William Maher14 September 2006, 5:11 AM
Is Logitech MX Revolution with its insane automatic transmission a pure gimmick, or the best mouse ever invented? Here's my first impressions.
Is it just me or are mice getting crazier? Take the Logitech MX Revolution, which has an "automatic transmission" (no I didn't make that up). Logitech is claiming the MX to be the "World's Most Advanced Mouse", and it is a pretty advanced piece of mouse machinery.First off there's an ultra-low friction scroll wheel. The wheel has a special transmission, which when pressed, tells a motor to disengage a spring and turns the scroller into a spinning flywheel loved by users of large documents and that kid from Mercury Rising. There's no "clicking" when you scroll, it just spins freely on ball bearings.
The flywheel works brilliantly. It's excellent for really big lists and documents - you can jump through pages and pages with one spin.For extra scrolling goodness, the MX has a 2nd wheel set horizontally just above where your thumb goes, for application switching etc. There's also a search button on top, which I haven't found particularly useful.
The mouse is super smooth to use, though having been used to a wired model, I'm finding the extra weight feels different. I'm reliably informed though it would be great for games.Logitech seems to have gone all-out to promote the exotic machinery behind this mouse, including the fact that each scroll wheel is indvidually built, rather than using injection-molded plastic wheels.
I suppose it makes sense, given we spend a fair chunk of our waking hours using mice (which makes me wonder about my crappy keyboard). Personally I would like to see the MX Revolution signal the start of a competitive frenzy in the mouse market, or a mouse-battle, if you will.
Can someone come up with a more exotic design than the MX? What about a mouse from a major manufacturer with internal air blowers to keep your hand cool? Lets see some inspired mouse design, people.