( 198 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 17 2009
I found this mouse a year ago at a discount in a brick-and-mortar shop, either an office supply place or electronics store. The design and construction are solid, but there are a couple of features I end up never using, and the driver software quality is so-so at best. Driver installation on Windows was a non-starter at first, but installing IE6 properly somehow fixed this (I was using Windows 2000)-- for some reason it's required for SetPoint. Once it's installed, it generally does a good job of staying out of your way, but I wish it would allow more freedom in button assignments without hacking the software and/or playing with XML files. On the Mac, driver software installation is relatively painless, but again, the software is pretty restrictive in how one can assign actions to buttons. Also, the Mac version of SetPoint installs its own USB driver, which either caused some hardware conflicts or performed very poorly, which compelled me to manually uninstall it and install a third-party driver. The big selling point of the MX Revolution is, of course, its scroll wheel. The click-to-click mode is indeed very precise and comfortable, and the hyper-fast mode will get you from line 1 to line 65535 in seconds flat. I do have a couple of beefs with this on the Revolution, however. Sometimes the middle-click switch doesn't quite recognize that you want to switch modes, so you have to press the wheel a bit more firmly to get it to switch modes (presumably to differentiate the middle button from the tilt-wheel buttons)-- Logitech's newer MX1100 has a toggle switch that's easier to use, and works even when the mouse is turned off. Also, sometimes scrolling will "bounce back" in hyper-fast mode, although I suspect this is more of an application thing; most apps will handle the high speed just fine. Finally, since the mouse will use the middle-click to switch modes, you may want to assign middle-click to another button for some games. While the overall design is great and the scroll wheel is very slick, there are two things I find myself never using: the zoom button and the document flip wheel. I suppose I could assign middle-click to the zoom button assuming SetPoint allows this, but even then I wouldn't use it very often, since I'm so used to using the left hand to hold down Ctrl (on PCs) or Option (on Macs) while turning the scroll wheel. Similarly, since I'm far more accustomed to using Ctrl-Tab (or Command-`), document flip isn't very useful to me at all. Maybe a new user would find these controls faster on the mouse, but the speed gain for me is negligible, so I ignore them. The mouse is rechargeable (lithium ion batteries), and it seems to hold a charge reasonably well, but after a year or so of heavy use, it may be losing charge while in standby mode-- a user-replaceable battery would have helped, but that may have sacrificed battery power by limiting its size. Also, another user I've talked to had problems seating his mouse in its charging stand, but I haven't had this problem. Turning off the mouse rather than leaving it alone or in its charging stand for long periods of inactivity may help with battery longevity. The laser sensor is accurate, as long as the surface is flat and rigid. You may see your pointer dance around if you use your leg or the bed, but apparently this is more or less normal with Logitech laser mice. Another minor annoyance is the wireless signal being interrupted for no apparent reason, perhaps because of a wireless router. In conclusion, a great mouse, but not without its flaws. Evidently Logitech found the MX Revolution's scroll wheel to be a smash success and is including it in much of their lineup, so users may want to try newer models like the MX1100 and G500.
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Posted: Aug 13 2009
This is a pretty nice mouse. It's solid, well-constructed, the wheel works great, and so on. Just a few negatives: 1. The wheel on the side and the search button are mostly worthless. I've been trying to think of a good use for them for a while, but haven't come up with anything. Who needs a search button on their mouse? 2. It's too narrow for my Wookiee-like paws. I have to squeeze my thumb and pinky together slightly to move the mouse around normally, and that can lead to strain with prolonged use. The thumb rest on this thing is colossol, so maybe they could just widen the left side a little bit in the next version. 3. Dongle. Bluetooth version please. 4. It needs to be able to psychically detect when I'm going to stop using it for the night and beam a reminder into my brain to get me to remember to charge it. It charges very quickly, and it lasts a very long time, but every battery runs out of juice eventually, and when it does, I spend a couple days charging it in 10-minute increments.
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Posted: Aug 13 2009
i am a college student and this is my first real high quality mouse, but boy what a difference. i am never using anything else. it is great for just general stuff( surfing word etc) but it really excels in photoshop and other editing software. the programmable interface is great. and did any one ever say this thing was precise? man it really is great. i am glad i ponied up the extra cash and got a good quality mouse. just think of the fact that your mouse is really how you interact with you computer. and if you really what that interaction to be smooth and comfortable you really want to mouse that is up to the task. this mouse is great! highly recommended. -Bret-
