Digital Trends

Logitech MX 3100

January 29th, 2006 | by Brandon King

Features and Design

The recent barrage of Logitech input products has left many people asking, “Which solution is right for me?” There are many people who have a specific use in mind, and trudging through the feature lists can be exhausting and frustrating. There are the issues of Bluetooth, wired versus wireless, gaming versus productivity versus media center, and many more. And if you decide to purchase a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse separately, can they share the receiver, or will both receivers need to consume two precious USB ports? What if all you want is simply a great cordless keyboard and mouse for everyday use? The answer is simple:  The MX 3100.

The MX 3100 is actually a bundling of two excellent Logitech products:  The MX 1000 wireless mouse, and a revamped MX 3000 keyboard. Both are paired at the factory with a single receiver, so you'll only need one USB port, and the receiver doubles as a stylish charging station for the MX1000. This particular Cordless Desktop features Logitech's 2.4GHz proprietary wireless technology. Those looking for Bluetooth should check out the MX 5000, which adds an LCD display to the keyboard and comes with a special MX 1000 for Bluetooth.

The keyboard, mouse, charging station, USB-to-PS2 adapter, two AA batteries, and power cord, along with an obligatory outdated driver CD, are all you get out of the box. The batteries are meant for the keyboard, since the MX 1000 has a built-in, non-replaceable battery. We were not thrilled by the prospect of being forced to dock the MX 1000, should we forget to recharge it. We used the mouse heavily for a week, refusing to let it sip from the sweet, sweet electrical nectar of the charging station. The built-in gauge measured only 1/3 charge consumed. This is far better than the gaming-geared Logitech G7 mouse, which could hardly last a day of intense use. We also found that Logitech is very liberal with its low battery warning. Even when the battery is critical, there are generally over two hours of usage left. The charging station is a step up from previous generations. The translucent backing and curvy design look great, and the electrical connectors appear to make contact better than the MX x00 series. Over time, these older MX mice, like the MX 700 and 900, would require some fidgeting to get a solid contact between mouse and base station. That problem appears to be addressed in the MX 1000 design.

The design of the mouse and keyboard are excellent overall. The MX 1000 mouse has, in addition to the traditional mouse buttons, five additional buttons. Cruise Up and Cruise Down surround the mouse wheel and allow you to scroll through documents at warp speed. The Forward and Back buttons by the thumb rest ease webpage navigation by supplying quick access to those functions. The Application Switch button, well, it switches the active application. The scroll wheel also supports tilt action for horizontal scrolling. Through the SetPoint software, the buttons can be reassigned to do nearly anything besides launch a program. There's drag locking, minimizing, pasting undoing, support for any user definable keystroke, the list goes on. In use, the three-level battery meter illuminates the level of juice left in the mouse. The bottom surface hides a Reset button and a manual On/Off button. The mouse will automatically turn itself off after a few minutes, and returns to life instantly when movement is detected. The purpose of the switch is to avoid running the battery out during transport, when the laser will pick up constant movement.

Image Courtesy of Logitech