Customer Reviews

Logitech Optical Notebook Mouse Plus (USB)

5 star:		(138)
4 star:		(69)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

The cord management function on this mouse has got to be the best of its features. You can wind the cord around the base of the mouse, and the USB plug clicks into position on the underside, protecting the optical sensor. I'm using the mouse with Mac OS10.3 on an iBook, and both the right-click button and scroller work exactly as they should. There's no thumb-click button, but frankly, that's not the most useful feature anyway on a notebook-sized mouse. There's nowhere comfortable to put the button on a mouse this small, and it would end up being more in the way than anything else, as I have found on other models.

This mouse is also visually pleasing - a sort of greyish-silver metallic color on the top surface where your palm rests, with a tasteful greyish-blue imprint of the Logitech logo, and black all around the sides. If you haven't used a notebook-sized mouse before, the size takes some getting used to, but the particular rounded design of this mouse makes it a comfortable fit in the palm. Also - I ordered this mouse on a Friday afternoon with supersaver shipping, and I received it by the following Monday afternoon! Great value for the price all around.

The Logitech Notebook Optical Mouse Plus has perhaps been one of the best (cheap) investments I've made. It's smooth and accurate, and, most importantly, fits well in my hand. It has been so reliable and so efficient that I doubt I'll be buying another mouse for quite a while to come.

This is actually my second Logitech Optical Notebook Mouse Plus. The first one failed due to wear and tear. I found that if you wrap the cord around the mouse a lot, as it's designed to do, it can wear out the wire. I now just click the USB connector into the mouse without wrapping the cord and it works great!

Winding the wiring around the mouse is a great idea for storage; however the wire is so poorly made, it broke within a year. USB mouse began only working sometimes then by wiggling the wire the mouse would begin to work again. Didn't take long after that for the mouse to quit working completely. If you purchase this item I would recommend not wrapping the cable around the mouse.

This is a very high quality mouse and it's extremely portable. I've had this mouse for over two years without any problems. It's extremely accurate b/c of it's optical light, but it's main strong point is the fact that you can wrap the cord around the mouse for storage. Definitely one of the best investments I made for my Sony VAIO.

I love this mouse, and I use about 6 days a week for anywhere from 2 - 6 hours and it has worked great without any flaws for about 9 months until it stopped working on me yesterday. I guess I should've expected this because of all the use I put it through, but it just stinks to have to spend money on a new one.
This is why I'm giving it only 4 stars.
Anyway, lets focus on the positive. This is, I think, the best laptop mouse on the market. I love that it wraps up, and you don't have to worry that the cord is going to get tangled in the other stuff you have in your bag. It's also the right size. Not too small, but small enough to pack away. This mouse makes it so much easier to navigate your laptop. Nevertheless, if you use it as much as I do, be prepared to replace it in about 9 - 12 months.

As it says in my title, I love this mouse. I can't stand using the little touchpad on a laptop so the first thing I bought after my laptop was this mouse. It uses a laser so there is no ball to get all gunky (laptop gets taken strange/dirty places) and the cord wraps around the side very tight and neat when I put it away. It is very easy to slip this in a purse or laptop case. I highly recommend it!

I've had several notebook mice before this one, and I have a few comments. First, the cord wrap feature is extremely convenient. Second, when the computer is not randomly failing to notice that the mouse is connected and enable it, it works extremely well for its intended use. I suspect the habit of ignoring its presence is related to the third characteristic of the mouse: it took much longer to break in normal use than any other "notebook" mouse I've owned except the original that came with a previous notebook and without a cord-retraction feature - checking back on my previous reviews, I see it lasted a whole nine months! Whoopty-doo.

This, of course, is the reason for the 3-star review. While it proved more durable than the "dental-floss-thickness thread of cord winds up in a spring wheel thing hanging off the mouse" designs I'd gone through previously, it still broke in normal usage. As of now, the mouse, in addition to the intermittently failing to register as connected or be powered on by the computer (note: this is not specific to an individual computer or USB port, I've checked) now, when connected, gives a message that "a USB port has exceeded its allowed power consumption" within milliseconds. As near as I can tell, the stress placed on the cord by repeatedly winding it around the mouse as it was designed to be wound eventually caused an internal short within the cable, adjacent to the plug where it attached to the computer.

This seems to be a chronic problem with notebook mice in general - EVERY SINGLE ONE I HAVE EVER OWNED, except the cord-management-free model referenced earlier, ceased functioning due to structural failures of the cord, usually in the junctions at one end or the other. I've had the same problem, chronically, with other USB peripherals, such as laptop cooling mats. Unfortunately, my conclusion is that the market doesn't offer much better than this model (though I'll be looking for a duplicate of the original referenced above) in terms of ability to withstand normal use, so until the industry gets its act together, this may be your best bet.

The cord management feature eventually causes the mouse to die. All of that unwrapping and re-wrapping of the mouse cord around the base eventually wears out the wires inside, and the connection becomes spotty and then the mouse stops working. As an example, the same thing happens when you bend a metal hanger at the same spot over and over. It eventually breaks. I would suggest going with a retractable solution or a wireless mouse.

I have purchased two of these, and will not buy another. They have a fatal design flaw that makes them stop working after several months. The cord, which is so convenient and thin, and which wraps so neatly around the mouse, either pulls out of the USB connector or breaks internally at the point where it bends sharply. Somebody who does not wrap and unwrap the cord to use the mouse will probably never have this problem, but for a user who needs to pack the mouse away and unpack it frequently, this design issue is fatal. If you need a mouse that's truly portable, don't buy this one. Get a small Dell mouse with a permanent cord. They are a little bigger, but they only cost $7 at discount outlets, and they will last.