Logitech’s MX Master 3S was my productivity mouse of choice for some time, so when I saw that the company released a successor, I knew I had to give it a go. The Logitech MX Master 4 is another high quality productivity mouse that offers a seemingly superior build to its predecessor with three major differences. Overall, this isn’t a drastically different mouse and I don’t find its main new feature to be the most compelling addition, but this is still one of the finest productivity mouses on the market, with lots of great customizable features.
In case you’re not familiar with the line, the Logitech MX Master 4 naturally features all the standard mouse accoutrements with very quiet switches used for its left and right clicks. The metal scroll wheel is accurate and scrolls smoothly when moved quickly and uses a notched scroll when moved slowly by default. The middle mouse click, on the other hand, is as noisy as one you’d find on any other mouse, in stark contrast to the low sound emission of the switches. Below these, you’ll find a button that will allow you to swap the slow notched scroll of the middle wheel to one that’s always smooth.
I noticed right away that the left and right click now have a plastic covering over them compared to the 3S. Overall, the mouse itself feels much sturdier and should be less likely to degrade than before. The side wheel returns as well, which I prefer to use to easily control my PC’s volume. Beneath this are three side buttons, compared to the 3S’ two, albeit with a very specific purpose. The leftmost side button is now the designated gesture button. You hold it down and move the mouse forward, backward, and to either side in order to execute whatever function you’ve set. The positioning honestly isn’t as comfortable as it was on the 3S, though.
In its original place underneath the side buttons is the Action Ring. Pressing this will bring up a set of eight buttons on your screen that you can click. This is the MX Master 4’s big new addition and, honestly, I’m not using it all that much. It can come in handy in certain situations, though, but this will obviously be a much more desirable feature for anyone using their PC for work reasons, as you can map a fair amount of shortcuts to it. For instance, I have the Windows Snipping Tool on mine, which is nice to have at the touch of a button.
I do prefer the gestures to be in this spot, as the action ring works just as well a side button instead, but it’s easy enough to switch the gestures (or whatever you want) in its place. Similarly, you can set most other buttons to display the Action Ring, or not display it at all. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it or not, but I’m thinking I’ll likely set the button to use gestures and perhaps put the Action Ring onto the default gestures button. I really like having this degree of customization, especially considering this mouse has an extra button compared to its predecessor.
The Action Ring button itself is large and made of rubber, with a grippy texture that makes it very clear that your thumb is in fact resting on it. In another addition, this button comes with haptic feedback by default, which will register when mousing over your ring’s options. This feature drains the mouse’s battery life faster, but the strength of its vibrations can be changed between a few options, or even turned off entirely with the Logi Options+ app. This app allows you to assign what each button on the mouse does and continues to be one of my favorite features when it comes to Logitech devices.
In terms of setup, it couldn’t be easier. The original 3S only worked with a Logitech dongle, before the company released a bluetooth version. The MX Master 4 thankfully supports bluetooth right out of the box. Within moments of turning it on it was paired with ease. The mouse does come with a Logitech dongle as well for anyone who would rather not use bluetooth, however. Interestingly, the mouse has a bunch of additional plugins that can be downloaded free of charge, including ones that expand the haptic feedback options.
Upon turning it on for the first time, the mouse came charged halfway, with just 50% of its charge. But it charges up quickly and promises a 70-day battery life. After charging it to 100%, I’ve used the mouse for a week and the charge has dipped to about 85%. I use my mice far more than the average person and will likely get about 50 days out of a single charge, so the 70 day specification seems to actually carry water. Finally, you can connect the mouse to up to three separate computers and switch between them with ease if that’s your thing.
Simply put, it’s hard to compete with the features of the Logitech MX Master 4. Overall, I do think it’s a better mouse than the 3S due to its build quality alone, but adding a new button and the improved redesign of the former gesture button makes for a more attractive device. One thing’s for sure is that this has easily become my go-to mouse and I see myself using it until the clicks stop working (which unfortunately only took about a year on the 3S. Hopefully this one’s got sturdier switches).
Logitech’s MX Master 3S was my productivity mouse of choice for some time, so when I saw that the company released a successor, I knew I had to give it a go. The Logitech MX Master 4 is another high quality productivity mouse that offers a seemingly superior build to its predecessor with three major differences.
Logitech’s MX Master 3S was my productivity mouse of choice for some time, so when I saw that the company released a successor, I knew I had to give it a go. The Logitech MX Master 4 is another high quality productivity mouse that offers a seemingly superior build to its predecessor with three major differences. Overall, this isn’t a drastically different mouse and I don’t find its main new feature to be the most compelling addition, but this is still one of the finest productivity mouses on the market, with lots of great customizable features.
In case you’re not familiar with the line, the Logitech MX Master 4 naturally features all the standard mouse accoutrements with very quiet switches used for its left and right clicks. The metal scroll wheel is accurate and scrolls smoothly when moved quickly and uses a notched scroll when moved slowly by default. The middle mouse click, on the other hand, is as noisy as one you’d find on any other mouse, in stark contrast to the low sound emission of the switches. Below these, you’ll find a button that will allow you to swap the slow notched scroll of the middle wheel to one that’s always smooth.
I noticed right away that the left and right click now have a plastic covering over them compared to the 3S. Overall, the mouse itself feels much sturdier and should be less likely to degrade than before. The side wheel returns as well, which I prefer to use to easily control my PC’s volume. Beneath this are three side buttons, compared to the 3S’ two, albeit with a very specific purpose. The leftmost side button is now the designated gesture button. You hold it down and move the mouse forward, backward, and to either side in order to execute whatever function you’ve set. The positioning honestly isn’t as comfortable as it was on the 3S, though.
In its original place underneath the side buttons is the Action Ring. Pressing this will bring up a set of eight buttons on your screen that you can click. This is the MX Master 4’s big new addition and, honestly, I’m not using it all that much. It can come in handy in certain situations, though, but this will obviously be a much more desirable feature for anyone using their PC for work reasons, as you can map a fair amount of shortcuts to it. For instance, I have the Windows Snipping Tool on mine, which is nice to have at the touch of a button.
I do prefer the gestures to be in this spot, as the action ring works just as well a side button instead, but it’s easy enough to switch the gestures (or whatever you want) in its place. Similarly, you can set most other buttons to display the Action Ring, or not display it at all. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it or not, but I’m thinking I’ll likely set the button to use gestures and perhaps put the Action Ring onto the default gestures button. I really like having this degree of customization, especially considering this mouse has an extra button compared to its predecessor.
The Action Ring button itself is large and made of rubber, with a grippy texture that makes it very clear that your thumb is in fact resting on it. In another addition, this button comes with haptic feedback by default, which will register when mousing over your ring’s options. This feature drains the mouse’s battery life faster, but the strength of its vibrations can be changed between a few options, or even turned off entirely with the Logi Options+ app. This app allows you to assign what each button on the mouse does and continues to be one of my favorite features when it comes to Logitech devices.
In terms of setup, it couldn’t be easier. The original 3S only worked with a Logitech dongle, before the company released a bluetooth version. The MX Master 4 thankfully supports bluetooth right out of the box. Within moments of turning it on it was paired with ease. The mouse does come with a Logitech dongle as well for anyone who would rather not use bluetooth, however. Interestingly, the mouse has a bunch of additional plugins that can be downloaded free of charge, including ones that expand the haptic feedback options.
Upon turning it on for the first time, the mouse came charged halfway, with just 50% of its charge. But it charges up quickly and promises a 70-day battery life. After charging it to 100%, I’ve used the mouse for a week and the charge has dipped to about 85%. I use my mice far more than the average person and will likely get about 50 days out of a single charge, so the 70 day specification seems to actually carry water. Finally, you can connect the mouse to up to three separate computers and switch between them with ease if that’s your thing.
Simply put, it’s hard to compete with the features of the Logitech MX Master 4. Overall, I do think it’s a better mouse than the 3S due to its build quality alone, but adding a new button and the improved redesign of the former gesture button makes for a more attractive device. One thing’s for sure is that this has easily become my go-to mouse and I see myself using it until the clicks stop working (which unfortunately only took about a year on the 3S. Hopefully this one’s got sturdier switches).
by Andrew Farrell
