Logitech MX Master 3 Review
Even though Windows has done a good job of bringing touchscreens to the PC world, they are still in the minority when it comes to how users interact with their hardware. The keyboard and mouse are the primary means of input which means selecting the wrong peripheral for your computer can dramatically impact your experience when using Windows (or any other OS).
For many years, I have been using the MX Master as my primary mouse but last week, I made the jump to the new MX Master 3.
Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
There’s not a lot of ways you can review a consumer mouse other than saying “it works” but let me try to breakdown why this mouse works for me and why I recommend it to anyone who needs a general-purpose peripheral.
Is it the best gaming mouse? No. It is the best ergonomic mouse? No. Is it the best productivity mouse? No. But what it is, is the best all-around mouse – it’s the Toyota Camry of mice, the Honda Accord of input devices – it’s not flashy, it does not have RGB lighting (it does have a battery indicator) but it gets you from point A to B comfortably and is a, generally speaking, a great mouse.
The mouse has all the basic features like a very smooth (and accurate) scroll wheel, buttons in all the right places, and a thumb scroll wheel that you can map to various functions. It’s got the right amount of buttons, not an overkill that makes it hard to quickly click the desired action.
The weight of the mouse is optimal, it’s comfortable, and the rubber material should hold up for a long time based on my previous MX Master holding up well after several years of use. And the texture of the material provides plenty of grip but is also soft enough to be comfortable for extended sessions.
The design is an evolution of the previous rounded designs. The left and right mouse buttons have an angular design that slopes down from left to right whereas the previous iterations had a pointed layout. The design doesn’t really make much difference and is subjective to your tastes. For me, the look is fine and in person, it looks a lot less modern than the Logitech promo images make it out to be.
The biggest reason I decided to upgrade is that the battery on my MX Master was not lasting much longer than a day or two. The new MX Master charges via USB-C, and in one minute of charge time, can operate for three hours. A full charge, Logitech claims, will last 70 days. That being said, I would prefer wireless charging as that would mean one less cable I need to keep plugged in on my desk but Type-C is better than the older connectors.
The biggest downside to this mouse is that the battery can not be easily swapped. This was the same with my previous mouse and while you can technically open it up and swap the batteries, it’s not a trivial task and when the battery goes flat, more than likely, you will buy a new mouse.
You can use the mouse while plugged in but it’s not optimal but can be done to prolong the life of the peripheral if you truly don’t want to give it up.
Logitech does have desktop software that is easy to use to map new functions to the mouse but I only ever open that app when refreshing a PC and I need to remap the configuration to my desired settings. Just know that the buttons are easily configured and you can remap them to nearly anything your heart desires.
The scroll wheels are smooth and easy to manipulate while the left and right buttons offer enough resistant to prevent accidental clicks but not too firm to make it hard to engage the buttons. Using the dongle, I never had any connection drops with the mouse feeling precise and responding quickly to my inputs.
The mouse comes in two colors, black, and grey and at $99, it’s not cheap. That being said, for something that is your primary input device on a PC, spending a little extra may be worthwhile for the improved experience over a basic mouse.
At the end of the day, it’s a mouse that is accurate, scrolls incredibly smoothly, and is comfortable as well. There are thousands of mice available but for me, this is my preferred mouse and highly recommend it to anyone in need of a new input peripheral.
Tagged with
Conversation 27 comments
-
My Hell baby speaking
<p>Once I started using a vertical mouse for ergonomic reasons I never wanted to go back to the conventional model. </p><p>And in the branch of verticals a 20€ model does the job although out of curiosity I'd like to have a test run on the Logitech model some day.</p>
-
dontbeevil
<p>such a poor design, they put the usb-c port in front of the mouse, in this way you can eve use the mouse while charging, they should have learned from apple /s</p>