The great mouse search continues.

The Logitech G500 corded Gaming Mouse.

The last time I wrote about mice I had settled on the Logitech MX Revolution. That started developing the dreaded double-click symptom on the left click pad, indicating wear, and well known in the Logitech world. I transplanted a clicker from another Logitech but to no avail. The job is sheer hell and I do not recommend you try. The problem continued. It is very frustrating to have a mouse click twice when you click once. Maybe mine had seen heavy gaming use? After all, these gaming chaps hammer away at their gear, Logitech’s claimed clicker life of 8 million clicks notwithstanding.

Thus I reverted to the older Logitech MX900 which had the advantage that it optionally used two rechargeable AA cells, with a life of some 4 days, though these were easily switched. On the other hand, I greatly missed two features of the Revolution. The ability to switch the scroll wheel from stepped to smooth inertial mode, where I used it all the time, and that same wheel’s ability to scroll left and right in wide spreadsheets and the like.

Then the other day a friend sent me a bunch of links relating to gaming mice. I had tried a Razer Death Adder (!) and it was OK and, of course, much better than the ergonomic catastrophe that is the Apple Magic Mouse. Magic solely in the way that it runs up your carpal tunnel bills. What was a real eye opener was the number of manufacturers of mice out there dedicated to gaming. As my friend pointed out, that’s not surprising when you look at the revenues of the gaming sector, and it makes sense that the best and most innovative mouse designs would be for gamers. Who else uses a mouse harder and more often, after all?

Nearly all of these mice are solely for Windows, so much so that many sites don’t even bother to mention the OS supported. But we Mac users have an ace up our sleeve, the eminently capable SteerMouse app which loads as a preference pane in System Preferences. Further, additional code is provided to enable full functionality on many Logitech mice.

I finally decided on the Logitech G500 wired gaming mouse. Wired, as I’m tired of changing batteries, and the G500 as it has the same switchable scroll wheel design of the Revolution (albeit switched with a separate button rather than by a press on the scroll wheel, thus leaving a scroll wheel press to do better things) allowing stepped or inertial/smooth scrolling and side tilts.

There’s a lot to like here. One unusual feature is the provision of a dozen small weights, up to six of which can be clipped into a small holder which is inserted into the base of the mouse. I went for the maximum weight added of 6 x 4.5g, because that confers the heft I am used to. The top surface is a mottled grey (well, at least there are no neon lights) and the sides are a coarse nubby finish. I would prefer smooth, but it’s no big deal. If you add the code from SteerMouse here – see Update 4.1.4 – you can have the +/- buttons on the mouse act as sensitivity selectors with three settings indicated by the red LEDs on the top left of the mouse. Windows users get five settings, but you can emulate all of that in the Steer Mouse preference pane, though you do lose the ability of making additional changes on the fly. If you do not add the code you can program the +/- buttons to do your bidding in the SteerMouse preference pane.

These on-the-fly sensitivity selectors are actually quite handy for a Photoshop or Lightroom user. When outlining areas in PS or using the Adjustment Brush in LR, turning sensitivity down with a single click can greatly reduce any tendency to overshoot during the outlining task.

The scroll wheel, once set to inertial mode with the top center push button, will easily spin for up to 12 seconds and provides almost the same smooth scrolling goodness which is the only good thing about either the Apple Magic Mouse or it’s almost as awful predecessor the Mighty Mouse. You know the Mighty Mouse right? The one with that ghastly little pea scroll wheel atop which would immediately stop working at the sign of grease or fluff. Being sealed, that meant another trip to the Apple Store and another $50. I went through three.

Including the +/- buttons, the G500 mouse has 5 buttons other than the scroll wheel action changer. Then you have the scroll wheel vertical click as well as the side to side scrolling of that wheel. All programmable easily in SteerMouse, which is the best $20 any Mac user can spend to get real world mice to work with full functionality. I have had no issues using SteerMouse on a variety of Hacks and Macs with many different mice.

The Logitech G500 gaming mouse costs $45, far less than a Revolution (some new stock is still out there at $75 – I’m queasy about recommending a used one after my experience). The Revo comes with the old fashioned 2″ long receiver which sticks way out and is just asking to be broken, in contrast to newer designs which protrude maybe 1/4″. The G500 requires no receiver/dongle unlike the G700, its wireless companion, which is $68, comes with a rechargeable battery, a 1/4″ USB receiver and yet more buttons than the G500.

If you are comfortable with a wired mouse with a limited number of buttons, the G500 delivers solid functionality, adjustable weight and excellent ergonomics. And, unlike with Apple’s MagicMouse, you will find that you will not be running up medical bills. Whether I believe Logitech’s claim of an 8,000,000 click life – obviously not verifiable – is another matter all together. As I’m no gamer, if it goes 1,000,000 I will be a happy camper, as that means you can bury or incinerate me with it.

Update March, 2013:

Dustin Sklavos, an excellent tech reviewer, has published a piece about the successor to the G500, the G500s on AnandTech The main difference appears to be more robust microswitch design for the main buttons, addressing one of the common failings of Logitech mice. I suspect that button failure is a malady which most affects heavy use gamers, but I would advise today’s buyer to search out the G500s. At worst, the manufacturer’s claims are untrue, meaning you are no worse off than with the earlier G500.

Update April 22, 2013:

Logitech has announced native driver support for the G500 (and others) when using OS X. It has only taken this dumb business a decade to realize that 30% of the PC user base uses OS X. How clever! You can get the drivers here.

Update March 13, 2014:

One year with the G500 today and still as happy as can be. The best mouse I have ever used.

Update May 7, 2014:

Though I use it only occasionally in broad spreadsheets, the side scroll/tilt feature of the scroll wheel failed on the left hand side. There is no longer a microswitch ‘click’ when that feature is activated, suggesting the microswitch is broken. I contacted Logitech Support and they shipped me a free replacement, no questions asked. The original warranty is three years. The replacement is a G502 – maybe a more robust design?

Update February 3, 2016:

Still wonderful and still available.

Update October 9, 2018:

Still wonderful and still available.