Enter our December 2007 Giveaway! We're giving away 14 prizes worth several hundred bucks! Enter HERE.
Statistics
Visitors: 925174
| Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse |
|
|
|
| Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov | |
| Sunday, 01 July 2007 | |
|
Page 2 of 3
The tilt wheel requires less effort to use than the wheel press (also known as the middle button) and sounds different as well, so the two won't be confused. As for the left and right click buttons, rather than having individual pieces Logitech stayed with their single piece design. The split down the middle allows for either side to be depressed without affecting the other. This works flawlessly and is a lot more comfortable than actual buttons because here your entire finger moves rather than just one joint.
Also new to the MX1000 is the improved battery life indicator on the left side. There are three bars which light up green whenever the mouse is being used to indicate the battery life. On a full charge I found the battery to last a little over two days (approximately 24 hours) of continuous use (cough World of Warcraft). The indicator works very well and flashes on the last light when the battery is low. This is a step up from the earlier MX700 since you can now get a much better idea of exactly how much battery life is left. Surprisingly, the bottom of the mouse is just as exciting as the top. For one thing, Logitech greatly increased the size of the Teflon feet - each one now has about as much surface area as all the feet of the MX510 combined! This translates into much smoother gliding which is necessary for a heavier cordless mouse. Compared to the MX700, the MX1000 actually weights more. Having used corded mice all my life I was a bit skeptical about the added weight of this mouse, but surprisingly it didn't bother me at all. The larger feet (and consequently smoother gliding) seem to compensate for this. Yet another new feature is the power switch on the bottom of the mouse. You can now turn it off entirely if you prefer not to charge it. This is a great addition but given the already clever power management of MX1000 it's unnecessary in most cases. If you let the mouse sit there for a few seconds, it appears to go into an idle state, denoted by the battery lights turning off. When you start using it again it picks up flawlessly. If you let it sit for an extended period of time (a few minutes or more), it seems to shut off completely (this is evident when you start using it again and there's a split-second delay before it begins tracking). All in all this translates into prolonged battery life. As for the battery itself, rather than using removable/rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), the MX1000 has a more reliable built-in Lithium Ion cell (similar to those used in newer cell phones and digital cameras). Although some may be concerned about overall decreasing charge and the inability to replace the cell, Lithium Ion batteries are very reliable and the trade-off is that you don't have to worry about removing batteries all the time and using a separate charger. There's also a reset button next to the power switch which needs to be pressed along with the reset button on the receiver if the mouse needs restarting. At the bottom is a pair of gold contacts which are used for charging the mouse. There's also a cutout groove which fits into the corresponding protrusion on the receiver; this way the mouse is always placed the correct way and you don't have to worry about it not charging because the contacts were off. Last but not least is the laser sensor. This is the first mouse to use a laser rather than optical sensor. According to Logitech it's 20 times more accurate than optical. This is not to be confused with the resolution. To my knowledge it still uses the 5.8MP MX engine. The difference is that the image is a lot clearer (and there's no red light shining out of the bottom of the mouse anymore - in fact there's no visible light at all). However, let's consider a practical application. A user who purchases an MX1000 will no doubt already have some sort of mouse pad, if not a performance one. Furthermore, all of the MX series mice already have exceptional tracking on every reasonable surface imaginable (glass doesn't count). I couldn't tell any difference between any of the MX mice I own. This mouse isn't so much about tracking power (though the knowledge of it being 20x as precise is comforting) as it is about features and ergonomics.
|
|
| Last Updated ( Friday, 13 July 2007 ) |
