Summary
- Logitech’s MX Master mouse series is pricey but worth it due to its ergonomic design and anti-wrist strain features.
- The mouse is versatile, suits multi-platform use, and can be used to switch quickly among computers with convenient profiles.
- The MX Master mouse is considered an essential tool for all-day computer users, excelling in comfort and performance over other copies.
Logitech’s MX Master series of mice has become a common sight in YouTube videos or photographs of tech-savvy people’s desk setups, but what makes this now-iconic mouse so special?
I’m on my third MX Master mouse at this point, and, honestly, I can’t go back to doing my job with anything else!
It’s Expensive, but Worth It
I bought my first MX Master in ignorance of what everyone else was doing at the time, it’s just that I’d been suffering from wrist-pain for so long from moving a mouse around for hours a day while doing my job, that I needed a solution. Mouse pads with wrist supports didn’t help, and I even tried to stick with a touchpad only, but that just drove me up the wall.
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I bought a second-generation MX Master and within a month my wrist pain was gone, never to return. That alone made it worth the asking price (which was $150 at the time!), but I soon came to appreciate the ergonomics of working with the mouse. The heavy metal vertical and horizontal scroll wheels made for accurate work. Since I have to deal with project management software like Trello all the time, as well as long documents for research, the thumb wheel is non-negotiable these days.
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The weight and stability of the mouse is also a big factor in why my hand doesn’t become fatigued. Sadly, the second-generation MX Master mice seem to have an issue with the thumb button, which becomes compressed over time and permanently engaged. You can mitigate this a little by loosening a screw by a few turns, but eventually I had to let my mouse go, and I replaced it with the much better MX Master 3s.
This mouse follows me from one computer to the next, thanks to it’s three-profile capacity. It lets me quickly switch between my Windows laptop, MacBook, and handheld PC. Yes, that’s right, my handheld PC.
Anyone Who Works on a Computer All Day Should Use This Mouse
This isn’t a review or some sort of sponcon, it’s just that the MX Master is a piece of hardware that I’ve genuinely fallen in love with. I can put up with using all sorts of peripherals, and it’s no big deal, but if I have to use anything other than the MX Master for work (not gaming) I spend all my time wanting my comfy mouse back.
My wife, who is a professional video editor, uses the trackball version, the MX Ergo and she also swears by it. If you spend all day slicing up video timelines, your wrists will go through hell, and the MX Ergo seems to have made her wrist pain disappear.
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Two people’s experiences are, of course, completely anecdotal, but I can’t ignore the dramatic difference these mice have made to my quality of life, and unless AI takes all of my work, I’ll probably be using a mouse daily for the rest of my life, so it’s not just a little luxury, it’s an essential work tool. Like safety glasses and a hard hat.
There Are Many Copycats, Even Good Ones
Because the MX Master mice have developed such a good reputation, and because they carry a premum price, there are plenty of copycat products on the market. Some of them look essentially identical at first glance, but as you can tell from a $20 price tag, they aren’t going to have the same quality. That being said, if the mouse apes the shape of the MX Master well enough, you’ll still get those ergonomic benefits. Also, most of these clones also include that side-scrolling thumb wheel, which is the other major feature. The weight, quality, and internal hardware may not be as good, but for a lot of people enough of the benefit will be there.
For example, the Rapoo MT760 is half the price of the MX Master, but is very well-received by people who have bought it and offers much the same ergonomic benefits.
It’s the Porsche 911 of Mice – Almost Perfect
There are some types of hardware that are just timeless and don’t need to change. Consider the IBM Model M keyboard, which was basically perfect and just needed to be updated for modern software. The IBM (now Lenovo) ThinkPad series of laptops are also like this, which is why they’ve been called the Porsche 911 of laptops—there’s no reason to change the core design. In fact, that core design is part of its identity.
The MX Master series is exactly like that. The only thing Logitech can do at this point is refine it, and the only thing other mouse makers can do is try to copy it, the same way companies copy the iPhone, or Rolex watches. All I know is that there’s no going back for me.
