Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse Review

High Speed, High Style, High Price

It's been obvious for a couple of years that smooth-gliding optical mice are superior to their dust- and crud-collecting rolling-ball cousins. But cordless mice remain a minority -- fast-twitch gamers find their response can lag behind that of conventionally tailed mice, while other users find the neatness of a cord-free desktop offset by the nuisance of replacing short-lived batteries.

Well, Logitech says it's solved both problems, albeit pushing past the $75 price of rival Microsoft's premier Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer: For $80, the MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse combines faster sensor technology, rechargeable battery technology, and a boatload of buttons -- eight, count 'em, eight -- in a sculpted silver-blue shape.

The MX700 is the top of Logitech's new MX "performance mice" trio, built around an Agilent Technologies optical sensor with 800 dpi resolution. The red LED eye's 5,250 digital pictures of your desk surface add up to 4.7 megapixels per second; that means it can keep up with as many as 10G's of acceleration or hand movements of 40 inches per second. Unless your name is Schilling or Clemens, you may have trouble moving your arm that fast, but you'll have no trouble with the MX700 skipping or freezing -- we couldn't cause a glitch even when whipping the Windows Paint pencil back and forth with all our might.

But a fast cordless mouse sensor can be let down by sluggish or sporadic radio signals. That's why Logitech says the MX700 hails its desktop receiver (using 27MHz, not the consumer-product-crowded 900MHz frequency) 125 times per second, just as fast as the USB 1.1 port the receiver plugs into would speak to a corded mouse. The maximum mouse-to-receiver range is six feet; an adapter plug is provided if you want to connect the receiver to an older, slower PS/2 port.

As for batteries, the Logitech comes with two AA rechargeable NiMH cells, and the pudgy, coffee-mug-sized USB receiver doubles as a charging stand. Its AC adapter plugs into the receiver's USB connector, not the base, so there's slightly less cable clutter around your PC, though you'll need to find another free AC outlet if your PC, monitor, printer, speakers, and other peripherals have filled a power strip.

With the mouse propped vertically in the stand, a full charge -- which Logitech claims should be good for about ten days' average use -- takes four to six hours; the company says you can get a day's worth in 15 minutes, and that the NiMH batteries should last for 300 to 500 charge cycles. An LED on the mouse's back blinks to warn you when power's low; we suffered no ill effects from forgetting to park the MX700 properly overnight once, but you'll want to be virtuous about remembering to leave it in its stand instead of merely on your desk or mouse pad.

Thanks to the batteries, the curvy MX700 is taller and heavier (6.2 ounces) than corded mice, as well as too big for small hands and too right-handed for lefties. But it moves smoothly enough so you can adjust to its weight fairly easily. And it's quite comfortable as a handrest, with a dent that cradles your right thumb, although its top is smooth, without the finger grooves of the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer.

Indeed, its top is so smooth as to be free of visible left and right (main) mouse buttons -- the latter are hidden beneath its one-piece, brushed aluminum roof, giving a slick and stylish appearance.

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