The Internet has empowered us as consumers to be able to research purchases & prevent expensive mist...
The Internet has empowered us as consumers to be able to research purchases & prevent expensive mistakes. Hopefully my reviews will help you make your mind up about whether something is right for you or not. Enjoy!
Accuracy - the laser used in the MX1000 is 20 times more accurate than standard optical mouse sensors. This is obviously a great improvement but if you are unsure what this means in actual benefits, I can confirm the mouse is very accurate at tracking small movements. The immense accuracy also means that you can use virtually any surface as a mousemat - your desk, a hand,
a wall, even featureless white surfaces.
Buttons - manufacturers tend to go with the "more is merrier" idea and you end up with a myriad of useless buttons, however this mouse is very nicely designed, and everything is at a fingertip without getting in the way. The two main buttons are quite stylish as they aren't seperate buttons but you press the actual case of the mouse to click - very nice. The scroll button is fine but quite stiff (if you are used to sloppy MS ones!), and the wheel-button (pressing the button down) is quite tricky (enough that I stopped using it and assigned the function to a thumb button). The mouse wheel also seemed to suffer from incorrect detection - it often registered an "up" movement after you stopped scrolling "down". The thumb buttons are great and very useful, as are the application tab buttons to scroll through your open programs quickly.
Ergonomics - it's all well and good having a mouse that is accurate if it's a pain to hold for any length of time. The MX1000 is *very* comfortable, it's weird shape is perfectly moulded for your hand (I'm right-handed but it says it's ok for left-handers too). Bear in mind it's also quite large for a mouse.
Cordless mice also introduce the following considerations:
Response Time - when you move your mouse, the pointer needs to move at the same time, any lag and it will be unusable for any length of time. The fast RF means it runs as quickly as a corded mouse, and I honestly never detected any lag in use.
Battery Life - if you aren in the middle of an important piece of work/gaming, the last thing you want is for your mouse to suddenly stop due to the battery running out. Thankfully, the MX1000 has a huge battery life, and also a quick-recharge (10 mins charge will give you a day's use if you can't wait for a full charge to complete!). It also has an amazingly handy battery life indicator, when that last green led turns red, you know you should sit it on it's charging cradle and go make a coffee :-)
I have used this mouse extensively at home and it has helped my Enemy Territory play enormously - the response, accuracy, and number of useful buttons I can map to different actions have all helped my kill ratio greatly. Gaming snipers will love this mouse! It also proved fantastic when I was working in photoshop retouching some photos, obviously the accuracy comes into it's own then.
There are a couple of downsides (no I hear you cry!) though... not too many to put you off, but certainly to bear in mind:
- the scroll wheel stiffness - I personally like (or was used to) the sloppy MS wheel, and the weird detection of the upward scroll after a down scroll was annoying.
- weight - it's quite a heavy mouse, mainly I guess due to the cordless gubbings inside. Although I've got used to it, it did take some time as when you run out of mouse mat and have to pick up the mouse and move it, it felt too heavy!
- the wheel tilt is a gimmick in my opinion, I suppose if you scroll left or right you might train yourself to use it, but it wasn't useful to me.
- some of the buttons (ie: quick application selector) rely on software running on your PC - I personally hate unnecessary software running and disable all I can, but then you can't assign the buttons in games or other applications as windows can't "see" them.
All in all, a fantastic little (actually not that little!) rodent, very accurate, nicely designed and well executed. The only thing I miss is that warm red glow from the underside, the laser is invisible (in fact it warns you not to point the thing at your eyes, how cool is that?!)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Very responsive, customisable, fantastic ergonomics,no need for a mouse-mat,long battery life,battery status. Disadvantages: Bulky in comparison to a standard mouse, not the clearest instructions for a PC novice,some may find a bit heavy, needs getting used to.
Feb 4th, 2005
very helpful by (100%):
