Well, after a couple of weeks of slobbering over this mouse on the internet I've finally gotten my hands on one. It's quite a beautiful thing, actually.
Being a long-standing mac fan, I didn't think that I'd be able to adjust to its far-from-minimalist looks, but the sculpted curve of the top fits my hand beautifully and it's a real pleasure to use, especially in contrast to the Apple Mighty Mouse I was using earlier - (Apple has a long history of bad peripherals - the "hockey puck" mouse, iPod headphones etc...)
The mouse has seven programmable controls, including two scroll wheels, one of which is the glorified "hyper-scroll" wheel. The hyper scroll mode, when activated, removes the "click-click" or "ratcheted" feel of traditional scroll wheels. The result: a virtually frictionless wheel that can turn for up to seven seconds with a single flick before it stops - a really handy feature for scrolling long pages.
The mouse comes with clear instructions, a beautiful charging dock, and a tiny (and I mean tiny) USB receiver that works at a 2.4 Ghz refresh rate - very good for everyday use. Pictured above is the mouse in its beautifully designed reflective recharging station - dock for short. The mouse has long-lasting rechargeable lithium ion batteries that charge within three hours, and then last the average user for a week or so. There are three battery indicating LEDs on the side of the mouse that turn red if you need to recharge, so you'll always have fair warning and never lose your mouse in the middle of an intense work session.
A downside to this mouse is that being wireless, the mouse sometimes drops the connection and there is a few milliseconds of lag before it starts up again. This is negligible for the everyday user, but makes this mouse a big no-no for serious gamers that need a lightning quick hardware response. Another thing is that the 800 dpi tracking engine is a very mediocre resolution - again more than enough for the everyday user but totally bad for gamers.
Logitech includes its SetPoint software to configure the mouse behaviour. Though I've heard horror stories about the usability of the windows version, for mac users I can say that the logitech control center is one of the most powerful and easy-to-use mouse drivers I have ever used.
To summarize, this is what I would like to say:
- I love the design - it's as hot as a mouse could get.
- It's reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally comfy - you'll feel really weird switching to another mouse after this one, because the design fits all but the smallest hands perfectly. (Logitech is famous for making acquired-taste, massively-sized mice)
- The battery lasts long, and recharges quickly - a godsend for busy executives
- The performance of the mouse is rock-solid, and all but the most intense gamers will be satisfied with its response.
I'd definitely recommend buying one to anybody who's interested in speeding up their workflow. Though at $80 it's a bit on the pricey side, it's a one-time investment that pays back for itself in many ways.
Cheers!
Since we offered to accompany Mr. Bhatt around Calcutta (now Kolkata) for the weekend that we were there, I had private, one-on-one talk time with a Grammy winning musician! How cool is that? No, I'll tell you - it was REALLY cool. He's a very down-to-earth person, and listened patiently for me to say what I wanted before countering with his opinions.