Kwisatz
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2004
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Well, I decided to make use of the recently opened Best Buy around here and purchase the new (non-gaming) Logitech flagship mouse: the MX Revolution. I was already using the MX-1000, and really had no need for a new mouse, but what can I say... I'm a sucker for new gadgets.
First off, this thing is the slickest looking mouse to ever grace a pad - period. The charcoal grey body, gloss black trim, and polished metal accents mate with an ultra sleek, ultra curvey design that makes this baby one hot little rat. The charging base in comparison is very simplistic, but because of this it serves to highlight the mouse's assets instead of calling attention to itself. This is a nice change from the big MX-1000 base unit which was almost as much of a presence as the mouse itself was. Overall Logitech has really outdone themselves this time in terms of design, and I expect nothing less from their future endeavors.
Now if looks alone were enough to judge a mouse I could stop here, but unfortunately they're not. Also unfortunate is that the clear cut praise also ends here. Dashing my hopes for the ultimate mouse once again, this one is not perfect. Design wise, while asthetically pleasing, it is not without its flaws in usability. The side rocker wheel, while having the right amount of tension IMO, does not have a grippy enough rubber insert in place. It's usable, but requires a bit more pressure on it to compensate for the slickness. With a slightly more textured insert I have a feeling this would not be an issue. Another issue has to do with the back/forward buttons. Simply put, they have response issues. It's possible to "click" the back button for instance, but not really click it. After you hear the noise, you actually have to depress it a smidge further for it to register the press. I'm very light on my button clicks by default - applying just enough pressure to get the job done, so this is a bit of an adjustment for me. Continuing on button issues, the scroll wheel button is a bit stiff to press down, and the wheel has more resistance to right tilt than left tilt. Finally, although it's not an issue to me, this mouse does have some heft to it. If you're a feather weight and/or have weak arms, then this might not be the mouse for you.
Issues outside of the interactive parts of the hardware also exist. The transmission of the signal seems to be on the weak side through certain materials. For instance it could not reliably go through my aluminum based mouse pad, and desk to communicate with the receiver in the back of the PC. Moving the reciever to my monitor's hub resolved most of the problems I was experiencing. I say most, because I still get an instances where it fails to track every once in awhile. What I'm not positive on is whether this is due to the signal, or it not being able to read the mouse pad correctly. It happens rather infrequently now and for mere fractions of seconds at a time when it does, so it's rather hard to diagnose. I plan on getting either a small USB hub or extension cable to allow me to place the reciever where nothing is in the way to block the signal (as it is now it has to go through my LCD) and see if the problem persists or goes away. *Update: Problem has seemingly gone away after repositioning the receiver.*
Before I leave the issues and bad things behind, I'll also take a second to nit-pick on the Setpoint software/drivers. For one, they only allow you to make the rocker wheel into either a task switcher (default), or as a zoom implementation. In a similar effect, they have limited the use of the search button to exclude the ability to function as a middle click, or as a wheel mode switcher (more on that later). Moreover, when the search button is left as "one touch search", it manages to bring up two search tabs in Firefox whenever used from within the program. I'd say it boggles the mind, but really, I've come to expect this sort of stuff with Setpoint. Maybe someday they'll get it right, but I'm not holding my breath.
Now that I've scared off everybody on the bad, I'll move on to the good.
And quite frankly, for the 99% of the time that it is working for me right now, it is quite good. I wouldn't recommend it for heavy gamers (especially those who play FPSs), but it is a great mouse for general usage.
Obviously the major highlight of the mouse is its scroll wheel. This is the main reason you'd buy this mouse (aside from the hot looks
). To this end, I must credit Logitech for a job well done. The mouse wheel has two modes - one in which it has the traditional ratchety clicks, and another where it's virtually frictionless and spins freely on its axis. The mouse in its default setup is set so the wheel when depressed will allow it to flip between the clicky ratchet mode and the smooth as silk free spin mode. This of course is at the cost of your middle mouse button. But wait! Before you stop reading in disgust, a quick configuration change in Setpoint and you can have your middle mouse button back - at the cost of the wheel mode toggle. Ah choices, choices... Actually it's not that bad. Even without the manual mode toggling, the mouse/drivers are smart enough to make you not miss it that much.
The reason behind this is that the software allows you to set a million different things in regards to that wheel. It has its own freaking tab it has so many options - and they're all configurable on a per application basis. In addition to the normal vertical/horizontal scroll speed/acceleration controls, there's a setup for the "SmartShift" ability of the mouse. This is where the beauty of the mouse is. You can manually select what mode the mouse is in. If you set it to be in free spin mode, it will switch to that mode whenever you are in that application. If you set it to be in the click-to-click ratchet mode, then it will switch to that mode whenever you are in that application, but with one major difference from the previously described free spin mode. While in click-to-click mode, you can configure a speed at which the wheel's ratchet device will disengage and allow the wheel to enter free spin. After it spins down to a stop, or you manually stop it, the ratchet device will engage once again. Alternately you can just set it to always be one mode or the other regardless of program settings.
Now how is free spin mode you might be wondering? In a word - great. It's certainly not a mode I'd engage for everything, but for tasks such as browsing the web, or reading through large PDF documents, there's simply no substitute. Configured with Smoothwheel in Firefox I can slowly smoothly scroll through messages here on the forums, or with a quick flick fly to the bottom of even the longest threads. Even in those applications where I by default prefer the click-to-click mode (such as when I'm dealing with newsgroups), the ability to simply flick the wheel fast enough and get into free spin mode is priceless. I can go from accurately scrolling through at a set row increment, to flying down hundreds of messages in an instant.
As I mentioned before the search button has its issues (or more appropriately Setpoint does), but outside of the Firefox bug, the utility is rather interesting. I'm not sure how much use I'll get from it, but it's pretty convenient to highlight something, hit a button and get an instant google on that which was highlighted. If they can fix the bug with Firefox, and even better: implement a way to customize what website it searches via entering the URL and a variable term, then I'll be very very happy. As it is now I simply have a gesture set up for a similar effect in Firefox, and configured the button to act as F5 (refresh) when in Firefox.
Mouse tracking (while it's not bugging out) is at least as good as the MX-1000's. It might not be as great as the 2000 DPI monsters, but it has all the resolution I need for every day tasks - including Photoshop and gaming (once again - no intense FPS). Much like all wireless optical mice, it goes into varying states of sleep mode while not being used, but I haven't noticed any particular lag on getting it moving again. So while I'd like to say the tracking is great, I'll reserve comment untill I can figure out what exactly is the cause of my problems here. *Update: Tracking appears to be fine, it seems that the the problems were still a matter of communication between the mouse and the USB transceiver.*
On a comfort scale, this mouse ranks quite high. Sure it has a few minor issues as I mentioned before, but overall the mouse is very nice to hold and use. The hand falls naturally around the design with the thumb resting on the sculpted ledge slightly to the rear of the rocker wheel. And thanks to an adequate number of teflon pads, the mouse despite its size and weight glides gracefully along the mouse pad with little effort. I always thought the MX-1000 was nice and comfortable, but the MX Revolution surpasses it in all regards when it comes to comfort.
I've read that the battery life isn't as good as the MX-1000, but I obviously can't comment on that considering how I've only had the mouse for a part of a day at this point. Even if it is lower, it's not like it's a deal breaker or anything. Being rechargeable, it only means I'll have to stick it on the charger a day or two sooner than I normally would have had to. Easily an acceptable trade off for the additional functionality.
And now that I've rambled for quite some time, and have exhausted about everything I can think of right now... Pics!
First off, this thing is the slickest looking mouse to ever grace a pad - period. The charcoal grey body, gloss black trim, and polished metal accents mate with an ultra sleek, ultra curvey design that makes this baby one hot little rat. The charging base in comparison is very simplistic, but because of this it serves to highlight the mouse's assets instead of calling attention to itself. This is a nice change from the big MX-1000 base unit which was almost as much of a presence as the mouse itself was. Overall Logitech has really outdone themselves this time in terms of design, and I expect nothing less from their future endeavors.
Now if looks alone were enough to judge a mouse I could stop here, but unfortunately they're not. Also unfortunate is that the clear cut praise also ends here. Dashing my hopes for the ultimate mouse once again, this one is not perfect. Design wise, while asthetically pleasing, it is not without its flaws in usability. The side rocker wheel, while having the right amount of tension IMO, does not have a grippy enough rubber insert in place. It's usable, but requires a bit more pressure on it to compensate for the slickness. With a slightly more textured insert I have a feeling this would not be an issue. Another issue has to do with the back/forward buttons. Simply put, they have response issues. It's possible to "click" the back button for instance, but not really click it. After you hear the noise, you actually have to depress it a smidge further for it to register the press. I'm very light on my button clicks by default - applying just enough pressure to get the job done, so this is a bit of an adjustment for me. Continuing on button issues, the scroll wheel button is a bit stiff to press down, and the wheel has more resistance to right tilt than left tilt. Finally, although it's not an issue to me, this mouse does have some heft to it. If you're a feather weight and/or have weak arms, then this might not be the mouse for you.
Issues outside of the interactive parts of the hardware also exist. The transmission of the signal seems to be on the weak side through certain materials. For instance it could not reliably go through my aluminum based mouse pad, and desk to communicate with the receiver in the back of the PC. Moving the reciever to my monitor's hub resolved most of the problems I was experiencing. I say most, because I still get an instances where it fails to track every once in awhile. What I'm not positive on is whether this is due to the signal, or it not being able to read the mouse pad correctly. It happens rather infrequently now and for mere fractions of seconds at a time when it does, so it's rather hard to diagnose. I plan on getting either a small USB hub or extension cable to allow me to place the reciever where nothing is in the way to block the signal (as it is now it has to go through my LCD) and see if the problem persists or goes away. *Update: Problem has seemingly gone away after repositioning the receiver.*
Before I leave the issues and bad things behind, I'll also take a second to nit-pick on the Setpoint software/drivers. For one, they only allow you to make the rocker wheel into either a task switcher (default), or as a zoom implementation. In a similar effect, they have limited the use of the search button to exclude the ability to function as a middle click, or as a wheel mode switcher (more on that later). Moreover, when the search button is left as "one touch search", it manages to bring up two search tabs in Firefox whenever used from within the program. I'd say it boggles the mind, but really, I've come to expect this sort of stuff with Setpoint. Maybe someday they'll get it right, but I'm not holding my breath.
Now that I've scared off everybody on the bad, I'll move on to the good.
Obviously the major highlight of the mouse is its scroll wheel. This is the main reason you'd buy this mouse (aside from the hot looks
The reason behind this is that the software allows you to set a million different things in regards to that wheel. It has its own freaking tab it has so many options - and they're all configurable on a per application basis. In addition to the normal vertical/horizontal scroll speed/acceleration controls, there's a setup for the "SmartShift" ability of the mouse. This is where the beauty of the mouse is. You can manually select what mode the mouse is in. If you set it to be in free spin mode, it will switch to that mode whenever you are in that application. If you set it to be in the click-to-click ratchet mode, then it will switch to that mode whenever you are in that application, but with one major difference from the previously described free spin mode. While in click-to-click mode, you can configure a speed at which the wheel's ratchet device will disengage and allow the wheel to enter free spin. After it spins down to a stop, or you manually stop it, the ratchet device will engage once again. Alternately you can just set it to always be one mode or the other regardless of program settings.
Now how is free spin mode you might be wondering? In a word - great. It's certainly not a mode I'd engage for everything, but for tasks such as browsing the web, or reading through large PDF documents, there's simply no substitute. Configured with Smoothwheel in Firefox I can slowly smoothly scroll through messages here on the forums, or with a quick flick fly to the bottom of even the longest threads. Even in those applications where I by default prefer the click-to-click mode (such as when I'm dealing with newsgroups), the ability to simply flick the wheel fast enough and get into free spin mode is priceless. I can go from accurately scrolling through at a set row increment, to flying down hundreds of messages in an instant.
As I mentioned before the search button has its issues (or more appropriately Setpoint does), but outside of the Firefox bug, the utility is rather interesting. I'm not sure how much use I'll get from it, but it's pretty convenient to highlight something, hit a button and get an instant google on that which was highlighted. If they can fix the bug with Firefox, and even better: implement a way to customize what website it searches via entering the URL and a variable term, then I'll be very very happy. As it is now I simply have a gesture set up for a similar effect in Firefox, and configured the button to act as F5 (refresh) when in Firefox.
Mouse tracking (while it's not bugging out) is at least as good as the MX-1000's. It might not be as great as the 2000 DPI monsters, but it has all the resolution I need for every day tasks - including Photoshop and gaming (once again - no intense FPS). Much like all wireless optical mice, it goes into varying states of sleep mode while not being used, but I haven't noticed any particular lag on getting it moving again. So while I'd like to say the tracking is great, I'll reserve comment untill I can figure out what exactly is the cause of my problems here. *Update: Tracking appears to be fine, it seems that the the problems were still a matter of communication between the mouse and the USB transceiver.*
On a comfort scale, this mouse ranks quite high. Sure it has a few minor issues as I mentioned before, but overall the mouse is very nice to hold and use. The hand falls naturally around the design with the thumb resting on the sculpted ledge slightly to the rear of the rocker wheel. And thanks to an adequate number of teflon pads, the mouse despite its size and weight glides gracefully along the mouse pad with little effort. I always thought the MX-1000 was nice and comfortable, but the MX Revolution surpasses it in all regards when it comes to comfort.
I've read that the battery life isn't as good as the MX-1000, but I obviously can't comment on that considering how I've only had the mouse for a part of a day at this point. Even if it is lower, it's not like it's a deal breaker or anything. Being rechargeable, it only means I'll have to stick it on the charger a day or two sooner than I normally would have had to. Easily an acceptable trade off for the additional functionality.
And now that I've rambled for quite some time, and have exhausted about everything I can think of right now... Pics!
