# Logitech MX Air



## Lenny (May 21, 2009)

At the end of February, I ordered the mouse of dreams from eBay. After getting my money back from the git who never sent me my mouse, I bought one through a more reputable seller LCD TV | Plasma TV | Laptop PCs | Consumer Electronics | Laskys.com first time buying from them, and I'm impressed. The mouse came the day after the next).

Two weeks later, I'm fully accustomed to it and, even though you can never justify £70 on a mouse, I'm really enjoying it. 

[Stock] Picture:







If I'm not careful, I'm going to end up with a room of piano black finish gadgets. Not that I'm complaining, mind. 

Initial usage was a bit awkward - I'm used to a more ergonomic mouse that your hand relaxes over, and the MX Air is much more of a traditional shape, if a bit elongated. I must admit that I had a few days of discomfort, which left the muscles in my right-hand sore as I adapted*, but that didn't last long, and I've developed a way of using it that allows me to return to my epic hours of usage (whilst I'm not revising, of course).

Using the mouse is wonderful - the buttons have a nice feel to them, very little of the underside touches the desk so it feels light and easy to move, and on full whack, the sensitivity is amazing! In the few years I've had my MX 610, Logitech's lasers have come a long way.

What sets the mouse aside from the rest, is the ability to use it in the air. You hold it like a remote control and move it in the usual directions (up, down, left, right, combinations of the four) to move the cursor on-screen. The first attempt to use it off the desk sees you whipping it around without a clue, then taking it super-slow to give you a chance to hit things accurately. As with mice on the desk (particularly the faster ones), an hour or so of practice helps you to develop the necessary motor skills, and you can start using it like a pro! Stick a laser pointer on it, and you've got the ultimate presentation device.

Some of you might have eyes shining with the thought of using it like the Wii-mote and taking PC FPS to the next level. Sadly, I'm going to have to distinguish that light - the mouse is designed with office use and presentations in mind, rather than gaming. The mouse mouse has a nifty built-in feature that stops cursor movement for a split-second if you press a button whilst in the air, allowing you to double click with ease and without the need to have rock-steady hands.

Some of you might be wondering about calibration in the air (not my first though, I must admit, but it makes sense). Gadgets that utilise a stylus and interactive whiteboards often need to be calibrated for the stylus tip and the cursor to be in the same place. The MX Air, however, needs no such thing. Rather, you can calibrate on the fly (bu-dumm...). Holding the back button for more than two seconds freezes the cursor until another button is pressed. Holding it for less than two seconds freezes the cursor momentarily - both uses allow you to line up the mouse with the cursor if it starts to escape. You can also whip the mouse down to the bottom corner of the screen and up to the opposite top corner which works surprisingly well (if you have one monitor). Alternatively, you can set the mouse to return the cursor to the centre of the screen and hold it for a few seconds it you shake it.

Overall, I really like the MX Air - it looks fantastic (with orange LEDs showing the battery and what each button does if you move it), moves very well, and lives up to its name with no fuss. £70+ might put some people off, but if you've got a spare wad of cash and nothing to do with it, then why not?

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3443&cl=gb,en

*The thought of RSI didn't cross my mind at all. I saw the process more as my bones and muscles restructuring themselves, as obedient bones and muscles should when a new peripheral is bought and put to work.

EDIT: £70 is also a pretty good deal when you take into account the fact that the recommended retail price is £120!


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## Tamman1969 (Jul 17, 2009)

How are you enjoying the mouse now? I've had one a few months but it doesn't get that much use as it is for the Media PC downstairs.

Have to say my general experience with it is mixed. The gyro seems to stray really badly and you are forever having to use that 'freeze' mode in order to get the thing lined up again. Shame they didn't get that better, if the Wii controllers were that imprecise their console would have been in a lot of trouble.

The lack of a genuine scroll wheel in the middle is also annoying, I know the thing looks sleek but would a wheel have looked that bad? I miss my centre button IE/Chrome tab opening too. Programmed one of those buttons lower down to do the job but doesn't sit comfortably for purpose.

Good mouse in general though and certainly looks the part. I use it with a Logitech Dinovo Edge Keyboard which is fantastic. Purchased mainly for its looks in the living room, but actually turned out to have a really great keyboard action too.

Tamman1969


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## Lenny (Jul 17, 2009)

I love it completely!  It's still my main mouse, but I must admit that I don't really use it for its intended purpose (as a media centre mouse). Rather, I just view it as a mouse that allows me to lean back, put my feet up, and still use the computer. The only thing I'm not raving about is the battery life - I need to recharge it every four or so days. I'm going to see if turning it off at the back when I'm not using it changes anything.

Your problem with needing to freeze the pointer to get it in line again could be solved by changing the sensitivity of the mouse in the air - I've found that if it's too sensitive, the pointer speeds on ahead, and it lags if it's not sensitive enough (mine is set on the fifth notch from the Fast end).

I quite like the scroll wheel (I've set the bottom scroll wheel button, just above Back, to middle click seeing as it's in a very nice place, and the top one to page forward), simply because I can scroll through a lot at once. My old mouse needed a lot of scrolls to get down a long webpage, whereas I can do it in one with the MX Air.


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