Hardware :: Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX Review, Vs. Magic Mouse?

A large portion of last month for me was spent looking for a decent wireless mouse, and I was pretty hell bent on avoiding a dongle so I went for Bluetooth. In that time, I went through three mice:

Kensington Slimblade Trackball Mouse
Logitech V470
Razer Orochi

While the Kensington worked mostly fine, the profile was really uncomfortable and the audible clicking noise from the trackball was insanely loud and drove me batty, so I returned it.

The latter two both had the same issue; lag. They lagged, badly. After less than five seconds of being idle they would go to sleep, and when you tried to move them they would jump across the screen. Sometimes they would ignore input entirely.

After some research, I learned that this is pretty inherent in the nature of Bluetooth, and only a select few vendors manage to make mice without obvious lag issues. The Kensington had only a bit, and most Apple mice have minimal BT lag as well.

At this point, however, I was done with trying Bluetooth mice. The increase in power consumption and lag was not worth the lack of a dongle. So I went looking for a mouse with a tiny USB dongle, and found this:



The receiver is really, really small. It's also part of Logitech's unifying series, which means you can pair up to six devices to it, if you have them.


source: [URL]
I've been using it for about a week now, so here are my impressions of each of its features.

First, let's talk about the dongle. I seriously haven't thought of it since I put it in. 99% of the time I'm not using my USB ports for anything, so losing the port doesn't really hurt me in any way. The response time is amazing. I have to leave it for like a minute before I notice any lag upon moving it again, and even then it's pretty much unnoticeable. It's usable within half a second of turning it on and after that it's pretty much smooth sailing.

The mouse includes Logitech's Darkfield technology, which is pretty cool since it will track on just about anything except for a mirror. So, uh, those of you with mirrors for desks are still out of luck I guess? It works on glass that's 4mm or more thick, though!

The scroll wheel is quite cool. By pressing on the scroll wheel it can switch between click mode and free mode. The click mode works like every other scroll wheel you've ever used, it clicks when you scroll it. The free mode is quite impressive ... when you flick it, it's basically frictionless. You can use this to scroll through large pages very quickly. I can't help but liken it to the Magic Mouse's momentum scroll, except this is actually physical momentum.

As a useless sidenote, I managed to get it to spin for roughly twenty seconds!

You can also tilt the wheel left and right to scroll horizontally. Considering that you generally don't need to scroll horizontally incredibly often, I find this works very well for what it is. It certainly isn't as slick as the Magic Mouse's 360-degree scrolling, though.

The button behind the scroll wheel defaults to Expose, and there's front and back buttons under your thumb that are Forward and Back. Using Steermouse, you can program these buttons to do whatever you want them to do in whatever App you're using.

The build quality feels great. The sides have a rubber grip for comfort, and the body is made of a soft-touch plastic which, while not as deliciously suede-like as the Razer Orochi, is very comfortable all the same. The scroll wheel in particular feels like a real piece of machinery.

It takes two AA batteries. Um, yeah. Use rechargeable, they're cheaper in the long run and better for the environment!

Now, I know I've touched on the comparisons to the Magic Mouse earlier, but let's get more in-depth. First off, why would I bother to compare them? Well, I imagine most people looking for a mouse and own a Mac are going to jump to the Magic Mouse first, but I'd urge them to reconsider. Just because Apple makes it does not make it the best option.

The Anywhere Mouse MX is technically a notebook mouse (they make a desktop version, the Performance Mouse MX), so if you're considering it at all you probably have a Macbook. In which case, I'd be willing to come right out and say the Magic Mouse is completely useless to you. It has a few of the features your trackpad already has, but is missing a lot of the best ones. The lack of an Expose function in an Apple mouse should be criminal. Even the Logitech has this, and as maybe the most-used function of OS X -- for me, anyway -- not having a dedicated way to access it is unacceptable. If you already have the glass trackpad, the Magic Mouse really offers you nothing except the fun of pushing it around your desk.

Other standout features of the Magic Mouse:

360-scrolling: OK, yeah, the Magic Mouse wins this. The ability to scroll diagonally is awesome. I hope to see other mice incorporate this. However, the Logitech is able to scroll in every direction well enough for pretty much every task.

Um, right clicking: The Logitech does this shockingly well!

Back and forward: Surprisingly enough, pressing thumb buttons is significantly more comfortable than contorting your hand into a claw-like thing. Well, OK, you can simply lift your hand off the mouse to do these gestures, but that's bad too. Why have to do this at all? Apple's aversion to buttons strikes again.

Aesthetics: Make no mistake, the Magic Mouse is beautiful. I'd be lying if I said the Logitech is nearly as striking, but I think it is a good looking mouse in its own ways. I'm certainly not embarrassed to have it in my fashionista hands.

When comparing the ergonomics of the devices ... I mean, lots of people have tried to argue that the ergonomics -- or lack thereof -- of the Magic Mouse are a good thing, but it really reeks of justifying a problem after the fact. The Magic Mouse is not meant to be held by a human hand. Judging from its design, it is meant to be cradled by an oversized, inverted spoon.

And the dongle ... well, you saw it. It's tiny. It may bother you. It doesn't bother me.

I think that's really it. In the case of a mouse, physical, programmable buttons and an ergonomic design are really more important than gimmicks and superficial beauty. The Magic Mouse is a great concept executed poorly, and the MX series is a great concept executed greatly. Seriously, consider picking this up. It's the first mouse that's been able to pry me away from that beautiful, giant, silky trackpad.