Sunday, July 10, 2016

Logitech T400 review - the best ambidextrous wireless mouse

Three years late

Three years ago, I bought the Logitech T400 mouse when it was on sale. The mouse also called the Logitech Zone Touch mouse was designed for Windows 8 with customizable gestures that can be configured through Logitech's software. Ever since then, I fell in love with this mouse and I loved it so much that I bought a second one to replace it when the original one got lost.

I don't think Logitech still manufactures this mouse but in my opinion, this is one of the best mouse for my needs. You might be thinking why am I not using the ever popular MX Master by Logitech? Well, a little known fact about me is that I am a left hander and naturally, I use my mouse with my left hand. In the past, I did try using my right hand with the mouse but it didn't seem to work out.

After using the same mouse for about three years, here is my review of the Logitech T400.

Prior to using this mouse, I was using the Logitech Marathoner mouse for a while before switching back to a generic Dell wired mouse. One thing that I liked about the Marathoner was that it had a hyper-scroll mode that enables quick scrolling. I loved how the scroll wheel worked but like a lot of high end mice available, the Marathoner had an ergonomic shape designed for right handers.

That brings me to the Logitech T400 and the biggest reason why I love this mouse so much is because of the scroll wheel. It is not an actual scroll wheel but instead it is a touch strip which functions just like the glass trackpads on laptops. Logitech included this touch strip on the T400 mainly because of the Windows 8 gestures but I never came to use it for the gestures. Instead, I use the touch strip on the T400 like the hyper-scroll on the Marathoner mouse.
Just like a normal glass trackpad, the touch strip acts like a touchpad in the sense that is depends on the friction you apply to it. For the most part, scrolling on the T400 is a breeze because it is smooth and doesn't make any sound whatsoever.

Beyond the touch strip, the Logitech T400 is basically just another wireless mouse. A fairly small one compared to other mice but the size is just right for me. The mouse itself doesn't comes with extra buttons other than the usual left, right and middle button. The one that I have comes in this nice shade of dark grey and red. The mouse is made out of matte plastic coupled with a rubber grip on the side that feels nice in the hand. With the batteries inserted, the T400 doesn't feel too heavy.

Speaking of the battery, one of the things I like about Logitech mice is that you can actually use with just a single battery. For me, only placed the battery on the left hand side to create a balanced feel for my left hand. There's also a spot for the unifying receiver and as for the extra battery slot, I use it to store the extra unifying receiver because you can never know when it'll come in handy.

In terms of the battery performance, the Logitech T400 performs like a champ. Logitech quotes that the Logitech T400 will last 18 months but in my experience, the mouse exceeded my expectation as it managed to last for a more than a year on a single battery (yeah, you read that right, only one battery) This is one of the reasons why I love Logitech mice, the battery life just lasts and I don't even need to turn off the mouse when I'm no using it.

The only reason why I would want to turn off the mouse is to prevent accidental clicks.


The T400 uses Logitech's Unifying receiver to communicate with the computer and as far as wireless mouse goes, Logitech's Unifying technology is the best around as it is easy to use and the receiver can connect up to 6 devices.

Since this is just a basic mouse, it comes with a simple optical laser sensor that tracks well on most surfaces unless it is glass.

As I mentioned earlier, the touch strip can be configured to do different things through the Logitech software. But the available configurations for the touch strip is not so useful for Windows 10 as the gestures are locked to Windows 8/8.1 gestures.

Flaws

As much as I love this mouse, there is one problem that I have with the Logitech T400. That is the left click started acting up after using it for a year. However, this is actually a very common problem with logitech mouse as the left click tends to get a little loose after some time of using and it is understandable because it is commonly used. But, the problem is easily fixed by unscrewing the base and re-positioning the plastic inserts

Another thing is that the touch strip on the Logitech T400 tends to work a little too good. What I'm referring to is that it tends to scroll a little too quick and sometimes also a little rough. This is easily fixed by installing the Logitech smooth scrolling on Google Chrome but when it happens on other applications like Photoshop, it's beyond my control.

My final gripe doesn't actually come from the mouse itself. I have found out that the Unifying receiver works best when it is directly connected to a dedicated USB port as connecting it through a USB Hub will cause some glitches here and there. I don't think it's the problem with the mouse, it's more of the problem with the Logitech unifying receiver.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the best mouse for your needs really depends on what you look for in a mouse. For me, the Logitech T400 is the perfect mouse because I don't mind not having extra button and I just love the touch strip. The super-long battery life is a big plus in my opinion and even if you think this mouse is a little small for your needs, it can always act as a backup mouse or a travel mouse.

At just $15 on eBay, the Logitech T400 is a decent option for a wireless mouse. In case you were wondering, I was considering going for another mouse when I lost my original T400. I was considering between Microsoft's Sculpt Touch Mouse, Microsoft's Explorer Touch mouse, Logitech's T630 (ultrathin) and the Logitech T400. I opted buy another T400 mainly because of the battery life and the T400 is one of the only mouse with a touch strip that features a matte body.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the Logitech T400 and if you are looking for an affordable wireless mouse, the Logitech T400 is the perfect choice. As content I am with the Logitech T400, I do wish that Logitech made a Bluetooth version of this mouse. I would definitely buy that it they made it.

Insider Talk

I have been thinking of doing this review for a long time now and the review is finally done. Funny thing is that I actually lost my original T400 in the right time. I was getting fed up of the left click not working and my prayers have been answered and I actually misplaced the original mouse. This gave me the opportunity to get a new one. 

The new one obviously looks nicer because it had this red and dark grey color. Below is the only good photo of that mouse that I managed to capture. 
dw.

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