Customer Reviews

Logitech V220 Cordless Notebook Mouse - Blue

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked up this mouse mostly because it was on sale and the price was too good to turn down, and I was exchanging a Bluetooth mouse that had given me mixed-but-disappointing results. I decided that an RF wireless mouse was a better way to go, and this one came in at a good price.

I already have a Microsoft Notebook Mouse (3000) and noticed immediately that these two mice are very similar. Size-wise and shape-wise, they're almost identical. I was very pleased with my MS mouse, and so I figured this would be about the same. They even stored the wireless dongle in the same under-the-mouse fashion.

I was surprised to find that the Logitech V220 mouse is *better* than my Microsoft Wireless Laptop Mouse 3000 in several ways. I was also surprised to learn that, for the first time in many years of trying Logitech products, I was happy with the driver support for Mac OS X.

I avoided Logitech for a long time because they always seemed to give OS X users a choice of no advanced drivers or a crippled control panel that didn't allow as much customization. They fixed this issue. The new Logitech Control Center for Mac OS X is better than even the Microsoft offering. The only negative now is that Logitech doesn't include software with their mice; You have to download it. No big deal for me with broadband, but if you only have dial-up, you may want to consider that.

The Logitech V220 is a simple mouse meant for notebooks and portability. It has Right Click, Left Click, Wheel, Middle Click, and Horizontal Wheel Tilt. Each one of these actions can be assigned a specific click or macro thanks to the new Logitech Control Center. In this category, the Logitech wins against the MS 3000 due to the Wheel Tilt, which is not available on the 3000 (not my model, anyway).

The Control Center panel is simple and allows easy assignment of specific clicks (Right, Left, Middle), advanced clicks (Click + the key of your choice), double-clicks, scrolling, application activation, OS functions, and a variety of other things. Want to use the Wheel Tilt as two extra buttons assigned to other clicks instead of as horizontal scrolling? You can do that. It also allows tweaking of pointer speed, scrolling speed, and scrolling acceleration. You can assign specific settings to specific programs, or just stick with the global settings. All in all, the Logitech Control Center addressed all my concerns about Logitech on the Mac in the past. Good job, Logitech!

I like my scroll wheel to have a "clicky" response. Some MS offerings have a smooth-scrolling wheel, but the MS 3000 had that clicky feedback I deem so important. Logitech duplicates this with the V200, and I'm suitably satisfied with the mouse's feel when scrolling. It's responsive and solid.

Another feature improved over the MS 3000 is the inclusion of an on/off switch. While the MS 3000 allows you to turn the mouse off by simply connecting the wireless dongle to the bottom of the mouse, the V220 has both a dongle-button like the MS 3000, and a physical slider switch for on/off capability. This allows you to use the mouse as a desktop mouse without needing to unplug the USB dongle when you want to turn it off; A minor, but useful improvement.

The Logitech V220 has a "reset" button, presumably to re-establish a connection with the host computer and USB dongle. This is a feature you'll find absent on the MS 3000 mouse. Another win for Logitech.

Both mice use a single AA battery. The MS 3000 has a mechanical button on the rear of the mouse that opens the top, revealing the battery compartment. The Logitech V220 has a smaller mechanical button on the bottom, recessed in the dongle-slot, that does the same thing. Both mice store their battery in the same place, with a similar cover that doubles as the top/rear of the mouse (where you palm rests). I see no discernible difference between them in this category.

Both the MS 3000 and the V220 offer colorful shells as an option. The blue one (listed here, which I have) differs between the two; Logitech's blue is bright and looks sort of metallic. Microsoft's blue is more of a powder blue, and also has a faux-metallic sheen. (Personally, I like the Logitech color better. This is all up to personal aesthetics, though.) Logitech offers pink, grey/black, and a bright metallic red. Microsoft's offerings are a little more toned down, though they also offer different colors. Neither company offers white or brushed aluminum, though, so you Mac users will have to settle for other colors.

The V220 has a battery level light to indicate a good battery. If your battery is good it stays on briefly when you power the mouse on, and then fades to darkness to preserve energy. The Microsoft 3000 offers no such indicator.

The V220 uses an infrared LED, so there's no "red light" coming from the optical lens. The MS 3000 uses an older optical technology, and as such has the red light.

All in all, if this mouse were a tiny bit bigger it would be a nearly-perfect desktop mouse. It IS a nearly-perfect portable/notebook mouse. Even at the current size, I'm finding no difficulty in using it for extended periods of time. The rubberized sides provide a solid grip. The buttons have excellent responsiveness. The wheel is excellent. The mouse glides smoothly over the desktop. I can't find any faults in its operation.

I really can't find much to complain about with the Logitech V220. As wireless mice go, it's not flashy but it's a pro at getting the job done efficiently. In comparison to the most direct competitor on the market, it blows the competition away, which still surprises me, because Microsoft has been so great with their peripheral hardware for many years; Logitech just STEPPED UP this time! This is especially nice to know when you see that they are priced competitively. Logitech delivers more bang for the buck, and they made the tweaks to the design that needed to be made, while keeping it simple and elegant.

If you can pick this up for less than $20 then you owe it to yourself to do so. Even at the list price, it's the clearly superior choice between the two big-name, entry-level wireless notebook mice.

My mother-in-law had purchased one of these V220s (hers was the dark red model, which my wife loved) for her desktop PC, and I immediately noticed that it was the best cordless optical mouse I had ever used. When my own mom was looking for a mouse to use in lieu of her laptop's touchpad, I sent my dad out to pick up a V220 (purple for her). She absolutely loved it, and I was again impressed by the quality and great feel. This last week, I decided to purchase one for myself to use at work on my desktop PC (I picked up this midnight blue one). Granted, it's a little small for a desktop mouse (it IS intended to be portable for notebooks, after all), but I still prefer it to any other mouse I've used. I should also mention that I'm a software developer, so my mice get LOTS of use.

Not only is the movement smooth and precise, but the mouse itself is very solid and comfortable for its size. The compatibility and ease of installation is also a huge perk; at my parents' house, I just popped the USB receiver out of a Vista laptop, then popped it into an XP desktop PC, and voila! The mouse immediately worked on the new system, with virtually no installation and no clunky receiver.

Have you ever been blinded by that bright red beam coming out of your optical mouse? Won't happen with this mouse; the beam is invisible. There's also a handy on-off switch on the bottom of the mouse, so you can save battery power by switching it off at the end of the day, or whenever you'll be away from the computer for awhile. Speaking of battery power, this mouse only takes a single AA battery, which Logitech touts as lasting up to 6 months at a time (longer when when you use the on/off switch properly). That's a huge improvement over most of the mice I've used, which have always needed at least 2 batteries.

Another cool feature that I noticed is that the receiver itself (when storing the mouse in your laptop bag or wherever) clips directly into the bottom of the mouse, accomplishing two very helpful things: 1) the mouse and the receiver stay together, and 2) the receiver automatically trips the "on/off" switch on the mouse to turn it off when it's attached, and to turn it back on when it's detached. It's a great way to save battery life without even thinking about it.

All in all, this is an awesome mouse that will not disappoint. Better still, it's easy to find this model for right around $20, so it's not even a huge investment.

I have had this mouse for a few hours now, and I felt compelled to write this review. Right away when I got it and plugged it in, it started working. It is much better than my previous Microsoft mouse which ended up quitting on me after a few months. Even I can't attest to how well it works after time, I can observe how light it is, how it is to navigate with it, and how easy it is to scroll with it. I also love how it plugs in on the bottom when your not using it to conserve power and that it has an off/on switch so you can turn it off without unplugging the receiver. You can also download software from www.logitech.com/download to allow you to control more features of the mouse. Overall GREAT BUY.

This mouse is a five-star product. Enough said. Do not be misled by always superior and ever challenging geeks. Elsewhere, one writes: I found the mouse to be overly sensitive, even after changing the mouse configurations in Control Panel. The Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 is more precise,he/she writes and concludes: The Logitech v220 is a little bit more ergonomic on the hands, but not by much... Well, I use it for my traveling laptop and most recently I have attached it to my new mini-mini-mini-laptop, my baby-computer Acer Aspire One. It works great. If its receiver slightly sticks out from your USB port, well, everything will. Only gadgets with Bluetooth technology will not. BTW, I use here a small USB hub, flexible; to it I attached this Logitech mouse AND also my wireless/national broadband USB modem (phone card.)I suspect that overwhelming majority of us do not use their notebooks, net-books, mini-notebooks, baby-computers for major NASA or global warming predictions/projects or medical research, or weapons testing. Neither do I use my baby-computer for working with huge raw files/photographs in Photoshop CS3.

So, perhaps what might be overly sensitive is in the eyes of beholder. Myself, I do not need to change the mouse configurations in Control Panel. V220 is small, works great and if needed -- it fits in my pocket. That is enough. And yes, I know what the Control Panel is. If you need one, just buy it.

I purchased this for the wife's new laptop. It does exactly what I would expect it to do. It is a bit small for my hand but it seems to fit her hand perfectly. I like the "battery-saver" feature.

Have not dropped it yet, so I don't know how it will withstand abuse.

This is a great little laptop mouse. I've used it a few hours a day, everyday, and I have not needed to change the battery yet. It was just what I wanted.

In most respects this is a nice product. The mouse movement is swift and accurate. However, the mouse clicks are slow and not dependable, which is a serious shortcoming, particularly if you are entering data in a spreadsheet. Pressing the left button doesn't guarantee that anything happened on the screen, so you end up having to look and usually having to click it once, often twice, or even three more times.

Oh boy! I've been using Logitech products for years. Keyboards, mice, speakers they always been great but the V220 lasted 5 days. The left click button started to stick and then locked up, the jog wheel is stiff and won't scroll up from the bottom of a page.

Can't return the mouse because of having to cut open the clamshell packaging. Just have suck it up and call the price of this mouse a loss.

The V220 has a nice ergonomic feel; particularly, I love the rubberized grip on the sides. The mouse is gorgeous! Extremely responsive. It is available in many colors; gray is nice, also in blue, red, pink, purple, etc. It is intended for use on laptops which explains its smaller size. I got another Logitech mouse, the V200 which I love especially with the battery that last almost forever which I still use. Hence, I did not hesitate to grab another one from the same manufacturer once I saw this one on sale on a major national chain store. This one claims to have a battery life for a single AA for around 6 months. Having owned the V200, I absolutely have no doubt it can do the same (I will update this post if I find it otherwise). The pack includes one Duracell AA, so it is ready to use out of the box. It also has an on/off button at the bottom which I never used on the V200. I just let it in the on position all the time and it wakes up in a second as soon as I touch it again. I don't even notice any difference in the longevity of the battery juice.

There is a button at the bottom to release the battery compartment. It does not have a spring which usually tells you where the negative end of the battery goes, but it is clearly marked on the compartment the way it should be positioned. The battery is situated a little funny, which is diagonally. The wheel serves as another button which is very useful for me. If you need to travel with it, the USB dongle has a special niche at the bottom and it automatically shuts off the mouse once it is snapped into place.

Pros:

- Incredible battery life

- Performance

- Shape and looks

Cons:

- The only thing that I wish to change is the size of the dongle. Notebooks need dongles that is almost like a nub. Check out the USB receiver for the Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks . But you have to pay double!

Highly recommended!

The Logitech V220 Cordless Optical Mouse is well made and comfortable. We bought three of these mice in different colors so everyone in the house knows which one is theirs.

The mouse comes with minimal documentation and no drivers to install. We just inserted the included AA battery, connected the USB receiver, and let Windows (Vista) recognize the new mouse. The mouse options in Control Panel can be used to customize the mouse settings.

Ergonomically the mouse feels good in our medium sized hands.

The USB receiver is fairly large and sticks out the side of the laptop about 1.5", so if this is an issue for you I recommend Logitech V550 Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks (910-000695) which has a "Nano" USB connector.

This is a fairly inexpensive mouse that works very well! Recommended!