Logitech MX700 cordless optical mouse

YOUR HAND probably spends more time plonked on top of a mouse than any other computer device. Which makes it all the more bizarre that some people chose to spend less than a tenner on some ergonomic monstrosity. Logitech is famous for producing good mice and, after last year's review of an earlier cordless mouse, the time seemed right to check out the latest offering.

The current top of the range is the MX700. It's cordless, using radio to communicate with a base station that hooks up to a USB or PS2 port. It's optical, so there's no ball to clean. It's rechargeable, so there's no need to buy batteries for it.

The Good
The mouse is very comfortable to use. It's big and it's heavy, the combination giving it a quality feel. In fact, the whole thing feels like it's worth the money. It feels expensive. It looks it too. When people see it sat on the desk there's usually a little "ooh" from them.

There are five extra buttons on the mouse that make finding your way around windows and browsers a little nicer. Two of them are the back and forward browser buttons, just above a nice ergonomic scooped out hollow for your thumb. Another two are fast-scroll buttons just in front and behind the scroll wheel. The last is near the centre of the mouse and is a application switching button; press that and a list of all the applications running appears so you can choose which one to activate.

Last of the good things is the recharge time. There's a little red light that comes on when the mouse batteries are low. Dropping the mouse into its cradle for twenty minutes gave plenty enough oomph to last for most of the day. Leaving it in the cradle overnight pretty much guarantees two days of solid hard work.

Only two days might not sound like a lot for a charged up mouse but this little beast chews through power so that you get really good response times and accuracy. It proved great in Photoshop and its fast response time combined with 800dpi resolution meant that it ate games for breakfast.

The Bad
The worst thing about the MX700 is actually nothing to do with the mouse at all. It's remembering to put it into its cradle at night so that it recharges. Several oaths have been used after discovering the little red battery warning light coming on. It's not the mouse's fault or even Logitech's. A little lateral thinking produced a solution. Windows has now been set to play a funny sound on shut down to act as a reminder.

Once again, this is a mouse for right-handers. Where the Mouseman Cordless Optical was useable left handed, the MX700 certainly isn't.

Lastly, the recharging cradle proved somewhat haphazard. When the mouse is dropped in there, a little green light should come on to show it is charging. Half the time the connections don't seem to match up properly even though it is shaped to make sure that they do. It means you really need to watch for the green light to come on for a few seconds, jiggle the mouse around if it doesn't and wait another few seconds, etc.

The Conclusion
The MX700's predecessor was a tough act to beat. Strangely enough, in the review of it the biggest complaint was that it was not rechargeable. That complaint has been fixed with the MX700.

The mouse has been in solid business use for two weeks now with occasional hard fought conflicts in Battlefield 1942 and it has excelled. The Mouseman Cordless Optical seemed invincible. The MX700 trashes it thoroughly. This little beastie is definitely recommended. µ