Hi all, After sending back a 6 month old, faulty cooler back to Ebuyer, they gave me back store credit to the sum of £60 (for service eBuyer is unrivalled). I am currently looking at - MX518 G9X G500 So far, I am leaning toward the G9X but it is well over double the price of the mx518. I normally claw my mouse, which was the reason I leaned to the interchange grip of the G9X. But, I see so many fantastic reviews of the MX518, I just don't know what to do. btw, I Threw the G500 in for good measure
get the G9x it is the best mouse for claw and finger grip, razer mice and the MX518 and the G500 is for palm grip. The G9x is the best claw and finger grip mouse in the world imo, absolutely brilliant mouse, can't recommend it enough
Logitech do great hardware but their software generally stinks. In particular, the version of SetPoint that their gaming mice have to run (DeviceSettings which then runs SetPointII) is pretty horrible (on my system it always opened a 1920x1158 window, required a G700 to be selected even though it was the only device detected and offered less configurability than the SetPoint used for non-gaming mice). On that basis, I'd suggest the MX518 which should run with the "standard" SetPoint (which is quite configurable when beefed up with UberOptions). However the VX Revolution is a similar shape and has more buttons (10 if you count the horizontal scroll ability of the scrollwheel as 2), an adjustable scrollwheel (with detents for precise scrolling or without for smooth and fast) and is wireless while using a standard AA battery (get some rechargeables which you can swap out whenever the battery runs out). The MX Revolution and its current incarnation the Performance MX offer more buttons but may not suit your grip style (which I'm guessing would favour smaller mice?). They use a not-easily-replaceable li-ion battery also which may give problems a few years down the line.
Don't worry about Lithium-ion battery. My MX Revolution which I had for over 4 years still provide a 2 to 3 weeks of use (TODAY), and recharges really fast. Within a few minute of recharge, you can play for an hour, a few seconds on it, can give you several minutes. Sadly, Logitech doesn't use Lithium-ion battery, they use AA rechargeable battery which you can easy change (or recharge). While this is interesting option, the battery life sucks. You need to charge it once a week, if not twice a week if you play a lot of games. And for wireless mouses of Logitech that feature wired and wireless option like the G500, the DPI switch. Plugged in (recharges battery + data transfer), it gores to 5400DPI if I remember correctly, once put on wireless, you only have 1000DPI. Still very high.. but the switch in DPI like that can make you difficult to adjust. I want Lithium-ion battery back, and the motorized hyper wheel switch. I just hope my MX Revolution doesn't break anytime soon. Talking about Hyper-wheel (BEST feature since slice bread, I kid you not.. once you use it, and the day you scroll a long website/document... you will L00000000000000000ve it. Even if you switch weapons on click mode, it's a breeze to spin it). The G9x has the switch button to pass the wheel from click mode to free spin (it's on bearings.. it will spin for about 15-20sec with 1 strong push ), is UNDER the mouse. How idiotic is that? The MX Revolution has a motorized system, if on click mode, you spin it fast, it switches to free spin. Also, if you press on the wheel, you set it to switch modes, or make it go on middle click via the software, and even go per applications. Sadly they removed that feature.. then again, the MX Revolution was 160$ (worth every penny).
I've had an MX Revolution for a couple of years too and find it a fast recharger - but if the battery level goes too low, it won't charge properly (it's possible to work around that by continually replacing it on the charger but a PITA) so YMMV. The MX Revolution has a soldered in Li-Ion as discussed here (possible but not easy to replace). Other mice (the VX Revolution and the G700 to give two examples) do use AA batteries - the G700 suffers from a short battery life while the VX seems to run happily for a couple of weeks. However if you are prepared to invest in a charger and spare batteries, swapping batteries is only a few seconds work (the battery cover is best left off the G700 - it isn't designed for frequent removal and will break otherwise) and that seems to me the best solution. Waiting for an MX to recharge (however fast) is annoying (though it does teach you the value of keyboard shortcuts) and the cable for the G700, while it does let you use it while charging, makes it noticeably more awkward to use. The G500 is wired only - are you sure you don't mean the G700? (wireless, with a micro-USB cable for charging). I didn't encounter any DPI issues between wired and wireless with the G700 myself, but others have reported DPI problems using their G-mice on other computers. The dual-mode scrollwheel is a nice feature (though the switch is on the bottom for the VX as well). The G700 has a button on top to switch modes which I thought was the most elegant, since I've found the MX-Revolution's "Smart-Shift" somewhat inconsistent. Uber-options is the best part in my view - the number of actions you can assign to buttons with it installed is amazing.
That is because you don't know how to take care of Lithium-ion battery. NEVER allow them to discharge completely. There is a circuit system put in place so that the mouse doesn't work when the battery is at critical levels to avoid breaking the battery, but after multiple times it does break the battery. Battery caring is the same for laptops (both are Lithium-ion or -poly). In the Canadian version of the MX Revolution, I suppose, the battery is switchable . Like so: No metal bracket, no soldering. I checked on mine Although... just a guess, it could be because of the G7 mouse. This mouses used interchangeable Lithium-ion battery (2 were provided), and there were the same. So it made sense to use the same ones. As the G7 didn't sell well due to it's teal and silver color (WHY TEAL?! WHO THOUGHT OF THAT!) and low button count, and no hyper wheel: It did not sell well (or at all). So the possibly second revision of the MX Rev, where they probably tried to reduce production costs they changed the battery design, with the new board layout. I do know that the MX Rev receiver of Rev1 is filled with circuit (you can see in the semi-black transparent case of the receiver. While Rev2, is mostly a blank board. So it could be that. Or a region thing as initially mentioned. No issue here. You have the Mouse LED indicator showing that you are low in battery, and Logitech SetPoint software pop-up notification, AND the system tray icon flashing. PLUS, it tells you about a 2-3 day before stop working... sooooo.... no problem. Yes, G700. Sorry about that. I was going from memory. Smart Shift is fully configurable. You probably have the multi-program profile kick-in by SetPoint. I just remove all software on that list, except select games which I CREATE... it's annoying the auto detect process, as it uses it's own settings, like if each software is based on someone else preference at the company. I agree.
I picked up the G500 from Dixons for £28. Found a 10% off logitech voucher online an I am delighted. Got myself a right bargain.
Happy with my MX518. Would love a cordless mouse again some time. Went cordless for a while and it's a liberating experience!
If you want to try a fairly different style of mouse, I recommend the VX Nano, or the newer Anywhere MX. They're fairly small, and IMO well suited to a claw grip. I've been using the VX Nano for a few years now, still going strong. No issues with the wireless receiver, though I don't like the extra mouse button placement.. This was fixed on the Anywhere MX. BTW if you get the MX518 you'll probably switch away from the claw grip. Other grip styles are far more comfortable (MX518 expecially, very comfortable mouse), less precise though..