Logitech MX 518

Up until yesterday I had been using an old Logitech 3 button wheel mouse. I never made the move to optical mice for one reason or another. I was never that impressed by the fact that they don't work on certain surfaces and they tend to pick up movement if you lift the mouse but hover to close to the mouse mat. However, I decided my wheel mouse was getting a little old - it literally sqeaks going in one direction!

Meet my new mouse, the Logitech® MX™518 Gaming-Grade™ Optical Mouse. It's a high-spec mouse and its had many positive reviews by gaming sites.

You can vary the resolution of that the mouse works at up to 1600dpi via two small buttons near to the mouse wheel. This is supposedly ideal for games where you want to be able to fine tune your movements/aim.

There are two buttons for near where your thumb rests and another more centrally located on top of the mouse. Using the SetPoint drivers you can assign these buttons to different tasks and I've noticed that the two thumb buttons perform 'back' and 'forward' in internet browsers.

The build quality is excellent and the rubber feel around the edges of the mouse is very comfortable. I'm not overly keen with the shiny plastic casing over the top of the mouse. It's not too great if your hands are sweaty. Apparently each mouse has a slightly different pattern which makes the mouse appear to have bumps and ridges.

The movement of the mouse is incredibly smooth. I'm not used to optical mice at all! I am experiencing the hovering movement as I thought, which is a little distracting at times, but I'm sure I'll adjust soon enough.

So far, I've found the MX518 to be a great mouse. The MX518 retails for around £30 on the Internet. Recommended if you don't mind paying that bit extra!