Tear Down: High-end Mouse Goes Where No Mouse Has Gone

December 4, 2006

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On the surface, it may look like any other mouse. But once you really understand all the engineering that went into Logitech's MX Revolution mouse, you can better appreciate the level of performance that it offers. I was skeptical myself, thinking, "How hard is it to design a mouse?"

Aside from the hand-pleasing contours that are designed into the mouse, there are two features that really caught my eye (and fingers). First, the scroll wheel works differently than any scroll wheel I've used before. It can be used either with detents (the clicks you feel while scrolling) or free-spinning (hence, the name "Revolution"). How you get from one mode to the other was the clincher for me. Simply press down on the wheel and it switches between modes. In addition, if you're in "click" mode and you spin the wheel quickly, i.e., to scroll far down in a document, the mouse senses this action and automatically switches modes.

The second feature also relates to scroll wheel, but it's got to do with the software design. When you switch between applications, the mouse knows which application is the active one and sets the mouse operations accordingly. For example, if you're working in Internet Explorer, the wheel spins freely, to simplify scrolling. But if you're working in Word, it switches to click mode for more precise pointing. The software lets you override these settings, but most popular applications offer a default setting.

The MX Revolution design team sat down some time in 2004 to commence the project. Actually, there were multiple design teams around the world working concurrently on this project, each tasked to design one of the mouse's subsystems. This includes the mechanical design (done in Ireland), the electrical design, the firmware (done in Switzerland), the tooling (in Taiwan), and the software (written in California). The intent was to replace the company's MX 1000 product. Logitech typically rolls a new mouse design about every two years.

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