Review: Logitech MX Revolution Mouse
Apple March 21st, 2007It’s only when you’re handed a mouse as great as the Logitech MX Revolution that you realize what you’ve been missing. I’ve been so accustomed to Apple’s one button wireless mouse for so long that I had no idea what a different mouse could do in helping me in my daily workflow.
The Logitech MX Revolution is labeled as the worlds most advanced mouse. Inside is a rechargeable li-ion battery run over a 2.4Ghz cordless connection and has 7 buttons, two scroll wheels. Outside, it features a great erginomical design.

Design
Compared to other cordless laser mice, I don’t find the MX Revolution too different in terms of weight. It’s notably larger in size than stock Apple mouse, but it fits in my hand much better due to the slightly larger size and cut out “groove” in the side of the mice.
To pair it up with your Mac (or PC) simply plug the included portable USB transceiver into a free USB port, and your good to go. There are two things I’d like to note about the mouse using a radio frequency not bluetooth. One positive point is the ability to quickly swap the MX Revolution between computers without hassle, and a down-point is it takes up a USB port.
It feels very comfortable in my hand, I can use it for much longer periods of time without strain than other mice, it’s not awkward at all to leave my hand on the mouse for prolonged periods - great for late night blogging or photo editing sessions.
The black design might not be for all - once again I thought it might not suit my Apple setup too well, but I was wrong. The black against white doesn’t look bad at all, and I’m quite happy to leave the charging base sitting on my desk when not in use, the whole package looks very slick.

Hyper Fast Scrolling
Hyper fast scrolling using the main scroll wheel is one of the the most unique features the MX Revolution has to offer. Simply flick your finger on the scroll wheel, and it’s mechanical design will keep the wheel spinning until you put your finger back down on it, perfect for scrolling large web-pages such as Digg or my posts related to Apple.
You can also press down on the scroll wheel to enable “normal” scrolling, and click again to free up the wheel for hyper fast scrolling. This is a really awesome feature, browsing the web has never been easier.

7 Programmable Buttons
One of the major features on the MX Revolution is its seven buttons, all of which are fully programmable through Logitech’s Control Center. I personally have the button on top of the mouse set to hide the current app, the back button on the side to display Expose All Windows, the forward button to display Expose Desktop, and the button on the side wheel to open Dashboard.
These are all big time savers if you program them right, according to what features in OSX you use frequently. The buttons can even be set to do things such as open folders or applications, or even insert strings of text into documents.

Charging Base
Wireless Mouse owners will share my frustration with how quickly the batteries drain. I found myself changing batteries on my Apple Wireless Mouse (Not Mighty) every 5-7 days, it’s not a fun or enjoyable task - in fact, it made we want to move away from using a wireless mouse.
Conclusion
Overall, the Logitech MX Revolution is the best mouse I’ve ever had in hand. The combination of 7 buttons, hyper fast scrolling, ergonomic design, and a charging base makes for an excellent mouse well worth every cent it costs. I’m hooked - try one and you will be too.
March 21st, 2007 at 3:43 am
Great review Glenn. I have been waiting for this review since i saw you had the mouse. I have been wanting to purchase this mouse for a while, but have been hesitant because of the high price. I currently don’t own a desktop, do you think this mouse will be as useful for a notebook (mainly because of the size)?
March 21st, 2007 at 3:45 am
This is the only type of mouse that could possibly tear me away from my Mighty Mouse. I just love the scroll ball and squeezing feature. I always end up squeezing other mice when I’m not on my computer!
March 21st, 2007 at 7:54 am
Another great review, Glenn. I like Logitech products very much, myself. :) I’m looking forward to your Airport Extreme Review.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:46 am
The only mouse I’ve ever bought separately is my Apple Wireless Mouse. Not the mighty mouse. I think that a mighty mouse would be a good step forward for my workflow because my pocket book isn’t as big as I want it to be. Sweet Review. I’ll be sure to notice it next time I see it at a store.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:16 am
Shame they haven’t taken the same “swappable lithium ion” approach as they took in my G7. That way you never run out of batteries, and you’d have the perfect mouse.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:21 am
I’ve heard there have been issues with Macs and Logitech MX Revolution mice because of bad drivers and that a good number of the features don’t work… No issues for you?
March 21st, 2007 at 10:04 am
The only issue I’ve found with this mouse is that the horizontal scrolling doesn’t work. Also, It forces you to program Safari, Preview, Photoshop, and some Microsoft apps separately (annoying). The battery life is pretty good. I just charge it while I sleep and it never drains.
The hyper-fast scrolling … I haven’t found a use for it. Being forced to use only hyper-fast scrolling would be really annoying. It feels slippery and way too fast.
I got it 20% off at Best Buy ($80)
Great mouse.
March 21st, 2007 at 11:10 am
Oh no. I may have to buy one…..
March 21st, 2007 at 11:29 am
I love my LX5. I’ve had it for 6 months now and have only changed the battery once.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Let me tell you, once you pick up the MX Revolution, there’s no going back.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I ve been interested in the his mouse for some time, but it pretty dang expensive.
March 21st, 2007 at 4:50 pm
I bought the MX Revolution about two months ago and I agree with everything Glenn said in his review. It may be expensive, but it really is the best mouse out there.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I’ve noticed recently the that the scroll wheel gets stuck in free spin mode, I literally need to shake the mouse for it to pop back into place. Oh and by the way, it’s spelt ergonomic not erginomic.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:55 pm
@alej744: Thanks :)
You guys are going to get me into Buying Mood TM… Argh! *Wait for new Mac… Wait for new Mac… Then buy a new mouse* ;)
March 21st, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I got a Revolution MX a few months ago and fell in love with it, after some getting used to. But! A week or so before SXSW I purchased a Wireless Mighty Mouse and it has definitely replaced the MX Revolution on my list of the best mice.
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:56 am
I badly want this mouse, but last time I tried using something wireless from Logitech with my Mac (about 2.5 months ago) the Logitech Control Center acted weird — It kind of scare me in that it caused the first crash to Mac OS X that I’ve had in years. I’m debating whether to try installing it again with my old wireless setup now that Apple has updated to 10.4.9.
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
If I had a desktop this looks perfect but since I am frequently carting my macbook pro around I use ths slimmer yet equally sophisticated Logitech v500. I really think logitech is the best manufacturer of mice out there. I use rechargeable batteries and get about 3 months out of them, which seems quite long in comparison to Apples wireless mouse.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/MY/EN,CRID=2135,CONTENTID=9508
March 27th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Just bought the MX, I felt weird, being a mac user thinking it was going to look junky, but the it looks nice and the reviews and usability of this mouse make it happen. It’s great…nice review by the way.
April 26th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Having had an earlier Logitech laser cordless dockable mouse for several years now, I bought the MX Revolution without even reading any reviews - and I don’t regret it one bit! It’s a fantastic mouse, very comfortable, the customisation of the buttons is great if you are the only one using the mouse, it’s sleek and smooth and stylish. Functionality is great and it’s ergonomically pleasing for a right-handed person. Not cheap but I honestly think it’s worth paying for this mouse!
May 12th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Have had this mouse for about 3 months and all of a sudden our batteries drained. Cant recall if we left it off overnight or something? But now when it recharges if you have the control window open it charges for a moment then you see the red cricitcal battery icon flashing on the mouse and the SetPoint settings window says something like “error occurred (sp?) while charging.” Then it charges for a moment and … rinse and repeat. Anyone? I’m starting to think it just isn’t reading the batteries right. One day it said .5 days left, and 2 hours later it said 14 days left. After charging a short time later, it was back down to just 1 day of power on the reading. HELP?
June 8th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I had the pleasure of having Logitech send me a Logitech MX Revolution to review, and now at work I curse the fact that I only have one. Its one of those things that once you start to use it, the bar that is your computer experience rises. The closest comparison is dual monitors vs a single monitor. The scroll wheel is my favorite feature especially for web development, or even should the need arise scroll through 3000+ emails in Outlook with a single flick of your wrist. Its sexy and functional, what else can you ask for in a mouse?
June 8th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Exactly, I couldn’t agree more. I feel very weird on a Mac without the Logitech MX Revolution, it makes for an awkward computing experience.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:02 am
I currently use the Logitech MX-1000 mouse and am having issues with my right click. I called them and they no longer make the MX-1000 mouse and want to replace it with the MX-Revolution. I am a little hessitant. I mainly use my mouse for gaming and set my buttons to use other programs like Ventrillo and in game speak. If I exchange this, will I still have these features?
November 26th, 2007 at 4:22 am
I bought the mouse months ago and I have to say I love it, except for the fact I too get the problem with the batteries. I get a message saying “An error occurred when charging” every time I try to charge them for some reason. If theres an in store warranty you can get… Do it. Its quite annoying even if the mouse still works decent.
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
This is an awesome mouse!! I love the free wheel thing its just so much faster, like youve been liberated from scrolling line by line. I got my mouse for $34 i think but its refurbished. Works perfect like retail!
February 17th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I tried this mouse today when I was buying my PSP, I now have to get it. It is hard to use the might mouse. Its so comfortable.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Cheryl
Go to the following website:
http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/logitech_en_amr.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5291&p_created=1156347110&p_sid=tdNV49Zi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjcsMjcmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1NWCBSZXZvbHV0aW9uIGFuIGVycm9yIG9jY3VycmVkIHdoZW4gY2hhcmdpbmc*&p_li=&p_topview=1
You may Just need to reconnect the mouse. I was having the same problem and it was driving me nuts. Reconnected and problem went away!
Good Luck!
Ron
March 26th, 2008 at 11:54 am
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Bluegrassbox
http://cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/02/07/stay.safe.online.ap/index.html
April 10th, 2008 at 7:29 am
My wheel got really stuck. It was nothing to do in the MX control panel. Giving up I decided to really fysically smash the mouse vertically onto the table. After that everything worked perfect again…
Apart from this incident the mouse is great to work with.
Good luck!
Ruben
April 18th, 2008 at 1:12 am
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Chef Paul Prudhomme
http://www.rjnestor.com
May 14th, 2008 at 8:21 am
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Ashanti Travel Centre: - Southern Africa
http://www.hayesgardenworld.co.uk
September 19th, 2008 at 5:01 am
I picked up one of these based mainly off of this recommendation, and I have to say it is the worst device I’ve ever bought. The tracking is unacceptable, the pointer ‘jiggles’ with it on my desk, and if I put it on a mousepad the giant protruding hunk of plastic on the left hangs on the pad. The curve and the wheel on the side both conspired to cause a nasty blister on my thumb after only one day, and the amount of motion required to get it to work left my wrist sore. I greatly prefer the MM, it’s far more accurate and I can move it with only small, slight motions with my fingertips instead of my whole hand. When I tried to use the MX with Illustrator, I promptly boxed it back up and returned it. Maybe I got a dud, but I’ve never been outright ENRAGED by a product before, but the MX had me seeing red. I’ll buy 10 MMs with gunked up scroll balls before I ever touch another Logitech product.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Yup, you got a dud!!! I love mine..works perfectly….I even use it for gaming….
October 27th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I am a long time PC user & just switched to the MBP in Feb 08. I bought the bluetooth Mighty Mouse thinking there must be something wonderful about it. On my PC, I had used the MX Revolution (Logitech). I quickly moved the Revolution over to the MBP. I can’t imagine not having the programmable buttons which I use for cut and paste commands with my thumb and delete with my middle finger. I love the Mac but know (not believe) that Apple could do a lot more for its customers with a mouse along the lines of the Logitech.