The Logitech MX Revolution: Review
5 Comments
Published December 12th, 2006 in Gaming, Noteworthy, PC, Technology, Wireless
Score:
(4/5)Sadly this isn’t the Nintendo Revolution. It is however a brand new, and fantastic mouse! It’s fast, responsive and uses a laser. The best feature though, not including the fact that it’s cordless, is its scroll wheel. This is a unique wheel which can do both the normal ‘click to click’ mode and a free scroll mode. The free scroll mode allows the wheel to spin on its own for easy navigation where you have lots of pages. It truly is very ergonomic. You can also change it so that after a certain speed, it will automatically change from click to click, to free scroll mode. I use this all the time, and I love it!
I have been using it for around a week now, and is much better than the Mighty Mouse. I got rid of it after the scroll wheel failing me, and after trying to fix it numerous times (and replaced by Apple once, after which it worked for a while). I have configured the thmub button to turn on expose, and the forward and back buttons move through the tabs in Safari. The supposed ’search’ button I didn’t have a need for, so I re-routed it to skip to the next new news item in NetNewsWire. When I press down on the scroll wheel, it triggers the desktop in expose. One minor annoyance, is that you can’t actually set Expose functions. You have to set it to a key (ie, I use F8, and F10) which you then change in OS X’s Keyboard System preferences pane to activate Expose, or whatever you want it to do. This does have the added benefit, that in any application, you can customise any of its shorcuts to a button. Another neat feature, is that you can customise these settings on an per application basis. So one click may trigger forward tab in Safari, but that same could activate the Cut tool in Photoshop, or something similar.
Click on to read the rest of the review, or to see the unboxing photos, go to the flickr page.
What I was annoyed about, is that on the CD that it came with, it had no Mac software. I was actually outraged, after it had the Universal and the Mac ‘Finder’ Icon on it I thought that they would have the decency to actually have the installation software on the disc. But no, even though the disc is only a mere 80 or so MB, they had the b***s (excuse my language) to actually direct people to their website. I am quite appauled, it doesn’t make much of a difference, and I know plenty of companies who can get two pieces of software (mac and windows) on one disc (eg, Canon). Imagine if you didn’t have the internet. Not that anyone without the internet would buy this mouse, but that’s not the point. The software was however easy to install, but it would have been better if it could just intergrate with OS X’s system preferences, but that would never happen. I can only dream.
All in all it is a great mice, however I have a quite major nitpick. If I put the mac to sleep, and wake it up, the scroll wheel will be stuck in click to click mode. This means that the Desktop expose function stops working, and instead switches between click to click and free spin mode. This is really annoying, fortuantely it can be fixed by removing and replacing the USB adapter (which is really tiny!) Though this is easy to do, it is quite frustrating, and shouldn’t be happening in the first place. It is quite interesting that Logitech used their own proprietary USB adapter that uses the RF, 2.4GHz spectrum, instead of using something like bluetooth. Oh well.
The battery life is quite good, around 4/5 days on a single charge, with around 5 hours usage per day (average). But I haven’t tested this that extensively, so I’ll report back on that later. Other than that, it is a great mice, and I recommend it to any true geek who can use all those buttons and wants good comfort. Head on over to the flickr page for all the photos and the unboxing.
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I went to the logictech website to look for the Mac software to install the MX Revolution but could not finf any software downloads there–in fact, I could not even find a reference to the MX revolution. Where on earth is the link to the software??
Sorry I responded late, but I was away at a medical conference. It gave you the link in the user guide (the z-shaped fold out one) which is: http://www.logitech.com/mxrevolution/software/
Hi,
First off i want to say thanks for providing such a detailed and useful review.
I have an older logitech cordless mouse (i think it is called an MX1000) which has mysteriously stopped working recently and which i am looking to replace. I was really disappointed with the crappy macintosh software that came with it however:
It didn’t feature the ability to assign functions per application.
The side to side scrolling was totally redundant and unassignable.
There wasn’t much flexibility in the way the scroll wheel could be assigned.
The range of key combinations actually available for use was diminished.
This is compared to the more mac orientated griffin power wheel software.
Also, when i changed key functions, they would occaisionally unexplainably revert to their pevious settings.
Just wondering if you have experience of any of these problems? Or have they been resolved? And do you think that the software is flexible and comprehensive in the way it utilises the functions of the mouse? My previous logitech software definitely wasn’t, and it was really annoying…
Many thanks
Trev
Well the side to sideo scrolling, although a little slow, works just fine for me. I’m not sure what you mean about the scroll wheel, but with Logitech’s current software you can assign the “scroll increment”, “acceleration” (if you need any), as well as the switching between ratchet click mode and free-spin click mode. It is very responsive.
The key combinations that you can assign are limitless. It can be any single key on the keyboard, as well as upto four modifiers (command, control, option and shift). Personally for me, I think this is extremely usefull, and I can combine nearly any key combination I would ever need.
I think Logitech’s software is really helpful, though a tad limiting, as I would like to configure some buttons (such as the switch application side wheel) which they don’t allow. However the pressing of this can be defined. The software is quite extensive and I think doesn’t comprimise the use of the mouse at all. I haven’t tried it on Windows, but the software should be much the same.
I do have to say though, sometimes, (as mentioned in the original post), when waking the Mac up from sleep, the search button, as well as the expose (scroll wheel button) would not do anything at all. This is a tad annoying, and can be resolved by unplugging and replugging the RF USB connector. Sometimes, the scroll wheel would lock in place, in either ratchet mode, or free spin mode, and cease to switch between the two automatically (as I have set it to). This would cause the expose (scroll wheel button) to stop working. However, this is only because I like to play around with the wheel and deliberately spin it during random times. This is fixed by clicking on the desktop, and spinning the wheel again.
However, if you are fine with your MX1000, you could consider an application like USBOverdrive which works with the MX1000, and offers enhanced customisability (doesn’t work for the MX revolution however). You can try the demo, and see if it solves your problem.
I hope I have helped,
Balazs
Hi again,
Thanks for posting back. It has been very helpful to be able to get such specific detailed information (from someone who obviously knows what they’re talking about).
I’m also fascinated to hear about USBOverdrive – I’m a big fan of Vuescan and thought that there may well be an equivalent for other devices, but have never managed to find it…
Shame its not compatible with the MX revolution tho – maybe some day.
I’ve just read that with the MX1000 side scrolling can be utilised as two clicks in USBOvrdrive – just what i’ve always dreamed of. I’m more keen on extra clicks then having an extra scroll wheel that i can’t assign…
Looks like i might have to try and get my MX1000 working again. I’m praying that it’s only the power supply thats broken on it!
Thanks again for your help.
Trev