.:Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse:.
Straight out of the box this mouse scores points in this review even before it's plugged in, with it's MX range Logitech have gone straight to the top in the style stakes, this is one seriously good looking mouse.
Installation of the mouse is straightforward with a choice of USB or PS2 connection provided by the USB/PS2 converter that is bundled with the mouse along with the driver CD and the instruction manual. So I turned off the machine, this is absolutely essential if you are using the PS2 connection but 'hot-swapping' is possible using the USB connection, then plugged in the mouse and hit the power button to start up the machine. At this stage I went off to make some coffee while Windows XP slowly bootstrapped it's way to the 'welcome' screen. This is always a nerve jangling time during the installation of any new hardware and I was happy to find Windows up and running and with the mouse pointer moving perfectly by the time the coffee was ready.
The next stage is to install the software drivers in order to use all the extra features of the this mouse. This is a fairly painless process although there are prompts to install some extra software which you may or may not wish to do (I would recommend that you do a little research into Wild Tangent before installing it and the MusicMatch media player must win a prize for the ugliest media player interface on the market). once the software is installed and the machine has been rebooted (more caffeine) you can configure how you wish all 8 buttons to work, the standard configuration is quite sensible and you probably won't want to change it.
So now we come to how well it works, firstly how well does it fit to the hand? To be honest it takes a little getting used to, the ergonomic shape is very different to an average mouse but once you find a good way to hold it then this is a very comfortable mouse to use. This mouse is fairly large which means that your hand can be more relaxed than with a smaller mouse, the size is matched by a higher weight which gives the mouse a good solid feel. At this stage I'd best mention that this is a mouse for right-handers and would be not just uncomfortable but downright useless for left-handers. All but one of the buttons are conveniently located and quickly become second nature to use, unfortunately one of the buttons, the "Quick switch program selector", is located too far to up the mouse to be usable without changing your grip which slows you down and the function brings up a menu which provides no more funtionality than the standard Windows taskbar so adds little to the user experience.
The Logitech MX™ Optical engine boasts an 800 dpi sensor which captures 4.7 megapixels every second. What that means is that the mouse reacts very quickly to the smallest movements of your hands which gives you greater accuracy whether you are shooting them up in Vice City or homing in on a single pixel when you're making skins. A serious side affect of this is an amount of 'shake' due to all that caffeine you've consumed! Optical technology means being able to use the mouse of many more surfaces than a standard ball-mouse, combined with the extra buttons for Internet navigation this makes it easy to sit back in your armchair and surf in comfort.
Overall this is a good mouse and once you get used to it can save you time and effort. If you've yet to make the jump to optical mice then I'd thoroughly recommend it, on the other hand if you already own an optical mouse then you'll need to find it at a good price for it to represent fantastic value for money.
