Hi,
I recently bought the fine Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse and wrote a little review about it.
The review is located
here.
If the link doesn't work go to my
homepage, then to "reviews" and finally to "Logitech MX900".
I hope you find my review useful.
Patrick
Comments
I use the base only for recharging. But if you like, you can use it as receiver for the mouse, if your mac has no built in bluetooth module.
To make it clear: You do not need the base. I leave it at home and only take my PowerBook and the mouse to the office.
The range is quite high. I would say about 10 meters.
I will also put this information in the review to make this point more clear.
Patrick
Originally posted by proeder
To make it clear: You do not need the base. I leave it at home and only take my PowerBook and the mouse to the office.
That's exactly what I wanted to hear
From what I gather, the Logitech MX900 works well, decent battery life, pretty pricey (paying for a bluetooth hub you don't need). If all you want is a simple 2-button BT mouse, the MacAlly one may be the ticket.
Sometimes, randomly and without reason, the use of the buttons 4, 5 and 6 (back, forward and the top one) as Expose buttons, freezes the Dock and their association to Expose functions. When this happens, clicking these buttons does nothing, menu highlights also disappears when pointing with the mouse to menu elements and the Dock does not respond correctly (for example, if magnification is on, moving the mouse over the Dock, magnifies and displays the name of the initial only item the mouse touches). The situation reverts back to normal sometimes by itself and sometimes if I kill the Dock and try Expose from the keyboard.
Another strange behavior shows up when launching applications: if the mouse is or was for some time active, no matter how the application is being launched, it will open in the background behind the active one.
I don't know if it is a hardware issue, but I had not such peculiar things with Apple's Bluetooth devices. Perhaps the Logitech drivers, if ever released for OS X, will resolve such issues.
All the above are in a Powerbook 12" first generation, running Mac OS X 10.3.3 with all software and firmware updates applied.
Originally posted by PB
Just an update: a PMU reset resolved all the issues I had with the MX900
Finally, it is not that simple. The issue is more deep than I initially thought. Let me explain. The PMU reset actually did nothing more to solve the problem than reboot the machine and let me as the ONLY user logged in when I tested the mouse. When I tried the other buttons (other than left and right ones) with at least one more user logged in, the erratic Dock and Expose behavior started again. And this does not affect this mouse only, it affects other mice I tried that have at least a middle button, apart the left and right ones. Once I middle-click, a large UI part hangs until all users log out. One of the more frustrating versions of this hang up, is when the system messes up the button associations and executes Expose functions when I left-click anywhere! Sometimes the system reverts to normal with usage, but this is pure luck.
So, it seems that the multiple user environment in Panther interacts very wildly with multibutton mice (more than two buttons) and needs to be fixed. Anyone else with the same problem?
Originally posted by PB
That's exactly what I wanted to hear
i second that
Exactly as I suspected it. Apple needs to correct this. I am wondering though why other people do not experience same problems. Or am I missing something?
Originally posted by segovius
Is there some problem with Apple's BT mouse ?
yea, one button
Sweet! I'm getting one.
Is this any better?
I REALLY want a nice new gen mouse... like the MS mouse that has side scrolling wheel button. Very useful to assign to keys for gaming.
BUT... they are ALL wireless... dammit
Originally posted by PB
OK, *confirmed*. Kensington responded to my request regarding the behavior of their mice under 10.3.3 (the other multi-button mice I tried and talked about in my previous post were Kensington ones). They say that "It is known that this particular version [that is 10.3.3] causes a lot of problems which do not exist running other OS versions. We cannot help you with your request and advise you to contact apple regarding the issue you have."
Exactly as I suspected it. Apple needs to correct this. I am wondering though why other people do not experience same problems. Or am I missing something?
I have a Kensington PocketMouse Pro connected to my iBook and have experienced all of these exact same issues with OS X 10.3.3. It is not just you.
I have Exposé set to left+right click but sometimes any button will exposé. Pressing the left and right buttons together, then choosing a window solves it for me. As for apps starting in the background, that only happens once another user logs in. The temporary fix is to log out and back in (don't have to touch the other user's session). I also get the exposé function when I plug the mouse in. This isn't as irritable as the old "equivalent to command-f being pressed" that I used to get anytime I plugged an external mouse in with 10.2.x.
Originally posted by ZO
I have always heard and experienced wireless mice as being horrible or pretty bad for gaming (esp first person games).
Is this any better?
I REALLY want a nice new gen mouse... like the MS mouse that has side scrolling wheel button. Very useful to assign to keys for gaming.
BUT... they are ALL wireless... dammit
I'm pretty sure most reviews have said that the Logitech MX700 is pretty much the standard for wireless mice if you want to do gaming. I think that the MX900 uses the same optical sensor as the MX700, just that it's a bluetooth interface.
Originally posted by rrabu
I have a Kensington PocketMouse Pro connected to my iBook and have experienced all of these exact same issues with OS X 10.3.3. It is not just you.
Thanks, nice to see I am not alone in this.
To people reluctant to buy the MX900: you have certainly a very valid point on the driver availability, as this mouse is out for quite some time now, but I think Logitech need to see interest in theirs products, if we want to hope for a solution some day. What I mean is this: I invite all of you, and anyone else reading this boards, to take a little time and write to Logitech, explaining that you are interested in the MX900 and asking if you can expect anytime soon the approriate drivers for MacOS X 10.3. I don't see other means to make Logitech move on this.
Go here.