Logitech VX Revolution and Belkin Mouse Trap Review
My old Logitech Notebook mouse was starting to skip a bit and the cable kept on being snagged on things when I used it out on location, so I thought I should get a new mouse to go with my new netbook.
The Logitech VX Revolution is considered by some to be the “mutts nuts” of notebook mice and it’s certainly one of the best notebook mice I’ve used. The build quality is on par with the Logitech MX510 which I use for my desktop. It’s got oodles of buttons including my favourite forwards and backwards buttons for more efficient web browsing. The cool features of note for me are the zoom slider and the metal scroll wheel with hyper-fast scrolling. You can adjust the traction of the scroll wheel with the flick of a switch underneath from clickety-click to smooth frictionless free wheeling (not official Logitech terms) great for uber long documents. The only issue I have with the mouse is the stiff zoom slider, but I think with use it should ease up.
Being a wireless mouse, it’s got a USB receiver which is quite small (not as small as those in Logitech’s Nano range) and tucks into a hole at the rear (*insert tawdry orafice joke here*) which also switches off the mouse at the same time. There’s also an eject button to get it out. It all makes for a very compact and neat package. If one wishes to leave the receiver plugged in, there is an independent on/off switch too.
Ergonomically, it fits the contours of my hand and is as nice to use as my MX510. It uses a laser sensor as opposed to an optical sensor or even a trackball (remember those??!). It’s nice and responsive which is what you’d want from a mouse. You can tweak the mouse behaviour with the included SetPoint software. Overall, its a great piece of kit.
Together with my new mouse, I also picked up a Belkin Mouse Trap. It looks like a taco with a zip and I suppose the orange innards makes it look even more taco-ey if you flipped it inside out. It’s basically a circular piece of neoprene with a zip around the edge. You can use it to store various bits and pieces like a mouse, USB stick, pen and a cable. If you’ve got one of those flat, credit card sized mice, you could probably tuck in a tiny netbook power adapter as well. It’ll be a snug fit, but possible. When you open out the taco mouse trap out, it becomes a mouse pad. For about a fiver (£5), its a useful addition to any travelling netbook/laptop set up.
In the mice line up pic in the gallery below, I am aware that the MX510 on the left looks exactly like its predecessor the MX500. Reason being that I found my old faulty MX500 and swapped the case out since the blue MX510 was looking a bit worn and decrepit. So now, its a MX510 in MX500 clothing. From the looks of it, the current MX518 appears to have the same casing as the earlier MX’s so it’s probably switchable, of course this will void your warranty.
