Introduction

    When Microsoft introduced a few years ago the first optical mouse on the market, many users wanted an optical mouse that would be cordless to combine the precision of the optical technology to the freedom of movement. The dream is now reality thanks to Logitech, the Swiss founded company, well known for its awesome series of mice. By unleashing this long awaited new kind of mice on the market, Logitech overtakes its eternal competitor named Microsoft. To achieve such a technology marvel, Logitech took its time in order to refine the development process so they can be sure that the autonomy of the final product would be worth of the Logitech’s reputation since the usual weak point of cordless mice has always been power; this can only get worse when you add to it such a power consuming thing like an optical sensor. Indeed if Logitech has a strong know-how in the cordless mice manufacturing field (to date they have sold more than 6 million cordless mice worldwide), they had to create a whole set of new technologies to save power.

Setup

    Installing the Logitech Cordless Mouseman Optical is a breeze: simply plug the small new receiver to the USB or PS/2 port of your computer. Insert the two AA 1.5v batteries into the mouse and you’re done! You can start using your mouse right away but we strongly advise you to install the MouseWare 9.27 set of drivers to unleash the full potential of this new pointing device. Once you have installed the drivers when Windows will have rebooted a wizard will start helping you configuring the mouse & buttons assignment.

Design

You’ll find in the Logitech Cordless Mouseman Optical package two parts: the mouse itself and the small radio receiver you’ll have to plug on your computer. Consider the receiver like a unit that’ll receive signals from the mouse and send them to the computer. The radio receiver has a slightly different look than in previous cordless Logitech mice as it features a nice navy translucent shell. Its shape is small and all in roundness: on the top of it there’s a small ‘Connect’ button used to establish a connection between the mouse and the receiver. The mouse itself is simply a marvel of pure design. It looks like a dark metallic blue pebble with two silver plastic parts, engineered like brushed aluminium: the second top silvered shape that supports the palm of your hand, shows a nice Logitech logo captured in a glass bubble. The bottom of the mouse is absolutely transparent so you can see the electronic and the red light even from the left side of the mouse. Under the mouse near the battery compartment there’s a small red button to push in order to establish a connection while the five pads ensure that the mouse slides correctly. On top of the mouse you’ve got two traditional silver buttons and between them, the well known wheel used to scroll lift in applications. Users of a Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer will find the left & right buttons of the mouse too small due to the curved design that shrink the buttons: so when you start using the device you will easily click the right button instead of the left, but after a few hours of work you’ll loose the Microsoft habit. The wheel is obviously programmable and can be used to double click or to activate the exclusive Logitech Webwheel feature we’ll explain later. On both sides of the mouse there are black rubbers so you’re sure to have a firm grip on the rodent. Under the left rubber, your thumb will discover a small gray button that constitutes the fourth button of the device. During our tests we found the global design of the mouse very comfortable even if it’s only intended to be manipulated by right-handed users. In terms of size the Logitech Cordless Mouseman Optical is a big mouse but not big enough to support my whole palm. If the mouse is somewhat heavy due to the batteries and all the onboard radio electronic I don’t find this to be a major drawback. Indeed when you use a mouse correctly, you normally don’t raise it but just slide it, so the weight is no big deal.

Logitech Cordless MouseMan Optical (click to enlarge)