Budget rodent. Logitech B170 Wireless Mouse Review

Computer mice on the market are countless. However, observers usually prefer to “review” only very expensive and extravagant specimens, which are very remotely related to the concept of “mouse of mass demand”. We will go the other way. Let's get acquainted with the most inexpensive wireless mouse of the well-known brand Logitech: this is a compact model B170. Such a mouse began to cohabit with my laptop instead of the old Logitech M215.

The mouse does not stand out with its stylish design, exclusive materials or unique technologies. And in general it looks like an ordinary piece of plastic. But the right plastic: even just taken out of the box, the mouse does not smell the vigorous aroma characteristic of inexpensive Chinese keyboards and mice, especially when it comes to black plastic.


Logitech M170 in person

This model is the cheapest wireless mouse from Logitech. It can be bought for about $ 12 at retail, which suggests a fairly aggressive arrival of a well-known company in the segment of low-cost manipulators. Since the creation of Logitech in 1981, it has sold more than a billion computer mice, of which more than 100 million are wireless. But never has the Logitech wireless models been so cheap. Is the quality at the mercy of cheap?
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Technical specifications Logitech B170:

Manufacturer: Logitech
Model: B170
Mouse type: wireless
Interface: USB
Poll Frequency: 125 Hz
Number of buttons: 3
Scrolling wheel: vertical only
Optical sensor sensitivity: 1000 dpi
Sensor type: infrared
Radio frequency receiver: 2.4 GHz
Food: 1 source of a standard size of AA
Sizes (DKHSHKHV), mm: 62 x 35 x 98
Weight g: 71
Supported OS: Unlimited

Packaging

The mouse is sold packed in a small cardboard box. Alas, in the box there are no usual “windows” - you can see what is inside, only by opening the package. The inscriptions on the box do not contain absolutely no significant information about the characteristics of the device itself, the box only has the function of "packing container", which protects the manipulator during transportation.


Box and manual

Equipment

Looking into the box, first of all we extract a multilingual manual and a leaflet — an illustrated quick start guide: how to open the battery compartment, where to poke the receiver, etc. “Papers” immediately speak about the level of the company, usually the manufacturers of inexpensive mice are not perplexed by such trifles as a printed manual. Then we get the “iron” out of the box: a mouse packed in a plastic bag, an alkaline AA Duracell battery and a tiny receiver that can be plugged into the USB port and for a long time forgot about its existence. I confirm this from personal experience: in my laptop of the same size, receivers from VX Nano mice and then M215 for many years have not been removed from the port.


Kid Receiver

There is no software CD included. Since the mouse does not have additional buttons, it does not need to install branded Logitech SetPoint drivers, is instantly recognized by the system and is immediately ready for use.


View from the outside

Appearance

The mouse has 2 buttons and a regular scroll wheel without the horizontal scrolling function. The case material is durable, but rough to the touch (compared to the tactilely pleasant rubberized sides of the VX Nano) plastic. On the sides of the mouse, the surface has a rough, grooved pattern, which increases the grip strength with the fingers and helps to more reliably hold the manipulator.

The taste and color of the model B170 is completely black. For those who want to show off stand out there is a similar model of the mouse M171, which, with gray edges, has different colors for the top cover: red, blue, gray and black.

The upper part of the device, including the buttons, is made of a “whole” piece of smooth plastic. Plastic is opaque everywhere, and this is a definite plus: fingerprints and omnipresent dust are completely invisible on the matte surface. But there is nothing to complain about: there is a significant gap between the top lid and the sidewalls, in which it tries to collect any nastiness nonsense.


AvtoVAZ employees may envy this gap.

Ergonomics

Despite the rustic look, the form B170 is quite ergonomic and in practice it is very convenient to use the mouse. Symmetrical (for the joy of left-handers) and compact design allow you to comfortably hold the manipulator with your thumb and little finger, it is possible and "connection" of the ring finger. The sides of the mouse have the above-mentioned relief pattern and reverse bevel, so it’s comfortable to handle the manipulator, even if the mouse has to be lifted from time to time as the work progresses or in the heat of the game.


Sidewalls have a reverse bevel in the front.

The model uses an optical sensor tracking the surface with an infrared LED. That is, bright red / blue or any other visible light does not come out from under the mouse and from the cracks in the body. As for me - this is a plus. Especially at night. Especially with a glossy screen.

The sensor of the optical sensor is offset from the center of the mouse, but this does not cause me absolutely any inconvenience when using the paddle.

On the bottom there is a button on / off device. There is also a removable battery compartment cover. By default, the mouse is out of the box. This is the right approach, because not every user can quickly figure out what the problem is, if after inserting the battery the mouse does not want to work. The buttons for opening the battery compartment, as in my previous mice, are not provided. Sliding the battery cover off should be done using brute force fingers.

The mouse is powered by a single battery or AA-size battery. Therefore, it is quite easy to move, and in the battery compartment there was also a place under the niche where you can hide the receiver when transporting the device.


Nude Battery

Unfortunately, this mouse does not have a LED that indicates battery charge status. If you use a battery, it is not critical. With a battery is another matter. VX Nano and M215 mice signaled a normal / weak battery charge by turning on a green / red LED, respectively. The B170 has no indication, and since the mouse consumes very little (it quietly works out on an AA battery with a capacity of 1500 mAh for several months), this leads to the fact that the "rodent" very "eats" the charge from the battery, which is not good for the latter . At least one of the batteries that worked “fully” in the mouse was brought to a state when “smart” charging began to recognize it as “DEF” (defective). Of course, this does not interfere with successfully charging this battery with “stupid” charging devices, but the fact is the place to be. Therefore, my advice to you is: at the first sign of a battery discharge, an unsure, inaccurate or “jerky” movement of the cursor, pointer dies, immediately change the power source and straighten the used battery for charging.

Impressions of use

The buttons of the mouse are pleasant, with an easy, but moderately elastic push, which allows you to feel a click. The sound of pressing the buttons is not loud. The wheel, thanks to the grooved surface, engages well with the finger and scrolls steadily, but it is pressed hard. But the scrolling is quite quiet, with an accurate sense of the scrolling process. I hope, despite the cheapness of the mouse, they put good buttons in it, and they will not have to be re-soldered on their own, like in “my ex” mega-expensive VX Nano.


Product face

When using the mouse proved to be great. Of course, she is not able to move the cursor, driving on glass or a mirror. But who really needs it? But on the surface of the table, on trousers and even on a shaggy bedspread or a colorful / plain sheet the mouse behaved just fine. Good as positioning accuracy, which is important in graphic editors, and the speed of response to movement, which is critical in games. For example, with the notebook mouse VX Nano at one time it was very difficult to play dynamic games. Since at the end of the move, the VX Nano mouse instantly fell asleep and woke up with a certain lag, which is very critical in games where fractions of a second are important. Well, the sensor sensitivity of 400 dpi did not add speed to the cursor, but quite the opposite. The Logitech M215, which came to replace it (the modern analogue - model M185), had almost no delay during the “waking up”, so you could even play very dynamic shooters with such a mouse. But she had her own “shoals”. Large claims have arisen to ... glossy rim of the case. When you press the mouse buttons, the buttons fall below the level of this very rim, and since the mouse buttons are rather short and the fingers of an adult are long, then often when you press the buttons, the pads of your fingers “stumble” on the sharp leading edge of the rim. This, of course, not scary, but not very nice. The second cant of the mouse, which eventually sent it to the recycle bins , was not a very reliable power supply: between the installed battery and the contact pads inside the mouse, the normal contact was periodically interrupted. It would seem that the problem is not worth a damn - it was enough to move the battery a little, how the mouse worked again, as if nothing had happened. But when this happens in the midst of a network battle, then while you use foul- hacking to disassemble a mouse and twirl the battery, your virtual protégus is most likely to be visited by a bad fur animal of the arctic fox family. Contact plates in M215 I, by the way, tried to bend - it did not help.

B170 is devoid of the above disadvantages. Having passed (again) with it the weighty piece of the plot of FarCry 3 (not that I didn’t like new games, but my laptop doesn’t like it, so for “heavy” games I have to move behind the desktop with a wired mouse), I can’t show this mouse no complaints, despite the fact that she had to work mostly at night, lying with me on the bed, and not moving on a cozy rug or a perfectly flat table.

And further. Not soot that Logitech B170 is not killed, but it is very durable. Several times the mouse flew from the bedside tables and beds onto the parquet floor - and not a single scratch! Also, three people inadvertently sat on the mouse on top - and this she also experienced. Here is such a strong mouse!

Total

Summarizing the above, we can safely say that, despite its modest price, the Logitech B170 was very comfortable and pleasant to use a wireless mouse. She will be the perfect partner for a laptop.

As a result, I bought my wife the same but with the pearl buttons M171.

Disadvantages:

- wheel without horizontal scrolling
- no indication of battery discharge

Advantages:

+ miniature usb receiver
+ ergonomic symmetrical shape
+ matte finish
+ low weight
+ powered by 1 AA battery
+ low power consumption and long autonomy
+ precise cursor positioning
+ quick response to user actions
+ price