Logitech VX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks
Sorry southpaws, this is a right handed mouse only
I use a mouse at work with my work laptop all of the time and I was getting annoyed by my wired mouse that came with my notebook. It was a regular optical wired mouse which wouldn't work on the surfaces I needed it to and didn't have the best resolution for the speed that I wanted. I have the Logitech MX-1000 Cordless Laser Mouse at home and I love it so I decided to see what Logitech had to offer for notebooks.
I remember looking at Logitech's website a few months ago and they had no cordless notebook mice that I was willing to buy, this time was different. I spotted the VX Revolution mouse, checked out the features, and purchased one from the beloved Newegg.com for just under $55 shipped.
The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the grip was for a small mouse, very well designed. Next I noticed the size compared to the MX-1000. Definitely smaller and lighter, but not too small or too light.
I inserted the single AA battery that powers it and noticed that a small green light turned ON on the bottom of the mouse letting you know the mouse was powered up. I inserted the USB transmitter into the back and the power light tuned OFF. This wasn't a feature of Logitech's first, but I was very glad they included it. When the USB transmitter is in the VX mouse, it does not stick out from the back at all and is almost flush with the back of the mouse. I then pressed the eject button on the bottom of the VX mouse and a mechanical switch popped the USB transmitter back out and the mouse powered back up.
The USB transmitter is very small itself.
I plugged it into my USB port on my notebook, the Windows USB drivers were immediately found and the mouse started working perfectly. The movement was fast and precise, just the way I like it (and of course you can adjust the speed in the control panel) and the mouse was easy to move with a very smooth movement.
he next thing I noticed was the wheel. It is metal with a rubber strip where your finger contacts it and has some weight to it. The wheel feels very precise and I like it better than the MX-1000 wheel. The wheel also has a switch on the bottom that takes it from the geared "clicky" motion that we are all used to, to a free moving motion. The free moving motion is very fluid and lets you move through pages of text with great speed. My work notebook has Lotus Notes and my Inbox has about 300+ e-mails in it. I started at the top and using my index finger spun the wheel like I was a college jock on The Price Is Right and the wheel spun all the way past from the top e-mail to the bottom one in about 2 seconds and was still rolling when the cursor stopped at the last e-mail. It is a very nice touch, but way too much for me. I will stick with the switch on "clicky".
Even though my work notebook only has Windows 2000 (I know, I know), I was able to use all of the features on the mouse except one, Zoom in and out near the index finger. I don't think I really need this feature and I don't feel like installing the software for the mouse from Logitech. The features I do get are a 5-way wheel (up, down, left, right, click), a search button, the Forward and Back buttons, and a battery meter like the MX-1000.
Now, I have had one problem with it. I was using it during a meeting where everyone was using their wireless notebooks to connect to the network and I think the paths got crossed with the mouse and the wireless. The mouse only worked sporadically, but I removed the USB transmitter, put it in the mouse, ejected the transmitter after a few seconds and and plugged it back into my notebook and I haven't had any problems since. I hope that fix works if I have that problem again.
All-in-all a great mouse that is comfortable, light, easy to use, with great features, and is very easy to carry around. I would recommend this mouse to any one that needs a cordless mouse. It is very comfortable for every day use with the features everyone wants.
-Joe (mnemonicj) 1/26/2007
