Cordless Laser Mouse
Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse
Mice have come a long way since the early days of the Macintosh, with its innovative roller-balled brick. Fast forward 22 years and meet the Logitech MX Revolution. With innovative scrolling technology, rechargeable batteries, and improvements that make it easier to do common tasks, the MX Revolution is definitely a big step in the right direction. Whether or not this mouse is a revolution is up for debate, as it doesn’t completely change the way we interact with our computers like the Macintosh mouse did, but it’s clearly an important step in the evolution of one mankind’s most indispensable tools.
Feels good in the hand, and the intelligent scroll wheel is a revelation.
Just remember to turn it off. This baby is a power gulper, not a sipper.
The mouse feels great in small and large hands
Ergonomics and Design
The first thing you’ll notice about the MX Revolution is the distinct shape, which is very reminiscent of a cresting wave. Fortunately, the design does more than look good. The mouse feels great in small and large hands, and the curved channel–which accommodates the thumb nicely–makes it easy to use the document “Quick Flip” dial on the side of the mouse. Above the Quick Flip control you’ll find a pair of thin, customizable buttons that by default operate as forward and back controls for Web pages.
The top of the mouse houses Logitech’s tour de force, the MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel, which dynamically controls the speed and resistance of your scrolling tasks. Side scrolling and a scroll wheel-based button press are also supported. Just behind the scroll wheel sits the quick search button, which pops you into the search engine of your choice.
The “Quick-Flip” thumb wheel makes it easy to quickly switch between active windows.
All in all, it’s a surprisingly simple layout for a device that offers a great deal of functionality. Lefties beware, though. You’ll find it awkward to use the quick flip dial that’s located in the channel on the left side of the mouse. Although Logitech has designed a small ridge on the right side of the mouse that lefties may find supportive this is obviously a mouse built for righties first.
The MicroGear Scroll Wheel
Logitech says that the MicroGear Scroll Wheel “represents the single largest engineering effort ever undertaken by our engineering team,” and their hard work shows; the scroll wheel is not only well designed with a smooth, progressive feel, but it is also surprisingly intelligent. Need to quickly scroll through large Web pages and documents? Place the scroll wheel in “freewheel” mode and give the wheel a quick, frictionless spin. The action feels much like a well-oiled roller-ball and offers blazing speed. Need slow scrolling for browsing photo libraries or spreadsheets? Switch to ratchet mode for precise movement. The included SetPoint software can automatically switch modes–a feature called SmartShift–or you can switch modes manually with a light press on the scroll wheel that shifts “gears.” A note for Mac users: The Mac version of the MX Revolution Software does not appear to support SmartShift.
Feels good in the hand, and the intelligent scroll wheel is a revelation.
Just remember to turn it off. This baby is a power gulper, not a sipper.
The mouse feels great in small and large hands
The first thing you’ll notice about the MX Revolution is the distinct shape, which is very reminiscent of a cresting wave. Fortunately, the design does more than look good. The mouse feels great in small and large hands, and the curved channel–which accommodates the thumb nicely–makes it easy to use the document “Quick Flip” dial on the side of the mouse. Above the Quick Flip control you’ll find a pair of thin, customizable buttons that by default operate as forward and back controls for Web pages.
The “Quick-Flip” thumb wheel makes it easy to quickly switch between active windows.
Logitech says that the MicroGear Scroll Wheel “represents the single largest engineering effort ever undertaken by our engineering team,” and their hard work shows; the scroll wheel is not only well designed with a smooth, progressive feel, but it is also surprisingly intelligent. Need to quickly scroll through large Web pages and documents? Place the scroll wheel in “freewheel” mode and give the wheel a quick, frictionless spin. The action feels much like a well-oiled roller-ball and offers blazing speed. Need slow scrolling for browsing photo libraries or spreadsheets? Switch to ratchet mode for precise movement. The included SetPoint software can automatically switch modes–a feature called SmartShift–or you can switch modes manually with a light press on the scroll wheel that shifts “gears.” A note for Mac users: The Mac version of the MX Revolution Software does not appear to support SmartShift.
Categories: Computers
June 24th, 2008