Review: Logitech MX518

This is a review of my new purchase, the Logitech MX518 gaming mouse.

First Impressions

When I first took this mouse out, I was amazed. It's really sleek and shiny. It's a reasonably light mouse, weighing in at 106 grams. Though it's light,it's built like a tank. Very solid construction, nothing rattled or moved when i shook the mouse. I couldn't wait to plug this baby in and try her out!




Ergonomics

This mouse excels when it comes to ergonomics. It has a total of 8 buttons, 6 of them extremely useful. The feel of the mouse is superb. Those who palm grip a mouse will love it, and those who use the claw grip will also love it. I use a mixture of the two grips, and this mouse works. It's very comfortable. The gray area is a hard plastic (no, those black splotches arent dents, just the paintjob), while the black area is like a syntheic rubber over plastic. I'm not quite sure here. But my hand doens't slip, it works.

The buttons are very strategically placed. The two on the thumb are used for going forwards and backwards in an internet browser, and for switching weapons in an FPS game. The back button is bigger as it is used more often than the forward button. It takes a little getting used to, at first I hit the back button a lot by mistake, but now i'm not. It's actually a very useful button. The two buttons on either end of the scroll wheel change the DPI. These are well placed buttons. The remaining button is the document switcher. This basically does what {Alt - Tab} does. Nothing exciting for me since my fingers are always at {Alt - Tab}. But for some, it's a very useful button. It doesn't get in the way or annoy me, so i'm cool with it. Cable length is very long, about 8 feet, but that's an estimate.





Performance

The performance of this mouse is outstanding for the price ($36). The mouse has a maximum tracking resoluteion of 1800 dpi. The report rate is 125/s, and its acceleration is 15G. This is an optical mouse.

Users can change the DPI on the go from 400 to 800 to 1600, depending on the task they are doing.

This mouse does not skip, which is very nice. It's reaction time is super fast, you're never going to miss anything. It slides very smoothly across most surfaces. I've already noticed an increase in my gaming scores. I'm a lot more accurate with this mouse than I was with my old microsoft optical. The neat thing about this mouse as with most opticals, is that if you rasie the mouse more than 5mm, the mouse will stop tracking. Very cool.

I haven't had any problems with performance, imy expectations have been blown with this mouse. For the price, performance is "top dollar".

Software and Drivers

A lot of people complain about Logitech's SetPoint software. Personally, I thought it was very easy to use. Simple, it installed flawlessly and just works. The great thing about this mouse is that you don't have to install the drivers for most of the mouse to work. I used all the buttons apart from the DPI changing without installing the drivers.

The only thing i can negatively say about the software/drivers is that I wish they mouse had complete DPI control. This also falls under performance. I also wish the mouse had onboard memory for different game settings, but that's not a bggie. Not many people change mouse settings for every game anyway.

Overall Impressions

You can put this mouse up against any other mouse, and it will fair extremely well. This mouse is well built, easy and comfortable to use, and the performance shines. If you're a serious gamer, or a regular user that would like a nice mouse, this is the mouse for you. For the price, it can't be beat. And along with the mouse comes Logitech's 3 year warranty and customer service, which from what I've heard, is amazing. Mouse breaks? They send you another one, no questions asked. Need some help? They're just waiting to listen to you.

I encourage everyone to try this mouse mouse. The only cons I can think of is more DPI control.

Thanks guys! Hope this is useful.

 

I had (still have actually) an MX518 however it always felt a bit strange in my hand. I ended up trying the Logitech G9 and I could never go back. I absolutely love my G9 and every time I go back to the MX518 it feels strange in my hand.

 

Well, everyone is different, so yes, opinions do count.

 

The rubber coating that I like so much has started to peel off my MX518 for no reason at all, just so you know; older reviews on this product report no such thing, but I believe Logitech has started cutting costs along the way.

 

How much have you used it?

 

Double post

 

I've had it for about a year; I've been using it with my primary computer.

 

That peeling effect is also happens a lot on the G9 mouse(why I got the G5)...maybe it is some kinda coating they are using...

 

Nice review and pic's...I hadn't actually ever seen this *mouse* that closely..not bad!


Cin

 

I like how it imitates the battle scars.

 

Thanks for reading everyone!

Yeah, the paintjob is cool. I'll have to see about the rubber peeling thing.....

 

It's great, and recently they released a special "The Dark Knight" edition

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/349/4643&cl=roeu,en&pcid=4641?WT.ac=ps|4641|sp1

Now I'm using the G5, because I found it very cheap online, but I was happy with my Mx518

 

its a ridiculous mouse and the sensitivity adjustment is handy

even though its optical and $30 its outlasted my mx revolution and mx618 both of which broke after 6 months or so

 

Mx518 is great. I'm currently using it as my primary mouse & no issues about rubber coating.

 

I've been using mine for a little over 3 years now. Some of the plastic on the right click button is starting to get rough, and the rubber has been getting sticky and deteriorated. It's been reliable throughout its use, but I've been thinking about getting a new mouse that doesn't use rubber. The stickiness is just starting to get to me.

 

But hey, that's 3 years after you bought it!

 

Yah the peeling does tend to happen after a while, not just with logitech mouses, but with razers with similar coating too. After 2 to 3 years, the coating on my Diamonback started peeling. The problem is, once a small hole is made in the coating, it peels very easily.