“We have no choice but to award Logitech's MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse the title of the new "Ultimate Mouse".”
- Rechargeable base station
- works great on all surfaces
- excellent tracking technology
- High initial price
- but we expect it to lower over time
Summary
The MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse does not lag or skip and performs amazingly well on all kinds of surfaces. Top build quality and highly ergonomic design make it a pleasure to use. While the price level remains the same as the MX700 when it was released, the MX1000 definitely offers more. We have no choice but to award Logitech’s MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse the title of the new “Ultimate Mouse”.
Introduction
Rewind the clock for two years, we were completely blown away by the revolutionary Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse and its advanced features. We thought the essential input device of a computer couldn’t get much better with MX700’s precise MX Optical Engine, Fast RF wireless technology, recharging base station, and the ergonomic design. Well, we were wrong. Two years later, Logitech has done it again, releasing a refined version of their ultimate cordless mouse with a second to none laser sensor that is twenty times more sensitive than traditional optical sensors. In addition to the surface tracking technology, many other aspects of the mouse have also been vastly improved. Let’s take a close look at what’s new and what’s hot about the Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse in this review.
Packaging
Similar to the packaging of other Logitech mice, the MX1000 is placed inside a nicely designed box that allows buyers to feel the comfortable contour of the mouse before buying it. To further attract buyers’ attention, reflective laser iris packaging paper has been used around the mouse to signify the advanced laser tracking technology. Inside the package are the MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse, a rapid-charging base station, the installation guide, an installation CD, an AC adapter, and a USB to PS/2 converter.
Technology Evolved
The mouse has undergone a major advancement since Microsoft released the first optical mouse back in 1999. Today, optical mice have been rapidly replacing the old-school ball-based mechanical mice due to their high tracking accuracy and low maintenance requirements. Back in 2002, Logitech released the MX series performance mice featuring the high performance MX Optical Engine which pushed optical tracking technology to a new level. With the ability to collect 4.7 mega pixels of information per second at 800 dpi, serious gamers were no longer afraid of picking up an optical mouse for their high-end needs. Even though optical mice work on most surfaces, they become quite annoying to use on a glass desktop or on top of other high-gloss surfaces. To address this issue, Logitech worked closely with Agilent Technologies to design the heart of the next generation of performance mice, and the first laser mouse with 20x the tracking power over the traditional optical sensor was born.
So what’s new about the MX Laser Engine? Let’s start by examining a traditional optical sensor in a mouse.
As shown in the diagram below, an optical mouse has three general components: a light source to illuminate a surface (usually red LED), an imaging system to focus the reflected light on the image sensor, and the image sensor.
To track the movement of your mouse, the imaging sensor first collects a series of images from the surface and then compares the images to determine the direction and velocity. What if the image is too blurry or without any contrast? That is what happens when you use a traditional optical mouse on top of a relatively flat surface like a piece of glossy photo paper. What caused the image to be unclear? The reason is that traditional optical mice use LED light to reflect from the surface. LED light is considered “incoherent”, which only reflects the shadows of the surface. Unlike an LED light source, MX1000 uses a “coherent” laser beam to accurately “measure” the surface, which results in 20x the resolution over any traditional LED based optical mouse.
Performance
To test the tracking power of the new Logitech MX Laser Engine, we compared the MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse with MX900 Bluetooth Optical Mouse side-by-side on three test surfaces: glossy paint finish, glossy photo paper, and un-textured plastic. The method was very simple – draw circles in Adobe Photoshop program with each mouse on each surface.
Oh! What happened? Did we forget to test the traditional optical engine? No, we didn’t. Do you see the little dot in the middle of the testing square? The pointer simply stuck there and was not able to move anywhere. The winner is clear: the MX Laser Engine.
Other than the surface sensitivity, the MX Laser Engine also has an image processing power of 5.8 mega pixels per second, the same as the MX510 Performance Optical Mouse, upgrading from the 4.7 mega pixels per second MX Optical Engine found in MX700. The resolution remains the same at 800 dpi.
Last but not least, the laser source inside MX1000 is Class 1, which means it is safe even if you stare directly at it.
Fast RF Cordless Technology
Since the release of the MX700 Optical Cordless Mouse, Logitech has leveraged the RF cordless technology to be as fast as the speed of USB, able to transmit signal from the mouse to the computer at a speed of 125 times per second (125Hz). Logitech’s Fast RF technology made it possible for hardcore gamers to be able to enjoy the freedom of cordless mice. MX1000 used the same Fast RF technology as MX700 with frequency of 27MHz and refresh rate of 125Hz.
Improved Functionalities
When our review of Logitech’s MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse was published two years ago, we and our readers had a lot of good things to say about the MX700, and soon it became the “ultimate mouse” for many people. But there were also some flaws and complains we had reported to Logitech. Apparently, Logitech has been a very responsible company. They addressed almost all the problems with the introduction of the MX1000, and even added a few extras for the next generation “ultimate mouse”. Let’s take a look one-by-one.
We usually found our MX900 Bluetooth Optical Mouse out of battery power after we placed it in a bag when traveling because the mouse is always on and it tracks every little movement inside the bag. That will never happen again with the MX1000 as an on/off switch has been added to the bottom of MX1000.
Have you ever used the “application switch” button located below the scrolling wheel on your MX700? We know that we rarely use it because the position is just so awkward for your index finger. Logitech moved the button to a position where your thumb can easily reach: between the forward and backward buttons. Now it is much more useful.
On the MX700, have you ever wondered where your ring finger is supposed to stay? It is not easy to pick up the heavy mouse with only your thumb and pinky right? With MX1000 you don’t have to worry any more. Your ring finger stays right next to your pinky and opposite to your thumb. So now you are using three fingers to pickup the mouse: ring finger, pinky, and thumb. In addition, the rechargeable AA batteries in MX700 have been replaced by a new lighter Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery so the mouse feels lighter. Gamers will especially appreciate the new design.
With the new rechargeable Li-Ion battery, a new 4 stage battery indicator is added to the mouse at a position where you can easily see it even when holding the mouse. We are happy to report that battery life of MX1000 has been greatly improved from MX700, which usually only lasted for three days. I have been using MX1000 for over a week and the indicator is still showing full bars. We will be updating the review when our full battery life test is complete.
Unlike Ni-Cd batteries the Li-Ion batteries lack a “memory effect”. So you can charge it at anytime without shortening the battery life. Li-Ion batteries usually have a life span of around 500 full charge-cycles. A full charge-cycle means running from full capacity to empty and recharge to full. If you use 10% of the total capacity and recharge, it counts as 10% of a cycle. For MX1000, the battery is not user-replaceable. Some people might not like the idea, similar to people who are afraid of the iPod battery issues, but I think it is nothing to worry about. Let’s take a look at my calculation: Let’s say a full charge on the MX1000 would, on average, last two weeks (still pending confirmation) and the internal battery has a life span of 500 times. So the battery would last 2 weeks x 500 = 1000 weeks without ever need to be replaced. That’s quite a long time isn’t it?
The MX1000 also features a new tilt scrolling wheel mechanism similar to the ones found on new Microsoft mice and keyboards. It is now possible to scroll on all directions when working on large documents or viewing web pages. You can also zoom in and out by clicking on the scrolling wheel. The scroll wheel also features the very useful Cruise Control rocker for faster scrolling up and down.
The overall build quality of the MX1000 has also remained top-notch. It feels solid in the hand and fits like a glove.
The Winner
The MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse does not lag or skip and performs amazingly well on all kinds of surfaces. Top build quality and highly ergonomic design make it a pleasure to use. While the price level remains the same as the MX700 when it was released, the MX1000 definitely offers more. We have no choice but to award Logitech’s MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse the title of the new “Ultimate Mouse”.
