Logitech MX Revolution mouse review

24 August 2006 9:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Logitech has proclaimed that it has revolutionised the mouse once again, but has it? Pocket-lint has been given a new mouse ahead of the official launch to find out.

The Logitech MX Revolution is a cordless laser mouse that is based on the company's top of the range MX1000 cordless laser mouse. The insides are the same with the new mouse taking on the old mouse's laser technology.

In practical terms this means that you can whizz across most screens without having to run out of mouse mat or do that stupid thing where you pick the mouse up, put it back to where you first started and start scrolling again.

But that's not really a revolution now is it? What is, claims Logitech, is the new scroll wheel which it is calling the MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel. The wheel differs from the one that you've got on your £15 mouse by being allowed to spin freely for up to seven seconds like a miniature wheel of fortune.

The point? Well it's designed for spreadsheet-aholics that need to scroll through line after line of stats and figures. What is interesting is that according to the programme you are using it in, depends on how the scroll wheel reacts. Use it in Microsoft's Excel and the wheel lets you scroll a whopping 9000 cells with one spin, while using it in Firefox or Internet Explorer makes scrolling pages considerably smoother.

Knowing when you want to use such a feature is either decided by you, the user, or by the amount of scrolling you are doing; somehow, through magic probably, the scroll wheel knows and automatically disengages the gears so we could free-wheel to our heart's content.

But introducing a more innovative scroll wheel isn't really a revolution either, after all we've all got one of some kind already on our mouse.

But why have one wheel when you can have two. And the MX Revolution also features a second wheel near the thumb that can either be used to zoom in and out of photos and documents, or to quickly switch between applications in the same way you can using the alt-tab button combination on the keyboard.

Again it's useful, but not a rush out and buy necessity. So the MX Revolution tries to bedazzle us with a One-Touch Search feature that allows people to select a word or phrase on a Web page or in a document and, with a single click, view internet search results on that subject.

Finally, this is a revolution and something we liked very much. The only criticism is that you can't select any other search engine other than Yahoo or Google, which is a shame. It would have been great to be able to select the search engine or site of choice say Pocket-lint for example, but alas, not at the moment.

Other features of note are the unit's rechargeable internal battery and docking station that promises to provide power for up to 2 weeks usage and the wireless functionality via the small 2.4Ghz USB wireless transmitter.

Hoping to offer Mac users the same features, the MX revolution is Mac compatible, but rather than include the relevant software in the box, they will have to download it from Logitech's website.

Verdict

So it is a revolution? While all the features themselves are small, added up they do seem to make a difference and just like when you first got a scroll wheel going back to other mice is hard.

That said this isn't the massive revolution that you were perhaps thinking it would be.

The mouse is still the same shape as all the other mice available in the shops and while Logitech has created a very good product its not one that is going to blow you away.

A good solid product, but don’t expect it to change your world by that much.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Logitech
Price as reviewed: £79.99
The good: Cordless, plenty of features, easy to set up, easy to use
The bad: Not much, One Touch search not customisable
Quick verdict: Some good features, but don’t expect it to be the revolution that its promising.
Score