Logitech MX Master 4 Review – The Ultimate Work Mouse Reborn

Let’s face it, the Logitech MX Masterline has been, for years, virtually the king of uncontroversial work/productivity mice. The combination of sensors that operates on almost every surface, an ultra-fast scroll wheel, and a very useful second horizontal scroll wheel, is all wrapped in a comfortable design, and for many, it’s outstanding to get the job done. Now it’s back, and Logitech MX Master 4 It contains some rather important changes, including the new tactile thumbpad section and gesture buttons.

Such a productivity mouse is probably not the most obvious addition to our best gaming mouse guide, but if you use your PC for both gaming and work, such a mouse is still a great addition to your setup. This is especially true if you prefer superlight mice with very few features like the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2, rather than more capable multi-function gaming mice like the Logitech G502 X Plus. Anyway, we’ve been holding the new MX Master 4 at a pace over the past few weeks. We are looking to see if the latest iterations are still an option for those looking for the perfect work mouse.

specification

Features

Most of the macro features in the MX Master 4 remain the same as the macro features in the MX Master 3 and 3S. That is, you get two standard main left and right buttons. Behind these is a wheel shift button that switches the mag speed scroll wheel between the feel of the notch and the feel of the free spinning. The latter is great for quickly scrolling through documents and zooming and zooming through Photoshop images.

To the left of these is a second scroll wheel that performs horizontal movement. Although there is no fast spinning ability for other wheels, this means that you can scroll sideways in many apps that don’t provide this feature properly or only through key modifiers. For example, you can use the regular scroll wheel to scroll horizontally by holding CTRL.

On the side of the mouse, there are two standard back and forward buttons, further to the left, but here we also encounter two of the biggest features of this new version of the MX Master.

Sit in front of the back/front button and a new gesture button. Hold this to move the mouse forward, backward, left, or right to assign this gesture to activate the function. By default, these movements activate various Windows desktop features, such as opening the Windows menu forward, minimizing Windows and showing the desktop, moving left and right between desktops. However, these gestures can be assigned to various features of the software.

The final big new addition is the tactile pad under the thumb instead of the more common thumb buttons on the 3S and 3S models. This slightly squid rubber pad can be pressed with a thumb, and when it senses it is being pressed, the mouse uses a tactile system to mimic the feel of the button being clicked. There’s no response when the mouse is turned off, so you can see that the pad is squeezing a bit, not the button under the pad, not the tactile system.

Press this pad opens the action ring. This is a software overlay that provides quick access to up to 8 functions. These rings are context-conscious and will display a variety of features on Photoshop, Premiere, Chrome, or desktop, for example. For example, if you choose to download. You will need to sign in to create a Logitech account and get plugins for each app, but they are all free. Alternatively, you can manually set your own functions for each app.

Apart from this, the MX Master 4 is not very similar to the previous model. It holds the same dark field sensor as the previous MX Master Mouse. This means it works on almost any flat surface, including shiny metals and glass. The maximum DPI for this sensor has been increased to 8,000 DPI.

However, this means that the master range is not suitable remotely as a gaming mouse. This is because these sensors are not optimized, especially for fast movement. The mouse’s wireless connection is small and not optimized for speed-through teenage USB-C dongle, but Logitech boasts doubled increase in connection strength thanks to the new chip and antenna.

Design and comfort

One of the main reasons for the long-term popularity of the MX Master series is its shape, and its core design is retained by the MX Master 4. However, there is a big change in the overall design that I think is a negative step.

Starting with the good ones, the core shape is the same. It tilts towards the right side, towards the right side, and is about 15° at a rather steep angle, which in theory helps reduce the twist required for the forearm. I don’t actually find enough tilt angles to make that big a difference compared to either a suitable vertical mouse or a flat, symmetrical mouse, but many people pledge this style of ergonomic mouse.

Similarly, in theory, this is a mouse and is especially ideal for using a palm grip. With a mouse, drape the entire mouse over the entire mouse rather than gripping it with your fingertips. However, personally, I don’t think my fingers are too long (20cm from the base of my wrist to the tip of my middle finger) and I can easily grip this mouse to return comfortably to the scroll wheel and other buttons.

Plus, the raised section of the mouse, where the horizontal scroll wheel actually sits a little, gets in the way of the palm grip that’s comfortable for me. It’s like the section stabs my hand rather than gently supporting it. When it comes to planting the whole palm comfortably in the mouse, I prefer the flat style of mice with rather long back sections, such as the G Pro X Superlight 2.

Still, the mileages vary and the shape of the mouse is very subjective. But what’s important is the removal of the full rubber coating of the MX Master 3 and 3 that is useless with this new mouse. Its exterior really helped the mouse passively grip the palm, whether it was cold, dry, heat, or sweaty, but the palm just slipped off the slope of the mouse so you actually have to squeeze a bit. I think it’s a big downgrade

Thankfully, on the left side there is a thumb platform and also includes a rubber tactile thumb pad, providing better grip. Similarly, there is a rubber patch on the right side of the mouse, ensuring that at least this mouse is easy to grip with just the grip of your fingertips.

However, what counts slightly against all kinds of grips is the high weight of this mouse. It’s 9g heavier than the already rather thick MX Master 3. It weighs 151g, and many ultra-light gaming mice are not that far away. This is not a mouse designed to fly around at super-fast speeds, but it’s a device that still needs to pick up and move around with your fingertips. By combining it with a low grippy top surface, it makes it even more clear about weildability compared to its ancestors.

On the other hand, in terms of styling, this is a smart looking mouse, with the semi-transparent plastic on the top of the main button looking pretty neat. The graphite colors shown here are available with darker graphite/charcoal colours and light gray, while the MAC version is available in black and white silver in space.

software

The basics of making the most of your MX Master 4 are installing Logitech options + software. This software unlocks gestures and action rings that really enhance how much this mouse can do, and even accesses the Logitech flow. Flow is a company’s multi-computer feature that allows you to switch between computers connected to a mouse, or even copy and paste between computers.

However, the first in the options+ feature list is the button section. This is where you can change the functionality of all the major controls of the mouse except the left and right buttons. Some examples of changes you can make include having a second scroll wheel control volume rather than horizontal scrolling, playing gesture control media rather than Windows desktop control, and the thumbpad button displaying task view rather than action ring.

In the next section, you can adjust how your mouse feels. You can adjust the scroll wheel sensitivity, such as how much you will notice the vertical scroll wheel notch when not in free spinning mode. The sensitivity of the tactile pad can also be adjusted in the same way as the pointer speed.

The haptics section allows you to control the strength of feedback. This is a good thing. I prefer to use a lower setting as the default media settings are a bit distracting. I also preferred to turn off the tactile buzz when selecting an action from the action ring. By default, tactile sensation is triggered every time the option exceeds. If the mouse is low on battery, it may also disable the touch.

The final main screen is on the surface for setting up a simple switch connection. This means that the MX Master 4 is connected to and can be cycled through a connected device via a button at the bottom of the mouse (or other controls such as an action ring). However, this setting screen does not actually do anything. It simply indicates which devices are connected.

Other small extras in the software show the battery life of the mouse and you can check for firmware updates by swapping left and right buttons (settings section).

To get a closer look at what the action ring is, these overlays can be left open until you press the touched thumb pad and click the close button in the center, select an action, or click elsewhere on the screen. Completely customize the commands that appear in a particular app, and download plugins for hundreds of different apps, you can quickly and easily access common functions in those apps, such as matching function icons.

The action ring setup occurs in a separate section of options + outside the mouse settings. Here you can go to town. Like Flow and Gestures, this setup can take quite a while. Even if you download an app plugin, you still want to customize most of the apps, so it’s quite a task to think about all the apps you use, which features are useful, and quickly accessing the rings is the most comfortable, and what they actually are and where they are. However, once you’ve done it, it has incredible features at your fingertips.

performance

The Logitech dark field sensor in the center of this mouse is fantastic. This is laser-based technology, not optical-based technology exclusively for Logitech. Unlike optical sensors and traditional laser sensors, this mouse can work on almost any surface. Optical sensors require a uniform matte finish, but the MX Master 4 tracks it with polished metal, mirrors, glass, and more. It still requires a fairly flat surface, but beyond that, it is very capable.

Bump-ups at the largest DPIs do not benefit anyone who has a standard setup. However, if you have a Mega Multi-Monitor setup, it may help you quickly move your mouse over the vastness of your desktop.

When it comes to the performance of other core features of this mouse, its main scroll wheel is definitely its only greatest feature. Other mice, such as the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K, come with similar freewheel options, but the mice here are really easy to use. I especially like the ability to provide a notch feel for slower movements, but when I flick the wheel harder, it automatically turns off the dent and spins freely, and Logitech’s claims zip up to 1,000 lines per second.

When it comes to button performance, I feel that the main left and right buttons are clearly different from those found in good gaming mice. They really teach and feel they’re clicking on the game switching. It’s not that they’re mushy, but they have a slight softness. In fact, Logitech is focused on keeping these switches as quiet as possible. For those who were distracted by clicks like this, I can’t say that clicks plagued me with this older version of the mouse, but that’s a great addition. Meanwhile, click on Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro

Logitech slightly loosens the horizontal scroll wheel feel compared to the MX Master 3. This really makes it easier to use. I found the older version to be a little stiff, whereas moving the document sideways is much faster and easier to move.

Where it counts, the MX Master 4 performs better. It works from a tracking perspective, and all controls work easily with your hand.

Battery life

The Logitech MX Master 4 has excellent battery life, and the company claims it has been using it for several months between its fees. In our tests, this was bur extended with mice dropping mice with reported battery life+ after daily use. This is the advantage that it doesn’t have ultra-fast sensors with high voter turnout like gaming mice.

Charging occurs via a USB-C port on the front of the mouse, which allows this mouse to get a very ridiculous 3 hours of special use from just one minute of charging.

price

The Logitech MX Master 4 priced at $119.99, which is not exactly a budget, but it’s a fair price for the number of features packed into this mouse. Many high-end gaming mice are quite expensive and far less functional.

verdict

The Logitech MX Master 4 is the king of productivity mice, and its new gestures and action ring features welcomes new additions to the already won formula. However, that weight gain and its overall external drop will blow out the dents in comparison to previous MX master mice. It’s not a complete trading breaker, but for some users it will feel like an important step.

Thankfully, in all other respects, this is definitely the perfect mouse to get to someone who still wants to do some serious work.

If you are looking for a mouse’s selected keyboard or mouse mat, check out our best gaming keyboard and the best gaming mouse pad guide.