Mouse with touchpad like scrolling behavior

[xasowec]

The last couple of years I used a macbook and I've grown to like their touchpads. In particular I like the way scrolling works. Scrolling very fast as well as slow and precise is really easy. None of the mice I tried came close to that behavior. Scrolling is usually very rough (i.e. in big discrete steps) and they basically only have one speed which means that scrolling more than a page requires many strokes.

 

I tested the Logitech M705 with it's free spinning wheel. But unfortunately it is way to sensitive in free spinning mode for slow and price scrolling. And switching between modes was annoying so I ended up not doing it. I read that the MX Master 3 automatically switches between both modes. Can any owners tell me how close it comes to the behavior I described above? How small are the scroll steps and how smooth is the switch between free spinning? Any alternatives are welcome as well!

[Oswin]

the apple magic mouse is probably the only mouse with touchpad scrolling, but that thing is horrendous. about the mx master 3, there's a switch to change between regular scrolling and infinite scroll, it doesn't switch automatically

[xasowec]

Yes, I thought about the magic mouse. I'm not opposed to a flatter design, but I'm using Linux and I don't want to deal with compatibility issues in case there are any.

 

Oh, I don't why I thought that then. Is the free spinning mode different to other ones from logitech? On the M705 I felt like gliding on ice.

[Oswin]

14 minutes ago, xasowec said:

Yes, I thought about the magic mouse. I'm not opposed to a flatter design, but I'm using Linux and I don't want to deal with compatibility issues in case there are any.

 

Oh, I don't why I thought that then. Is the free spinning mode different to other ones from logitech? On the M705 I felt like gliding on ice.

remember to quote so that i will get notified when you reply.

 

most of logitech's infinite scrolling mice feel the same, never tried the M705 though

but each scroll wheel is different

[Mateyyy]

The MX Master 3 (and I'd assume prior MX Master mice too) has a feature called "SmartShift" that will switch automatically between the freespin and ratchet modes for the scroll wheel depending on how fast you're scrolling, threshold which you can modify in their app. It does what it says but personally I found it just got in the way, since I prefer manually toggling between the modes depending on how much I actually want to scroll, so I turned it off. It's a great mouse btw (unless you want to game with it).

If you're using a MacBook, then I'd expect Apple's Magic Mouse to work best with it. I only tried it once in an Apple Store a while back, it's not something I think I'd personally use necessarily, but it felt fine.

 

1 hour ago, Oswin said:

that thing is horrendous

Other than the stupidly placed charging port, what exactly makes you say that?

[Oswin]

1 minute ago, Mateyyy said:

Other than the stupidly placed charging port, what exactly makes you say that?

not a big fan of the shape, never found a way to hold that mouse comfortably, since it isnt a comfortable mouse to begin with.

i always prefer the scroll wheel rather than "touchpad scrolling" since i am not a mac user myself

also not a fan that they did not separate the left and right scroll, just makes the clicks odd imo

[Mateyyy]

3 minutes ago, Oswin said:

not a big fan of the shape, never found a way to hold that mouse comfortably, since it isnt a comfortable mouse to begin with.

i always prefer the scroll wheel rather than "touchpad scrolling" since i am not a mac user myself

also not a fan that they did not separate the left and right scroll, just makes the clicks odd imo

Yeah regarding the shape it's definitely meant to be used with a palm grip; since I'm somewhere between a fingertip and a claw grip I wouldn't have too easy of a time with it without getting used to it, but there are surely people out there that use it and like it.

[Oswin]

Just now, Mateyyy said:

Yeah regarding the shape it's definitely meant to be used with a palm grip; since I'm somewhere between a fingertip and a claw grip I wouldn't have too easy of a time with it without getting used to it, but there are surely people out there that use it and like it.

never really found a way to palm that mouse, i dont see how either mostly because of the flat shape

[xasowec]

23 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

The MX Master 3 (and I'd assume prior MX Master mice too) has a feature called "SmartShift" that will switch automatically between the freespin and ratchet modes for the scroll wheel depending on how fast you're scrolling, threshold which you can modify in their app. It does what it says but personally I found it just got in the way, since I prefer manually toggling between the modes depending on how much I actually want to scroll, so I turned it off. It's a great mouse btw (unless you want to game with it).

I think that is what I meant by automatically switching. That's unfortunate, is the mode switch too sudden? Or what did get in the way?

 

24 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

If you're using a MacBook, then I'd expect Apple's Magic Mouse to work best with it. I only tried it once in an Apple Store a while back, it's not something I think I'd personally use necessarily, but it felt fine.

Not on a mac anymore.

[Mateyyy]

6 minutes ago, xasowec said:

I think that is what I meant by automatically switching. That's unfortunate, is the mode switch too sudden? Or what did get in the way?

You can (kind of) adjust where the sensitivity of it, as in how fast you need to be scrolling for it to switch to the other mode, but I found that regardless of how high/low I set it, it still switched to the freespin mode too soon for my liking. It might just be a matter of personal preference though.

[b emoji]

Maybe a surface arc mouse? It has a touchpad like surface akin to the magic mouse

[xasowec]

45 minutes ago, b emoji said:

Maybe a surface arc mouse? It has a touchpad like surface akin to the magic mouse

It looks interesting! But I'm not quite sure if I'd like the shape.