Logitech on Thursday introduced two new mice that incorporate a scroll wheel that spins “freely.” The Logitech MX Revolution is a cordless laser mouse for desktops, and the VX Revolution is a cordless laser mouse designed for notebook users. Both are Mac and PC-compatible. They cost $99.99 and $79.99 respectively.
The MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel is made of alloy, and spins freely for up to seven seconds — enabling you to more quickly scroll through Web pages, spreadsheet files, playlists and other data than you can with a regular ratcheted scroll wheel.
Logitech has also added “One-Touch Search,” which lets you do an Internet search for words or phrases in Web pages and documents.
If the free-spinning mode of the MicroGear wheel sounds trivial, Logitech explains it thus: A single seven-second spin can yield as many as 10,000 lines in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. By comparison, it’d take about 500 spins and seven minutes to span the same distance using a convention scrollwheel.
An improved click-to-click scrolling option provides tactile feedback like what you’re used to for small units of distance scrolled, so you can still precisely navigate lists, slides and images.
Both mice feature low-resistance feet, and the MicroGear wheel uses an inset rubber belt to make it easier for the index finger to grab and flick it.
The MX Revolution touts a motorized wheel that automatically switches from free-spin mode and click-to-click mode. It can optionally sense the speed you’re spinning the wheel and goes into free-spin mode automatically. It also features a second wheel near the thumb that can be used for zooming in photos and images or switching between applications.
The VX Revolution is smaller in size than the MX revolution and includes a slot to store the 2.4GHz radio micro-receiver. It also features a rubber-lined thumb grip and concave key plates. The base of the VX REvolution has a switch that can shift the MicroGear wheel from free-spin mode to click-to-click mode. And in place of the second wheel on the MX is a “zoom slider.”