marfig
No ROM battery
The Performance Mouse MX is Logitech's current top offer. As I get ready to loose my mind on a Topre Realforce 103U keyboard somewhere around mid July, I went ahead and started to refurbish my desk already.
This mouse comes to replace the Revolution MX, which you can only get these days in a mouse-keyboard combo; the Desktop MX 5500 Revolution. While being an upgrade to the Revolution MX, the Performance Mouse MX actually removes the two most lauded features of its ancestor; The automatic hyper-scrolling switch and the thumb scroll wheel. So what gives?
Let's face it. The Revolution MX had a high return rate. It probably is, of all Logitech mice in the past two years, the one with the highest number of RMAs. And the vast majority of these were exactly due to hyper-scrolling automatic switch issues. The internets are full of stories attesting to this. Of course, on those mice with no problems this was a great feature. On the other hand, the thumb scroll wheel missing is a bit harder to explain. Personally I think it must be due to the fact that while the feature was lauded by many, for the past 2 years it became evident not many were making much use of it, with some users even complaining the wheel got in the way of their thumb rest position.
The Performance Mouse MX removes the thumb wheel completely and the thumb resting place is now a simple and well groomed rubberized curved area. For the top wheel, hyper-scroll is still offered, but it is now manually set by pressing the button under the wheel.
Because removing features is not a good way to present an upgrade (says he, not I), the Performance Mouse MX ships with a few additions, I'd like to address:
These will be the focus of this review. So let's get started.
Darkfield Laser Tracking
Darfield Laser Tracking is Logitech's application of the principals of dark field microscopy in optics. It -- allow me the simplification -- essentially operates by gathering light that is scattered by the presence of an object (surface imperfections on this case), instead of collecting light reflected by a surface. The sensor only allows light to be received from an angle and blocks any other light. And that's precisely what happens to light when it hits an object; it scatters and is reflected at unexpected angles, much like throwing a tennis ball against an airplane. Because of this technique, a resulting imaging in optics is always of a dark background (because it reflects light at a predictable angle and thus the sensor never gets to see it) with bright objects scattered through.
Logitech's implementation uses two lasers to track mouse movement. When you are using your mouse on a regular surfaces (your table our mousepad), it will only activate one of the lasers. Never will it use both. It's when you are using your mouse on a glass surface (like a glass table) or an otherwise very smooth and clean surface, that the controller will detect the need to activate the second laser for better results. Both lasers are positioned one against the other at an angle from the surface, pointing to the same area. The sensor is located in the center and will collect any light coming at a 90º angle from the surface, effectively collecting some portion of light that has been scattered by imperfections and missing any light that has been directly reflected by the surface. In a typical glass table at your home, this is more or less what a mouse equipped with Darkfield Laser Tracking will see:
To be clear, 100 micrometers are 0.1 millimeter (or 0.004 inches). It's easy to see why this is probably going to become the de facto laser mouse technology for the next years. But the real kicker here is the "newfound" ability to use a laser mouse on glass or very smooth surfaces.
There's another reason however as to why only one laser is used on otherwise typical surfaces. If the surface has plenty of imperfections, it can overload the sensor with an all-white image that gets it nowhere closer to employ its internal routines to track movement. By employing only one laser, the Performance MX guarantees this overload won't happen on the vast majority of surfaces. However keep in mind that even so, these mice might be a bit more sensitive to very irregular surfaces than traditional laser mice. If you experience "skipping" or "missing" issues with such a mouse, try to use it on a different mousepad or directly on the table to see if in fact this is a problem with the mouse. In direct contrast to all other mice, the darkfield laser tracking mice actually prefer smoother and cleaner surfaces. Odd to say that, no?
However this technology on a mouse like the Performance MX is a bit difficult to justify. The ability to use the mouse on a glass surface is certainly welcomed by many laptop users (me included). But the Performance MX is not a laptop mouse. This is a big, fat, classy and professional, desktop mouse (hyperbole allowing, that weights almost as much as your laptop). I suppose a minority may have been harboring for years the secret desire to buy a cool glass table for our desktops. But for the vast majority choosing the Performance Mouse MX for its ergonomics, we will have to take it at a premium price exactly for a laser tracking technology that makes very little sense in a desktop environment and that, in fact, we will never take advantage of. With that... it becomes hard to justify the price of this mouse.
[End of Part 1]
This mouse comes to replace the Revolution MX, which you can only get these days in a mouse-keyboard combo; the Desktop MX 5500 Revolution. While being an upgrade to the Revolution MX, the Performance Mouse MX actually removes the two most lauded features of its ancestor; The automatic hyper-scrolling switch and the thumb scroll wheel. So what gives?
Let's face it. The Revolution MX had a high return rate. It probably is, of all Logitech mice in the past two years, the one with the highest number of RMAs. And the vast majority of these were exactly due to hyper-scrolling automatic switch issues. The internets are full of stories attesting to this. Of course, on those mice with no problems this was a great feature. On the other hand, the thumb scroll wheel missing is a bit harder to explain. Personally I think it must be due to the fact that while the feature was lauded by many, for the past 2 years it became evident not many were making much use of it, with some users even complaining the wheel got in the way of their thumb rest position.
The Performance Mouse MX removes the thumb wheel completely and the thumb resting place is now a simple and well groomed rubberized curved area. For the top wheel, hyper-scroll is still offered, but it is now manually set by pressing the button under the wheel.
Because removing features is not a good way to present an upgrade (says he, not I), the Performance Mouse MX ships with a few additions, I'd like to address:
- Darkfield Laser Tracking
- 4 thumb buttons
- Higher curved profile
These will be the focus of this review. So let's get started.
Darkfield Laser Tracking
Darfield Laser Tracking is Logitech's application of the principals of dark field microscopy in optics. It -- allow me the simplification -- essentially operates by gathering light that is scattered by the presence of an object (surface imperfections on this case), instead of collecting light reflected by a surface. The sensor only allows light to be received from an angle and blocks any other light. And that's precisely what happens to light when it hits an object; it scatters and is reflected at unexpected angles, much like throwing a tennis ball against an airplane. Because of this technique, a resulting imaging in optics is always of a dark background (because it reflects light at a predictable angle and thus the sensor never gets to see it) with bright objects scattered through.
Logitech's implementation uses two lasers to track mouse movement. When you are using your mouse on a regular surfaces (your table our mousepad), it will only activate one of the lasers. Never will it use both. It's when you are using your mouse on a glass surface (like a glass table) or an otherwise very smooth and clean surface, that the controller will detect the need to activate the second laser for better results. Both lasers are positioned one against the other at an angle from the surface, pointing to the same area. The sensor is located in the center and will collect any light coming at a 90º angle from the surface, effectively collecting some portion of light that has been scattered by imperfections and missing any light that has been directly reflected by the surface. In a typical glass table at your home, this is more or less what a mouse equipped with Darkfield Laser Tracking will see:
To be clear, 100 micrometers are 0.1 millimeter (or 0.004 inches). It's easy to see why this is probably going to become the de facto laser mouse technology for the next years. But the real kicker here is the "newfound" ability to use a laser mouse on glass or very smooth surfaces.
There's another reason however as to why only one laser is used on otherwise typical surfaces. If the surface has plenty of imperfections, it can overload the sensor with an all-white image that gets it nowhere closer to employ its internal routines to track movement. By employing only one laser, the Performance MX guarantees this overload won't happen on the vast majority of surfaces. However keep in mind that even so, these mice might be a bit more sensitive to very irregular surfaces than traditional laser mice. If you experience "skipping" or "missing" issues with such a mouse, try to use it on a different mousepad or directly on the table to see if in fact this is a problem with the mouse. In direct contrast to all other mice, the darkfield laser tracking mice actually prefer smoother and cleaner surfaces. Odd to say that, no?
However this technology on a mouse like the Performance MX is a bit difficult to justify. The ability to use the mouse on a glass surface is certainly welcomed by many laptop users (me included). But the Performance MX is not a laptop mouse. This is a big, fat, classy and professional, desktop mouse (hyperbole allowing, that weights almost as much as your laptop). I suppose a minority may have been harboring for years the secret desire to buy a cool glass table for our desktops. But for the vast majority choosing the Performance Mouse MX for its ergonomics, we will have to take it at a premium price exactly for a laser tracking technology that makes very little sense in a desktop environment and that, in fact, we will never take advantage of. With that... it becomes hard to justify the price of this mouse.
[End of Part 1]
