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Logitech are the pioneers of the mousing world, their products over the years have consistently won almost every major award across the globe. The last product we looked at from them was the MX510 performance gaming mouse which offered unsurpassed accuracy for all those gamers who favour first person shooters and need pixel perfect results. Today im taking a look at a revoluntary product, the new MX1000 Laser Mouse, equipped with a laser tracked guiding system this mouse is claimed to offer twenty times the accuracy of your average optical mouse. With this incredible level of accuracy it can detect minute movements over surfaces that would be impossible for its LED based counterpart to deal with.
Aesthetically the chassis of the MX1000 is virtually identical to the older MX900 - retaining the wonderful shape and design which is so loved by the gaming public. The mouse comes with a rechargeable battery and receiver base/charging station and a three-year limited hardware warranty that covers the battery.
In the pictures directly above you can see the MX1000 in comparison with Microsoft's Bluetooth mouse and in the picture to the right parked alongside its brother the MX510.
As you can see in the close up picture there is now a "power meter" which shows you the current battery life and is a useful addition especially for gamers planning a nice long fragging session with a clan! When charging, these buttons flash with the relevant battery strength and when full will all light a solid green.
The wheel allows
for vertical and horizontal scrolling and in use this performs
admirably well, you can also alter the sensitivity of these buttons
within logitech's software. This has been adapted from microsoft's"tilt
wheel technology". Forward and back buttons are positioned
just above the thumb rest position which works well and in the
middle of this control section there is the application-switch
button, which lets you easily toggle between actively running
programs. Its been well thought out and is refined and honed on
years of product development.
The underbelly of the MX1000 has the MX laser lens, along with a power on/off switch, reset button (for resetting the connection between base and mouse), and the metal connectors which connect and charge from the dock/receiver. Its a shame Logitech don't offer teflon pads in the package for the feet as movement isn't as smooth as I would like on some surfaces.
Above you will see a diagram supplied by Logitech depicting just how much improved the new laser technology is compared to the old style optical mouse, as this is an important aspect of this mouse I put it through its paces on many surfaces from wooden tables, armchairs to even a few carpets! The response was excellent but I found tracking problems if the receiver base was positioned too far away from the mouse, once I moved them apart more than approx 4-5 feet I started noticing intermittent stuttering. I also tested the mouse on a few dedicated mouse mats and compared with the MX510.
The surfaces I tested on were, (above left) Voodoo Mat, (above right) Allsop dedicated optical mouse mat, (bottom) Icemat 2 I tested the mouse in quite a few games on the surfaces above ranging from first person shooters like Farcry to older strategy games like Command and Conquer Generals. Unbelievably I found the Allsop optical mat above caused some very occasional tracking issues with the MX1000 whereas the MX510 performed flawlessly. I spent considerable time with this and tested the receiver at various distances to ensure nothing else could be at the heart of this problem. I had better results using a normal table surface. Both the Voodoo Mat and the ICEMAT2 gave first class results with the perfectly smooth ICEMAT2 just edging out the "mottled" Voodoo mat on overall usability with both the MX510 and MX1000. I would prefer to add Teflon to the feet of the MX1000 to further increase the overall feel as the mouse would make a slight noise running across the glass surface. Barring the unusual problem mentioned above, both mice performed identically. With regards to the software, I've covered it in depth before in the MX510 article so ill not recap over the installer and the software package as its basically the same deal as before. Nonetheless the design of the package has changed a little and ill include some screen shots for your perusal. As for my recommended optimum mouse settings, this hasn't changed from the MX510 review. All acceleration off, and pointer speed on full.
Conclusion: The MX1000 is the MX510 on steroids with more voluptuous curves. Logitech yet again deliver the goods with the best performing cordless mouse currently available, apart from a few minor niggles such as Logitech not supplying a teflon strip to further enhance movement on a dedicated high end surface such as the ICEMAT2 and the fairly limited range of the receiver, its a cracking mouse. It performs well on almost every surface I tried with the same level of responsiveness as the wonderful award winning MX510. Bear in mind the MX1000 is slightly broader than the MX510 so those with small hands should definitely try before they buy as prolonged use could prove to be uncomfortable. If you need a cordless mouse for precision gaming or high end professional tasks such as CAD or Photoshop work and have £60 burning a hole in your pocket then it comes highly recommended.
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