I’ve been in the market for a wireless mouse to replace my wired Razer DeathAdder. The Razer DeathAdder has been my go-to mouse for both gaming and productivity. The ergonomic design coupled with zero latency has been the biggest reasons why I have continued to stick with the same mouse for the past four years. Precision and comfort are so important to me that I bought another Razer DeathAdder to use as my mouse at work. My RGB backlit mouse and keyboard tend to stick out in a sea of stock Dell keyboards and mouses.
Wired mouses quickly become a burden when you are moving from desk to lab bench to meetings on a daily basis. It also doesn’t help that my Razer mouse takes up one of the two USB ports that I have on my laptop. I know there are adapters to mitigate this issue, but I’d prefer not to use them unless I really have to. A quick Google search of “best Bluetooth mouse” comes up with many results, but the common consensus seems to be the Logitech MX Master.
The first thing I noticed when unboxing the MX Master was how big and chunky the mouse is. If you’re coming from a stock mouse, you’ll notice right away how beefy the MX Master is. The mouse weighs in at 145g, which is on the heavier end. The bottom end is designed as a thumb rest and gives the MX Master its unique shape. The large size of the mouse took some time to get used to especially since I have smaller hands. Once I got used to the unique design, I had no problem navigating the various buttons on the mouse.
The MX Master uses a Darkfield laser sensor. This means you can use your mouse on any surface including glass. Stock mouses usually use optical sensor, which will only allow you to use it on opaque surfaces. Please just use a mouse pad though. The sound of a mouse rubbing across a desk is excruciating to listen to. Imagine all the potential scratches. Here’s a link for a great mouse pad that’s only $9.99.
There are seven buttons located on the mouse. You have the basic function of right-click and left-click that is standard across all mouses. The scroll-wheel click can be used to click on tabs to close or open a new tab when clicking on a link. The small square button right below the scroll wheel is used to switch between ratchet mode, which gives some resistance while scrolling, and smooth mode. There is also a scroll wheel on the side of the mouse designated for horizontal scrolling. Also located on the side is the designated forward and backward button. These buttons are incredibly small and difficult to access. They are in an awkward location and I found myself accidentally clicking the wrong button frequently. The final button is the gesture button located on the thumb rest that can be set to perform custom functions which I’ll get to later.
A cool feature of the MX Master is the speed-adaptive scroll wheel. This option only works in the ratchet mode. The mouse recognizes when you are scrolling quickly and will transition the ratchet mode to the free-flowing smooth mode. I really loved this function when I wanted to scroll quickly to the bottom of the page. After you slow down the speed of your scrolling, the MX Master automatically goes back to ratchet mode so you can scroll with more precision.
The MX Master is versatile when it comes to connecting to your computer. If you look on the bottom of the mouse you’ll see the numbers 1, 2, and 3. This represents the different computers it can connect to. This feature if fantastic for people with multiple devices. A simple toggle to the next number is all it takes for you to switch to a new device. You can also connect via Bluetooth or plugging Logitech’s Unifying Receiver into a USB port. Not all computers come with Bluetooth capability but most (*cough Apple cough*) come with USB Type A ports. Simply plug in the Unifying Receiver and you’re good to go.
I noticed that the MX Master seemed to perform better with the Unifying Receiver plugged in compared to Bluetooth mode. The Bluetooth mode seemed to have a bit of latency and I felt less accurate when trying to quickly click on smaller objects. I spend a lot of time clicking small check boxes on my computer at work and accuracy makes a world of difference. That being said, this mouse had the least amount of latency that I’ve seen on any Bluetooth mouse that I’ve used.
Logitech claims the battery life on the MX Master is 40 days. This is factoring in that the mouse is being used around 6-8 hours a day. I’ve been using this mouse everyday for the past month and I haven’t charged it yet. In short, the battery life is awesome. Eventually, you will need to charge your mouse which is done through a USB that comes with the mouse. The charging time is approximately 2.5 hours for a full charge. There are three light indicators on the side of the mouse and will flash red when you are close to running out of battery.
The MX Master has many customizable button options. You will need to download Logitech’s MX Master software. The software is incredibly simple and has pictures of which buttons you can change. I set my gesture button located on the thumb rest to close all windows when pressed. This lets me close windows clicking anywhere on the screen, which is something I do frequently. However, you can set it to do other things such as open certain applications, minimize window, etc.
The biggest downside of this mouse is going to be price. Logitech sells this mouse for $99.99 on its website. You can find a cheaper one on Amazon for $72.73. I was hesitant to spend such a large sum of money for a mouse, but I have no regrets now. People coming from stock mouses are going to notice right away how much better a mouse like the MX Master is. Features like the ability to connect up to three devices and numerous customizable buttons are something you can’t find in cheap mouses. I have yet to use a Bluetooth mouse that is this close to perfection when it comes to latency.