A Mouse Quandary
Posted November 10th, 2007 @ 05:19pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I currently have a Logitech MX-1000 mouse. It's a wireless laser mouse with, by my count, five buttons and a scroll wheel that can be pushed left, right, down (clicked), or scrolled up and down. That's approximately seven or eight "buttons" plus scroll wheel functionality.
The problem with this mouse is the same as the one before it: the left mouse button won't stay "clicked." ((This mouse lasted only about eighteen months. That's incredibly disappointing.)) This is problematic when I'm dragging windows, selecting blocks of text, or choosing items from a popup menu.
I use USB Overdrive to control the mouse, so things like "built-in search" or whatever bull Logitech is throwing in now is rather pointless… and can be easily over-ridden. I've highly customized the button set of my MX-1000. For example, the side up/down buttons delete and display the next message in Entourage and Cyndicate. The scroll wheel pushes side to side to move me from Space to Space (since I began using Spaces in Leopard, anyway).
Logitech's current lineup is rather disappointing: they have nothing like the MX-700 or MX-1000. Kensington's mouse lineup appears to have gone to crap, so they're no help.
What am I to do? What's a good mouse and where can I get it?
Donate Life
Posted 10 Nov 2007 at 6:28pm #
I personally love my MX Revolution. I had a well-loved MX-1000, but after trying out the scroll on the Revolution, nothing else seemed the same.
Posted 10 Nov 2007 at 7:53pm #
I have an MX revolution, and I absolutely despise it. I want to throw it into a wall every day. My fault really - the mouse uses the 2.4ghz frequency (what a stupid move on logitechs behalf - the mx1000 didnt!!), and I have a wifi access point nearby. So I get a lot of very very faint stutters in the mouse now and then. Incredibly frustrating - I have to 'double check' every subtle movement of the mouse as I cant trust it to do anything.
I'm out looking for a wired mouse now. What is supposed to be the 'most advanced' wireless mouse turned out to be a piece of trash for me. Be aware
Posted 11 Nov 2007 at 12:30am #
I also use the MX Revolution and love it. It has a ton of buttons and both battery life and build quality have been awesome thus far.
The frictionless scrolling has been a big hit in both productivity and around the office :p
Posted 11 Nov 2007 at 6:15pm #
I too have the MX Revolution, though I got rid of Logitech's software within a week of installing it. It makes the mouse unresponsive unreliable. Plus, it uses the APE from Unsanity (without telling you it installs and runs it in the background), which doesn't yet run under OS X Leopard.
I used USB Overdrive for a bit, but I found that it wasn't able to program and locate all the buttons on the MX Revolution. I'd fully suggest ControllerMate. I think it can do more, and will recognize literally ALL buttons. Plus you can build some complex stuff with it, I even got that silly little search button working (It runs an Applescript).
Posted 11 Nov 2007 at 8:14pm #
I tried the MX Revolution, and I'm convinced it's utter crap. USB Overdrive recognizes all the buttons just fine, but it's lacking the buttons I want. It doesn't seem to have a center mouse button under the scroll wheel, the side scroll wheel is useless (much better to have buttons there), and the two buttons on the side and the one on the top (the "Search" button) are horribly positioned and tough to get to.
I'll be returning this to Best Buy tomorrow.
The annoying thing Best Buy was still selling a Logitech MX-1000 (the Bluetooth model, I believe) but only bundled with the hideous Logitech keyboard.
I've written to Logitech support hoping that they'll be able to sell me one or two of their old MX-1000s OR that they'll somehow make right the fact that my mouse gave up the ghost after only 18 months.
Posted 11 Nov 2007 at 10:11pm #
The MX1000 does have a 3 year warranty, so I'm sure Logitech will hook you up with a replacement no problem. Their tech support people have been great in my experience.
I'm sure I'll be in a similar situation as you - not sure how I'll replace my MX1000 when it dies.
Posted 12 Nov 2007 at 11:24am #
[quote comment="44309"]The MX1000 does have a 3 year warranty…[/quote]
Oh, good. I'd assumed it was more like one year or something. I've already written to them so hopefully they'll follow up with me.
Posted 12 Nov 2007 at 1:16pm #
The mx revolution appears to not have a middle mouse button but it does if you use Logitech Control Center... I've heard a lot of complaints about the software but have had no problems at all really (with the exception of no APE under leopard... but APE is only being used to simulate smooth scrolling... which is an option by default in the Mouse sys pref). You can configure Safari and other apps where you want the middle button to be either in the free spin or ratcheted spin modes by default and have the middle button as button 3 click.
I admit it requires some setup... but I think its awesome now. In Xcode for example, I have global project search on the search button, back and forth on the side buttons, window cycling on the side wheel, the side wheel button activates expose, and the middle button switches from frictionless spin to ratchet so I can either breeze through code or step thru it with care.
Lots of customization I've found. Give LCC a chance even if others are saying throw it out immediately. :p
Posted 12 Nov 2007 at 1:37pm #
[quote comment="44321"]The mx revolution appears to not have a middle mouse button but it does if you use Logitech Control Center...[/quote]
I tried several times to "push" the middle button and wasn't able to do it reliably.
I use the center-click button (under the wheel) right now, in Safari, to cmd-click links (opens in background tabs). Right now my side-to-side scroll "buttons" hit ctrl-arrows to switch me between Spaces.
In my testing with the MX Revolution, I was accidentally switched between spaces every time I tried to press the scroll wheel to activate its "button."
The side scroll wheel "button" behaved more normally, but I'm still left with the fact that I've got a wheel where I'd prefer to have two or three buttons.
Hopefully Logitech will simply replace or repair my MX 1000. They could even replace it with a Bluetooth version, I guess, since USB Overdrive will work with that as well.
Posted 12 Nov 2007 at 4:42pm #
LLC is great and all, it just seems to consistantly lag down the computer. Maybe you don't notice it because you (might) have a newer machine, but I run a first-gen iMac G5.
Of the top scroll wheel, I myself never liked having a button under it, it felt awkward to me. I know everyone isn't like me though. Personally I find that having the two different scrolling modes, ratcheted and free-scroll is great.
With the onset of Leopard, I use the side 'wheel' to scroll between my Spaces, and I find it works great for that purpose. Clicking the side-wheel opens up the entire Spaces bit for easy dragging across of windows (something I find I do a good bit while I get used to it). Of the two side buttons, the forward-arrow is cmd-click, and the back-arrow is all-window Exposé.
Posted 12 Nov 2007 at 9:39pm #
[quote comment="44322"]They could even replace it with a Bluetooth version, I guess, since USB Overdrive will work with that as well.[/quote]
I actually got them to hook me up with the Bluetooth MX1000 (as a part of the MX5000 bundle). It's nice, but nothing on my Mac picks up the "scroll up/down" buttons (above and below the scroll wheel) on the Bluetooth model. I've tried USB Overdrive, which didn't work very well with it, and SteerMouse, which handles everything except those two buttons. It's a very strange & frustrating issue.
Posted 12 Nov 2007 at 9:45pm #
[quote comment="44337"]I've tried USB Overdrive, which didn't work very well with it, and SteerMouse, which handles everything except those two buttons. It's a very strange & frustrating issue.[/quote]
Try ControllerMate. It's only $15 and it can intercept buttons from both the mouse object, and the actual receiving interface. The Search button on my MX Revolution didn't show up for the mouse, but it did for the receiver.
I know I've touted ControllerMate in a few comments here, but I don't work for OrderedBytes, I just love the intense configurability and adaptability of the software.
Posted 13 Nov 2007 at 1:58pm #
I'd have to offer up the Logitech Revolution as well. It fits really well within the hand and I actually like the ball bearing based scroll wheel. Took some getting used to but works fairly well on my work machine.
There's also the G7 gaming mouse if you can find it. Pretty similar to the MX1000 except you can control the DPI (atleast within windows) of the mouse and it has weights to customize how heavy it is. The G9 is the "newer" version of it but it's very oddly shaped. I've heard good things about it but haven't used it.
Anyways, I'll stick to my MX500
Posted 25 Oct 2010 at 8:09pm #
[...] my desktop computers1 I was using a Logitech MX-1000, but that broke down and it was replaced by a Logitech MX Revolution. Now it's breaking down in the same fashion: the left mouse button isn't staying "clicked" (though [...]