The "Perfect" Cordless Mouse

To build the perfect mouse is rather simple in my eyes.  First, It would have to be a laser.  No balls to clean, no fighting with the mouse.  Second, it has to be cordless as I HATE cords.  Third, it has to have long battery life.

Not so simple any longer eh?

My Microsoft cordless lasted about two weeks on a set of batteries and it wasn't even a laser!  I want a laser on top of all that?  Obviously the only way to get battery life is with "D" batteries!  LOL  So, it must either have a shut off switch, an auto-shut off, or, better yet, it must be rechargeable.  

The Perfect Surfing Mouse

Now that I've set the parameters on what makes a good cordless mouse, what makes a perfect mouse for surfing the web?

Buttons, lots of buttons.

Why?  Simple, the more buttons you have, the less moving around with the mouse you have to do.  My last mouse had a thumb button that made a perfect "back" button.  No longer did I have to go up to the top left of the browser window to click on the back button.  I really loved that.  The scroll wheel, while nice, had to be set on 3 lines at a time to get a decent scroll.  But you couldn't do precision like you could if it was just 1 line at a time.  The wheel also doubled as a button and made a perfect "double click" button.  No longer did I have to double click.  So good, so far, eh gang?

But, what about a "forward" button?  This would let me go forward through pages just as the "back" button lets me go back.

What about additional "scrolling" buttons?  With scroll buttons I could set the wheel at 1 line for precision and let the buttons do the actual full page scrolling.

What about an "X" button?  This would let me "X" out of separate web pages and ideally, let me close applications!

Do you see what I'm driving at gang?

Every button you can jam on a mouse, translates to that much moving around on the screen you don't have to do!

The Perfect, PERFECT Mouse

Must do all of the above in both sections.  In other words, it had to be a cordless laser with long battery life, preferably rechargeable, TON's of buttons and it must have the high quality "solidness" my present Logitech has!

Sound Like a Pipe Dream?

Not Any More...

Introducing the Logitech MX-700 Cordless Laser!

Folks?  This one has it ALL!  Really!

It's a cordless laser that has unlimited battery life.  Why?  It has a recharging cradle!  And, auto shut off.  Every couple of days or so, just stick it in the cradle and charge it up.  What's even better is you can do this everyday.  Once it's reached a full charge, the charger shuts off!  Wow, what could be better then that?  And, it doesn't use Nickel Cadium batteries.  It uses Nickel Hydrate batteries.  Cell phone type batteries in the familiar "AA" size.  In other words, you can keep it fully charged and top it off without worrying about it getting the memory problem cadium's have.

They didn't skimp on this mouse gang...

Does it get Better?

Oh yeah...  Buttons, tons of buttons.

Re-read part 2 of this article:  It has every one I mentioned!  Absolutely EVERY one!!!

"Scrolling" button?  It has a forward scroll and a backward scroll button.  One on top and one below the wheel.  Both are independently adjustable to set your speed of the scroll!  This lets you set the wheel at 1 line for precision.  

It has a "forward" thumb button right in front of the "back" button.

And it has a top button you can turn into an "X" out button!

It's pretty, it's solid and it's a Logitech...

Gang!  This Thing is Awesome!!!

What's really kewl; the normal "left/right" buttons are hidden.  You just push the left or right of the top body of the mouse and they go "click."  You can't even see them!

Does it get Better Yet?

Oh yeah...  This mouse works all it's magic in ALL of your programs.  Want to exit AOL, just hit the top button!  Or any program.  All of it's buttons work in every program I use and I use a lot!

And, it's actually smaller then my old mouse.  While not an issue for me, it is for people with smaller hands.  It's not as heavy as my old mouse either, but it's solid.

There isn't one thing I don't like about this mouse gang.  And that's saying a lot!

The Price?

Perhaps the best part.  It retails for 79.95.  Sound pricey?  Get it on sale.  I got mine for 49.95 on sale and that's exactly what I paid for my last mouse!

And yes, it takes some getting used to because you're not used to being able to do so much with your mouse!

How to Set it Up

OK, the first thing you want to do is go to the Logitech web site (www.logitech.com) and get the newest drivers for the mouse.  It's easy, just follow the download button.

The newer driver has improvements in the autoscroll features so it's worth the download.

Download it, install it and reboot.

The nice thing about the setup is there really isn't much to do.  If you leave the icon on the system tray, left clicking on it will show the battery level. (neat, huh?)

Upon the reboot you get the setup part of the program.  The buttons that need to be changed or adjusted are as follows:

Set the scroll wheel for 1 line scrolling.

Button # 6: "Scroll Wheel Button."  Change this to "double click." Pushing down on it once, will act as if you've pushed the normal left button twice.

Button # 4: "Cruise up" button.  You see a slider for speed.  I have mine set about 1/2.

Button # 7: "Cruise Down" button.  Again, set the slider to about 1/2.

Button # 8: Change this to "Close Application" and that will act as the "X" out.

I highly recommend this Mouse Gang!

Cheers!

I hope this helps you on your road.  Your Road?

Yes, Your Road To Computer Sanity

                              Danny