to a Google search results page that will lead to umpteen other pages, it should open in a BLANK window/tab instead of overwriting the list of items we want to check! It's ludicrous to have to remember to click back arrow each time when one's instinct is to close the final windows... and find you've lost your place on the plug in check page!!
Thanks!
fully up-to-date Vista OS and Firefox 27
100% up-to-date software patches per Belarc & Secunia

Answer 1

Here we are, nearly 6 months later, 6 others claim to have the same problem, and still no solution. The second or third character typed on the keyboard is the one that's usually dropped, suggesting that there's some sort of lag created by the software interface or buffer. (I'm not a techie, this is speculation)
FF's Rube Goldberg philosophy of software construction - right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing (people invest time creating plug-ins only to have the backbone broken by an "upgraded"/degraded version) - and "repairs" (the standard "solution" being either to remove all your plug ins and try the near infinite number of combinations OR the scortched earth policy of resetting FF and hoping that does the trick) is getting mighty tiresome.