Review: Logitech Optical Wheel mouse

While walking through my local computer store, I spotted a nifty looking blue and grey mouse. Upon closer inspection I found that it was a logitech optical mouse. This mouse has no ball and uses a laser to determine the direction its moving in. It costs an amazing $29.99 (USD) which is much cheaper than its Microsoft counterparts. I decided purchase one and see how it performed.

Installation was easy and went smoothly. The mouse comes with Logitech Mouseware 9.0 which is quite customizable. All the buttons are reprogrammable. You can change the acceleration and orientation of the mouse. Ergonomically the mouse feels excellent. The buttons have the smoothest feeling of any mouse I have tested. It also looks sharp. Take it to you next lan and watch the babes flock to you becuase of the elite looking mouse you use.

So does it have the tracking problem of the microsoft mouse? Yes, but it is not quite as bad. If you use low acceleration, you might not even notice the tracking problem when moving the mouse at high speeds. So why is this mouse useless to the serious quake player? While it tracks better than the Microsoft Mouse at higher speeds, it still tracks the surface when you pick it up. Pick up the mouse to recenter it and its going to be quite an experience. You could end up suddenly point in a direction that you did not intend. And in quake that means certain death. The Microsoft mouse did exhibit this problem, but it was not quite a severe.

As I said early take this to a lan party and you may attract attention. Unfortunately most of it will be from people that don't use optical mice and want to make a demo of showing elite they are for SHOD or Old Skull Quake. You will be dead meat if you use this mouse. While your opponent is aiming at you, you will be pointing in directions that you never wanted to. This will result in catostrophic consequences for you, and perhaps an old skull demo of the week for your opponent. Stay away from optical mice.

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