Of course, as with many 'ultimate' products, it's expensive: its £60 price is nearly twice that of other notebook mice. But the VX Revolution also introduces cool new features in a category where we weren't expecting much innovation. If you're willing to pay the price for a best-of-class product, the VX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks will not disappoint.
The VX Revolution's star feature is Logitech's new "nearly frictionless" scrollwheel, which lets you scroll through massive documents at extraordinary speeds. The wheel has two scrolling modes, controlled by a switch on the bottom of the mouse. In the first mode, it operates like any other wheel mouse, clicking as it is spun. In the second mode, there's no tactile feedback on the wheel: give it a flick, and it just keeps spinning. We could cruise through about 70 pages of a PDF and about 2,000 email messages with just one spin.
Weighing 119g and about the size of a large bar of soap, the VX Revolution is a bit bigger than most notebook mice but still smaller than a standard desktop unit. Its size makes for an ergonomic design that's comfortable enough to use every day but still small enough to fit in your laptop bag. The size also allows for convenient storage of the wireless receiver. The 44.4mm long by 12.7mm wide receiver fits entirely inside the mouse and is ejected with a small button on the bottom; we like the fact that the mouse automatically turns off when the receiver is stowed, which saves power and ensures the mouse won't accidentally turn on when it's in your bag. The VX Revolution also features high-precision laser tracking that we found to be very responsive, as well as a handy LED battery meter so you know how much juice you have left and an on/off indicator light. Logitech claims the mouse will run for 120 days on a single AA battery.
Though you can use the VX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks without any setup -- just plug in the USB receiver to an available port and go -- installing Logitech's Set Point 3.0 software, available for both Windows and Mac, makes all of the mouse's seven buttons programmable. The mouse also had truly exceptional reception; in our anecdotal tests, we were able to control our test notebook from 25 metres away -- not that you'd ever need that range, but it's impressive nonetheless.
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