Logitech 525 Wireless Mouse Stays Charged for 3 Years

Logitech’s M525 looks like your garden variety mouse, but what makes this peripheral worth a closer look is its unbelievable battery life. But before we tell you what that is, we’ll go ahead and torture you with some benign specs.

The M525 is of the laser tracking ilk and sports a micro-precise wheel that Logitech says “packs more grooves per millimetre, giving you a smoother navigation experience.”  In fact, they’re sort of hoping this scroll wheel, which also includes some sort of “built-in tilt wheel”, is analogous to swiping…on a touchscreen.  A bit of a stretch, but we applaud they’re marketing verbage nonetheless.

Now for the juicy deet: the battery life.  Assuming the moon, the sun and the stars are all aligned – there is an on/off switch to boot – you can achieve up to 3 years on a single pair of AAs.  That’s right, you’ll be able to go almost 1100 days without replacing the M525′s batteries.  And like all of Logitech’s wireless mouse, they’re including their ultra tiny Unifying receiver, which can connect up to 6 compatible devices at the same time.

No word on a US release date, but the Logitech 525 will hit retail shelves this month for £34.99 ($55 US).

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Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Keyboard & Mouse

 

In just under a month’s time COD: Modern Warfare 3 will hit store shelves.  No doubt we’ll see productivity drop across the globe as fans of the game call in sick to work so they can prolong their weekend frag session.  Here to celebrate the arrival of this disgustingly captivating game is Logitech, who earlier this week introduced a Modern Warfare 3 inspired keyboard and mouse for those that will take to the battlefield on a PC.

Now, don’t get too excited, since they’re pretty much just rebranded versions of their G105 gaming keyboard and G9X gaming mouse.  But that’s not all.  They’ve outfitted both peripherals with green lighting to complement the MW3′s logo.  So the keyboard has green backlighting while the mouse sports a set of green LED lights.

In terms of the actual hardware, the G105 keyboard sports 6 keys which can each be programmed with 3 different macros.  They’re customizable to however you see fit, provided you’ve downloaded Logitech’s software.  It also rocks anti-ghosting tech which lets players mash up to 5 keys simultaneously without any interruption in game play and some media shortcut keys.

The mouse on the other hand (pun intended), can keep pace at up to 165-inches per second.  So suffice to say, the G9X is fast.  Its sensitivity can can be adjusted anywhere from 200dpi to 5700dpi depending on your gaming tastes.  There is also a dual-mode scroll wheel that Logitech says is ideal for selecting weapons, thanks to the precise click-to-click function or if you’re not digging that you can switch to frictionless hyper-fast scrolling to fly through web pages.  Five profiles allow you to effortlessly switch between settings and you can even customize the weight of the device with up to 28 grams of extra mass.

Both the MW3 Keyboard and MW3 Mouse should be available now for $79.99 and $99.99, respectively.  We’re not saying replace your current gaming keyboard and mouse, but if you’re in the market, here’s a way to pledge your undieing devotion to COD.

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Logitech Wireless Touchpad Review

Before reviewing the MacBook Air, I hated trackpads. It’s just a technology that I feel never really cemented itself with us, as human beings, because it requires touch, and every touch is different. A very dry finger glides well, but a moist one may not. Mushy fingertips don’t work particularly well, and stubby ones don’t always read on the surface. Touch interfaces are quickly becoming the preferred method of digital communication through smartphones and tablets, but the trackpad remains mostly unchanged. They come in many shapes and sizes and textures, with nearly all the same highlights and limitations. Frankly, I’m far more partial to what IBM dubbed Trackpoint.

That said, it’s hard to use a laptop these days without using a trackpad, so like everyone I adjusted. There are good and bad trackpads, and frankly too many reasons not to use them. Logitech’s Wireless Touchpad is, with exception to Apple products, the first trackpad I actually enjoy using.

Like Apple’s own Magic Trackpad, the Touchpad is a wireless trackpad built specifically with touch-features in mind. That means two-finger scrolling, three- and four-finger gestures, and the simplicity of a long-lasting wireless user interface device. In this respect Logitech has hit the metaphorical nail on the head. The Wireless Touchpad is large and comfortable to use, all of its features and functions work exactly as expected. The Touchpad is a good, solid product, through and through.

That being said, Windows 7 isn’t suited for good trackpad use. OS X is. The difference between them is monumental. There is no smooth scrolling, few gestures, and minimal support for multitouch devices. This, coming from a company who three years ago revealed the Surface touch-only table computer. Yet there are still around ten touch gestures for the OS. It’s disheartening, to say the least.

Which is why it’s surprising Logitech has made the Touchpad for Windows 7 only. $20 cheaper than Apple’s Magic Trackpad, the Wireless Touchpad could easily compete on OS X based solely on features, let alone price. Even without Bluetooth compliance, lord knows how many Mac users have available USB slots that they are willing to spare, and it’s not hard to imagine a Bluetooth version selling for $5-$10 more. Limiting the Wireless Touchpad to Windows 7, and undoubtedly Windows 8 when it releases, is a significant limitation.

Logitech’s use of the USB radio – part of their “Unifying receiver” dongle, which works with about two dozen Logitech keyboards and mice – will simplify your current or future wireless Logitech products by sending data through a single dongle, though I myself am still stuck with the G700 and G930 on separate dongles because gaming hardware requires more bandwidth and faster rates. Still, the dongle is tiny and is more than adequate for any desktop or laptop.

The only real problem I’ve faced with the Wireless Touchpad has been the area of the touch-sensitive surface. The 5″ area is large, but the edges aren’t pronounced and impossible to feel. Especially when using multi-touch gestures, it’s far too easy to have one finger out of bounds and accidentally do a three-finger ‘back’ command instead of a four-finger ‘screen left’ command. It’s an easy fix as we’ve seen on plenty of laptops: make the physical area for the actual trackpad lower than the rest of the surface. That way, users have a tactile feeling for the edges.

Logitech’s Wireless Touchpad is a fine piece of hardware. The trackpad is sensitive and accurate, the two mouse buttons large and tactile, though the pad itself is easy to slip out of. The Touchpad is comfortable at a distance or up close, and especially from the couch where plenty are expected to use it. Windows, however, has little love for touch-sensitive devices and frankly that severely limits what you can do with the Touchpad. It is the new de-facto mouse when not at a table or flat surface, but besides that, a mouse is a mouse is a mouse. I like it and recommend it, but it’s not magic.

You can buy the Logitech Wireless Touchpad from Amazon for $50.

Pros:

• Solid design, tactile buttons, comfortable to use for long periods on the couch or at a table
• It works just right! Wireless signal is strong at a distance of 20′

Cons:

• Windows 7 isn’t suited for touch-sensitive gestures; no OS X support
• Trackpad square has no tactile bounds, its too easy to slide a finger off the sensitive portion

11:01 PM | 0 comments | Read More

AlestRukov Wooden Mouse Is Gorgeous

The AlestRukov Wooden Mouse will add a touch of class to your desk, but greener minds than mine are expressing concerns about its supposed eco-friendliness. Despite all its wooden components being made from only one piece of wood, the sparseness of electronic components and its 5-year warranty, they are expressing concerns about the tropical hardwoods that the mouse is made out of.

On the other hand, the mahogany being used was harvested from trees from plantations grown for harvesting. Still, with the problems facing rainforests, your green consciousness should keep you away from rare wood.

But if you consider how good it looks, the choice becomes quite simple.

Read

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Mouse with Built-in Digital Scale

Where there is smoke…there is probably a weed smoker and perhaps even a dealer.  You’ll probably also find a laptop or some sort of computer laying around their crib playing Sienfeld reruns.  And it’s not like this mouse will prevent the PoPo from deeming them a drug wielding and dealing suspect, it will perhaps add a certain level of bewildered amustment when the cops perform their drug raid.

The USB Optical Mouse with Pocket Digital Scale is not just your regular optical mouse.  In fact, it doubles as a digital scale that can measure objects weighing 0.1g to 500g.  Just pop off the cover, insert two AAA batteries and what was once a one trick pony will become a multifaceted device.  It even has a backlit LCD display.

Brando – who else – sells it for just $22.

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