-Introduction: The Mouse Dance-

Then mice changed and the dances of the mice were gone. Optical mice with their funky little red eyes took over. They never seemed to clog up, and lasted for ages.outliving even Gallapagos Turtles and Canadian Redwoods in some cases. So end of story then? Well no. Welcome to the world of Laser Mice (cue fanfare).

The Logitech Mx 1000 Laser Cordless mouse uses a laser rather than conventional light. You don't gt the funky red light effect but what you do get is massively improved performance. logitech reckon that the laser technology gives twenty times better sensitivity than an optical mouse. When used the mouse certainly seems to react better than an optical mouse and doenn't seem to miss a beat. The high performance means the mouse is ideal for anyone who does detailed work and also good for lesser being like me who want accuracy for gaming. The increased sensitivity also means that you can happily use the mouse on pretty much any surface, even polished or wood grain surfaces which can often cause problems for optical mice.

The main benefit of this mouse is it's accuracy, however there are a number of other useful features. Firstly it is cordless. This makes using the mouse quite a bit easier and frees up some space round your work area. Of course this also means that you need to recharge the mouse's internal rechargeable battery evry now and then. A useful little LED strip lets you know when your running low and turns red when your about to go flat, there is also an icon in your system tray which alerts you to a low battery level. When this happens you simply slot the mouse into the accompanying cradle and an hour later it is charged. Once charged the power seems to last between one and two weeks depending on how you use it. Of course you can always put it in the cradle whenever you are not using it and it will always be charged and ready. The cradle itself plugs into a USB port on your PC and a power supply adaptor (included).

This mouse has got more buttons than Jim Davidson at panto season. Apaert from the usual left and right clickers there is a scroll wheel which apart from scrolling up and down flicks from left to right to scroll left/right when needed. Around the scroll wheel is a 'cruise' switch which with one click and release will slowly scroll down (or up) a window. On the right hand side of the mouse is a back and forward button that will go back and forward through pages in interent explorer (mine does not seem to work with Firefox at the moment, which is a bit of a shame). in the centre of the back and forward buttons is an applications button. This brings up a little window with a list of applications you currently have running so you can select which one you want.

The software that accompanies the mouse allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the pointer and the scroll functions. It also allows you to reasign the functions of some of the buttons. The software is easy to use and intuitive. It gives you a quick tour of using the mouse which is handy when you first start.

The mouse very nicely contoured for an ergonomic fit, it is extremely comfortable (to my hands anyway) and a real pleasure to use. One thing though is the mouse is clearly designed for right handers and from what I can tell there is no left hander version available. The mouse looks great as well with a mixture of dark green, black and silver. The plastic is of a good quality. The mouse feels quite robust and I have dropped mine onto a carpeted wooden floor from desk height with no ill effects (silly me!). The only real drawback I can see is the price. Around forty quid is a lot of money for a mouse and would buy you about four corded optical mice. I think if you use a computer a lot it is worth it for the comfory and performance.