I stopped buying logitech mice because the switches wore out in all of them. Multiple mice all stopped working after maybe a year and a half? Issues like "double clicking when should be single clicking" or "not clicking at all" or "clicking and dragging getting registered as just a click". If they either fix this, or make it easy to repair, they might be able to get me back.
These were what i considered "higher end" mice, not a cheap $15 mouse, and i got tired of buying them so often. I looked around online and switch issues seem common on a lot of mice. Every mouse company uses the same switches, and they all just wear out. I switched to razer, who apparently uses a different type of switch entirely. It hasn't worn out yet but i've only had it about a year. Fingers crossed.
There's three ways to resolve this if you're someone with a heavy hand (which you might be).
1. Find a mouse that uses heavy-duty mechanical switches (technically inside the shell, it is possible to use a switch like those used in keyboards, which are designed for more actuations at a heavier actuation weight). This is somewhat difficult, as not many such mice exist.
2. Find a mouse that uses optical switches which are less likely to wear out from use because of no mechanical forces being exerted on the part of the switch that relays the signal. This is easier because most high-end gaming mice are switching or have switched to optical switches.
3. Find a mouse that moves your hand into a plane where you exert less pressure on the switches. I use a vertical mouse, and I have not had any issues since switching, even though it uses the same Omron switches as the mice I kept destroying.
Due to market pressures, 'we will buy $xxM per year guaranteed if you make this cheaper', Omron moved bulk of microswitch manufacturing to China. Japanese Omron switches were 10M clicks in name only, they were build like Toyota builds cars. Chinese made ones all die around 10Million clicks which is around a year. Mouse is "just" $30-50, too little for someone in the west to bother repairing or even considering hassle of RMA. Logitech turned their physical products into recurring revenue business.
There are mice with optical microswitches - you move a plastic knob that blocks the light path between two diodes soldered directly into mouse pcb. Personally I just replace switches regularly using a bag of Chinese $.5 Omrons.
From my experience in tech support most of the issues with mouses and keyboards are because of accumulated gunk, specially if you have pets or smoke near the computer.
Since they are normally simple devices on the inside you can just remove the screws and clean all the dirt and you won't break anything. I actually just did this 5 minutes ago to my mouse because middle click wasn't working. Found out it was just a bunch of cat hair stuck in the mouse wheel.
Other common source of issues is the USB cable, and those can be replaced if you know how to disconnect the contacts from the main board and resolder them.
This is wild to me. I don't think I've ever worn out any mouse button nor had the same happen to my kids (who play a LOT of fast twitch/heavy clicking games). I use an M720 on my desk setup as does my wife. I think mine is over 5 years old and I know hers is over 3 years old. I had a 5+ year old M705 that the M720 replaced (for convenience of multiple computer control, not because of a failure).
The switches themselves are very reliable, but suffer from the normal bathtub curve problems. Also, Logitech is responsible for designing the plastic parts of the mouse that interface with the commodity switches, and they don't always do that well.
I've worn out quite a few as well. One thing I've noticed is I seem to use middle click a lot more than most as, while I have had the left click button fail, the middle button is usually the first to go for me.
Same here. I had never worn out any mouse button, and I've had some mice as old as 2 decades. But then I bought a high-end Logitech mouse and both switches failed within 2 years.
I have bought multiple Logitech G102s, because they're super cheap and it's my go-to mouse. Good DPI, good hand-feel, good price. SUPER precise and reliable.
I spent a LOT of money on a high-end Corsair mouse, bought the same model twice, and every time I had issues with "double clicking when should be single clicking" or "not clicking at all".
I HATE Razer for forcing you to register with your email address if you want to even customize your RGB colors. Never again. I spent time trying to write a driver for OpenRGB, but that was just too much for me at the time. And why should I be expected to do that? I wasn't even using Linux at the time, this was on Windows/MacOS!
How much would you estimate your total $ spend on mice was to date? Why did you at no point consider finding someone (closest hackerspace, cellphone repair kiosk at the mall) to fix it by substituting defective part with high quality replacement https://ausmodshop.com/collections/micro-switches?
This is an old anecdote, but my Razer Lachesis used exactly the same Omron manufactured microswitches as my Logitech G303 and my Kensington Orbit trackball.
I have really strange physical requirements for my mice due to disability, and it's generally a pain to find stuff that works for me -- so i've gotten pretty adept and swapping those switches out from sheer necessity.
It's a shame that no one (seems) to make any mice with a nice magnetically coupled wear-free switching system. I have such switches on stupid things like my racing sim wheel, but not on stuff that I use daily.
Switches are a beginner level solder job to replace. And because there's not much going on inside mice, it tends to be easy to get to the PCB that holds the switches.
I'm about to do that today on a Logitech and there are about 20 screws and multiple layers of plastic, not including having to remove and possibly replace the mouse skates.
That's surprising! It was easy to do on my G Pro wireless. I don't remember clearly at this point but there were only 3 or 4 screws under the feet (which I used a hair dryer to heat up to ensure they came off cleanly). Then under the paddles for the main buttons was I think one more screw holding the PCB down. The only tricky thing there was making sure I didn't lose the tiny spring used for the middle click.
I think you're right about most manufacturers souring the same switch components. In my experience even a high end mouse commonly needs to be replaced after 2 years. Now I rotate through a few different types of mice every few months to try to reduce repetitive strain. Since I started doing this my mice have been lasting a lot longer. In time, not in click count of course.
Some interesting tips in this topic that I'll have to check out.
> I stopped buying logitech mice because the switches wore out in all of them.
I still have a wired USB mouse I bought from Logitech in the late 90's that was in daily use for well over a decade without issues, but more recent wireless mice that I have purchased from Logitech haven't lasted much more than a year. Either one of the buttons fails or the scroll wheel fails.
I just hope they break within a year and I get a free new one from amazon. I wonder if it's illegal to knowingly buy products that will break down within a year with the intention of getting a new replacement.
If the manufacturer is willing to buy customer goodwill by offering a generous warranty on their crap product, you are welcome to use it. That's how Kia managed to improve their image.
I have the Logitech G403. I've had it for about 7 years and it's still working great. I don't know how long ago you had your Logitech, but it's possible they've improved since then.
I assume you'd turn the LEDs off if you were using Windows using Steelseries' own software. If you use Linux you can turn it off with rivalcfg if your model is supported (https://flozz.github.io/rivalcfg/).
Afaik all Steelseries let you save permanent profile on the mouse. At least lights and dpi are stored, button remapping sadly is done with host software.
I own 3 logitech G600 mice now because the button switches wear out. I think I'd be more impressed if logitech put hot-swap sockets in their mice for the switches (asus is doing this on their mice).
I learned that those switches are actually pretty standardized and you can just desolder them and buy proper ones for ~1$ and at least my older G500 could be opened and disassembled fairly easily.
My G600 started double clicking ~2yr ago. I hate replacing things, so I tried a bunch of guides to fix it - opened it, cleaned the switches, soaked them in alcohol, etc. It would stop double clicking for an hour but then would happen again.
Was going to pick up a new one when I read a reddit comment that said it could be static buildup in the mouse & that just spamming both the buttons at the same time for 30s could fix it. I did this and ... it fixed it. I also usually hold the mouse upside down while doing this so maybe it was just dislodging dirt that the alcohol didn't get. Who knows.
In any case, holding the G600 upside down and just spamming r+lclick for 30s generally solves the problem for me for at least a few months. (I've been heavily using the mouse since ~2016) Maybe this helps, maybe not.
Side note - I love this mouse. Tried to switch to a Razer mouse and it broke within 3 months. RMA'd it and the replacement had a bad side button so I just gave up and went back to the G600. It's not ideal for my use case but finding a good mouse does seem impossible these days.
Ok, I don't know what is this dark magic and how it works, but it mostly helps, reducing double click on my old G602 by A LOT.
Thank you very much dear stranger, you were the best part of my day today, saving me a hundred bucks :) .
PS: on my desktop I've been using Asus Gladiator wired mouse. I can recommend it, no sign of doubleclicking over a few years. Just don't buy revision with rubber inserts, those came off eventually (but can be glued back).
I've got two Logitech G500s mice, and the buttons broke on them too.
What I did was sourced some replacement Omron switches that have a "made in Japan" stamp on them, vs the ones that were in the mouse labeled "made in China".
It seems that the switches made in Japan are higher quality/have better QA.
Same. Lost a perfectly good G403 Hero to double clicking and spinning out. A quick perusal through r/MouseReview shows that this is nearly an epidemic among Logitech users
PSA: optical switches cannot ever get the double click issue. There are quality inexpensive optical switch mice to choose from as well.
I would appreciate also firmware, but that's likely to remain a dream.
My biggest annoyances with HID-equipment of the past decade were keyboards with firmware bugs (i.e. not accepting key-combos in all orders due to some QA-oversight, not having Home/End on Fn+<Left>/<Right>,...).
Right now I'm writing on a Dell KB7120W which occasionally "forgets" to send the Ctrl-key. Fun times whenever I want to expand a multiselect with additional items in a GUI and I lose the whole selection...
> I would appreciate also firmware, but that's likely to remain a dream.
This was exactly my thought too.
Not knocking the self-repair scheme, but in my experience there is quite a disparity between the (relatively high) quality of their hardware - at least with MX mice/keyboards - and the low (IMHO) quality of the firmware and software.
I've never had any Logitech hardware fail but I have spent countless hours trying to fix or workaround their software/firmware.
I've mostly replaced it all with Karabiner and Hammerspoon now, but I still can't actually use my devices to their full capabilities.
yeah, unfortunately there's no support for consumer keyboards with Bluetooth in QMK (understandably, it's an entirely different layer of complexity).
I'm not a sufficient keyboard nerd, I just want a compact well-spaced portable keyboard with Bluetooth and multi-device support, possibly also rechargable.
The market is full of such devices at decent pricing, but you need to cope with various firmware bugs which you only find after purchase...
Switches are usually the first to go in all my Logitech mice in the past 20 years. I resoldered those several times in some models (e.g. Performance MX). I wonder how and if these repairs will be accommodated. Furthermore they usually put screws under the feet that are not really meant to be reused (I did reuse them in the past but that ended up looking rather ghetto).
They're probably only going to sell circuit boards or assemblies for their mice - I've got a G602 (G502?) and the switches have worn out every once in a while.
I just opened it up, grabbed the model of the actual switches, did some reading online about the switches (which models have harder actuation forces, etc.) and ordered and soldered new replacement switches from DigiKey and swapped them myself.
I understand a lot of people don't have this skill - I'd like to have some kind of business or side hustle to replace switches for common equipment like mice, xbox controllers, etc.
Especially with xbox controllers costing so much and only having something like a 3 month warranty, I've noticed the newer ones having bumper activation issues after 6-8 months (depends on how aggressive you are as a gamer I guess)
I know a lot of people complain about double clicks or switches going bad but I don't think I've ever had a Logitech mouse die on me. I buy the latest MX, Vertical, and trackball almost every year unless it's super minor updates so maybe I'm just not using one mouse long enough but they've been fantastic.
I'm using my Elecom Deft Pro trackball right now and while it's nice it doesn't come close to feeling like the quality that my Logitech trackball feels.
> I buy the latest MX, Vertical, and trackball almost every year unless it's super minor updates so maybe I'm just not using one mouse long enough but they've been fantastic.
That's exactly why you don't experience issues, your devices don't spend enough time getting clogged with sweat, oil, dry skin and dirt.
All of my gamer friends use Logitech to the max of their abilities, and almost all have experienced issues with their products. We're from a poor country, originally, so we only change the gear when it's absolutely needed.
Personally, I only recently retired my old MX518 bought in 2005 and I had to rewire it twice in 25 years, the USB cable fractured each time, but the mouse itself was flawless until, 25 years later, the MOUSE3 button stopped working.
I like the idea of having repair guides for devices, to fiddle less when self repairing. I'd expect fewer negative reviews once these guides get published.
Well, from your description alone any damage you experience within one year would fall under legal warranty in most countries, so Logitech would hurt themselves as they would have to replace/repair it.
What's more interesting is how well the product works after 3~5 years. I had a few Logitech mice which worked fine, but i.e. had a matte rubber coating which inevitably dissolves and gets sticky after a few years...
>>I buy the latest MX, Vertical, and trackball almost every year
Why?
My oldest actively used mice in my household are two decades old, variations of Intellimouse.
My razer death adder was a luxury / whim purchase and is 5 years old I think.
My daily workers are ms skulpt and they're several years old each too.
(and let's not go to keyboards, where the original das keyboard and original MS ergonomic hold the fort still :).
And my Kensington trackball is at least 20y now and still works as new. I do have a razer Lachesis whose rubber started melting so I just sanded it off and back in service :)
I do have a friend who keeps buying mice but he never quite managed to explain why, other than "shiny - want!" (which is totally understandable! :), so I wonder if you have more specific criteria or needs? Am I missing out on something?
(I did buy a fancy many button Logitech once but the clutch scroll was such a massive and immediate Nope to me, it still sits in its box in the drawer :-)
Sometimes they come out with really cool updates, like when they first introduced the hyperscroll wheel. I'm still waiting for the vertical and maybe trackball (I forget if this has it or not) to have the hyperscroll wheel.
Other years they don't really update anything but the looks, I skip over those. I've had some logitechs for 3+ years that wind up as my travel mice, etc.
I think hyperscroll may be what I'm calling clutch mouse? Sometimes it has clicks,sometimes it freewheels, enabling user controlled freedom until I grab it by the cord and smash it into the wall - that one?. To each their own :-)
I used to buy MX Master or whatever every year. We have several people and a bunch of computers in our house, so I bought around 20 or 25 of these "high end" mice.
But about half of them died within 15-16 months. And by "died" I mean, 1 click became either 0 (bad) or 2 (much much worse!).
None died within the 1-year warranty period, though. So that matches your experience. And the mice are so good I was almost OK with that, but not with more than 1-2 mice.
So then I bought a shitload of non-logitech mice, but.. it's hard. Ignoring the awful software and premature mechanical degradation, there really aren't better mice. I ended up with mostly ASUS ROG Chakram (good, but laughable charging flaws) and Razer Basilisk 3 Pro (good, but not good enough for the insane price; costs more than my first car).
Razer market themselves as performance peripherals for gamers, not super reliable mice for home or office users' piece-of-mind. Competitive gamers probably aren't too worried about replacing their mice every year or something.
I replaced my first G502 only a few weeks ago after many years of service. The left click was starting to be a wee bit unreliable, but the real reason for replacing it is that, AFAICT, my sweat was slowly but inexorably corroding the metal scroll wheel, and it was at the point where it was really really uncomfortable to scroll. It's been such an indefatigable workhorse that I bought a couple more G502 along the way — one for use on the go with my laptop, one to keep at the office for work.
I have had multiple Logitech devices fail on me with double click, battery and mouse wheel issues. But only after a few years or more. And they are one of only a few that do mice for larger hands.
The thing that has only recently made me swear off them is their utter hostility to Linux support. Now I don't want their software, but I expect when I buy a mouse I can at least get the hardware working in Linux, but no dice..
> I don't think I've ever had a Logitech mouse die on me
Likely you are not using the mouses heavily. I had many die on me. Especially my sweet, sweet G500 - the best mouse ever for people with large hands - actual large hands, that is. I repaired the clicker a few times by soldering in new clickers I bought online, but they wear off too fast.
I used a G700S for nearly ten years, only got rid of it because a decade of human use caused it to get pretty gunked up. I never had a mechanical failure in that whole period.
I had a G700S and it died of button failure. Great mouse, I miss the 4-button thumb layout.
Before that was a Deathadder, also button failure. The only mouse I've replaced for any other reason was a Corsair M60 which had its cord chewed off by a friend's rabbit. We soldered it back together but it didn't last.
Now on a Razer Basilisk Ultimate which uses some sort of optical click detection, we'll see if that's actually more durable or not. There's still a physical mechanism to produce the clickiness but I don't know if that part is failure prone like the mechanical buttons have been.
Since switches are too bad for such premium mice, does anyone have advice re which mice have great and easily replaceable switchers m
(watched some video that switches are operated under the specced voltage that leads to early retirement, but the video offered no good alternative beyond self-replacement)
Err, the first I can see (having no personal experience), but AFAIK the only unmodded mice with toolless switch replacement are certain Asus gaming models. Forums tend to conclude that Asus holds a patent, but I've yet to see anyone find a citation.
Ok, you made me actually search - there's also EpicGear and Taidu, apparently.
I sure hope they include some of the more niche stuff like their joysticks, as they are wonderful products mired in abysmal QA. So many flight simmers have a HOTAS from logitech with one or many dead switches or pots.
I try not to use their software at all. Don't need to install fancy software for a mouse. Found a free alternative to control the keyboard RGB that isn't bloatware trash.
As a programmer, having page up and page down mapped to buttons 6 and 7 is a game changer for reading code. I don’t like installing their drivers though. Wish they had a simpler tool that programmed the mouse instead.
I mostly saw just some tool kits to disassemble and some mouse glider feet for sale, hopefully they catalog will expand soon or if it is comprehensive be easier to find through their search.
These were what i considered "higher end" mice, not a cheap $15 mouse, and i got tired of buying them so often. I looked around online and switch issues seem common on a lot of mice. Every mouse company uses the same switches, and they all just wear out. I switched to razer, who apparently uses a different type of switch entirely. It hasn't worn out yet but i've only had it about a year. Fingers crossed.