It's no surprise to those who know me that I love my Logitech MX Revolution mouse. It is truly a thing of beauty from an ergonomic standpoint.
About 11 easily accessible and programmable buttons (Steer Mouse driver since the Logitech drivers are horrible). This is my first rebuild of the mouse since a button switch went south. I found the switch online and it took about 10 minutes to replace it.
The mouse (out of production, of course) can sometimes be found on Amazon and eBay for upwards of $250 (it retailed for $79 or 99). I found a used one on Craig's list for $30 and have backup parts for a long time. Still, the old girl is getting long in the tooth and I started looking to replace her.
Naturally I looked to Logitech and their new flagship MX Master, which on the surface looks like the successor to the MX Revolution at a similar price point. No brainier... right? WRONG!
I snagged one at Fry's yesterday and while it tracked smooth as silk and felt great in the hand, it had only 5 active, programmable buttons and no side to side scroll wheel functions. Whaaaaaaaaaaat?
This was a deal breaker; returned and my $100 back to my credit card. I have each of the nearly dozen buttons on the Revolution programmed for unique functions in different apps. It is essential when I'm in Finale and extremely convenient for this pianist's modes of dexterity. I get a lot done by a simple mouse click or two in most programs, but with this mouse on the way down and no viable replacement(s) on the horizon, I'm looking very closely at the Magic Trackpad as the only viable option (thank you, Shooshie).
I have Better Touch Tool and once the swipes and wipes and finger salutes are all programmed in, it would appear this little square piece of aluminum can handle my most complex mousing tasks. Still, I love the feeling of the MX Rev in my hand and the wiring to my brain has made the movements second nature.
There are some interesting gaming mice out there. I saw one (for $150) that had a dozen programmable buttons on the left side (thumb side for me) and the problem there is tilting the scroll wheel my thumb invariably hits one of those 12 buttons. It might give me more control, but hitting those buttons every time I use the scroll wheel to tilt is, again, a deal breaker. They look something like this:
Logitech does have their MX Performance mouse but it lacks the side wheel (which is loosing 3 buttons from the Revolution) and the scroll wheel "clutch" function is controlled by a non-programmable button on the top of the mouse (now we're 4 buttons down). The Revolution has an actual "clutch" that automatically goes into "free-wheeling" (as opposed to notched) mode for fast scrolling large areas/documents, etc. Again, for me that is like cutting off my mouse's head and four limbs, leaving me to tap only on it's shoulders and being able to pull it's tail and that's pretty much it.
Well, as I said at the top, there's no point to all this, just rant about the state of the rodents that are available, or not! I'll try another rebuild this week and if I can find new feet (gliders) or some makeshift replacement, that would go a long way to making this old girl track better. There are replacement gliders available but they don't have replacements for the Revolution gliders and the others don't quite fit exactly and tracking can be... problematic at times.
There! I feel better. (Not really...) If there is a point is might be this: is it wrong for man to be in love with a mouse? I mean, we're inseparable for much of the day and she jest feels right, or as Dory would say: when I'm with here, I feel home. The trackpad feels more like I'm talking to her ghost and that's a little scary...
OK, NOW I'm done... unless anyone speaks Mouse, or Whale...
