Review: Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse

Hi,

I recently bought the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse and wrote a little
review about it.

The review is located here:
http://www.patrick-roeder.de/reviews/mx900en.htm

If the link doesn't work, go to my homepage (http://www.patrick-roeder.de/)
then go to "reviews" and then to "Logitech MX900".

I hope you find my review useful.

Patrick

Hi,

Patrick Röder wrote:
>
> I recently bought the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse and wrote a little
> review about it.

I do not really see the point why this mouse is called a "bluetooth
mouse". It seems that it only works with the base station. So where is
the difference to a normal wireless mouse (except the high price)?

For me the advantage of a bt mouse would be that it would work with the
built-in bluetooth adapter in my notebook. But Logitech does not say
anything about the used profile - so I think it does not use any standard.


-as

"Adolf Schwarz" <adolf.schwarz.news.05-04@gmx.at> wrote in message
news:2h6477F9gl8eU1@uni-berlin.de...
> Hi,
>
> Patrick Röder wrote:
> >
> > I recently bought the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse and wrote a little
> > review about it.
>
> I do not really see the point why this mouse is called a "bluetooth
> mouse". It seems that it only works with the base station. So where is
> the difference to a normal wireless mouse (except the high price)?
>
> For me the advantage of a bt mouse would be that it would work with the
> built-in bluetooth adapter in my notebook. But Logitech does not say
> anything about the used profile - so I think it does not use any standard.
>
>
> -as

All mouse and keyboard devices use HID (Human Interface Device) profile.
Check if your notebook's Bluetooth supports this profile...

--
Mauricio Freitas, Microsoft MVP Mobile Devices
Bluetooth guides: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=449
Performance Centre (Pocket PC reviews):
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=2028
Handango discount: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/handango_code.asp

Mauricio Freitas wrote:

>
> All mouse and keyboard devices use HID (Human Interface Device)
> profile. Check if your notebook's Bluetooth supports this profile...

Yes it does, but Logitech tries to hide that. In their datasheet there
is no word about any profile used. They do not say that the mouse would
work with any other bluetooth dongle. Patrick Röder said in his review:

> One important thing to notice is that you connect the mouse to its
> station and not to its PC. [...] It seems like the base station is
> emulation a regular USB mouse when the MX900 is connected to it.

After that I am not so sure that the mouse uses the standard HID profile.

-adi

"Adolf Schwarz" <adolf.schwarz.news.05-04@gmx.at> wrote in message
news:2h69blF9bhqrU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
>
> Mauricio Freitas wrote:
>
> >
> > All mouse and keyboard devices use HID (Human Interface Device)
> > profile. Check if your notebook's Bluetooth supports this profile...
>
> Yes it does, but Logitech tries to hide that. In their datasheet there
> is no word about any profile used. They do not say that the mouse would
> work with any other bluetooth dongle. Patrick Röder said in his review:
>
> > One important thing to notice is that you connect the mouse to its
> > station and not to its PC. [...] It seems like the base station is
> > emulation a regular USB mouse when the MX900 is connected to it.
>
> After that I am not so sure that the mouse uses the standard HID profile.
>
> -adi

I think the review is incomplete, or the HID understanding is lacking then:

Page 8: http://www.logitech.com/pub/pdf/blue...h_faq_v1_2.pdf

"...if you already have a system with built-in Bluetooth and the HID
profile, you can directly connect the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The
Bluetooth wireless hub will be used only to recharge your mouse - no need to
plug it to your system."

--
Mauricio Freitas, Microsoft MVP Mobile Devices
Bluetooth guides: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=449
Performance Centre (Pocket PC reviews):
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=2028
Handango discount: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/handango_code.asp

"Mauricio Freitas" <dr.emailposter@nowhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:5Byrc.3446$FN.363842@news02.tsnz.net...
> "Adolf Schwarz" <adolf.schwarz.news.05-04@gmx.at> wrote in message
> news:2h69blF9bhqrU1@uni-berlin.de...
> >
> >
> > Mauricio Freitas wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > All mouse and keyboard devices use HID (Human Interface Device)
> > > profile. Check if your notebook's Bluetooth supports this profile...
> >
> > Yes it does, but Logitech tries to hide that. In their datasheet there
> > is no word about any profile used. They do not say that the mouse would
> > work with any other bluetooth dongle. Patrick Röder said in his review:
> >
> > > One important thing to notice is that you connect the mouse to its
> > > station and not to its PC. [...] It seems like the base station is
> > > emulation a regular USB mouse when the MX900 is connected to it.
> >
> > After that I am not so sure that the mouse uses the standard HID
profile.
> >
> > -adi
>
> I think the review is incomplete, or the HID understanding is lacking
then:
>
> Page 8:
http://www.logitech.com/pub/pdf/blue...h_faq_v1_2.pdf
>
> "...if you already have a system with built-in Bluetooth and the HID
> profile, you can directly connect the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The
> Bluetooth wireless hub will be used only to recharge your mouse - no need
to
> plug it to your system."
>

Adolf, when I say "HID understanding is lacking then" it's not directed to
yourself

--
Mauricio Freitas, Microsoft MVP Mobile Devices
Bluetooth guides: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=449
Performance Centre (Pocket PC reviews):
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=2028
Handango discount: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/handango_code.asp

Mauricio Freitas wrote:

>
> I think the review is incomplete, or the HID understanding is lacking then:
>
> Page 8: http://www.logitech.com/pub/pdf/blue...h_faq_v1_2.pdf
>
> "...if you already have a system with built-in Bluetooth and the HID
> profile, you can directly connect the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The
> Bluetooth wireless hub will be used only to recharge your mouse - no need to
> plug it to your system."

thx for that, I did not see the FAQ, and neither the product description
nor the datasheet said anything about this.


-as

"Mauricio Freitas" <dr.emailposter@nowhere.invalid> wrote in
news:5Byrc.3446$FN.363842@news02.tsnz.net:

> "...if you already have a system with built-in Bluetooth and the HID
> profile, you can directly connect the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
> The Bluetooth wireless hub will be used only to recharge your mouse -
> no need to plug it to your system."

to my opinion logitech is not helping bt to become a standard like usb.

the mouse works fine with my d400 latitude, but only without using
drivers! :-( when you try to install you'll need to plugin the cradle,
but after install of "setpoint"(and deactivation of the cradle by the
driver because of existing bt solution) i canot use the mouse with build
in bt anymore. :-/
i even tried standard usb driver a.k.a. "mouseware" which normaly detects
usb mices (and my bt hub seems to be a usb device), but nothing - again
mouse stays not visible. :-/

very bad work logitech! i really thougt it will be as easy and
comfortable as it has been all the years. :-|

without drivers the mouse is not as percise and fast as mx technologie
allows it to be.

read about an ibm r40 with probs on this, installing newest driver solved
this but if drivers were installable ...

maybe someone knows a nice workaround ! plz help !

"stone" <dontmailme@t-online.de> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:c9djqo$c6r$00$3@news.t-online.com...
> "Mauricio Freitas" <dr.emailposter@nowhere.invalid> wrote in
> news:5Byrc.3446$FN.363842@news02.tsnz.net:
>
> > "...if you already have a system with built-in Bluetooth and the HID
> > profile, you can directly connect the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
> > The Bluetooth wireless hub will be used only to recharge your mouse -
> > no need to plug it to your system."
>
> to my opinion logitech is not helping bt to become a standard like usb.
>
> the mouse works fine with my d400 latitude, but only without using
> drivers! :-( when you try to install you'll need to plugin the cradle,
> but after install of "setpoint"(and deactivation of the cradle by the
> driver because of existing bt solution) i canot use the mouse with build
> in bt anymore. :-/
> i even tried standard usb driver a.k.a. "mouseware" which normaly detects
> usb mices (and my bt hub seems to be a usb device), but nothing - again
> mouse stays not visible. :-/
>
> very bad work logitech! i really thougt it will be as easy and
> comfortable as it has been all the years. :-|
>
> without drivers the mouse is not as percise and fast as mx technologie
> allows it to be.
>
> read about an ibm r40 with probs on this, installing newest driver solved
> this but if drivers were installable ...
>
> maybe someone knows a nice workaround ! plz help !

The mouse seems to have two work settings:

- HID standard: only basic functionality, left / right mouse button,
back/forward/scroll buttons cannot be used
This works with any BT dongle with HID supported.

- "Logitech" mode: all buttons and settings are accessible, full
functionality
This only seems to work with the Logitech Base Station.

I don't know if this is a technical issue (there are several bluetooth
stacks out there that maybe).


Do Microsoft Bluetooth mice work on any system supporting bluetooth or is it
the same there?
Can drivers be installed on non-MS-Dongle - Systems?

As I only have the DiNovo Desktop from Logitech and do not want to spend any
money on pointing devices, I don't know.
Maybe there is someone out there who can check this out for us...

Gottfried

Moin,

Am Tue, 1 Jun 2004 08:34:05 +0200 schrieb Gottfried Mayer:

> The mouse seems to have two work settings:
>=20
> - HID standard: only basic functionality, left / right mouse button,
> back/forward/scroll buttons cannot be used
> This works with any BT dongle with HID supported.
>=20
> - "Logitech" mode: all buttons and settings are accessible, full
> functionality
> This only seems to work with the Logitech Base Station.

That looks like a stupid idea to me. Not stupid enough to believe noone
would do it, though.

> Do Microsoft Bluetooth mice work on any system supporting bluetooth or
> is it the same there?

It works fine with bthid under Linux/BlueZ and I can see no reason why
it shouldn't (except for the abovementioned extreme stupidity, of
course). I couldn't make it work with my Windows/Widcomm (Thinkpad
T30), but I didn't try too hard.

--=20
Henryk Pl=F6tz
Gr=FC=DFe aus Berlin
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