It seems like computer mice have been around forever; however, every year the mice making companies seem to come up with better designs and features. The MX 518 is Logitech’s venture into the arena of gaming mice and it looks to be a good one.
Features
- Application Switch
- Internet Forward/Back
- MX Optical Engine
- Right-Handed Comfort Grip
- Scroll wheel
- USB
- 1,600-dpi resolution
The MX 518 Gaming Mouse packs enough features to satisfy even the most picky gamer. With a 1600 DPI sensor and a 16-bit data path this mouse will really be able to keep up with your movements. Paired with a 5.8-megapixel image processor MX 518 is able to send out 8000 bits per second of movement information. This is enough to keep up with even the quickest movements. Because of the massive amount of information this mouse can handle, you are just about guaranteed that the MX 518 won’t suffer from the effect of negative acceleration.
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What is negative acceleration? Regular mice use an 8-bit data path and a 125Hz communication rate. This combination allows the mouse to send 127 pixels of movement information to the computer each time is checks its location. If the mouse moves more then 127 pixels, unpredictable movement or negative acceleration can result. With a 16-bit datapath and 125Hz transmission rate the MX 518 is able to send 32,000 pixels each time is checks its location. If you can move a mouse that far, that fast, I would be extremely surprised.
This mouse also packs 8 buttons with 6 of them being programmable. Each programmable button has up to 20 different things that it can be assigned to do. The only two buttons that are not programmable are the standard left and right buttons. The 2 buttons by the right thumb default to forward and reverse buttons. These can be used in a browser to go back and forth in history. The buttons directly in front and back of the scroll button are by default set to increase and decrease the sensitivity of the mouse. The scroll button when clicked is set to a double click and the button in back of the sensitivity buttons is the application switch button. This button acts like an alt-tab key press. It brings up a small window that lists all the currently running programs and you can move the mouse or the scroll button to move through the programs. Pressing the left mouse button or the application switch button again will select the currently highlighted program.
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The mouse also comes with some fairly good software. In addition to providing the basic mouse settings like button mapping, sensitivity scrolling speed, acceleration and pointer trails, you can also set game settings. These settings include whether or not to allow the game to remap the buttons and keep the speed and acceleration settings of the OS or use the one set in SetPoint. Setpoint is another area of the software that allows you to make settings to the mouse for each game you own, so that those settings will be loaded when you load the game.
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Design
The mouse design as far as ergonomics is fantastic. It fits easily in your hand and has curves in all the right spots. The button placement is also well thought out. I don’t think I could offer any suggestions in this area. The only thing I could offer a suggestion is the design of the top of the mouse. The colors are such that it looks like the top of the mouse has depressions. Even though it is a unique design it is kind of ugly. It would be nice if the cover was removable and you could then replace it with something else that matched your style.
Performance
The keyboard and mouse combination is probably the best for playing games. If you are not used to using a mouse with games then your wrist will certainly get a workout. I personally prefer to use a trackball because you don’t have to move your wrist so much. But for those that use a mouse this has all the things you need. With the ability to adjust the sensitivity on the fly, you can easily adjust the mouse to your game or even the level you are on.
To help boost performance Logitech also disabled the sleep mode on this mouse. The sleep mode is what the mouse goes into when you don’t move the mouse for a while. In this mode the movement-tracking LED is turned off. For a normal user this is not a concern because as soon as you start moving the mouse again it turns on and it only takes about split second to respond. For power gamers that split second could be the difference between you getting the first shot or the enemy.
Just like speed and responsiveness is important to gaming, so is the ability to easily move the mouse and your character. To help with the moving of the mouse, Logitech gave this mouse five slick feet. I don’t know why they chose five instead of six, but with the amount of detail they paid to the other parts of the mouse, there must be a reason. The feet really help move the mouse, and without them the mouse drags quite a bit. The feet are a point of dust collection so you need to keep them clean for optimal performance.
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The software that comes with the mouse can add games and set the mouse controls so that each time you load that game it automatically changes the mouse controls to match.
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The mouse performed really well with all the games I played. Half Life 2 is one of my favorites and with this mouse I was able to get a quick bead on the enemy and make some great shots.
Conclusion
The MX 518 Gaming Mouse is an exceptional mouse. For $49.99 this mouse easily fits into any gamers budget. Because of the button layout and the amount of features that it comes with I would easily declare this as the best mouse I have ever used. For this reason, if you are a heavy gamer then I highly recommend that you go out and get one today.
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