Apr
15
New Mouse – Logitech LX8
Filed Under Computers & Tech on April 15, 2008 at 10:29 pm
My wireless mouse’s ever increasing flakiness finally got to be too much for me last week so I picked up a new one. I’d become very fond of the side buttons on my old mouse (which I kept linked to exposée) so I definitely wanted a mouse that had at least one of them, preferably two. I also hate having wires everywhere so I definitely wanted to go wireless again. In the end I settled on the Logitech LX8 from Logitech.
I’ve been using it for about a week now and I’m exceptionally happy with it. The transceiver is wonderfully small, the mouse is light yet solid and it has plenty of buttons. I particularly like the two side buttons and the fact that the scroll-wheel can be tilted to the left and the right to scroll sideways. The power button at the bottom is also a nice addition. Every cordless mouse I’ve had so far has been lacking this simple and obvious feature. There is also a warning light on top of the mouse which blinks red when the batteries are running low. Most importantly, the ergonomics also work well for me.
There were optional drivers for OS X but I didn’t install those. There really is no need. I have all five buttons configured to do exactly what I want so why clutter my system? Also, I don’t trust Logitech to write OS X drivers after it was found out last year that they were basing their software on a third-party hack that is explicitly not supported by Apple! If you’re interested in the details of that fiasco check out John Gruber’s article Blue in the Face.
At the end of the day though what really matters is that I’m very happy with this mouse. I feel it was money well spent which is always nice 🙂
[tags]Logitech, mouse, coredless mouse, LX8[/tags]
Yeah, I’ve been using Logitech mice and keyboards for years now, they make some good gear.
[…] the Pond, Bart and I discuss our longer term views on Evernote, Bart gets the Logitech LX8 mouse http://www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=756, and RDP gets a questionable beta update http://www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=757. Watch engineers […]
If you don’t install LLC … what driver software do you use to add the extra functions to your extra mouse/keyboard buttons?
Hi CJ,
I don’t use any driver apart from the standard stuff that OS X has under the hood. The left and right buttons just work. The Scroll wheel also just works, including tilting it left and right to scroll sideways.
That only leave the thumb buttons which OS X addresses as button 4 and button 5 (4 on left). I have those set up to activate exposee functionality which I did by going to the exposee panel in the system preferences and setting button 4 to f9 and button 5 to f10.
Hope that helps,
Bart.
Hi, can you tell me if, using the USB cable, the mouse works without the wireless mini-receiver?
I want to buy it, but, when I use notebooks I want also a mouse with USB cable to save battery charge…
Tanx.. and sorry for my bad English. 😉
I got my LX8 along with the Wave keyboard. I love the feel of all the buttons and the scroll wheel on the mouse.
However, it hurts my hand. I have long fingers so that might be the problem. But the mouse is an ambidextrous design. So it leaves my ring and pinky finger unsupported. If they had just made a left and right hand design, this would be a perfect mouse in my opinion.
Troy
Hi Mario,
If I understand you correctly the answer is no. The mouse is always wireless, there is no way to use it as a regular mouse. However, I don’t think that’s much of a problem. The wireless transmitter is the same shape and size as a small USB thumb drive.
Hope that helps,
Bart.
I’ve been looking at getting the LX8 for use w/OSX. Thanks for you review.
Great mouse… just picked it up today. Horizontal scrolling seems a bit slow, but good enough.
very happy with this mouse over the Apple mighty mouse. This feels very solid.
The mouse seems a bit laggy when the reciever and the mouse are at different levels…..
[…] of this keyboard are no longer being manufactured as far as Bart knows.) The mouse Bart uses is a Logitech LX 8 which he also reviewed on his blog. Blog post which contains the UK keyboard driver: Not-so-Fav […]