Logitech M280

A good mouse could mean the difference between life and death. Who was that snotty email for – your boss or the company that gave you poor service? Chances are, a bad mouse will result in a missclick, sending it off to your boss, which will inevitably lead to the loss of your job. This is all hypothetical of course, but it could happen! With this in mind, I took the Logitech M280 for a spin. Are its clicks accurate enough to keep you your job?

Touchy Touchy

One thing I really dislike about a compact mouse in general is that companies try to make them ridiculously small for travel purposes. For somebody with large hands (like me), it makes holding the damn thing for long periods of time stupidly uncomfortable. Thankfully, the M280 is not a mouse for ants. To me, it sits somewhere between the size of a compact and traditional mouse – small enough to travel with, yet big enough to be used comfortably too.

It’s nice and light, even with the battery plugged in. It also comes with one of those tiny USB transmitters. You can plug it in and forget about it as long as you don’t plan on moving the mouse back and forth between different computing devices.

The left side of the mouse is curved and covered with a rubber that accommodates the thumb nicely. Unfortunately, this means that lefties are excluded. That being said, I tried the mouse with my left hand and I think it still felt somewhat decent and was perfectly usable.

I am honestly disappointed with the lack of a thumb button. This may be due to the fact that I as a gamer (with accompanying gaming mouse) have become so used to always having one. Still, it’s something I feel each mouse should come with anyways, at least in this day and age where “productivity” is such a buzz word.

The best part of the mouse for me believe it or not, was the scroll wheel. Scrolling is near silent, and it feels great thanks to the little rubberised wheel. I wish I could use some sort of sorcery to swap it onto my current Logitech gaming mouse. It’s THAT awesome..

FC4_0011

Clicky Clicky

Looks mean nothing if there is no real performance. For the purpose of this review, I swapped my fancy schmancy gaming mouse with the M280 for a few days. It took some getting used to, but its performance was quite decent. After some tweaking with the downloaded Logitech software, my clicks were 100% accurate.

The mouse makes use of an invisible optic, taking away the fun of blinding people with a red light. It works on near damn every surface except glass. No really, I tested the mouse on my table, the floor, my bed, Lupin’s scratch post, the wall, my printer, marble, wood, and even my hair. It worked on every single one.

The range is quite something too, meaning this mouse is viable for those of you who have a media centre in your lounge. On paper, it says the range is 25m. I walked to the other side of the house to put this to the test, squinting across to my room to see whether the mouse was still moving on the screen or not. It was, without any sort of delay whatsoever.

Being a gamer, I spent some time shooting and clicking on enemies across several titles. This is by no means a gaming mouse. It certainly works though, and will be perfect for anybody who travels a lot and wants to play something to pass the time.

The M280 doesn’t necessarily have to be an accessory that is restricted to travel. If you’re an ordinary desktop user, it will work just fine too. Apparently the battery will last up to 18 months. Due to my lack of a time machine though, I was unable to test this. Even if it is less, the M280 only takes a single AA battery, so having a pack of those lying around will ensure you never have a dead mouse.

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Dimensions and Specifications

  • Mouse(height x width x depth): 105.4 x 67.9 x 38.4 mm
  • Mouse weight (Including battery): 91.0 g
  • Nano receiver (height x width x depth): 14.4 x 18.7 x 6.1 mm
  • Nano receiver weight: 1.8 g
  • Sensor technology: Logitech Advanced Optical Tracking
  • Resolution: 1000 dpi
  • Battery life: 18 months (depending on user and computing conditions)
  • Battery: 1-AA
  • Number of buttons: 3
  • Scroll Wheel: Yes
  • Tilt function: No
  • Unifying-ready mouse: Yes
  • Unifying-ready receiver: No
  • Wireless operating distance: 25m (around 80 ft) maximum
  • Wireless system: Advanced 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity
  • Connection Interface: USB receiver
  • Compatible OS: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Mac OS 10.+, Chrome OS, Linux Kernel 2.6+
  • RRP: R499 (an estimate based on international pricing)

Cat for scale

 

Last Updated: November 20, 2014

Logitech M280 Travel mouse
If you’re looking for a nice wireless compact, but not too small mouse, you can’t go wrong with the M280. The lack of a thumb button is an annoyance though, and should be kept in mind if you regularly make use of one. Other than that, it works as expected, with nothing to truly set it apart.
Not Bad

48 Comments

  1. “Unfortunately, this means that lefties are excluded.” WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      November 20, 2014 at 15:51

      AT LEAST I REMEMBERED THE MINORITY! 😛

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        November 20, 2014 at 15:52

        I prefer “concentrated awesomeness” to “minority”.

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          November 20, 2014 at 15:58

          Lefties are the masters of all things (lefty), hand(s) down.

          Reply

          • CACA-COBRA

            August 27, 2015 at 03:30

            I am Left, but i never used mouse with my left hand.

            After more than 15 years using computer i can’t to.

            So, it doesn’t bother me.

  2. Admiral Chief Wang

    November 20, 2014 at 15:39

    Cat is not impressed

    Reply

    • Mark Treloar

      November 20, 2014 at 17:59

      Cat is Batman.

      Reply

  3. HairyEwok

    November 20, 2014 at 15:41

    A wee bit small to my taste and not a big fan of the wireless mouse. But then again this is about compact and more for the laptop so meh.
    Edit: I use a Razer Mamba 2012, nice weight to it size is right and you can choose to either have it wired or wireless.

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      November 20, 2014 at 15:47

      that mamba is amazing, wish i had one, that you can CHOOSE to be wired or not is amazing and i wish more wireless mouses had the same option.

      im using the 2014 deathadder, which is basically the same mouse without a few buttons and wireless.
      a very standard mouse, but shape and weight are just right.

      Reply

      • HairyEwok

        November 20, 2014 at 15:53

        In terms of gaming fps mice, deathadder and mamba are the best choices, i previously had a RAT 9 and oh my gawd that was a uncomfy mouse to work with.

        Reply

        • Guild

          November 20, 2014 at 15:56

          Try this for uncomfortable. Used it for years on the family PC. Used to play Duke Nukem with this thing.

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 20, 2014 at 16:13

            A guy I knew in tech used to play games with a trackball. I tried it once, it was… terrible.

  4. Matthew Holliday

    November 20, 2014 at 15:43

    mouses are only functional to a point.
    after that, you want them to have… a something… about them.
    the “something” about this moust that tries to make it flashy and exciting is that they released it in red and blue.
    thats all.

    sure, mouse works, 10/10, buttons click, mouse moves etc.
    but. LAAAAAAAAAAAME, go home, silly logitech mouse, you’re boring.

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      November 20, 2014 at 15:50

      A thumb button. A GODDAM THUMB BUTTON! AT LEAST ONE! 😛

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        November 20, 2014 at 15:51

        You know who play games with their thumbs? PEASANTS! 🙁

        Reply

        • hairyknees

          November 20, 2014 at 15:53

          Pfffft, that’s my reload button in FPS games 🙁 and my chat button in Cabbage 2!

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 20, 2014 at 15:54

            Reload is Num1 :P.

          • hairyknees

            November 20, 2014 at 15:55

            FALSE! 1 is my hotkey for selecting my hero or switching to knife 😛

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 20, 2014 at 15:56

            WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?! Melee is right arrow. How have you been playing games all your life so wrong? :/

          • hairyknees

            November 20, 2014 at 15:57

            Right arrow? HOW THE HELL DO YOU GAME? I’m talking WASD here XD

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 20, 2014 at 15:58

            LEFT HANDED. The bestest way! So controls = numpad & arrows.

          • Matthew Holliday

            November 20, 2014 at 15:59

            that actually makes sense.
            i aint even mad.

          • hairyknees

            November 20, 2014 at 16:00

            Ooooh I forgot xD

            Ok yes, that makes sense then <3 I HAVE STOPPED JUDGING YOU

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 20, 2014 at 16:01

            lol – that needs to be a TV series. Judge Cabbage, settling gamer disputes.

          • hairyknees

            November 20, 2014 at 16:02

            TONIGHT ON CABBAGE AND ORDER – GAMER SUES COMPANY FOR NOT MAKING LEFTY MOUSE!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 20, 2014 at 16:03

            DENNY CRANE!

          • HairyEwok

            November 20, 2014 at 15:59

            He’s the hardcore doom 1 players that still use the arrow keys to move around and space to shoot XD

          • hairyknees

            November 20, 2014 at 16:01

            I’ll never forget the first time I actually used a mouse to game. Brother was so mad at me because I was “screwing” up the mouse ball xD IT MADE LOOKING AROUND SO MUCH EASIER DAMMIT!

          • Matthew Holliday

            November 20, 2014 at 16:04

            grand theft auto 3.
            i would use keyboard and mouse with the same hand, one at a time, because “omg mouse, what do?”
            it was a fairly challenging excersize.

          • hairyknees

            November 20, 2014 at 16:05

            Lol xD that’s amazing!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 20, 2014 at 16:04

            +mlook sensitivity 30. Thanks Quake.

          • HairyEwok

            November 20, 2014 at 15:54

            My thumb buttons in fps are used for knifing and nading XD

          • Matthew Holliday

            November 20, 2014 at 15:55

            my thumb buttons for console are for pause/play.
            thats right.

      • HairyEwok

        November 20, 2014 at 15:51

        For dem quick browser forwards and backwards.

        Reply

        • hairyknees

          November 20, 2014 at 15:52

          Exactly! I eventually assigned the middle mouse button to be my back button… so much of confusion O_o

          Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        November 20, 2014 at 15:54

        i dont even use mine, but yoh, if i didnt have them, id be mad.
        i assigned voip and knife/melee to the buttons, but i still use > in dota and V/F for melee.
        the logic.

        Reply

        • hairyknees

          November 20, 2014 at 15:55

          Yeah but gaming aside, I never realised how much I relied on that button for general browsing.

          Reply

          • Matthew Holliday

            November 20, 2014 at 15:58

            i only notice it when i switch over to my wireless keyboard with a touch pad, you learn to love the backspace button fast.

  5. Jaded_Reprobate

    November 20, 2014 at 15:44

    this is all i could think of while reading this article

    (refresh)

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      November 20, 2014 at 15:46

      Lol xD YOU DID NOT READ CLEARLY!

      “Thankfully, the M280 is not a mouse for ants”

      Reply

      • Jaded_Reprobate

        November 20, 2014 at 15:48

        i got that… but from then on i was stuck with the soundtrack of Mr Zoolander asking me if “this was a mouse for ants” playing in my head for the rest of the article

        Reply

        • hairyknees

          November 20, 2014 at 15:49

          Well… my job here is (kinda) done! 😛

          Reply

  6. Hammersteyn

    November 20, 2014 at 15:59

    Cat for scale?

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      November 20, 2014 at 16:03

      Yes 🙂 proving that the mouse is a decent size 😛

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        November 20, 2014 at 16:16

        You know the internet standard is banana?

        Reply

        • hairyknees

          November 20, 2014 at 16:22

          Duh 😛 but I was all out!

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            November 20, 2014 at 16:27

            XD

  7. ReaperOfSquirrels

    November 20, 2014 at 16:13

    Wireless mice… *shudder*… had 2 ever, and NEVER again!

    Reply

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