Building the mouse Logitech won't make • Hacker News Board

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#101

Post by Zak » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:38 PM UTC

Liftyee wrote: post #54

bityard wrote: post #39

My favorite mouse is the Logitech Anywhere MX. It's highly comfortable despite being pretty small. The back/forward buttons on the side are indispensable for web browsing, file management, and switching weapons in first-person shooters. It takes two AA batteries which last for months and take seconds to swap out. The dongle is small and has good range. The scroll wheel switches between clicky and free-scrolling. It's…

Not sure about online mouse communities, but it intrigued me that you prefer replaceable AA batteries to built-in rechargeables. I realise now that because of my dislike (leaning towards hatred) of single-use alkaline batteries I unwittingly dismissed the benefits of having quick replaceability. Nickel metal rechargeables are a good AA/AAA substitute for devices designed to tolerate their lower voltage. For more powe…

> Nickel metal rechargeables are a good AA/AAA substitute for devices designed to tolerate their lower voltage.

Any device that can't is arguably broken as designed. Much of the energy (the majority, in a higher current application) in an alkaline battery is found under 1.2V.

See discharge curves: https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Duracell%20Ultra%...

NiMH actually stays above 1.2V longer for all but the lightest loads: https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Eneloop%20AA%20BK...

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#102

Post by trelane » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:41 PM UTC

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #70

shout out for SteerMouse! https://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/ (macOS) It's a kind of magical mouse driver that supports nearly every USB mouse made, including _all_ the quirky little buttons and extra functions. As the author said, it's ultra-light-weight, native Mac UI (none of that weird chrome slop that companies like Razer insist upon using). I use mine with a funky Razer "MMO" mouse that has a funny numeric keyp…

I am surprised folks are still installing software for their mouse.

Guess I have just used Linux too long and expected mice to just work.

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#103

Post by skywal_l » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:41 PM UTC

Liftyee wrote: post #54

bityard wrote: post #39

My favorite mouse is the Logitech Anywhere MX. It's highly comfortable despite being pretty small. The back/forward buttons on the side are indispensable for web browsing, file management, and switching weapons in first-person shooters. It takes two AA batteries which last for months and take seconds to swap out. The dongle is small and has good range. The scroll wheel switches between clicky and free-scrolling. It's…

Not sure about online mouse communities, but it intrigued me that you prefer replaceable AA batteries to built-in rechargeables. I realise now that because of my dislike (leaning towards hatred) of single-use alkaline batteries I unwittingly dismissed the benefits of having quick replaceability. Nickel metal rechargeables are a good AA/AAA substitute for devices designed to tolerate their lower voltage. For more powe…

Had to use my old TI 89 one day. Haven't used it in 10 years. Took it out of storage, put in 4 AAA usb-c rechargable batteries, worked like a charm. Could you do the same with your hard to replace custom battery?

Any consumer electronic using standard format batteries is superior by default. Because 10 or 20 years from now, it still have brand new full batteries lying around.

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#104

Post by mikepurvis » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:43 PM UTC

bityard wrote: post #39

My favorite mouse is the Logitech Anywhere MX. It's highly comfortable despite being pretty small. The back/forward buttons on the side are indispensable for web browsing, file management, and switching weapons in first-person shooters. It takes two AA batteries which last for months and take seconds to swap out. The dongle is small and has good range. The scroll wheel switches between clicky and free-scrolling. It's…

I'm on an MX Anywhere 3S and overall I'm a fan. The killer feature for me is the Bolt receiver being able to pair to both the mouse and the MX Mechanical Mini keyboard and being able to have a second receiver that both devices can switch to. Unfortunately they have to be switched over individually rather than following each other (and the mouse's switch button is underneath), but still, this is a pretty killer configuration that I haven't seen offered elsewhere.

For clarity, I plug my main receiver into my workstation and use Synergy to take the M&K over to an adjacent laptop in software, but the secondary receiver is useful when testing installers for NUC, Jetson, etc. Basically I've got a bare metal device on my desk plugged into a mini monitor and with one little dongle I can trivially get my keyboard/mouse on that device including in a preboot environment like the EFI firmware.

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#105

Post by arp242 » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:43 PM UTC

rwmj wrote: post #74

flanbiscuit wrote: post #26

> My absolute favorite mouse is the MX Ergo from Logitech. I switched to using Logitech's MX Vertical mouse and I love it. There was a learning curve period, especially when it came to finer grained movements, but I'm totally used to it now and it feels much more comfortable and natural to me that any other mouse I've used. It has a USB-C port and I can switch between 3 different Bluetooth connections (press a button…

I wish that web page would show it actually being used. Basic question: Is it a mouse or a trackball?

Mouse

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#106

Post by Perz1val » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:44 PM UTC

bitwize wrote: post #94

Wired USB or gtfo. Currently rocking a Kensington wired trackball. Honestly I miss the days of systems whose latency was constrained by c -- and not much else. It is literally impossible to get a modern system with a MIDI clock as rock-solid as the Atari ST was.

Wasn't the CPU clock number entirely made up for some time? Afaik on old systems one cycle was one cycle and it lasted as long as frequency implied. Now it's... complicated

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#107

Post by Perz1val » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:49 PM UTC

demarq wrote: post #9

I modded mine to remove the friction in the middle wheel. But switching the switches is next. If there’s one product that absolutely needs to be shamelessly ripped off it has to be this one. It’s a mouse so close to perfection it boggles the mind why Logitech wouldn’t go the last mile. Manufacturers in china, if you see this, do the thing!

Haha, I've done switches in multiple mice (see my large comment here), but I'm yet to mess with the encoder. I don't want it totally smooth, just smoother and quieter, do you know if there are any options? Are even encoders interchangeable mouse to mouse?

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#108

Post by Glyptodon » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:51 PM UTC

For anyone who prefers trackballs, I've been pretty fine w/ Elecom models, though they're not all the most "updated" designs.

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#109

Post by justinparus » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:51 PM UTC

mcdonje wrote: post #52

bityard wrote: post #39

My favorite mouse is the Logitech Anywhere MX. It's highly comfortable despite being pretty small. The back/forward buttons on the side are indispensable for web browsing, file management, and switching weapons in first-person shooters. It takes two AA batteries which last for months and take seconds to swap out. The dongle is small and has good range. The scroll wheel switches between clicky and free-scrolling. It's…

Built in rechargeable batteries are a plus, not a minus.

Support for standard battery cells is seriously underrated! Especially when you are on-the-go and your mouse dies, all you need to do is swap in a fresh rechargeable AA/AAA. No need to deal with a cable or waiting for a recharge.

Re: Building the mouse Logitech won't make

#110

Post by shawnz » Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 5:52 PM UTC

If you are looking for a vertical mouse with USB-C charging, a high-DPI sensor, robust switches, high polling rate, etc., consider this mouse that recently launched on Kickstarter: https://www.hansker.design/

I got one recently due to some persistent wrist issues I've been having because it is the first ergo mouse I've had that ticks every box for me. It's not flawless but I still strongly recommend considering it if you're looking for something in this category.

The designer previously posted about it on HN here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35613630