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In late March, Logitech announced that they would be shipping the world’s first cordless optical mouse: the Cordless MouseMan Optical. It was a ripe time for the announcement since the public was beginning to wonder just when a company would marry the two coolest advances in mousing technology into a single product. People were also beginning to ask whether they should buy a cordless mouse, for convenience, or an optical mouse, for accuracy and reliability. Which is what makes the cordless optical such a cool option: you don’t have to choose between two of the hottest technologies, you can get both in one package.

The Making of a Mouse

The biggest concern for making a wireless optical mouse was power consumption: an optical mouse sensor uses quite a bit more power than conventional mechanical sensors, so battery life of a cordless mouse could be seriously compromised. Logitech was ready to tackle this problem head on and teamed up with Agilent Technologies, one of the pioneers in optical sensor technology, to find a solution. Together they developed a proprietary next generation chip that would allow a 3 month battery life under normal office usage. This chip not only combined advanced power saving modes, it also featured an 800DPI resolution -- around twice the resolution of current optical sensors. Armed with the new chip, and Logitech’s existing Palomar wireless radio technology, Logitech introduced the Cordless MouseMan Optical.

Mousing Around

To kick off this newest mouse, Logitech came up with a completely new design that deviates from their current MouseMan line. You’ll find the same elegant blue theme with the new beautiful logo button and the standard buttons (2 on top, a thumb button on the side, and the mousewheel), but the shape is smaller and even more oval. Being used to a Microsoft Optical Mouse, I at first found the new shape uncommonly small. A longtime user of the older MouseMan series will find this a more compact mouse then they are used to, but anyone should become accustomed to the ergonomic shape quite quickly. I have always found Logitech to be one of the premier companies when it comes to ergonomic design of peripherals, and this newest revision of the MouseMan exemplifies this tradition.

As with other MouseMan mice, rubber pads on either side of the mouse make for a comfortable and slip free grip. The wheel is solid and rolls with a sturdy resistance. The wheel also requires a conscious effort to depress, so there is little chance of accidentally activating the button function when you only intended on scrolling the wheel. The primary buttons are actually more tactile then older generation Logitech mice, a welcome change for me. The thumb button is also more easily depressed then on previous Logitech mice, which is EXACTLY what I was waiting for. Although a small detail, the thumb button is now placed more closely to the resting position of your thumb. In combination, this placement and the reduced resistance make the thumb button infinitely easier to access then the thumb buttons on either of the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer or older Logitech MouseMan series – something which I applaud. This new positioning and design allows the user to activate the thumb button with a simple rocking motion of the thumb.

The Cordless MouseMan Optical is a delight to use, whether in games or in everyday office applications. Ergonomics aside, the optical precision is astounding, and especially appreciable in graphics applications or any application that requires finite control. As has been pointed out by other users, cordless mice tend to have a more free-flowing feel when used, because there is no cord to add drag and resistance to your mouse movement. This, combined with the lack of the resistance naturally present in a mouse ball, and the added precision, make for a unique and pleasant mousing experience.

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