Logitech Corded Mouse (M500)

• Fly through long documents and Web pages with just a flick of the nearly frictionless scroll wheel
• Outperforms optical mice with smoother cursor control on virtually any surface
• Get more support and control with soft side grips and contoured design
• Move through Web pages and navigate your photo albums easily with backward/forward buttons
• Works right out of the box?just plug it into your USB port

If a corded mouse is what you want, this is probably the best you'll get.

Like many Logitech mice, the M500 is ergnomically shaped for comfort and reduced strain/tension. Logitech mice are the most comfortable I have used. You can mouse around for hours with much less strain than when using mice from other manufacturers.

Like Logitech's more recent models, the M500 has a scroll wheel that you can switch between regular scrolling and "hyper scrolling," where you give the wheel a little flick and it scrolls very quickly through huge amounts of data. Once you try this feature, you won't go back to a mouse that doesn't have it.

You can also push the scroll wheel to the left or right for horizontal scrolling.

The M500 also has forward and back buttons within easy reach of the thumb, useful for quickly jumping through website or powerpoint slides.

It is a laser mouse, which is much more precise than the older optical mice. It tracks well on most surfaces I've tried, though of course not on glass (Logitech makes more expensive mice that track well on glass).

There are only two things I'd caution you about before purchasing. First, this mouse is really designed to be used by the right hand only. It's possible to use it with the left hand, but it's not as comfortable, and using the forward/back buttons isn't nearly as practical or easy with the left hand as with the right.

Second, this is a corded mouse. You might prefer cordless. For me, corded mice have advantages: no battery to wear out, no charging cradles, no usb receiver to lose, and I've found that corded mice track better than many cordless mice (though the very newest cordless mice, like Logitech's "Anywhere MX" and "Performance MX" track very, very well).

In summary, if you want a right-handed corded mouse, please give this a try. I've tried many, and this is the only one I'd rate as excellent. It's very very comfortable, it tracks very well, and the hyper-scrolling and other features are very well-thought out and implemented. And it's much cheaper than cordless mice offering the same feature set.

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I bought the M500 to replace my G7 which started to have problems left clicking after I dropped it while moving apartments. I got tired of swapping batteries so I decided to go with a corded mouse and so far, I've been very happy with the purchase. The M500 is a bit curvier than the MX and G series of mice, which makes it fit even better underneath my hand. I've never really had any ergonomic issues with Logitech mice, and the M500 keeps up that tradition for me.

The top of the mouse and the left/right buttons are made of a textured plastic and the sides are a rubbery grip. It's a small touch, but it really gives the mouse a quality feel to it.

Both the back and forward buttons are placed on the left side of the mouse, which is my preferred placement. Some mice put the forward button on the right side and I find that my pinky isn't really trained well enough to use the button.

The scroll wheel feels like it's weighted, but it's still very easy to rotate. Below the scroll wheel is a toggle switch that will turn on and off the stepped scrolling in the wheel. When off, you can spin the weighted wheel and let it go on its own momentum for a while. The stepped scrolling mode feels a bit looser than what I'm used to, but it still works great. My only complaint with this mouse is that the looser scrolling causes me to accidentally scroll while I'm pressing the middle button. It really only bothers me when I'm playing first person shooters because sometimes I'll accidentally switch weapons when I click the middle button. The scroll wheel also tilts left and right if you're looking for that functionality.

Pros:

+ Feels as solid as any Logitech mouse that I've ever owned: MX 500, MX 700, and the G7.

+ The curvier design feels a bit more ergonomic to me.

+ Good button placement with back and forward buttons on the left.

+ Wheel tilts left and right for those who are looking for that extra functionality.

+ Scroll wheel has a free spinning mode. I'm not sure what it's good for, but it's kind of fun to spin the wheel and watch it scroll long documents.

Cons:

The scroll wheel is a bit looser than what I'm used to. There's a tiny bit of play in between each click of the wheel. Unfortunately, that little bit of movement is enough to register in games so when you try to middle click in an FPS game, it's very easy to accidentally switch weapons too.

Overall, it's a great mouse for desktop and office use. Gamers would probably be better served by Logitech's many gaming mice though.

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I originally had the Logitech MX Revolution wireless mouse. I loved the hyper scrolling wheel and the overall feel. But the wireless was a pain because I could never remember to charge the battery and would run out in the middle of the working day. And the wireless was nearly useless to me because my computer is about 5 ft from my keyboard. Mouse reception to the MX Revolution wireless sensor was intermittent unless I plugged the mouse wireless receiver into a USB extension cord.

This product the corded mouse, has the same great feel as the MX revolution, and the same great scroll wheel but without all the nuisances of wireless operation.

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The M500 works great as a two-button mouse. But at this price, one would expect its other features to work, too. They don't. If you are not disappointed by this mouse, either your standards are low, or you are paying for a set of features you never use.

Problems:

1. The middle button is so difficult to press that it's practically impossible to use. It's both stiff AND requires a precision 90-degree press to avoid accidentally rocking the wheel, which activates the rightor left-scroll buttons. I assigned the horizontal scroll buttons to cycle through browser tabs, but since I use the middle mouse button to open links in new tabs, I find I'm constantly switching tabs when I'm trying to open them. This problem is so severe that I seriously wondered whether I got a dud. But the next problem makes me doubt that.

2. The "free spinning" wheel is a disaster. It's a good idea executed so badly it should never have seen the light of day. Its low friction means it moves by itself at the slightest disturbance, or sometimes simply at random. You spin it to scroll up a page, then stop it with your finger, but as gently as you might let it go, it will invariably roll back a few lines. This is so annoying that I just leave it turned off. I wonder how it ever made it into the finished product.

3. The forwardmost side button is too far forward. My thumb isn't particularly short and I don't think my grip is unusual either, but I can't hit that button without lifting my hand off the mouse. The second button is right above my thumb, in the perfect place. Why couldn't they have placed the first button behind it, or below my thumb?

4. The software is buggy. The aforementioned browser-specific horizontal scroll button assignments that I set occasionally and at random unbind and revert to the defaults -making this feature unusable as well.

I have never paid so much for a product yet got so little. I do my research before I buy; this mouse received generally good reviews. Yet it barely functions as a three-button mouse, let alone a seven-reprogrammable-button mouse with clever scrolling. I am confused, but not about what I will do next: I will be getting rid of it immediately.

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The Logitech MX400 mouse was my all-time favorite: the shape seems to have been made for my hand and every button seems to work just right. I expected the similar looking M500 to satisfy me as much... but no. Some designer decided to put some smooth shiny "wheel covers" on each side of the wheel (to show that it scrolls very fast, I suppose!). Unfortunately, these smooth "wheel covers" do not grab and the scroll left-right function of the wheel is MUCH less enjoyable to use. Even scrolling requires a little more finger accuracy. So, I wish Logitech rolled back the M500 wheel to the MX400 full "rubber" wheel. At the same time, they should rule that their "usability experts" have precedence over their "cutesiness experts". (They could also review my Logitech Harmony 520 remote control number bad: the buttons are suitable for aliens with tiny finger tips shaped like the end of flat blade screwdrivers!)

Added 2012/04/19: I still enjoy my corded MX400. For my laptops, we enjoy light (1-battery) M305's. And since discovering the Logitech Solar Keyboard, I bought 3: I found that the touch was outstanding and that I ended up typing much faster and more accurately. I should write a review of the keyboard at the proper place... Logitech still does a lot of things right!