Logitech MX900 Bluetooth Optical Mouse and Mac OS X
I now have in my hand a Logitech MX900 Bluetooth Optical Mouse. Theoretically very close to the mouse of my dreams. So how does it stand up to the scrutiny of Julian?
My TiBook does not have built-in Bluetooth. I plugged in Logitech’s Bluetooth hub and connected the mouse. For some reason this Bluetooth hub is not detected by Mac OS X as such (I would imagine that means it doesn’t work the same was as all these little Bluetooth dongles), and Logitech of course provides no drivers. Nonetheless, the mouse still works fine because Mac OS X sees the hub as a USB HID. Basically it functions just as it would if I had an MX700 using Logitech’s proprietary radio protocol. I really hope Logitech releases drivers to allow the Bluetooth hub to be recognized as such. I’m not a fan of Logitech’s mouse drivers so I don’t care about that, I just want it to be a Bluetooth hub.
The mouse was really really jumpy, so much so that it could barely be used. I turned off 802.11b and it was still that jumpy. So I didn’t move a single thing and plugged the Bluetooth hub into my Windows machine. I installed Logitech’s drivers, rebooted a few times, the usual Windows fun, and then paired the mouse with the hub and I had the mouse working. It was smooth as silk. I turned on 802.11b on my laptop and there were no ill effects. Then I unplugged the hub from my Windows machine and plugged it back into my TiBook. There we go. It wasn’t as smooth as under Windows, but it was vastly improved over what I had before with the TiBook.
My only major problem with this mouse is the acceleration (not the speed, the acceleration curve). Logitech claims it has “10g” of acceleration built-in. It’s way way too much. I really prefer the acceleration I have with the other nameless USB mice I plug into my TiBook. I hope I can find a way to turn it down some.
So, Logitech, all I ask is that you give me drivers to allows Mac OS X to see the Bluetooth hub as, well, a Bluetooth hub. And give me a way to turn off the built-in acceleration in this mouse. Based on previous experience with Logitech mouse drivers, I’ll pass on those.
All that said, I really like this mouse.
Update 23 July 2005: I’d just like to add that I’ve been using this mouse for a long while now and I really do love it. The acceleration issue is nonexistent when using it as an actual Bluetooth device (see my comment below). My only two wishes for this mouse are an on/off switch and the ability to see remaining charge in OS X as can be done with Apple’s Bluetooth Mouse.
Some people still seem to get the “jumpiness” issue. The best I can recommend is what I said above or simply trying to replace the mouse (I hear Logitech’s customer service is usually pretty good with that). I’m not sure why Logitech still has yet to release a Bluetooth mouse targeted at laptop users or Mac OS X users. I don’t know what their market researchers are thinking. Maybe some day we’ll get an MX900 with an on/off switch. Who knows. Until then, I’ll just keep taking my batteries out and keep enjoying my mouse.
i really like your mouse. it’s so nice (and i realized that my mouse is a logitech too =p i didn’t notice it until recently…tho it’s like more than 2 years old).
The only thing I think is bad is the weight…my cordless optical mouse with the batteries is heavy…yours is heavier…i just wish they make lighter batteries or whatever (:
I just got an actual USB Bluetooth dongle. The MX900 pairs with it just fine, and there are no issues with the acceleration. It’s just like any other USB mouse now. Yey!
I am thinking on buying this mouse to go with my new powerbook 15″. It has bluetooth built in so I figure it’ll work fine.
Thanks for your post.
Works fine on my 15inch Aluminum… I just wish I could program more of the buttons. As there are no officially Logitech drivers it works but in a more limited mode. If you program Expose… you’ll see that the computer can see all the buttons and actually when you set up Bluetooth for the mouse it is recognized by name which is cool.
its possible to program the buttons with Gamepad Companion. http://www.carvware.com/gamepadcompanion.html works because the mouse supports the HID standard, so essentially Mac OS X recieves a signal for Mouse4 or Mouse5 buttons, and doesn’t know what to do with them. This lets you assign keycommands and things to these buttons. My MX900 is on its way.
I picked up a mx900 hoping that with a dongle everything would be alright….
but it’s a little jumpy for my tastes - any rumors of logitech releasing real drivers?
Like I said, I had to install the Logitech drivers under Windows before the mouse worked with Logitech’s dongle without being jumpy. Recently, however, I just use it with a Bluetooth dongle and it’s not particularly jumpy.
thanks for the response - i guess we’re in the same boat at this point. the mouse is definately useable but it’s just a little disappointing that they haven’t released proper drivers since it is such a high end mouse. It would probably take very few resources on logitech’s part to get it really accurate as it’s a little frustrating that it’s off a bit at this point.
Well, personally, I think Logitech’s drivers… suck. I know that if Logitech were to make drivers they’d decide they have to make a huge set of tools and other crap I don’t want. All I want is for my mouse’s battery life to be correctly seen by OS X (and displayed in the standard OS X mouse battery places) and for the mouse to be updated to Bluetooth 1.2. Maybe a few tweaks to get the mouse to be more precise for people having problems with that. Ah well… Logitech…. sigh.
I have a Logitech MouseMan Optical. For both Mac and Windows, it doesn’t allow configuration of acceleration and orientation… Despite the fact that these customization options were *built in* to the Windows OS, the Logitech software over-rides it. This is a problem because I like my mouse acceleration at 0% of factory settings.
Got me an MX900 as well - if you’re unhappy with the button assignment and acceleration, try USB Overdrive - I had it installed already from my previous USB mouse and it works like a charm - all 8 buttons (incl. the wheel) fully configurable.
There appears to be a glitch when using the MX900 with GamePad Companion on a multiple monitor setup. With GamePad active, you can’t perform actions such as mouse clicks or drags in the secondary monitor - a mouse click immediately repositions the cursor onto the primary monitor.
Other than that, the software works very well, but I depend on a two-monitor setup for my work and this is a dealbreaker for me… =(
i am having problems with my mouse i instaled it one then i formated me pc now when i try to instal it is can not conect
i have read the book but still it will not conect
I’ve started writing a small helper app, not quite a driver, but something that helps with button assignments for the MX900. It listens to button clicks and forwards key-commands to the frontmost application. I plan on releasing it to the world once i finish it– its a long way from there right now, but currently any two buttons on the mouse may be configured for forward or back in a web browser or in the finder. It will be donation-ware when its done. (free, but you can still send me money if you like it) I wanted to share with anybody who is interested in this now and willing to put up with some bugs/lack of features. It seems to survive Sleeping the computer, unlike GamePad Companion, but not bluetooth disconnects. Remove the garbage from my e-mail address and send if you’d like to try it out. The major limitation, is that currently the commands are hardcoded in, and that part is not user configurable
Hi,
read here about my experiences with the mouse.
I bought the mouse and used the Mac OS X setup assistant to pari the device and it works a treat without the cradle on my 12″ powerbook..
going to try USB overdrive to config the other buttons but the mac os assigns the mouse wheel button to exposé how about that.
I’m using OS 10.3.5
Congratulations on being the number 1 google result for ‘logitech mx900 “os x”‘ :)
I just got this mouse to pair with my shiny new 15″ Powerbook (built in bluetooth). It does work, but I’m having the extreme accelleration issues you mentioned and I’m also irked by the other limitations (no battery life indicator, unable to remap buttons, etc).
I love the mouse in every other way, and I use its cousin (the MX700) on my Windows system without a hitch. If only Logitech would release some software for OS X… their failure to support this device is surprising, as 1) many Macs include internal bluetooth and 2) Logitech has had good OS X support with their other devices. This would seem to be neglecting a key market for this device.
Oh, and this mouse also costs a premium, as it seems bluetooth mice are a rare breed indeed. There are only a few alternatives and they aren’t any better (in fact, they are in most ways much worse), such as the crappy MS Intellimouse and the worthless Apple one-button paperweight.
Side note - Apple, make a damn multi-button mouse! I fail to understand Apple’s reluctance to get up to speed with their pointing devices, especially with OS X properly utilizing multiple buttons.
Man, sounds very disappointing.
I was about to get one of these. thanks for the info.
does anyone know if microsoft bluetooth mouse have a driver for mac?
if not who does have a driver for mac?
I think belkins has one but I don’t like the look.
Eh? Did you read the comments and all? I absolutely love this mouse–I just don’t use the dock as a bluetooth dongle. It’s better that way anyway because I use it with my laptop. The acceleration issues are only if you use the dock as the dongle.
It’s working perfectly on my PB G4 (DVI) with Mac OS X 10.3.5 and the D-Link DBT-120 Dongle. All buttons assigned to Exposé…
I have the MX900 and a Powerbook with Bluetooth. The mouse is pretty much unusable because it is very jumpy and the acceleration is terrible. I sent an email to Logitech months ago about a Mac driver but haven’t heard anything. I can’t believe that there aren’t more Bluetooth mouse options out there. Apple’s mouse is useless without the second button, and this mouse is useless because of the poor movement.
Responding to a comment earlier by Keith - GamePad Companion works for multiple monitors if you don’t try and assign the mouse buttons that OS X handles natively. For example, leave the mapping for buttons 1 and 2 to none. I only assign the back and forward buttons (buttons 4 and 5 to Command-[ and Command-]) and the up scroll and down scroll. The other buttons I configured for Expose (buttons 3 and 6) Look Here for the button list.
Hmm, I just got MX900 and was unaware of the possible problems in configuring it. I have the hub attached via USB to my powermac, but to me it seems that USB overdrive does absolutely nothing. My main gripe is that I can’t open new weblinks into new tabs in firefox by pressing the middle (wheel) button. Even though I configure USB Overdrive for ‘mouse click + command’ it still doesn’t work.
Then I tried if it even responded by giving it all sorts of weird configurations, opening urls by clicking right or running software and to me it just seems that the USB overdrive and the MX900 don’t really talk to eachother at all.
Get a Bluetooth dongle and use it with Bluetooth. Use the base station only for charging.
Ahh, sorry I forgot to mention, I indeed do have the bluetooth dongle (I have a wireless keyboard + the apple mouse) and to me the mouse seemed to move a lot more jerkily (sp?) when it was connected to the bluetooth dongle and the base station was only used for charging.
I have the new 20 inch iMac with the wireless keyboard and mouse; the bluetooth came preinstalled with the computer. being that i hate the whole one button idea, i took the bluetooth mouse that came with the media center keyboard + mouse combo without the mouse charger / bluetooth hub thinger. all i had to do to get the mouse to work was add it as a new bluetooth device and it worked perfectly. so now i have the option of using either mouse which is nice when i’m watching movies or want to change the music from my futon.
nequia jenkins
new york, ny
I just got it today, and on my 17″ Powerbook with OS X 10.3.6 it pairs without any trouble and works fine as far as I can see that.
Has anybody tried the microsoft bluetooth intellimouse in order to compare with the mx900???
I still have no idea of which one to choose…
I don’t know if it’s gotten any better, but back when I picked my MX900 most people were saying bad things about Microsoft’s Bluetooth mice when used with OS X.
Logitech seems intent on selling every wireless input device with a dedicated receiver. That makes sense for products implemented with Logitech’s proprietary wireless, I wish there was an option to buy the MX900 without the bluetooth hub. Why can’t they make a mouse cradle that’s just a charging station?
I had a *well, duh* moment figuring out which physical buttons on the mouse mapped to which button number in Gamepad Companion. I thought, to save others the hassle, I’ll list which is which:
1/2 — Left/Right mouse buttons (OS X prevents you from redirecting these)
3 — Scroll wheel click
4 — Left hand side arrow button, back
5 — Left hand side arrow button, front
6 — “double square” button
7 — “double arrow”, above scroll wheel
8 — “double arrow”, below scroll wheel
Ah ha! Just the information I was looking for! I’m using an MX900 with the builtin Bluetooth on my Powerbook but when it wakes from sleep I have to manually stop/restart Gamepad Companion from its preference pane before my button assignments will work. Does anyone know of a way to automatically restart Gamepad Companion on wake? I’d be oh so grateful as it’s doing my nut in!!
“Logitech seems intent on selling every wireless input device with a dedicated receiver. That makes sense for products implemented with Logitechâ��s proprietary wireless, I wish there was an option to buy the MX900 without the bluetooth hub. Why canâ��t they make a mouse cradle thatâ��s just a charging station?”
Logitech obviously does not care about the Mac market with respect to the MX900, despite the fact that I know many Mac users who have one. I have no idea what’s going on in that company. They do market other mice for Macs… but I may be better off without one of their “drivers” anyway. Ugh.
As far as I’m concerned, the MX900 is very close to the perfect mouse for me. An on/off switch would be a good addition for when I’m carrying it around with my laptop.
Has anyone figured out the best way to put the computer to sleep without waking it back up when you put the mouse on the charger? I guess I could change the “wake up the computer with bluetooth activity” but what’s the fun in that?
Thanks
I can’t help you with that, Mike, but i guess you could always put the mouse in the charger before putting your computer to sleep. :)
Has anyone had issues with battery life? My MX900 is paired directly to my powerbook, and it seems to run out very quickly - way faster than my older MX700. I’m not sure if it’s not charging completely (not seating right in the charger or something) or if pairing it directly to the powerbook is perhaps too bluetooth-intensive. Any ideas?
Eric - There’s a green light that starts blinking once you’ve seated the mouse correctly in the charger. Also I read that it takes three initial full charges if the mouse is brand new to get it to full battery capacity. And finally rechargable batteries don’t last forever. If you’ve had them for a long time it may be time to get new ones.
Mike, try turning unchecking “allow bluetooth devices to wake this computer” in system preferences, in the bluetooth section under the keyboard and mouse preference pane.
I have an iMac G5 WITHOUT internal Bluetooth. I have 2 questions. First can I use the Logitech MX 900 with the iMac by using just the BT adapter that comes with the MX 900 since its not Mac compatible. (Again my iMac does not come with internal bluetooth)
Secondly assuming I can use the MX 900 under the above described arrangement, can I run an Apple bluetooth keyboard off of the MX 900’s BT adaptor/hub or would I still need to buy a separate bluetooth USB adaptor such as the one made by D-Link. Thanks!!
David R:
The MX900’s dock works in a compatibility mode when it’s not recognized as a Bluetooth adapter—so yes, you will be able to use it with the mouse.
If you get another Bluetooth device you will need to get something which is actually recognized as a Bluetooth adapter by Mac OS X.
Julian,
I love your website.I hope your the person that can help me.I have a Mac on os X.37 with the DT-bluetooth dongle and the mx-900 .I’m having trouble setting up the GamePad Companion.I must be missing a simple step on the program.On GamePad, it shows that it’s a mx-900.That’s ok.But when I select select for a Key Combination.I get stuck.I select Button #4,then Key combo.This is where I get stuck.I then try the Apple or Command Key then the Left Arrow key.While pressing the Left Arrow key, a repeating keyboard thumping noise is made.And the Current Key Mapping stays on none.What am I doing wrong. Please help.
thanks
don
I don’t use GamePad Companion, sorry.
Julian,
Thanks for the publ;ic service of posting this web page. I have a G5 PowerMac with built-in Bluetooth and wireless keyboard and mouse. I plugged in the USB and power and the Logitech mouse works with scrolling and the ‘up’ and ‘down’ keys but nothing else. I left the Mac BT mouse on as well. My question is: am I using the Mac’s BT or the Logitech’s BT because when I go into my Mac’s BT to set up as new device it doesn’t ’see’ my Logitech at all.
As a follow-up to my last post, I detached the Logitech USB/power key from back of the Mac and the mouse stopped working and the Mac wouldn’t recognize the BT mouse so that would seem to indicate that it is using the Logitech BT connection, not the Mac’s. I turned off my Mac mouse just to be sure there wasn’t any interference.
In other words, the Mac is recognizing the Logitech base station as a BT device and allowing it to control the mouse.
What if I want the Mac’s BT to control it? Can I do that?
As I’ve said before… No, Mac OS X does not recognize Logitech’s Bluetooth base station as a Bluetooth controller. Logitech’s Bluetooth base station has a compatibility mode where it will simply pass it on as if it’s a USB mouse.
To use the mouse using your Mac’s built-in Bluetooth, simply do the regular Bluetooth “add device” and press the button on the bottom of your mouse.
Thanks for the reply. You’re right…I pushed the connect button and it worked. It paired and works as a BT device. But I must say (1) the response from the mouse was BETTER in compatability mode - much less lag and better acceleration and (2) if it works as a USB mouse in compatability mode with the base station attached, what’s the point in having the Bluetooth?
Alexander, please read the original article as well as the comments… I too was having lag problems until I set it all up under Windows, then regular Bluetooth was fine.
As for question 2, well, that’s sort of the point. You either need Bluetooth or you don’t. I don’t use Logitech’s hub because I bought this mouse to use with my laptop.
First of all Amen to: “Apple, make a damn multi-button mouse!” This would solve all our issues. Oh… and Apple, make it similar the MX900.
It sound like the key to getting this mouse to work is to use the the D-Link Bluetooth receptor (or Apple built-in receptor) and configure it with Apple’s Bluetooth Utility. Install Overdrive as your mouse configuration utlities, attach the MX900 station and set it to compatablity mode, only to be used as a recharger. Does this sound right? I have an Apple BT keyboard. Hope that doesn’t cause problems.
Apple…please make a deceit mulit-button, BT mouse. So many of us need to be saved from this hell.
I see where some of the confusion might be coming from. There’s absolutely no reason the Logitech base station needs to be plugged into USB. Simply plug in the AC power adapter and you can use the base station for charging.
WE NEED A GOOD DEVELOPER TO FIX THE “SPEED” PROBLEM. This mouse just sucks. When connecting to the internal bluetooth, it is amazingly slow, so slow, that you hurt your wristle trying to complete a whole screen movement. Logitech being the worse company on this planet in terms of customer care and service (they never reply to emails), we have to take care of ourselves. USBOVERDRIVE and GAMECOMPANION do not allow a real change of mouse speed. Even at maximum, the speed is still amazing slow. Maybe if we all send an email asking for a full refund to LOGITECH, they will move their a… and stop denying us. Or maybe a good collective lawsuit? As you might not know, there is a good case history on people who got some money back from employers for being wrongly equipped with inappropriate mouses or screens. Why don’t we all start the first Class Action of history against a mouse manufacturer???
Please, join us, and let’s get what we’ve have been promised from LOGITECH.
Logitech promised us nothing. They claim the MX900 isn’t even compatible with Mac OS X. So, uh, good luck with that class action suit.
Julian, Am I hearing this right? You switched over to Windows and back and it worked better under OSX? That’s kinda strange don’t you think? So you are claiming that the base station or mouse is remembering some kind of settings or installing the drivers on windows updated the firmware in the base station or mouse?
Yes, Mike, you’re reading it correctly. Except it’s not the base station. Let me repeat: do not use Logitech’s base station under OS X, use something that actually gets you Bluetooth. You don’t need to plug the base station in to USB to use it as a charger. Just plug the base station into an AC socket and be done with it.
I guess the mouse is remembering some kind of setting or getting some kind of firmware update (not the base station, as I said ;) ). I really don’t know. I had the problems I described and did what I described and it’s been fine for me ever since—so I’ve not been able to figure out what changed or why it changed, I just know how to get it to work. :)
So:
That is my guess as to the sequence of events needed to get the MX900 working nicely under OS X.
My MX 900 is a great mouse & my first wireless, had it for 4 weeks, but the battery life is v short .
I take it off the charger at around 9am and it runs out by noon! So back on the charger for lunch. I don’t use the base station as a bluetooth device only as a charger, as I have a Sony VGN-T1XP notebook (really pleased with this by the way) which has bluetooth.
Is this normal? Any feedback would be appreciated.
No, my MX900 can last me about 2 days, maybe 3 or 4, before needing a charge. I usually just leave it in the charger overnight and everything works out well.
I’d suggest getting a new pair of NiMH batteries.
Does anyone know of a program, control pannel or driver that will enable me to use the extra keys on the Logitech cordless Elite Keyboard (Bluetooth compatible)?
I managed to sluth the mouse problems out before I found this blog, now I am working on the keyboard issues.
I know you’ve said that you can plug the A/C adapter into the dock to use it as a charging station, but what I’m wondering is if there’s a way to plug it into a USB port to charge like that, but continue using it in true bluetooth mode with another bluetooth controller.
To bring this into perspective, I have one of the new 15″ Powerbooks with built-in bluetooth which I drag to and from work every day and use in both locations. I’d like to be able to unpack my laptop, pull out the dock and mouse, and plug the dock into the USB port to charge the mouse up every once in a while. I COULD plug it into the wall, but it would be quite a pain, especially at work (I’d have to crawl under my desk and find an open socket). I’m mostly wondering if when I plug the dock into the USB port that the mouse will automatically connect to that and I won’t be able to pair it with my internal bluetooth controller.
Though as sort of a tangent, I’ve been hearing rumors lately that Apple is developing a 2 button mouse + scroll wheel, which I think would likely be a bluetooth device, so I’m kind of waiting to see if that shows up soon before I dive in and get an MX900. :)
As far as I know, the dock won’t charge the mouse if it’s only plugged into USB, so the whole question is somewhat meaningless after that…
Yeah, if that’s true, then nevermind. :)
Thanks Julian, I think that may be the answer.
Cheers for that
Wow, is this thread still active? Cool. :)
I just got the MX900, and it’s great. I just set it up with my internal bluetooth, and i have none of the speed or jerkiness issues others have reported here. I’m planning to use the charging cradle as a bluetooth hub on my wife’s PC so we can transfer data that way.
One question though: has anyone found a way yet to have the mouse wake up a Mac with only mouse clicks and not ovement? As Mike pointed out, that makes it impossible to put the mouse in its cradle without waking the machine up again. This is how my USB mouse used to work, and I don’t want to disable bluetooth wake-up altogether.
Good thread. I bought an MX900 after reading this thread - arrived 10 mins ago, I put batteries in, ran the bluetooth assistant and, er, that was it.
Left button: fine
Right button: fine
Scroll wheel: works beautifully
Scroll wheel click: works on URLs etc.
Scroll up: works
Scroll down: works
Quick switch: switches between some apps without bringing window up
forward: no (seems to operate as single-click selection - double-clicking does nothing).
back: as for forward.
Excellent stuff. I’ve got USB overdrive, but haven’t tried it yet.
cheers
Richard
I’ve found a great app to bind keys to the buttons on my MX900. I now use ControllerMate http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/ to bind the buttons on the side to forward and back in Safari (Command-[ and Command-]). It retains bindings after sleep/disconnection and is free for use for 5 or less bindings. I find it much better than Gamepad Companion, which I have used in the past.
Wow.. this continues…
I’ve had my MX900 now for over a year. Been using it first on my 17″ AlBook, now my new 15″. It’s been fine for most of the time, and I love using the extra buttons for expose.
Only recently it’s started the jumpy behaviour, which is quite irritating. Rebooting the mouse tends to fix this, but not permanently. (By rebooting, I mean, removing one battery, then replacing it). I too so wish it had an on/off switch. I tire of people telling me that my packpack has a flashing red bit of fabric on it. :-p
I will try doing as you suggest Julian and install the windows software at work and see if the mouse improves after that. If that fails I might go buy some replacement rechargeable batteries to see if that helps.
Just wanted to say thanks for keeping this site going. I checked around before picking up this mouse for my new Powerbook 17″ and this was the final piece I needed before making my purchase.
I’ll keep this bookmarked if I have any problems! Thanks!
Hey all, nice thread! I plan to buy a MX900 for my 17inch G5 iMac but i only want to get one if it going to work with the internal bluetooth. Is it going to work? Why doesn’t apple just make a multi-button mouse? It would sell S***loads. How much better is it using OSX with a few extra buttons on your mouse. Apple arguement for not making a 2 button mouse is crazy, i mean a keyboard has over a hundred keys and we all seem to cope with that! Cheers GRAHAM
Graham, same applies to the iMac G5 as has been said about other Apple hardware—see the entire discussion above your post. :)
Great service in providing this website.
My mini (w/BT) is on order and I’ll prolly buy the MX900 when I get frustrated with the one-button Apple BT mouse. (Why a company that developed consumer oriented successes doesn’t offer a multi-button mouse is quite mind boggling!)
Aanyone else used ControllerMate http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/ to bind the buttons?
I just got my iMac G5 yesterday, and became immediately sick to deah of teh mouse. I got my mx900 today, and had no problems setting it up. Julian, for your benifit, I bypassed the step of connecting it to the PC. I just did not connect charge stand to anything but power. As soon as the batteries charged up, I paired up the mouse and have been flying ever since.
How can I get my mouse to continue to be connected via internal bluetooth when i place it on the charger??? or restart my 12in Powerbook??? cause right now it is working fine but as soon as i place it on the dock i get a “Mouse Not Connected” Message…???
When the mouse is charging, it disconnects from Bluetooth. No need for it to continue to stay connected while charging—it automatically reconnects when you start using it again.
Well, thanks to Julian and his blog.
I just set up my, guess what, Mx900 and it works fine under Tiger. All buttons work as expected and can be reassigned in the Dashboard/Expose menu. Pointing is sometimes a bit difficult. It doesn’t point to where I want right away. Othrwise it seems to be a nice mouse.
An excellent thread. I just powered up all teh parts. The mouse is fine. The numeric keypad is OK but no functionality that I get under Windows as Logitech’s software for Mac OSX does not recognise this hardware. They keyboard too but it would be nice to be able to use the additional features. Lets hope “somebody out there” writes a little utility to enable us to program the keyboard. I would happily pay for something that works.
I have had the MX900 for about a year now and I have finally thrown it away. At first my problem was the general speed of the mouse but then I found “MouseZoom” Preference Pane on Versiontracker and that kind of fixed that problem but the trait that was the last straw for me was the mouse’s resolution. By that I mean that when I am trying to move between text in a BBedit file I have to strain to get it to do the fine movements and it ends up jumping too far or not move enough. I had to go back to the OEM Apple Optical Mouse before I was driven insane. I had so much trouble trying to click inbetween letters that my fingers started to ache.
I have been contemplating getting the MX1000 even though it is not Bluetooth because of the “supposed” accuracy of the laser but I am still put off by the bulk of Logitech’s entire mouse line up. How hard is it to make these things a little smaller.
In terms of setup, my G5 came with Bluetooth preinstalled and I never had a problem configuring it. I only plug the basestation into the wall so I can charge the heap of plastic but now I can get rid of that eyesore too.
I have seen that one company has a Bluetooth mouse that looks identical to the standard Apple Optical Mouse but has two buttons, a scroll wheel, and an on/off switch.
Given the sheer number of complaints about speed, I think some people are seeing issues that I’ve not been seeing. I definitely don’t have the major kinds of speed problems people were talking about—I don’t see that much of a difference between my MX900 and Apple’s standard optical mouse.
As I said in my earlier posts, I did have problems which were eventually resolved; but it sounds to me like some of you may be experiencing something else… or else you never fully resolved the problems I spoke of.
For me, the resolution and speed on the MX900 are great, and while the acceleration curve is definitely different from what the regular Apple optical mouse has, the speed and precision are not compromised as much as some of you are describing.
I figgure I could tell my story to help anyone else who may want to buy an Mx900 for OSX 10.4.1
I just bought a Mx900 today, and so far I’m a little disapointed. Maybe I was looking for too much though.
I have a Bluetoothless G5 powermac desktop, (with a Mx500, same design, with a wire)) that I love (running USB overdrive) and it was good. A few days ago I got a 15″ G4 Powerbook for the road. From the logtitech site I figgured I could save my save some money, and hook the hub to my G5 as bluetooth solution for that computer, and take the mouse with me and hook it to my labtop. The second part works, kind of, but the first part does not.
Of course, first problem is I that I can’t use the hub as a bluetooth hub, to which I ask, whats the point… can you use it as a bluetooth hub on a windows, can this be fixed with software for the mac? The mouse does not have a on/off switch, and the battery life will certanly suffer for it. Finaly I’m getting some of the speed problems others have been complaning about. I’m thinking that I’ll take it back, and just drag my Mx500 with me for a while and just take the battery hit it will deal to my labtops battery life. (at least untill USBOverdrive releases it’s Bluetooth suport, which I bet will solve most of my problems) Maybe I will use the money I get back from the mouse to buy a D-link bluetooth connection for my G5, I’m tried of having to connect the two with firewire. Of course, if you have any solutions to my problems, I’d be gald to read them. ^_^;;
So much new crap to buy for the labtop. -_- I still have a Airport base station to buy yet. Also, if you have any questions let me know. (Goes off to try ControllerMate)
Maybe someone from Logitech will read this page one day and realize that Mac users actually do want mice like the MX900 for their laptops. Which means an “off” switch is a good idea.
Evening! I just started looking for mor information for my ogitech Bluetooth diNovo Media Desktop. This is a bluetooth keyboard, media pad, and MX900 mouse. Suprise suprise, it comes with the bluetooth hub. Now, using it on my Dually 2.0 G5 with bluetooth, I have paired the keyboard (still missing some of the extra buttons), the media pad (but can’t use it except for the volume controls — they are the only extra functions that work, pairs as a keyboard but can’t map to a layout through the setup wizard), and the mouse (charged it in my MX700 cradle and kept using my MX700 till it was charged, got a giggle out of that). I’m running 10.4 and haven’t looked into USB Overdrive or anything like that.
I’m trying to find some way to fool the Bluetooth setup into thinking the media pad is a whole 101/102 ANSI keyboard. Ain’t happening and I can not use any of the number pad (it’s seperate in this desktop kit and therefor get’s it’s own pair). I’m sure I will find work arounds for everything else, but this is something unlike anything I have had to leep through. Any suggestions are worth a shot, so thanks for helping out.
Chris, if you find a workaround post it here so we can share. I have the same Logitech stuff and would like to enhance its functionality. Some observations:
Mouse - everything works except the little “dohicky” on the left side. Speed is OK etc.
Keyboard - Function keys F1 to F8 don’t do anything. F9 - Exposé; F10 - Frontmost window highlighted; F11 - All windows cleared and F12 - Dashboard in front.
Left hand side Control, Start & Alt - do nothing. Right hand side: Start - Command key; Other keys (Alt, Pointer and Control) work depending on application, will also work in combination. For example (right hand side) Start/Tab will is same as Command/Tab etc.
Page up and Page down work as do the arrow keys. The keyboard itself works OK. No CD eject key. I use iTune to open tray :-)
Julian, why don’t you send this page to Logitech guys. They must like Mac, they are just about to release a top notch wireless headpone set for Mac ONLY (!).
Interestingly, I tried to install De Novo Media Desktop software on my Virtual PC (Windows XP Professional) and the bluetooth hup is not recognised by the Installer and it quits. Any suggestions?
Tiger 10.4.1/iMac20″
Well, you guys are free to point this site out to them. I’m not sure they’re all that interested. You’d think they’d have wanted the Mac Bluetooth Mouse market—it’s not like Apple is competing with them with a multi-button scrollwheel mouse.
And of course, once PC users saw how nice it is to use a Bluetooth mouse, rather than just a wireless laptop mouse with some USB dongle, they’d want it too, thus hopefully increasing marketshare of this mouse…
Hi folks;
I’ve been trying to find an answer to this, but havent had much luck. I’ve got the MX900 as part of the dinovo keyboard/mouse suite. I too am having very poor battery life on the mouse. it last about 4-5hrs off the cradle, and thats not using it even 50% of that time! the set is new, and by default so are the rechargable batteries. I know the batteries could just be bad, but I suspect other issues.
Two things to point out:
1. the blue “connect” LED on the base blinks every 1-2 minutes, even though I have descoverability, and “serach for new devices” turne off!
2. when the mouse is placed in the charger the LED on the mouse blinks green at first but within about 30min the light goes solid green, then turns off, and stays off…
any ideas would be appreciated
-Ronin
There’s some advice on using foreign keyboards on osx.
http://wordherd.com/keyboards/
and something more detailed on http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2002/tn2056.html
haven’t tried it yet, just got my dinovo today ;)
Has anyone got the Mediapad up and running, beside Volume Up/Down/Off ?
Tried to examine it with ControllerMate but it just ‘found’ all possible Keys and Functions on it, and Mediapad has definitely no temperature sensor ;-D
Waking up after sleep or sudden lost of connection may take 10-20 seconds but is reliable, Page Up/Down on the sidebuttons of the mice is really nice.
Linux recognizes the Mediapad as 10-keyblock but quite not out of the box.
Has anyone tried using the Logitech BT hub that comes with the mouse with the Apple BT Keyboard on a Windows PC? I am going to try this out today and hope it works.
I find the mouse good to use with my Powerbook but I had the same experience as Ronin in that the battery runs down very quickly and charges up as he describes - what seems far too quickly. I tried taking the mouse off the charger after this charge and put it back on and then it seems to charge up more and last longer but I don’t really know what’s going on.
As for the mouse buttons, I can’t quite figure out how to set all the buttons. I can’t change the number 8 which is supposed to bethe scroll down button. It’s set to switch applications. Also what you can choose to set in Expose seems limited to All Windows, Application Windows, Desktop & Dashboard or can you change these? Can anyone help?
You guys did do the initial charge, then take off cradle, put back on cradle, charge, repeat phase that the instructions said to do when you first get new batteries, right?
The last part about button 8 switching applications is I think a bug in 10.4.2. Report it. :)
This mouse is starting to really piss me off. At first I really loved it, I used it with my Powerbook G4 and assigned all of the buttons to rendezvous windows - the speed issue wasn’t really a problem and I got used to it, but I hated the fact that it skips across the screen more then occasionally. I chalked this up to a Mac issue, since the mouse doesn’t even say it works with Macs (and I’m greatful it does), but today while playing some games on a friends PC using his Mx900 I noticed the same terrible “jumpiness”. So bad infact, that it makes playing any computer games virtually impossible. I’ve used other bluetooth mouses that had virtually no problems at all in speed or jumpiness - I just prefer the “heft”, feel, and multiple buttons of this unit, but being so tragically flawed pretty much throws it out the window along with the cash I paid for it.
I have to agree with you mauvis. I have been using this mouse for about 6 months now and it is very inconsistent. Sometimes it works ok (although it always feels a little twitchy to me) Other times it acts very jumpy or very slow to react (where it is literally several seconds behind my actual movement.)
Im using it with a G4 aluminum powerbook running OSX 10.3.9 with “gamepad companion” and “mouse zoom” utilities. I am also on an airport extreme wireless network.
Does anyone use this mouse for graphic design or gaming and find it adequate? Any tips to get better response from it? Im ready to pack it up and use it only as a travel mouse (although it is not so great in that dept either)
ok. i just reread the whole thread (yeah, i know should have done that before posting) and will try to set it up on my windows machine first to see if that helps.
I have always only use the logitech base station as a charger (not plugged in to any usb ports.)
good site Julian. Thanks for giving us a place to discuss this.
Well, i’ve had a dinovo media desktop package for awhile got it for my pc, loved it for that, worked like a dream. then i found i was getting a powerbook, and after looking around i found that my bluetooth mouse would work with my laptop, and so i took the plunge and got me an mx1000 for my desktop, works like a wet dream and its my baby.
that said, i got my powerbook, and hooked up my mouse with the internal bluetooth without a hitch, and then i found i got the major jumpy jumps. i tried fooling around with some settings, i finally got mouse zoom and thats helped things out a bit, but its still quite jumpy. before it was practically un useable, and now i’m able to function with it just fine. but still, this is a hich precision mouse and i know what it can do, i also know its not the bluetooth connection. are most of your mouses running like silk? it seems alot of you are just getting functionality out of it, and not much more.
Does anyone have any idea why my diNovo bluetooth mouse and keyboard will always need to be re-setup when i restart my mac mini. I have internal bluetooth in my mac and it finds the devices without a hitch. They then work fine, but when i restart they will not connect automatically, i need to use a usb mouse to reconnect them. Any ideas.
i donno, i thihnk that might happen with my mx900 and my powerbook, but i’m not too sure seeing as i rarely shutdown, and even more rarely use my mx900 since it is just too godamn jumpy.
(i think i might just get a wireless mighty mouse when they come out)
[…] On top of that, today I discovered that Logitech no longer offers its MX900 Bluetooth mouse. Brilliant. They have several cordless laptop mice but none are Bluetooth. They spent a lot of money advertising that they’re a Bluetooth-friendly company and now they don’t even sell Bluetooth standalone mice! Here’s a hint, Logitech: laptop users are the ones most likely to want or need Bluetooth mice. It doesn’t help that your only Bluetooth mouse was overly-expensive, had no off switch, did not actually officially support Mac OS X, and was intended for desktop use! […]
[…] That was two days ago. Today Logitech announced the V270 mouse, which is almost exactly what I asked for! This has happened before, but I later realized that there were some gaps in my request. […]
Hi All.
Just bought the MX900 and liking it so far. The mouse is a little heavy, but I’ll get use to it in no time.
One problem I’m having is with button number 8. It brings up the application switcher. (command + Tab) I’ve tried Game Controller, but it’s not helping. Any found how to fix this?
Cheers
J Raine,
That’s a bug in the latest version of Mac OS X. Feel free to report it to Apple.
I gotta say the more I use this mouse on Mac OS X the more is pisses me off I wasted the
money. The strange thing is I bought two. One for my G5 at home and one for my 17″ powerbook at work. The one with my powerbook has never showed the slowness or jumpiness. The one at home on my G5 is terrible for it. I’m yet to figure out why they work differently.
I love the MX 900. I use ControllerMate to map the functions. Works like a charm. Two keys I mapped with OS X in the preferences for expose and dashboard… one Button 5 shows me all windows (expose) and button 7 shows me the dashboard.
I set the large left button (button 4) as an “enter” key, though may change that, don’t use it much. I started to set it as a “back” button, but I use Mouse Gestures plugin for Firefox, and a right click followed by a left click backs up for me. But I guess the back key would be handy in a finder… what to do, what to do. :-)
I also have the application switcher bug with Key 8, so I used ControllerMate to map Key 8 to be Apple-H… which hides my current program, then presents me with the application switcher to scroll to the app I want next. Works great.
I even set one key (key 6) to type my most used email address automatically. Great for filling out forms (like the one one this page).
I have no “jumpy” issues with this mouse, and all I did was put the batteries in, stuck it near my mac mini, and it worked right away. No problems with it whatsover. Got a great deal on this mouse on ebay, and OH SO GLAD I did!
[…] A photo taken with my new camera of my mouse and Sony Ericsson phone. I absolutely love that reverse-hinge. […]
Hi, (sorry about my english)
I bought this mouse (MX900) and I have the speed problem.
I fix it freely with the control panel “MouseZoom!”
You can find it here : http://homepage.mac.com/bhines/mousezoom.html
Actually, all butons works fine with mac OS X.4 and we can use “Dashboard/Exposé” feature tu configure buttons or directly in application (like games) if the application allow a mouse configuration.
I hope that helps.
Hello,
I used the MX900 on my PC for a long time - excellent performance.
Now I bought a Powerbook with OSX 10.3.9 and wanted to use it with that. But it’s more or less useless. I tried everything - USB Overdrive, MouseZoom, fiddling with bluetooth setups and whatnot. The problem is the acceleration. I want to have a mouse that moves the pointer across the screen REGARDLESS of how fast I accelerate the mouse. But now - when i move the mouse slowly, the pointer moves like 2 cm on the screen when my mouse is falling off the desk. When I move it faster, the pointer flies like crazy (on high speed settings anyway).
I feel sad. But I will not cry. I will try and get another good 2-button mouse with the same ergonomics (and scrollwheel). Actually I don’t care if it’s bluetooth or not. Could be USB with a cord for all I care. I just want the performance (I prefer optical).
Any suggestions?
Still not very happy with the mouse. Using gamepad companion and mousezoom which work fine for setup. I have tried it on 12″ and 15″ PBs. Sometimes the mouse is fine, other times it is very jumpy or sluggish (as bad as a 1-2 second delay occasionally). My only guess is that I am getting interference from another device although I have no other BT devices, only Airport extreme and an RF mouse on my PC in a different room.
I was just noticing my index finger getting a bit cramped using my touchpad so I’m thrilled to find such a thorough discussion on what appears to be the best bluetooth mouse out there. I’m not sure I can deal with the jumppienss issues however. I have an older Microsoft wireless 2-button and couldn’t help but think how sad it is that Microsoft acutally has BETTER SUPPORT for their pheriferals on the mac platform than a ‘mac-friendly’ company like logitech… unbelieveable.
another question.. do we know if the Logitech control software for mac center helps with the mx900’s button and/or traking functionality???
Logitech does not support using the MX900 with Mac OS X, so the Control Center for Mac probably does not work with it.
Julian,
first of all I have to say thanks for this website. The beste information resource for the MX 900 in context of connectivity to Mac OS X devices I think.
Yesterday I received my MX 900 (hard to get in Germany meanwhile; it’s no longer officially listed, and to my surprise, Logitech Germany doesn’t yet offer the V250 which is no true successor to the MX 900 - limited buttons…).
What I’d like to discuss is the issue of my MX 900 seemingly waking up my 15″ AL Powerbook. I’ve set up the mouse via the PB internal BT chip, the charging cradle is not at all unpacked (I own an MX 700 connected to my Win PC, and I simply put the MX 900 in this cradle to charge).
Yesterday in the night I noticed that my Powebook woke up from standby. I am quite sure that my MX900 was responsible… (to go to standby, I first put the MX900 into the cradle and then chose standby via Keyboard).
P.S. Swithching off “BT may wake up Mac” is no solution for me; I’m using my PB mainly on the desktop with the lid closed, typing on an Apple BT keyboard.
Anyone else out there who experienced that the MX 900 re-activates the his Mac?
Sven, I’m sorry to tell you, but you pretty much *have* to turn off “Bluetooth may wake up Mac” with the MX900.
The MX900 will go to sleep when you put it in its cradle and start charging it—but once it’s fully charged, sometimes it just decides to wake up, and thus connects to the Mac and wakes up the Mac. Yes, that’s very annoying, but that’s what it does. Another wonderful bug we can thank Logitech for.
Julian,
thanks for Your comment. It’s exactly like that; I returned the device to my dealer. Maybe I’ll go for the Logitech V250 (when it becomes available in good old Europe ;-)
Anyone having trouble with the MX 900 not pairing automatically when they power-up their mac? For the first few months I had no problems. Now, for the last few months, about 50% of the time when I start up my iMac, the mouse doesn’t pair and the computer brings up the bluetooth configuration screen. I press and hold the connect button on the mouse and then it connects okay. It’s just a pain to go through this each time. I do know that it is not related to battery charge. I am using my iMacs internal bluetooth - I am not using the Logitech cradle. Thanks…
Do any of you know about the “Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Notebook Mouse for Bluetooth”?
I am shopping for xmas presents and could use some advice about choosing a Bluetooth mouse.
Jeppe, I mentioned the V270 in another post. It doesn’t have all the buttons the MX900 has, and it’s more of a small notebook-type mouse instead of a large hand-fitting mouse, and it lacks a charger. It does, however, have an off switch and a carrying case.
I had been using the MX900 with USB overdrive. It seems the tracking at slow speed is a better thru USB than Bluetooth. Can anyone confirm, or do i have a settings problem. I’m using MouseZoom, but at slow speeds the mouse is really slow. I also have the button 8 problem. I on a 17″ Powerbook. Even with Controllermate I can’t redefine button 8’s output. I’m tring to use as pagedown. I get the application switcher first, then I get a pagedown. Any insight appreciated. Great website - thanks Julian
I found SteerMouse. It did everything. Contollermate didn’t have controls for modifying the mouse DPI as well as acceleration. With SteerMouse you can. If you”re having trouble with MX900 tracking thru bluetooth, SteerMouse will solve it.
I’m having the same problem as Ken (comment #85), J Raine (#95), and Patrick (#112)
in that the scroll-down button (button#8) is set to do app switching against my wishes.
When I was running 10.3.x the scroll-down button worked great. This is without any
additional drivers whatsoever. Now in 10.4.3 it is very frustrating that this button
doesn’t work the way I want it to anymore.
tuc, as I’ve said before, that’s a bug in 10.4.2+, feel free to report it to Apple and maybe they will fix it.
First, Julian –– thanks for this really well-made site, and for all your attention to detail here. I have an iMacG5 and the factory mouse and keyboard. I want to have a little more freedom to configure my physical workspace (goofoff area, mostly) so that I can sometimes stand, sometimes sit down in a chair. I want a wireless setup, and have been looking at the field. Not a lot of Bluetooth mice, really. The MX900 looks really good, but after reading all the posts here it seems a bit like Russian Roulette to plunk down the bucks for the thing and hope for the best. However, I may just do that. I have a confession: I like to use my mouse in my left hand. Anyone use their MX900 on that side, and like it like that? I could switch sides, but I’d just like to know if the ergonomics would work out using it left-handed. I’ve learned how to use many tools of various kinds left-handed when they’ve been made for the right hand. Scissors, for example, I just learned how to do it the “right” way, and the same with some other tools.
Also, any current takes on the V270 would be informative for me, as I decide what to do about the mouse buy.
Jim,
The MX900 probably would not be very comfortable to use in the left hand—the design is form-fit to the hand and thumb a lot more than most mice.
The V270 is a tiny mouse, probably too small to be comfortable for regular desktop use.
Logitech used to offer left-handed versions of their form-fit mice (the MouseMan series), but I doubt they do that anymore.
Thanks, Julian. I ordered an MX900 this morning, and plan to use it on the right side. Got a good price that I want to pass along: geeks.com, $64.50, incl. UPS Ground shipping. And, they may or may not include the batteries, even though they claim to be shipping a new product in a retail box. Batts would add about six bucks –– still a good price.
Thanks for this site. I wanted to post my experiences with the mouse because I no longer have any trouble using the mouse, and configuring all the buttons to do whatever I want. First let me say that out of the box I experienced all of the mouse jumpiness that most people describe here and could only program the mouse buttons with expose functions. It was totally annoying and I was about to send the mouse back. But I found this site and read about first configuring the mouse in Windows, so I fired up virtual PC and used logitech’s software to pair the mouse with a windows 2000 pro version in virtual PC. I didn’t change any of the defauls in Windows, I just installed the software and then shut-down the vitual PC. Back in OSX, first I unpaired the mouse with my Apple bluetooth dongle on my G5 mac. I then plugged logitech’s bluetooth base into the USB port and installed USB Overdrive. USB Overdrive recognized the mouse and I can now configure all of the keys on the mouse as I want. I can also change the acceleration using USB Overdrive to my liking. Since pairing the mouse under windows, all of the mouse jerkiness is gone. The mouse is smooth as silk and I’m loving all of the buttons.
Bottom line, this mouse works great if you have a PC (or virtual PC) and USB Overdrive. Logitech’s bluetooth base works wwith the mouse if you first unpair the mouse with Apple’s bluetooth preference pane. Good luck!
The problem discussed in comments #85, #95, #112, #114, and #115 seems to be fixed after applying Mac OS X Update 10.4.6.
[…] I’ve been a fan of Logitech mice since, well, since I first started caring about the mice I used. In particular, I’ve been attached to their “MouseMan” line (whose name they seem to have dropped in favor of “MX” or whatever catchletter strikes them). You may recall that I posted a review of using the MX900 with Mac OS X. […]
‘Maybe some day we’ll get an MX900 with an on/off switch’. I hope they’ll do. And taking off the batteries is not a way out.
in regards to the on/off switch.. if you were so inclined you could open up the mx900 and wire in a simple on off switch that would essentially open one of the poles to the battery compartment, effectively “turning it on and off”. i was thinking about doing this to my aging mx900. if i do, i’ll be sure to post tons of flickr pics and a write up of how i went about hacking apart the mx900.. heck, it may have already been done, i just haven’t searched for any info on it yet.
If you want to have your Logitech Cordless Desktop MX Bluetooth, keyboard and mouse ( Logitech MX900 ) working on your Mac OS X then i might find some intresting apps that will work for you
now you can use the special keys on the keyboard and mouse after all!
search on google:
ControllerMate - this will help you setup the keys on your bluetooth keyboard
PearScriptKeys - will help you to use the play/pauze and next/previous track on youre keyboard for use with iTunes
(put it in your OS X dock and let it start when you login, and program the hot keys in youre ControllerMate app)
SteerMouse - is a very nice program to setup the buttons of your MX900 or any Bluetooth mouse
Thats it!
hope its useful for all of you!