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Logitech Gives A Mouse A Laser
Kaveh writes "Looks like Logitech has introduced a successor to its popular MX line of cordless mice. In addition to a more ergonomic design, lithium ion battery, tilt wheel (read horizontal scrolling), and battery indicating LEDs, this mouse introduces laser technology. According to the Logitech this allows the MX1000 to be 20x more precise than optical mice, not to mention work on any surface, including a mirror! Check out the 3DGPU forums for pics and more info."
Can i scan barcodes too?!
Precise, and wireless - this might be just the ticket.
WOW! I've been waiting for this day for quite some time now. I knew lasers would soon enough be used in mice due to the surfaces optical mice couldn't work on (ie, glass, mirror, etc). This is definetly just a little step into laser mice, but I'm sure eventually they'll start turning to green or even blue lasers for mice. The only problem I see here is when little Jonny picks up his mouse and looks into the laser ... Could there be ways to stop this from happening?
So it is more accurate. That is fine, but the optical mouse seems pretty accurate. The only thing I do not like is the weird quark all optical mice have. When you move the, mouse the cursor will go shooting off in the opposite direction. It is very annoying. It does not happen all the time, but it is still annoying.
Isn't laser technology in the market? CD drives, laser pointers, range finders etc.
meh
"World's 1st Laser Mouse! (Optical is obsolete)"
Either way I'm hoping I can just swap this mouse in for my current MX700 in my logitech cordless keyboard/mouse set. That way I can use the same reciever that also connects the mouse. It is important to note that this mouse uses Fast RF technology like the MX700 and not Bluetooth like the MX900. Some gamers weren't happy with the performance of the Bluetooth model.
As long as the battery life is decent, I want one. Screw the Starck mouse... This sounds like it should be great for games.
Would there be much difference in power draw between an led and a laser? I realize they must have some pretty low power lasers (like in a discman); how powerful of a laser would you need to be able to track movement like this?
Choose yer poison: Prophets or Profits
And it's cool. Better than my optical mouse that got bumped down to my other computer? I don't really know. I'm still in that brief "getting used to a different mouse" phase so what I can tell you about it is limited.
The one it replaced was a Logitech basic cordless optical It did it's job well but I've been using my second computer more lately and the mouse on it was a POS so I needed another. In terms of accuracy I'm sure the laser mouse is better (Logitech wouldn't lie about that would they?) but I doubt that it's going to be something that 90% of us would notice.
Getting past the claims of improved accuracy that I can't really address it's a nice mouse. I'd have bought the Bluetooth model but this one was $20 cheaper and I liked the feel of it.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I actually read the article (I am new here) but didn't see anything mentioning what class of laser it uses. It does say that the manufacturer recommends not using it on mirrored surfaces. It's possible, though unlikely, for a class II laser (such as is found in a laser pointer) to cause eye damage. I've been in classrooms with optical mice invoerted and shining their light out at students. Is this something that we're going to have to worry about with a laser mouse? Of course, if it's a class I (such as is found in CD players) there's no concern at all. Does anybody have any information on this?
I would rather be killed by a terrorist than enslaved by my government.
I have used some wireless mice in the past, and they always seem to have a slight delay between the time I move the mouse and the pointer on the screen actually moves. A 20X improvement in accuracy won't solve this problem, though, so will the difference really be noticeable? You will still be moving the mouse to a place where you expect the pointer to land a few moments later, then you will still probably have to correct the movement after the pointer catches up. I dunno...I'm not convinced. I guess I'll have to wait until a friend buys one and try it.
You know, the thing about mice is that the technology advances in spurts. Optical was a big spurt, at least when the resolution started to improve. However, wireless was a big BACKWARDS spurt since the mice are now heavy as hell and gobble batteries at a ridiculous rate. I retired my wireless and went back to the wiry MX500 which is great.
However it still requires an exotic mousepad (currently a large dinnermat from Habitat which my friend Rick discovered was the slickest and most trackable mousing surface ever invented). Continuing the culinary theme, my desk is an acid-etched glass dining table from Ikea (awsome desk, by the way -- and I use their kitchen cabinets as office storage) which would be a ROCKING mousepad if an optical mouse which actually track on it. But it won't.
So, is this a dodo or a turkey vulture (very successful in these parts)? Only time and money will tell.
I'm not wrong. You haven't thought about it hard enough.
They make some nice mouse pads- I hate but bulky ones with the big gel-packs and crap, but I like the ones with a really nice surface like a velvet-like material I have on my main workstation.
They help the mouse move smoother; if you have a hard surface they get "sticky" and make it difficult to make precise movements. The pads get dirty really fast without a mouse pad. AND, you can really screw up the surface of your desk if you use the mouse without a pad.
Who wants a sticky mouse that grinds over dirt and wears out your desk? I'll take my nice comfortable mouse pad any day.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
does anyone know of some place in Canada that will ship them? NewEgg, in their infinite wisdom, doesn't ship to Canada.
;)
BTW, all you Americans, NewEgg is sold out, looks like we slashdotted their stock
um. maybe i've just been mislead here. but if they haven't been using lasers in optical mice all this time, wtf is that red light coming out of the bottom of my mx700?
also. the mx1000 while nice, has one immediate turn off: lack of bluetooth. i rather like the ability to take one mouse, and without needing to switch which computer the RF base station is hooked up to, use it on another computer.
there's also that capability of using it on the go with a powerbook or something, and not needing the bulky base station.
- tristan
What happened to the Logitech 'natural' keyboards? I know they make the wireless ones, but what happend to the wired ones? I would love to buy one but they do not appear to make them anymore.
Glad I'm not the only one. I, like the other replier to your post, also use an older first-gen Microsoft Optical mouse. Small, easy. And I like mouse pads for multiple reasons so being able to use the thing on a mirror doesn't mean crap to me.
I'd like to have a mouse that had better tracking during moments of high movement (ie some games) but it works just fine.
And I don't want a cordless mouse dammit. Who wants to worry about having your mouse die on you? Or having the batteries eventually not take a charge? Some people are hell bent on removing the cords from everything but for some things like the mouse, it just adds complexity where none is needed nor wanted.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
What I did was bought a big pack of black poster board and cut out mini mousepads. When they get a little dirty a cut out a new one. Better than a bulky mousepad, and very inexpensive.
Nothing like Slashdot for gross misinformation. From Logitech's web site:
Founded
1981 -- Apples, Switzerland
(I found it pretty amusing when, years ago, I was using a mouse from "Apples" with an Apple IIe. It was a rather sucky mouse back then, mind you...)
Of course, these days its a large multinational company, so claiming it for any particular country is just pointless nationalism.
Your comment got me thinking....
:)
:)
My first IBM PC in the home was a 286/16, somewhere between '86 and '88 - I can't remember. It came with a Logitech 3 button mouse.
That mouse was with all my machines until around '96 or '97. A roommate's cat gave it a bath by knocking it in a soda cup. Sadly enough, I remember how angry I got over that.
Naturally, given the quality of the mouse I had, I figured I'd buy another logitech. That thing didn't last 2 weeks. At least I got my money back for that one.
2-3 years down the road, I was in the market for yet another mouse, so I figured I'd get another Logitech - that thing lasted about 3 months.
After going through tons of mice since around '96, I finally settled on something that I like: a shitty Microsoft Optical that cost me $20. Combine it with a nice $25 mouse pad and it plays better than or equal to your MX<insert number of the week here>. I have recieved several unsolicited comments about how smooth it works and how well it tracks.
MX1000 sounds very neat but I'll be sure to wait for the corded version - I've done my tour with wireless mice and now the only thing that bothers me about them is that my wife complains because I pawned the $120 mouse off to her to take the $20 mouse I have now.
What I don't get - when microsoft first started selling mice, you could look on the bottom of the mouse and it would say something to the effect of "manufacturered by logitech". If they can manage to make MS mice better than their own....sigh.
Having to share a computer at an office full of people with grungy hands led me to do two things:
:)
1. Demand (and get) a Dvorak keyboard. That cut down the popularity of my station considerably.
2. Invent the disposable mouse pad.
"What is this wonderful device?", you might wonder. Well here's how to make one.
1. Take about 25 sheets of letter size paper and stack them neatly. It doesn't matter if they are laser-printed, but you probably don't want inkjet prints. You can do a lot more than 25 if you have a heavy-duty stapler handy, but this assumes you don't.
2. Staple them together as many times as necessary along one edge.
3. When the top page gets dirty, or when the shift changes, tear off the top page and throw it away. When you get down to the last 10 or so sheets, remove the staples, get another 15 sheets of paper, and re-staple. If you spill your drink on it, throw away the wet pages, or the whole thing if necessary.
Think I can get a patent on this?
The lazy can just get a notepad and flip the cover back (or tear it off), but doesn't that violate the whole "do it yourself" ethic?
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
If only the original Macintosh had come with a trackball 20 years ago, they might well be ubiquitous today and mice would be the niche product. Perhaps someday the masses will wake up and correct this mistake. (Yeah, right. . . Probably at the same time when we all switch to Dvorak keyboards.)
I have a Logitech Marble Mouse USB, the older one with only two buttons. It's more efficient than a mouse: fingertip control, less movement, less effort, and takes less desk space. I have it configured so I can hold down my control key and scroll with the trackball.
It works pretty well for me.
I did not see any mention of laser color in the article, but I doubt that they would use and IR laser.
First, ALL laser products have those little yellow warning stickers on them. And the troulbe with infra-red lasers is that they can burn your eye without you even knowing it. With a visible (red) laser, at least you know when it is pointing at you.
I can just imagine some kid holding the thing up to his eye. The ONLY way for this to use IR and still be safe is if the thing has an extremely low power, and uses a lens to spread out the beam.
Does anybody know for sure what is going on here?
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
I'm interested about using cheap mice as linear encoders in cnc machinery. Industrial encoders are of course way too expensive but mice are cheap.
So, does anybody know what resolution this laser mouse gives to its output? Typical mice give about 200 dpi but cnc machines can handle resolutions up to 5000 dpi, so typical mouse is not enough.