Owning a Beige G3 with only ADB ports for a mouse I was pretty limited. I wanted a 2-Button mouse for gaming so I went for a MacAlly 2-Button ADB mouse. After Apple moved to USB, support for my mouse soon gravitated towards cr@p. With a need to upgrade to OS 9 my only and best choice was to get a USB card and a USB mouse.

Looky what I found here!

The Logitech Wheelmouse is one of the best things you can get out there. It has a second generation optical sensor. Hey, if it's second generation you know you have tested equipment. The drivers were pretty good also. Though the drivers I recieved with the box were older drivers which were version 3.5 (which didn't work with Quake3 Arena or StarCraft!). I had to go online to their website and download version 3.5.1 which worked wonderfully.

As to the physical performance of the mouse, there was a slight problem with the optical sensor and my old mouse pad. My old mouse pad was one of those plastic topped ones which are made as a mouse picture frame and you could slip a picture within...but anyways that reflective plastic cover made it hard for the sensor to "sense" movements. It IS said on the box that THE MOUSE WILL NOT WORK ON HIGHLY REFLECTIVE SURFACES such as a mirror or something in that nature.

I found the movement of the pointer to be not fast enough...I am on a 21" monitor and with 1280X1024 you need large screen mouse movements with little wrist movement. The MacAlly drivers though were poorly supported had a much more satisfying movement. These drivers make my mouse feel like I'm using a PC. (I use PC's everyday...i know the difference!)

One weakness which I do not like about this mouse is you would think that an optical sensor could keep up with all the movement you can muster. Some how if you shake this mouse quickly side to side the mouse kinda slides to one side or another without your approval...still making it kinda feel like it is a ball mouse. If you don't know what I am saying I will try to repeat it again here...I'm saying, this mouse feels like it is still a ball mouse at times. When it feels like this is when you try to shake it side to side quickly. The cursor on the screen seems to gravitate towards one side of the screen, just like a ball mouse as though the mouse has stopped but the "ball" inside keeps spinning causing the curser on the screen to move sideways. Phew! I hope I made that clear...and if I didn't then sorry.

More on the provided Drivers:
I love the scroll wheel because it is "smart" which is more intelligent Microsloth's Intellimouse. (sorry for the biasing) The drivers know to scroll the top most window on the desktop. If there are multiple scroll windows such as a web page with frames...it takes the closest scroll bar that the pointer is next to. The reason I like this over the intellimouse is that you don't have to click the screen you want to scroll. IT KNOWS! Also like the Intellimouse the scrolling wheel has a clicking action. You can set it to something called a "WebWheel" which is this little wheel that comes up where you click that and you can open your email, web email, homepage...etc. I didn't like the idea of the WebWheel so I decided to use that as a double-click button. (Which will save the life of my mouse) Another feature I like about this mouse is that the pointer automatically centers on all of the <OK> buttons on the little information windows that come up. This feature has been seen on some windows machines before but not on any Macintosh. (Or else I haven't seen all the kinds of Mice for Macs)

Problems I've experienced with the Drivers:
I've had startup problems with the drivers at times. The drivers for the Wheel Mouse comes in at the same time the Control Strip loads. I know this for a fact because when the strip loads...then my mouse begins to be more sensitive...you know more sensitive than the default mouse movement which you can feel at the very beginning of start up. At times right before the drivers load...If i decide to click on the the cascading menus and hold the left-click button until they load, then sometimes the click will not "release". It acts as though I am holding down the button and will not let go. At times like these I will have to force restart.

Other than these problems, I like the mouse. I'm sure the bugs will be worked out in the next version of the new drivers. The only thing that bothers me is the tracking quality of the mouse. A StarCrafter demands good tracking! Until then you can get one to find out for yourself...different system setups can make alot of difference!



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 28.99