By TAN KIT HOONGbytz@thestar.com.my
The Logitech G700 is a wireless gaming mouse with a host of customisable buttons for the serious gamer.
THERE was a time when wireless mice were considered too laggy for gaming, but these days the issue seems to have been settled with mice that do 1,000 reports per second over the air, ensuring that there is practically no delay.
Anyway, one of the latest of these high-performance wireless gaming mice is Logitech's G700, which is not only wireless, but comes with a plethora of customisable buttons to which you can assign almost any function or macro that you can think of in a game.
A mouse in the hand
With the G700 wireless gaming mouse, Logitech has opted for a more traditional shape reminiscent of its M950 desktop mouse.
This means it's quite a chunky mouse, although it's still pretty comfortable and easy to access all the buttons even for very small hands like mine.
Because of its shape, the G700 is only made for right-hand gamers - it's just not possible to access the buttons if you opt to use your left hand to work the mouse.
On the upside, the G700 is pretty weighty and feels good in the hand - unlike Logitech's other gaming mouse, the G9x, there is no option to change the weight and shape of the grip.
What the G700 has instead, are eight extra buttons which allow you to assign almost any function to it as well as macros for easy gaming.
Yes, I know Logitech's box says that the mouse has thirteen customisable buttons but the company is counting the left/right mouse buttons, middle scroll wheel inward click and left/right rocker switch in addition to the aforementioned eight.
By default, the first two buttons on the left side of the left mouse button is assigned to DPI change - one for cranking the DPI up and the other for turning it down.
The third button underneath the two is by default set to show you the battery status when pressed.
A row of three LEDs on the side just under the thumb buttons show you the current DPI setting in red when you press the DPI change buttons or green to indicate battery level when you press the button assigned to display battery level.
Of course, all these buttons can be assigned to any function that you want, and can be switched around as you like.
There is an additional button right under the mouse wheel which is not customisable. It's there to switch the scroll wheel ratchet on and off - i.e. it gives you the option to have the clicky scroll which is essential if you use it in gaming for switching weapons, or the completely smooth scroll which works well for web browsing.
The configuration software for the mouse is the same as the one used in the G9x, which means it's very easy to understand and has an extensive amount of settings you can tweak, from button assignments to vertical and horizontal scrolling speeds.
The one complaint I have is that for some reason, Logitech no longer provides a standalone offline driver.
Instead you'll have to donwload a tiny installer which will then download the appropriate files.
The problem is that when I first tried it on my office machine, the firewall and proxy would not allow the driver to download.
I can potentially see this as a problem for people trying to install the drivers without an Internet connection as well, since you can't just, say, download the driver and put it on a thumbdrive and then bring it to another machine with no Internet connection to install.
Overall, I quite like the Logitech G700 - the speed and performance of the mouse is quite customisable and surprisingly for its size, it's quite comfortable even for small hands.
I also really like the matte textured finish, which provides a good grip and doesn't show up oily fingerprints much.
The mouse, while rechargeable, actually uses a single regular AA-sized NiMH battery so you can easily replace it when the battery reaches the end of its lifetime, or switch it out for a regular Alkaline AA when you can't be bothered to charge.
You also have the option to play-and-charge by connecting the supplied microUSB cable to the G700 while you use it - the cable is designed in such a way that it integrates into the body of the mouse really well without any obstructions to your mousing.
Our review unit for some reason was missing this cable, although we're sure it is a supplied item - instead, we used a regular microUSB cable and it worked just fine as well.
There's little to say about the Logitech G700 - it works really well as a gaming mouse and obviously, equally well for other tasks that you do on your PC.
AT RM299 list, it's not particularly cheap, but then again, if you're a serious gamer earning serious money, this could be considered a serious tool of the trade.
For the rest of us, it's a great mouse, though I wager the plethora of customisable buttons will be mostly unused.
Nevertheless, the Logitech G700 is a great mouse.
Pros: Accurate; many customiable buttons; nice matte, non-slip finish.
Cons: Driver installation requires connection to the Internet.
Wireless Gaming Mouse G700
CONNECTIVITY: 2.4GHz wireless
MAXIMUM RESOLUTION: 5,700dpi laser technology
IMAGE PROCESSING: 12 megapixels per second
MAXIMUM ACCELERATION: 30G
MAXIMUM SPEED: 4.19m per second
CUSTOMISABLE KEYS: 3
OTHER FEATURES: MicroUSB, extended cable for wireless receiver
DIMENSIONS (W X D X H): 80 x 126 x 46 milliimeters
Review unit courtesy of Logitech Malaysia. Enquiries: Kaira-technologies Sdn Bhd (03) 2026-1669, Ingram Micro Sdn Bhd (03) 7952-8188