By Philip C.
Logitech creates great gadgets – keyboards, headphones, presenters – and mice.
So we were really excited to try out Logitech’s high tech MX series designed specially for productivity, namely the MX Anywhere 2 and the MX Master 2S. So what’s our take on these mice? Read on to find out! Design
The MX Master 2S and the MX Anywhere 2 were designed as office mice, and it’s easy to tell from its design. The Anywhere 2 is a midsized mouse and it boasts a fairly standard design. Not that that’s a bad thing – in fact, it’s extremely easy to get used to.
The Master 2S on the other hand, has a specially sculpted design, and I must say, it is one of the most comfortable mice I have ever used. Even though the mouse might look a little too large for people with small hands, it is actually the contrary. My mum, who has dainty hands – half the size of mine – admitted the comfort the mouse provides, even though she was skeptical moments before touching the Master 2S.
The MX Master 2S’s design was seemingly so perfect that it was left untouched from predecessor, the MX Master – the 2 mice look remarkably similar, identical in fact.
Buttons
In terms of buttons, both mice have 2 customizable buttons on its side (default as back and forward for browsers). I don’t have an issue with these buttons on the Anywhere 2, but I felt that they were oddly placed on the Master 2S, being way too small and hard to press. It might take some getting used to if you use these buttons often.
They both have a middle mouse button found below the scroll, (default as mode shift for the scroll), and the MX Master 2S has another well hidden button on its thumb rest – the whole thumb rest can be pressed down as a “gesture” button, meaning by holding that button down and swiping the mouse in the 4 directions (up, down, left and right), different functions can be customized to your liking. It’s like the 2 finger swipe on Apple’s Magic Mouse 2, but customizable.
The Anywhere 2’s middle mouse button can be configured to be a gesture button as well, however I found it to be a little awkward to use.
Scroll Wheels
Yes, scroll wheels with an ‘s’ because the MX Master has not only 1, but 2 scroll wheels. The standard scroll wheel is for your standard up down scrolling, while there is another scroll wheel on its side for left to right scrolling. The Anywhere 2 also supports left to right scrolling, although it only has 1 scroll, the scroll on the Anywhere 2 can be tilted left and right for side scrolling. This is an incredibly handy feature you never knew you needed. Zoomed in on a photo and want to scroll to the side? Side scrolling. Super long excel sheets and you need to scroll to the sides? Side scrolling. If you are a designer using design software, you’ll know that side scrolling is something you look for in a mouse.
The middle scroll wheels have 2 modes on both the Master 2S and the Anywhere 2, the usual clicky scroll, and a freespin scroll for really long documents. Give the middle mouse button a click to toggle between the 2 modes. The Master 2S takes it up a notch with a SmartShift feature, which means that if you scroll down in the tactile mode fast enough, the mouse will automatically disengage the lock and you get a freespin, slow down and the lock reengages, giving you tactile feedback again, and I have to say it feels awesome to use. Smart technology for the win. Compatible Surfaces
Another great feature on the MX series is its ability to work on almost all flat surfaces, even glass. I put this feature to the test by trying the MX Master 2S on my bed, and gosh did it deliver. It felt like I was using the mouse on a tabletop, it was so smooth. (I did however straighten out the bedsheet before use.)
Battery
Logitech claim’s that the battery on the MX series can last for 2 months, and that seems to be incredibly long considering the fact that they are rechargeable, and have so many features. However, I did not have a chance to drain the battery as it really seems to last that long. I daresay that battery life is not an issue with these mice. There’s also a fast charging feature which Logitech claims can give a full day’s use with a quick 3 minute charge.
Charging the battery is also incredibly easy with a micro USB port at the top of the mouse where the wire would be found in a normal mouse. (Yes, I’m looking at you Apple, take notes!) Connectivity
Both mice come with a USB dongle that can be plugged into a computer for quick usage. The mice can also connect to Bluetooth enable computers without the need for a dongle, and they can connect to 3 devices at the same time, with a button found below to toggle between the 3 devices.
This brings us to one of the coolest features of these mice: Flow
This is a feature that allows you to use 1 MX mouse to control up to 3 computers, without having to switch connections. If you have more than 1 computer at work, you no longer need 2 mice to control them, just set up the Flow feature on the MX mouse, and you can use the mouse across the 3 computers, just scroll to the side of the screen and the mouse will seamlessly shift control to the next computer. There is a a slight delay when shifting between computers, but nothing experience breaking.
This feature requires Logitech’s Options software which can be found on their website, and the computers must be on the same network, so it might be a bit of a hassle to set up, but after it is set up, it is incredibly useful. One great feature is the fact that the MX mouse can be used to transfer files from one computer to the next, with the MX mouse being the clipboard. Cons
There is hard to find anything bad with the mice, however, my biggest gripe with these mice is its USB dongle.
Being a rechargeable mouse removed the need to open up the mouse to change batteries, however, this removed the dock space for the USB dongle as well, meaning that there is NO dock to house the USB dongle.
With the MX Anywhere 2 named as ‘Anywhere’, one might expect some portability, and while the mouse itself is incredibly portable, the dongle is not, being extremely easy to lose if you are not careful. This holds true for the MX Master 2S as well. Thankfully, the mice are Bluetooth enabled, so if you do lose the dongle, the mice are not rendered useless. Summary
These mice don’t come cheap, with the Anywhere 2 retailing at $129 at the time of writing, and the Master 2S being $20 more pricey at $149.
This is akin to a good gaming mouse, however, if you are really looking for comfort and an increase in productivity with the aforementioned features, this mouse might just be the one for you. |