The Bottom Line: The MX700 mouse is great for your everyday office programs as well as gaming! It's cordless, rechargeable and performs extremely well. Definitely worth the price if you could afford it.

Okay, okay. Although mice are not specifically categorized as gaming devices, it's what we primarily use for our PC gaming, which is what I'm going to focus on for this review since mice are fairly general as far as what they're used for with other PC applications. There are PC gamers that play games using joysticks, wheels and gamepads, but the majority of the players out there use the good ol' fashion keyboard and mouse combo. When we, as gamers, think of mice and gaming, typically only a few reliable mice manufacturers come to mind. For me, the two I think of are Microsoft's IntelliMouse products and Logitech's Optical mouse line. Yeah, there've been those niche mouse products like the Boomslang by Razor, but most if not all of them pretty much blew chunks. You don't need a special "gaming" mouse to get the best out of your PC gaming, although there are those hardcore gamers that won't use any other mouse than the one they use for their competitions and clan battles. I'm even betting that a good chunk of 'em out there are using mice from the two manufacturers I'd just mentioned. One other thing I'm 100% sure of it that these mice that gamers are using are corded mice and/or optical mice. No one uses trackball mice anymore. Though there have been a couple of cordless mice that have been released, they never performed well in the gaming environment. In fact, they're generally looked down on in the PC gaming community because of their poor performance.

Well, now all of that is about to change. I tell ya, Logitech always seems to keep taking things up a notch. Among their new cordless products (both gaming and non-gaming), which seems to be the focus of Logitech's marketing campaigns as of late, comes the new MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse. The flagship of their new MX series could very well be the last mouse you'll buy for a very long time.

Look
I wish this page had a picture of it because I think it's a great looking mouse! It has a great color scheme and buttons layout. There are quite a few features on this thing that correlates to the number of buttons, and the good thing is, it doesn't scare me. The MX700 comes in silver and black (any Raider fans out there?). This appears to be the color for the entire MX line (there are two other mouse models besides this one). One of the things I find really cool about the look of the mouse are the left and right mouse-click buttons. These buttons are not clearly seen because they're right underneath the one-piece, grey-colored portion of the casing. They're located where they're supposed to be, so it won't feel any different. This is so much better than simply making the mouse-click buttons flush with the mouse casing. The MX700 has a sleek and yet simple look that I'm sure everyone will find very appealing.

Features
In a nutshell, the MX700 mouse is cordless, optical and rechargeable which is everything I would expect for these next-generation cordless mice. Logitech has developed a new RF cordless technology that gives the responsiveness of a corded connection. For those that really know what to look for in mice, Logitech's MX Optical Engine captures 4.7 megapixels of information per second, which is more than 60% more than other leading mice. Basically, this means that the tracking is pretty darn good for quick movements – perfect for First Person Shooter & Real-Time Strategy games. The other thing to look for when choosing a mouse for your gaming fun is resolution. The higher the resolution, the smoother, more accurate cursor control you have. This mouse has an 800-dpi (dots per inch) optical resolution. Most optical mice have a 400-dpi resolution.

Now for the other really cool features this mouse has. As I'd mentioned, this mouse is also rechargeable with a rapid charge base station (which also happens to be the transceiver), and it comes with 2 NiMH batteries so you don't need to worry about having to replace the batteries for a long while. Besides the left/right mouse-click buttons and scroll wheel are several additional buttons that have some really cool features. The first set of buttons has to do with the new Cruise Control Scrolling System. This system introduces two Cruise Control buttons that allow you to scroll up and down your documents and web pages by simply pressing these buttons (they're located above and below the scroll wheel). Unfortunately, you can't use it the way you would use your scroll wheel in games (i.e. switching weapons in first-person shooters). Bummer! I think this would've been cool. Maybe in the next driver release? The other button located right below the lower Cruise Control button is the new Quick Switch Program Selector. Let's say you've got an Excel file, Word document and webpage open. At the touch of this button, you can switch to the different programs you have running (this is equivalent to pressing your Alt plus Tab keys on your keyboard). I tell you, this makes simple navigation even easier, but it's not a button you want to press while playing your games since it'll try switch to the other running programs. This could really mess you up in the middle of your game. On the left side of the mouse, by where you would place your thumb (if you're right-handed), are two navigation buttons that allow you to easily move forward and backward between web pages on the internet. Where oh where have these buttons been all my web-surfing life? This is definitely an awesome feature.

If this mouse were a car, I'd say this was a fully loaded BMW.

Feel & Responsiveness
The movement and navigation is as smooth and accurate as any mouse can be - I would have to say the best in this department so far. The size and ergonomics of the mouse is perfect. My hand comfortably rests on the mouse and I don't feel that I have to worry about accidentally hitting the other function buttons unless I want to. The batteries do make it a little heavy, but I consider this to be a very minimal compromise. With games, as I previously mentioned, cordless mice are laughed at and looked down upon. How do I know this? I tried playing Counterstrike and Unreal Tournament with Logitech's previous cordless model, the Cordless Optical Mouse, and it was horrible. Cordless mice do the worst with FPS games due to the quick movements needed while playing. I was even chatting with the other players in these games and they basically called me an idiot for even attempting to play games with this or any cordless mouse. Well, now I can say it with pride and let everyone know that the mouse I'm using to kick everyone's butt in is a CORDLESS mouse! I've been using this mouse to play all of my FPS games, from UT2003 to Battlefield 1942 and I have to say it actually feels so much better than the corded mouse I previously had connected. For RPG and RTS games, this mouse should do just as good, if not better since the movements in these games are a little simpler.

Comparisons
This MX700 is the flagship in Logitech's MX mouse products line. The MX500 is basically the same mouse, but it's corded. The MX300 is the lower-end model that offers only the MX Optical Engine and the Quick Switch Program Selector. No contest here.

Microsoft also has two cordless optical mouse products of their own. The first is the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer and the other, higher-end model is the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth. Bluetooth is basically Microsoft's latest cordless technology. Although, I've not had the opportunity to try out either of these mice, I'm pretty sure the Bluetooth model is very comparable to the MX700 in terms of performance. Funny thing is, neither of these models offers a rechargeable feature, and the MX700/500 still has the extra navigation buttons feature that the IntelliMice don't. Price-wise, the Bluetooth retails for about $85 and the other cordless IntelliMouse goes for about $65. Logitech's mouse still appears to be the better product, hands down.

Price Point
The Logitech MX700 has an $80 price point. Although a little high, I definitely think it's worth the price. If you do decide to pick up this mouse, it'll probably be a while before you think about replacing it due to Logitech's quality and how long their products typically last. Remember, what you're really paying for is the cordless feature. Look at Microsoft's mice and their prices. I'd say you definitely get more for you money with the MX700 since this mouse is also rechargeable and it has those cool navigation features to boot.

Conclusion
Due to popular demand for a GOOD cordless mouse (for gaming), the MX 700 raises the bar on precision and control. It's not positioned as a gaming mouse, but it does extremely well in this area. For applications outside of gaming, you can pretty much use any mouse, but some of us gamers have been waiting quite some time for a cordless mouse that actually works well with our games. The new MX does this plus a whole lot of other stuff to make our everyday use of office applications even easier. What more can you ask? Yes, the price may be a little high, but you not only replace your everyday working mouse, you also get a kick butt cordless, "gaming-friendly" mouse that's rechargeable. If you do pick this up, I guarantee that you probably won't be needing to replace this mouse for quite some time. I certainly feel it's worth the price. My only concern is for those left-handed mouse users out there since the buttons layout is definitely made for right-handers. Sorry guys.