This mouse is pretty awesome. Here are my opinions on some common complaints:
- Front/Back buttons hard to reach? For me it's not difficult at all to reach the front and back buttons. I actually like this design better than my performance mx and marathon m705. More details below.
- Bluetooth connectivity: I can't comment on this because I use the unifying receiver on my desktop. I do not have any issues with the receiver.
- Comfort: Some people have complained that the mouse kind of bites into their hand due to the higher curvature. I haven't had this problem. I actually like the higher arch as it supports my hand better and puts it in a more natural position.
So, the full review. Here we go.
- Scroll wheel mode switch button: Useful if you don't like the adaptive scrolling feature (I happen to love it) or just want it always in free scroll, but you can also reassign the button to do other things like...well pretty much whatever you want. There's too many options to list.
- Main scroll wheel: The clicks for the main scroll wheel feel nice and smooth but are also are easy to count if you need some precise scrolling. The adaptive scrolling feature is pretty legit. You can adjust the sensitivity of this feature so that it requires more or less flicking force to get it to switch to free spinning mode. Scroll normally, it stays in clicky mode. Flick it and it spins freely. Pretty darn cool.
- Thumb wheel: A nifty feature and probably extremely useful for excel users or something similar. I don't use it much but it's nice to have when I do need to side scroll. You can change the function of the scroll wheel to basically whatever you want, such as changing tabs in Chrome, but switching tabs with the thumb wheel was laggy, making it hard to get to the tab I wanted, and I couldn't think of anything else actually useful to me, so I left it as the standard side scrolling function.
- Front/Back buttons: I read in several places that these buttons were hard to reach and tell the difference between. For me this is not the case. I really like the new design for these buttons for 2 reasons. One, the buttons have an edge to them that makes it easy for me to distinguish which button is which since they are right on top of each other. Second is that the front button is actually reachable now. On my performance mx and marathon m705 the front button is so far forward that I never used it because it was too hard to reach. Now, on the Mx Master I use it all the time and I've assigned a keystroke so that when I press the forward button it cycles through tabs on Chrome. Very handy. If you do have trouble reaching the back button or accidentally hitting the wrong one, you can just assign the same function to both buttons. Then it doesn't matter which one you hit.
- Gesture button: You can do a lot of cool things with the gesture button. I have mine set so that when I press and hold it and move the mouse left or right it adjusts the volume, and up or down will maximize or minimize the current window. Also I've set just a quick press of the gesture button to open a new tab in Chrome.
All of the buttons are customizable, and given the option for keystroke assignments I think you can do just about any action you could ever want to do. At the very least I can say there are a LOT of options. If there's something you wish you could do with one of the buttons on this mouse, chances are you can.
As far as feel goes, this mouse is more comfortable to me than all the other mice I own. The higher arch fits my hand better and allows it to rest in a more natural position. The material it's made out of feels good under my hand and the buttons all click nicely. They aren't too loud or hard to push, and not too easy that I accidentally click things. This is a very high quality mouse. Definitely worth the $90.
| Wireless Type | 802.11a/b/g/n |
|---|---|
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 40 days |
