Logitech MX Master review: The ultimate productivity mouse

Productivity mice generally aren’t very exciting, with a standard selection of buttons and perhaps a relaxed, hand-friendly ergonomic design. The Logitech MX Master certainly fulfils those expectations but goes several steps further to produce one of the most feature-packed wireless mice we’ve seen.

Design and ergonomics

This mouse is not designed for left-handed use, but for those who are right-handed, it’s extremely comfortable and is shaped perfectly so your hand simply rests on it without having to grip at all. It’s heavier than a basic wired mouse at 145g, but we never felt this to be a burden. The only change we’d make is to the dark brown metallic accents, which are a bit drab for our liking. A choice of colours would be welcome.

Connectivity

The MX Master comes equipped with low-power Bluetooth 4.0 to connect to laptops, tablets and even smartphones. It also comes with a tiny USB receiver for desktop PCs and other devices without Bluetooth built in.

The MX Master can be paired with up to three devices simultaneously: you simply press the 1/2/3 button on the bottom of the mouse to change which device you want to control. If you have multiple computers on your desk – such as a laptop and a desktop – you could have one mouse for both of them, with switching between them practically instantaneously (aside from the slightly awkward act of turning the mouse over). It’s a niche feature but one that multi-device multitaskers will love.

It can’t be connected via wires, but the non-removable battery is charged over Micro USB. The claimed battery life is 40 days, and at the end of a week eight-hour days, the battery was still 4/5ths full.

Buttons

There are seven standard buttons on the MX Master, with all but the left and right mouse buttons configurable using the Logitech Options software. In addition to the standard left, right and middle clicks, there’s a fourth button on the top of the mouse that, by default, toggles between ratchet scrolling and freewheel scrolling (see below).

The two buttons on the side are assigned to back and forward by default, for quickly navigating between pages. They are placed one above the other, but thanks to a sharp, protruding design they’re easy to hit and you’re unlikely to get confused between the two after a few minutes’ use. Finally, there’s a button placed exactly where your thumb rests, although we found its action to be a little too firm; it’s not as easy to press as the rest of the buttons. Its default setting in Windows is to show Windows’s built-in alt+tab application switcher. In Mac OS X it handles desktop switching, Mission Control and App Expose, as long as you have Logitech Options installed.

The buttons aren’t just limited to single actions, either. Logitech Options allows you to set up gestures in combination with a button press, so, for example, you could hold down the thumb button and move the mouse left or right to snap a window to the left or right of the desktop. Or you could set a left movement to go back a track in your music player, and a right movement to skip ahead. Setting up buttons just the way you like them is easy, and it means you can make tailor the mouse to exactly the sort of work you do.

Scroll wheels

Unusually, the MX Master has two scroll wheels: one in the standard position atop the mouse, and a thumb scroller on the right. The top scroll wheel has two modes: ratchet scrolling and freewheeling. You’re not limited to one at a time, though: fling the scroll wheel with enough force, and the ratchet will disengage, allowing the scroll wheel to freely spin. This works brilliantly in huge documents, email inboxes and on busy social networks, when you want to scroll somewhere fast, but aren’t sure exactly where you want to stop. You can change the sensitivity of this option – called SmartShift – in the Options software.

The thumb scroller is most useful for wide spreadsheets, scrolling sideways in a conventional manner. You can configure it to handle other actions such as going backwards and forwards in web browsers, changing volume or switching applications, too.

Laser

The MX Master uses a Darkfield Laser sensor, meaning it can be used on shiny surfaces and even glass tables. It has a maximum dpi of 1600, which should be enough for even the twitchiest of workers, but the sensitivity can be lowered in 200dpi increments via the Options software if you prefer greater accuracy.

In our testing, had no problem using the mouse on shiny surfaces, windows and standard mousemats; the mouse felt equally responsive on all, so you have the freedom to choose whatever mousemat surface you prefer. Input lag, often a problem with wireless mice, didn’t appear to be an issue either – playing first-person shooters in our lunch breaks felt like lag-free experiences and we were able to put plenty of lead downrange without issue. Only the twitchiest of arena FPS players and MMO players after as many macro buttons as possible will need to look elsewhere.

Conclusion

The Logitech MX Master is one of the best pure computer mice we’ve ever used. With a flexible and configurable design, faultless ergonomics (at least for right-handed users) and precision engineering, we find it hard to imagine there’s a better mouse for getting things done. It’s expensive, yes, and the lack of any wired option may put off gamers after the fastest response times and absolutely no input lag, but the productivity and comfort gains it provides are worth it.