Home > Consumer Reviews > Logitech MX Revolution - Mouse - laser - wireless - RF - USB wireless receiver

It's a very nice mouse. I think the guy who had problems with wireless reception and sticky movement must have had a broken one, because I've had no such problems.

It's made out of very good quality materials - it looks and feels really swish - and sits under your hand quite nicely. I might have preferred the forward/back buttons to be a bit larger, but you get used to their thinness after a while.
The scroll wheel feels really solid. Use it normally and it scrolls normally; flick it, and it scrolls very quickly, which is surprisingly useful. However, out-of-the-box you can't use this wheel as a button, because pressing it engages and disengages the clutch. This is potentially a big problem because I use the middle click all the time in Firefox to open new tabs. However, an automatic update to the provided SetPoint software gave me some extra options for this button, including setting it to be a middle click. Phew! Do make sure you update your software when you get the mouse (there's an option under the "Tools" tab to do this.)

The document flip button sits right under your thumb which by default pops up a little task switching utility. Unfortunately it is quite easy to click accidentally. This is rather annoying, and I can imagine that if you were using it for gaming then hitting this by mistake would really irritate you. For less frenetic use you simply get used to it; your thumb soon learns to skate over it as it goes from forward/next back to the rest position. For any of the other buttons you can use SetPoint to reassign it to do something else - this can be one of the preset values or any keystroke. The provided sofware offers only "Document Flip" or "Zoom" for that most annoying button, but that automatic update gave me extra options, including using it for volume control. (and click it to mute/unmute!) For me, this is a much better use of this button and between that and resolving the middle click removed my last objection to the mouse itself.

Battery life is perfectly fine, certainly over a week's worth and probably more (I've been using it for a week and haven't recharged yet), and you get a little row of lights on the mouse, visible just above your thumb, to keep you aware of what's happening with the power. When it does need recharging, it sits on a little recharging cradle.

One real annoyance - the power adapter for that cradle didn't have a UK plug on it. This is not the first time Amazon have sold me something with a foreign plug, and it's not on (I just bought a shaver plug for a few pence and plugged it in anyway, but I shouldn't have to do this).

Anyway: is it worth the money? It is good, no doubt. And while I'm sure you can get excellent mice for less money, I'm more than happy with it.

This is a very strange beast when you remove it from the box - I got it as a 'wireless mouse upgrade' on my work PC and didn't know it would be an MX Revolution. Initial impressions were it should be in a display cabinet not on a computer. But put your right hand over it and it feels very comfortable (most left handers probably have no chance). The rubberised microgear metal scroll wheel is great - it actually weighs a perfectly balanced 14g I believe, so that one flick and it spins effortlessly, scrolling down large pages in a trice - it's so easy to control, plus it rocks side to side giving two more switches. It's possible that on a very slow computer the 'freewheel' mode Microgear wheel might run away with itself, if used too quickly, and overshoot while the PC tries to keep up. There's a hint of this with my new Intel quad core PC, although in this freewheel mode the wheel will go as fast back up, as down.

The Revolution's standard left/right mouse buttons have just the right resistance and the far left twin thumb buttons are very useful as previous and next page. Most buttons have a few program options and the main wheel doubles as the 'third' main mouse button when pushed down, although it's noticeably less refined when used like this and may accidently go to it's side rocker switch as well [e.g. when manually changing Microgear modes from freewheel to ratchet you could simultaneously jump pages as well, which isn't that endearing]. Otherwise mouse build quality, response and accuracy is excellent - fine for shooter games, and the 20 feet range from the USB dongle is good (its wireless not bluetooth and it sits near my wireless router with no problems). I am a keen gamer, and with my fast Quad core + NVidia 8800 (XP not Vista) gaming machine I get no mouse problems at all with games like Supreme Commander, Doom3 and Quake 4 - in fact it was the USB lead snagging that lead me to dump my MS Intellimouse. It's likely that a wired gaming mouse would be a better choice than the Revolution MX if you only ever play games though, as a 'freewheel' mode Microgear wheel isn't that useful when gaming, except perhaps as the zoom in Supreme Commander [it tends to whizz too fast on weapon selection etc...]. I can live with this, as the non-vibrating Microgear [freewheel mode] mousewheel has eliminated RSI at the base of my index finger [I live on PCs at work and home] - in fact I'd never buy a mouse without it for that reason alone. Plus my Revolution MX mouse has now relocated as a 'work' mouse, so it's never used for gaming anyway [I use a similarly Microgear enabled Logitech MX 620 for home gaming instead, with a physically switched ratchet/freewheel mode Microgear wheel].

The Logitech MX's wireless link refreshes 2x faster than other makes and is supposedly as fast as USB wired. Plus the revolution's recharge LEDs look cool [Note: the mouse charging cradle requires a 13A socket]. The only ergonomic thing I don't care for is the switch wheel just by the thumb, it slides through and selects other minimised windows, but using it often pushes the mouse a jot and you can click on the wrong window - this click-wheel also gets in the way of resting your thumb in the comfortable groove. Plus the USB dongle is solid and sticks 1.5 inches out of the port, easy to smash off and others have said Logitech won't sell you a new one if you break it (it's a whole new mouse set only I believe). Fortunately my little USB transmitter slips into a USB port tucked up behind my monitor and so its well out of the way - but a little blob on a USB lead would be better for many others (you could use a cheap USB extension lead).

With my very cheap Logitech 650 mouse I get tingling in my fingers using its wheel, but this vanishes using the Revolutions great microgear scroll wheel - and you can whizz about documents & web pages with ease (the wheel does automatically go to a standard precise finger vibrating `rachet-click' on some occasions, e.g in Word). The MicroGear freewheeel/ratchet mode can be manually swapped between using a wheel-click as well, if programmed to do so via SetPoint. Plus this MX mouse glides over my rough polished wood desk whereas the cheap 650 seems to stick fast in comparison. So this mouse is overall a massive hit with me so far, and I can recommend it.

The only downside, and I think it's a biggy, is that the li-ion battery isn't user replaceable and I can't even find a way on-line to get Logitech to replace the battery when it fails (it's supposed to last 3 years). The mouse looks great on it's very classy recharger cradle though. But I really wish this MX Revolution mouse had user replaceable AA batteries (that's all that's inside it anyway), even if they were rechargeable - otherwise at some point it is going to be a real pain, and some report recharge cycles falling from the initial 7 days to daily within months of use). That said I only recharge the mouse when the cute LEDs say critical battery level, and the internal batteries are holding up as good as new 7 months on [lasting over a week between charges].

I really want this mouse at home, but the non-replaceable internal battery problem has put me off - so I bought the cheaper but microgear enabled Logitech MX 620 Wireless Laser Mouse from Amazon instead, simply as it runs on standard replaceable AA batteries - and they last a year anyway. Plus it gets rid of the thumb switch wheel I don't care for, loses the mains recharge cradle, and has a five year warranty to this MX's three year one (that battery again perhaps?). The 'freewheel' Microgear mode is selected by a physical switch on the MX 620, rather than being 'automatic' with this MX Revolution, which I prefer as I only ever want 'freewheel' mode - although my son [12] always switches it the other way [it gives him the choice I suppose]. However the Logitech MX 620 mouse is nowhere near as classy in look or feel as this MX Revolution, although granted it is over £20 cheaper.

I have had this mouse for 7 months. Addressing some of the reviews below:

- Unlike my previous logitech mouse, the scroll button can indeed not be used as a middle button

- The free spin is incredible and can come on automatically depending on how fast you spin it, depending on what software you tell SetPoint you want it to be permenantly on for, or may be toggled by pressing the scroll down (hence why middle click is no longer available)

- thumb scroll has not been of any issue to me. It does protrude, but my own thumb lies just before it. On Vista, the thumbscroll activates Aero Flip, which is just brilliant!

- I have had no problems with the wireless receiver or the battery life of the mouse, leaving it off the cradle for weeks without issue. A battery life indicator lights up smartly on the mouse when its in use so you know how it's doing and I never have any qualms in placing it on its cradle, which looks nice.

- I have not had any problems with the smoothness of the mouse either. As it is a laser mouse, it can work on any surface, so there's no longer a need for a mousemat. Pads on the base of the mouse allow for it to slide across any smooth surface.

All in all, this is the best mouse I've ever come across.

I bought one of these for home use after enviously eyeing-up a work colleague's. (Its used mainly for CAD work.)

The mouse is very comfortable to hold and retains its charge for a decent amount of time. I really, really like the scroll-wheel. Works very well in both Vista and OS X.

The problem that I have found (and searching google many, many other people have found) is that the mouse 'stutters' if the USB dongle is too far from the mouse.
Now my Mac Pro is on top of the desk to the left of me, and the mouse is on the right of me. It stutters if plugged in to the back of the machine. The easy remedy is to bring the USB dongle closer to the mouse. I have done this and I am really pleased with the mouse now. In fact, I plugged it into the USB port underneath the right-hand-end of my keyboard so its only 100mm away from the mouse.

Although I am happy with the operation of the mouse now that the dongle is close to the mouse, I did intend to put the dongle inside the computer's case using the PCI-USB-card's internal USB port. There is no way that it would operate properly through 3mm of aluminium if it didn't work well plugged into the back of the machine. So I can't do that.

Summary, its a very good mouse if you plan on having the USB Dongle very close to the mouse. On the other hand, it can be barely usable if the computer is further away, or worse still, under the desk!

BTW the guy at work with the mouse has admitted that his mouse stutters all the time, but being fickle, he is more interested in how great the thing looks & feels than how it operates. Some people are silly :)

I've never had as good a mouse as this in principle - buttons for everything, customisable to the ends of the earth - however - read the logitech forums about stuttering problems before you buy. I've had SO many problems with it.

I've returned three, and have settled for a microsoft laser 8000 instead. it's nowhere near as good in theory, but at least it's reliable.