Logitech MX Master 3
Truly the king of mice, with an exceptional set of features and the best scrolling options in the world
For the past year, Logitech’s MX Master 2S mouse has ruled supreme. Head to any “best mice” article of 2018 and it was the mouse sitting at the top. So Logitech needed to do something special to usurp it, especially as you can now buy the 2S for a fraction over £50. Safe to say, the MX Master 3 is very special indeed.
It shares many traits with the 2S, but they’re all excellent. (Well, all bar one: if you’re left-handed, this isn’t the mouse for you.) First, the sheer quality of the finish: the moment you remove the hefty MX Master 3 from its box you realise you’re holding a high-quality device, and this is only reinforced by buttons and wheels that all feel reassuringly expensive.
The 4,000dpi tracking remains in place, complete with Logitech’s ominoussounding Darkfield technology. This essentially means the MX Master 3 can work on any surface, from a pair of jeans to glass worktops. Despite being targeted at advanced, professional users, the Logitech is even good enough to use for first-person shooter gaming, with 7.5ms latency over Bluetooth and 8ms if you use the bundled unifying receiver.
If you have more than one computer on your worktop, then you’ll also enjoy using
Logitech Flow. Once you install Logitech’s Options software on each system (it works on Windows and Macs), you can slide between the two as if you were using an extended desktop. Flow works on up to three computers and you can even copy and paste text between them. The only prerequisite is that they must be on the same wired or wireless network. Then there’s the horizontal scrolling button. You may wonder why anyone would want such a thing, but it’s yet one more way to be more efficient. One obvious use is in giant spreadsheets where you need to move from side to side, but I found it more useful when switching between tabs in Google Chrome: simply nudge right to move tabs. It’s also set to zoom in Word and alter brush size in Photoshop. As with the rest of the MX Master 3, it feels beautifully engineered with a solidity that makes you realise why this mouse costs so much. So what’s new with the MX Master 3? A surprising amount. First of all, Logitech decided to literally redesign the wheel. Despite the distinct bumps you feel under the finger in “ratchet” mode, the main wheel has no moving parts: the sensation (which you can switch on or off via the button below) is generated by electromagnets. This helps it scroll incredibly quickly when you need to, as there’s no mechanical system to slow it down. Logitech has tweaked the positioning of the forward/back buttons (which also work as redo/undo in Microsoft and Adobe apps) so that they sit under this wheel rather than behind it. That makes sense as they now fall more naturally under your thumb, with the idea being that using them becomes like muscle memory over time. After a week, I was
“Despite the bumps you feel in ‘ratchet’ mode, the main wheel has no moving parts: the sensation is generated by electromagnets”
instinctively using them to move back/forward in Chrome.
Then there’s the gesture button, which sits discreetly at the bottom of the “thumb rest”. (This isn’t new – the 2S also had one – but it’s now more obvious.) The idea is that you press this and move left/ right to switch between virtual desktops, or flick upwards to show the task view and downwards to reveal the desktop. It’s one more reason not to move your hand away from the mouse, but while it’s nice to have it isn’t a killer feature such as the horizontal scrolling wheel.
Another minor tweak is the sensible switch to USB-C from micro-USB for charging, with the promise of a 70-day battery life – the same as the Master 2S. And, as before, you have a choice of three colours: graphite, grey and black. All three look attractive, as you’d expect for the money, but all things being equal I would opt for the graphite.
One final thing to note is that this isn’t a silent mouse. The left and right-click make a distinct highpitched noise when you activate them, so I would feel self-conscious using this in a plane when other people were trying to sleep. I suspect I’d get a few glares in the quiet carriage on train journeys, too.
So, should you buy the MX Master 3? If you already own a Master 2 or Master 2S, there aren’t any radical new features that make this a mustbuy. All of the improvements are extremely welcome but there’s a trade-off in terms of relearning the button positioning.
And then there’s the question of whether it’s worth paying £100 for the MX Master 3 when you can now pick up the 2S for around £50. Even with all the improvements, when it comes to value for the money the 2S still has it. If you’re looking for the best mouse around, though, then there’s no doubt: it’s the MX Master 3 that will dominate “best of” guides for the next year. SPECIFICATIONS 4,000dpi wireless mouse Bluetooth LE 2.4GHz RF (via USB Unifying Receiver) 500mAh battery USB-C charging port 83 x 124 x 48mm (WDH) 142g 2yr warranty