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The 3rd party mouse situation on Macs is totally out of control. I recently bought a Logitech G Pro X Superlight to use as my daily driver on an M1 Mac. The mo

The 3rd party mouse situation on Macs is totally out of control. I recently bought a Logitech G Pro X Superlight to use as my daily driver on an M1 Mac. The mouse, it’s amazing. But Logitech’s software is a fucking car crash. A casual perusal of Reddit and customer forums will confirm. Runs as root, Sensor DPI won’t stay set, on-board mode flat out doesn’t work, requires manually setting permissions on a config file in order to save settings (!), etc. After struggling with it for several days - including trying to set it up in on-board mode on a Windows PC before bringing it across - to no avail, I finally came across Steermouse (http://www.plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/index.html http://www.plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/index.html). Was then able to fine tune cursor and scroll wheel speed and acceleration, middle and back / forward button customisations, etc. Nuked Logitech’s crap from orbit and never looked back. I’ve had similar experiences over the years with multiple Logitech mice on multiple Intel Macs - mostly using Logitech Options instead of GHub. You just can never get it quite right. So, PSA: if you’re on a Mac (AS or Intel), own a Logitech mouse and fucking hate your life, try your luck with Logitech’s software. Otherwise, get Steermouse. EDIT: Forgot to mention: if all you want is button customisation and you don’t want to pay for Steermouse, Karabiner-Elements is free and will have you covered. You may already be using it anyway to, eg, remap your Caps key. It can’t do cursor or scroll wheel adjustments, though.

vladvasiliu 5y ago
Huh, interesting. I have an older Logitech G700s mouse, so it uses the older Logitech software. I never had any issue with it on a Mac. I only used it occasionally to adjust the onboard settings, and then forget about it for years on end. I now have a G703 (so new G Hub software) and while I haven't tried that on the Mac, I can configure the onboard settings from Windows or from Linux [0] with no issues whatsoever (aside from setting a button to show the battery level, which, for some reason, doesn't work). --- [0] The Logitech software doesn't work on Linux, but Piper/ratbag work just fine. https://github.com/libratbag/piper https://github.com/libratbag/piper
- ratww 5y ago
  > The Logitech software doesn't work on Linux This is funny, considering it's an Electron app. They just didn't take the time to port, apparently.
  - vladvasiliu 5y ago
    I see this quite often and wonder what the reason is. Even for what seem like "basic" apps, as in not needing much interaction with the OS (say a note-taking app, as opposed to a video-conferencing app that presumable does more involved things, like GPU acceleration).
    - mmis1000 5y ago
      It still requires you to build on each environments once to make the native dependencies work properly. Although I don't think it takes too much efforts to do that. But besides that, signing binaries on mac is complex and requires you to pay $100 to apple. For someone that don't use mac at first place, they probably don't even bother do it.
      - vladvasiliu 5y ago
        Is this build somewhat complex and / or not guaranteed to run well? I have absolutely no experience with Electron development, and actually believed that the cross-platform thing was free (or almost). Again, at least for apps that don't need special functions that could be platform dependent.
        mmis1000 5y ago
        Technically it is free, until some native dependencies involve. Because you still need to setup build chains on each platform to make them compile. For example, vc on Windows, gcc on Linux, xcode on mac. Besides that, unlike java, nodejs don't bundle a lot of stdlibs by itself.(It don't even have a lib for manipulate images!) So you end up being required to use custom native modules for some specific tasks.(If no js alternative available) The nodejs way is build yourself, so you will have the right one. But since it is a bundled electron program, it doesn't work and you need to prebuild it.
watermelon0 5y ago
Just as a counterpoint, I have G703, which I daily use on macOS and Windows, and hadn't had any issues with it or the G Hub. However, I'd prefer native, non-Electron app, that doesn't take 350 MB of space, just to configure my mouse (G Hub).
- Isthatablackgsd 5y ago
  Wait what, G Hub is a Electron app?! Well, that explains why the software felt odd/off compares to Logitech Gaming Software. I have G600, the software works in my MBA M1 but it couldn't pick up my mice. Because G600 is connected through the mini dock station dongle.
  - vbezhenar 5y ago
    Those days every software rewrite is Electron. It's a plague.
- azalemeth 5y ago
  453 MB on my install. It's such a useless app that I used it once, configured everything, and then verified that the same mouse worked fine with libratbag on linux -- it does (I have it on a KVM box between two different machines). Next time I'll just configure it on linux. Their hardware is good -- but the software is awful.
oauea 5y ago
Is this an ad for paid-for mac software? Sure looks like it...
- moolcool 5y ago
  Macs are just missing a lot of extremely basic mouse features. In typical Apple fashion, using it "the right way" is dead easy, but anything different is impossible without third party tools.
- smolyeet 5y ago
  Not everything has malicious content , stop pushing this narrative
- matsemann 5y ago
  Kinda normal to have to pay for software to get basic functionality working on Mac, though. Like BetterTouchTools.
- dang 5y ago
  You can't break the site guidelines like this. You broke them with https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28233078 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28233078, and you've been posting a lot of unsubstantive comments and flamebait. This is the sort of thing we ban accounts for, so if you'd please review the rules and stick to them, we'd appreciate it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
tgv 5y ago
I know. I have a Logitech mouse too. Nothing wrong with the hardware. The software sort of works on my own MBP, even though it regularly crashes or forgets its functionality, but refuses to run on the work MBP, which runs the same OS and is otherwise nearly identical. No messages.
solarkraft 5y ago
I have an M720, which requires Logi Options for smooth scrolling on macOS (also M1). It's monstrously large and has a weird UI, but besides that and it wanting full access to my key strokes ... it's okay. Stays out of the way, I haven't thought about it much at all. That said I do have some weird issues with my mac and haven't rules it out as a cause.
moolcool 5y ago
The mouse situation generally in the mac ecosystem is hot garbage. You need a third party tool to disable cursor acceleration and scroll wheel acceleration (both of which are major quality-of-life features). You also can't map pressing the scroll wheel to a click-and-drag scroll.
- zabatuvajdka 5y ago
  Is there a reason why? Does OSX lock down the driver subsystem or something? Personally I don’t have a fancy mouse (just a cheap wired Microsoft one) because it’s hard to find good ambidextrous mice. So it probably just uses standard mouse drivers.
  - another_kel 5y ago
    I think the reason is that consumers of expersive & customizable mice are gamers who almost exclusively use windows. Razer used to have a mac version of their app but they just decided to not make their new app and support any new devices several years ago.
    - zabatuvajdka 5y ago
      Ah—yeah that makes sense. I would like to foray into better hardware territory at some point. There certainly could be a lot of value for all applications with quick mouse-triggered macros and whatnot. I typically swap my mouse hand to prevent repeating stress injuries so there’d have to be better ambidextrous support!
Wowfunhappy 5y ago
I have a Logitech G305, which I love. I configured the buttons inside of a VM, threw away the VM, and I never intend to touch the software again. (Unless I get a new mouse.)
Ballas 5y ago
Horrible software is why my Razer is in a box of unused wires. I am now sporting a Redragon that they have not even bothered to change the USB PID/VID, so it reports as a Pixart mouse (devkit?).
vbezhenar 5y ago
I used Logitech mouse on a Mac few years ago. I used Windows PC to configure it and it remembered all stuff inside. I did not install anything on Mac, it just worked. It's a pity to hear that they broke it. I used Asus mouse. It was truly underwhelming, even on Windows. It did not remember its settings, instead some "driver" software applied those settings on Windows startup, which caused mouse device to disappear for a few seconds every time I booted my computer with annoying plug-out, plug-in sounds.
oauea 5y ago
Looks like this software does not comply with EU regulations about refunds. > The registration information is not refundable because it is a short string and easy to copy. We cannot accept any refund requests for it. Please try this software before purchasing a license. You do not have to pay unless you are completely satisfied with this software.
- lixtra 5y ago
  For some goods the customer can be asked to agree to a no-refund. This is happening here. For Germany, see https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de/digitale-inhalte-widerruf.html https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de/digitale-inhalte-widerruf.ht...
- zinekeller 5y ago
  1) There is a trial period which allows to evaluate the software for its fitness. The software is time-limited instead of function-limited, which means that it'll be in the consumer's fault if they bought the software and found out that it didn't work (except for very limited problems, for example relating to said registration step). 2) EU regulations do have a nuance - and in this case, 1) makes determination if said software needs to have a refund policy for the consumer harder. While WinRAR does have a refund policy, it seems the period for refunds is shorter than what is mandated. win.rar GmbH is based in Germany, so how it did bypass these rules? Spoiler: they didn't, the rules allowed them precisely due to the evaluation period.
maccard 5y ago
To be fair, it's garbage on windows too. The best solution I've come up with is a VM to configure the on-board settings and then run without the software normally
- SAI_Peregrinus 5y ago
  Thankfully most of the better mice keep their settings (including macros) in hardware. So you can save all the profiles, settings, macros, button customization, etc, to the mouse, and then take that mouse to any computer and it'll work fine.
  - 0-_-0 5y ago
    Which mice do? Is there a list somewhere? I just got a Steelseries mouse and the programmability only works if the driver is running in the background. I might as well just use Autohotkey. My previous A4Tech mouse was actually programmable.
    - maccard 5y ago
      My last Razer mouse did, as do both my Logitech mice.
      - 0-_-0 5y ago
        Thanks. Can the macros have loops and conditionals? E.g. keep sending left clicks every 0.01 seconds until I press the left mouse key.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  I have a Logitech g305 and it definitely doesn't run at the full polling rate without the stupid G Hub software running. It's noticeably smoother once I launch G Hub. Does anyone know if 1000hz polling doesn't work with the standard HID drivers on Windows or something?
  - 5y ago
jonnycomputer 5y ago
I use the Logitech M510 on my Mac, and love it. Bought it in 2012 or 2013. The form factor of the Mac mouse is just a deal-breaker for me. Its beautiful, but makes my hand hurt. I never installed drivers for the mouse. Its just a mouse; I shouldn't need them. I recently bought their updated version of that mouse for our Windows machine, and tested it on my iMac; no drivers required. Maybe there are fancier mice that require special software, but I hardly use the fancier scroll functions of the mouse I have, so I have a hard time believing there'd be other controls that I'd be willing to install new software for.
- silisili 5y ago
  I've been using Linux for 2 decades now, and cannot remember a time a mouse didn't just work. Mostly Logitech, from PS2 to USB to wireless.
  - yurishimo 5y ago
    I've felt the same way, even on a Mac, but I don't really care about how my mouse "feels" compared to some people. Does the cursor move? Good enough for me. That said, I'm all in on trackpads 24/7 now and have been for years. Nobody does trackpads better than Apple and using a giant external one while my laptop is docked helps me to remain productive when I need to undock. So much of your productivity is muscle memory and by using a trackpad full time, I'm also flexing those muscles.
    - jonnycomputer 5y ago
      I agree that Apple's track pad is the best out there. I find something are just not done well on track pads though. Certain games, certainly. Also things that require long click and drags.
      - pdpi 5y ago
        > Certain games, certainly. An acquaintance mentioned that her daughter damaged the trackpad on her MacBook. She was making do with a regular mouse, but apparently hated it horrendously for Minecraft and desperately wanted to get the trackpad fixed. I can't even wrap my head around the idea of Minecraft on a trackpad.
deleted 5y ago
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torstenvl 5y ago
I wouldn't normally chime in with a "me, too!" but it's worth reiterating that Steermouse is a godsend for mice on Mac. Whether it's sensitivity and acceleration or setting up extra buttons (and chording buttons!) it works splendidly and I don't know what I'd do without it. Using it with a Logitech MX Anywhere 2 myself.
- Eric_WVGG 5y ago
  I’ll echo everything he said about Steermouse, except to substitute for Razer’s bananas mouse software, not Logitech’s.
  - wlesieutre 5y ago
    I don’t think Razer even has Mac drivers anymore, they went Windows only with Synapse 3. And with Apple’s recent and repeated breakage of backwards compatibility, I doubt Synapse 2 runs anymore. It would have used used a kernel extension instead of DriverKit. Just as well, since Synapse is terrible.
- skoskie 5y ago
  You ever been in a car with a driver’s seat that has way too many options, so you can never really get the right position? That’s why I’ve never tried Steermouse. I’m afraid I’ll spend all my time trying to get all the settings right and constantly be frustrated. But after this thread, maybe I just just try it.
  - torstenvl 5y ago
    Skip straight to the Cursor tab and set acceleration to .8 and sensitivity to 1775. Tweak from there only if you feel it's necessary.
duxup 5y ago
Do you HAVE to install third party software to make your mouse work on a Mac? I tend to just ... never install any software like that on my Windows PC.
- Milner08 5y ago
  No, you dont. They work fine (at least my MX Master does) without, however you may loose some features like back and forward. Plus you need the software to customize settings like what button does what.
- snazz 5y ago
  The HID drivers that come with your operating system work fine, but you’ll be missing out on any manufacturer-specific customization features (nonstandard buttons, remapping, DPI settings, lights, etc). I also don’t tend to install software like that (including the GUIs for graphics drivers too—just install the driver through Device Manager) and I don’t care about the lost functionality. But if you want your fancy gaming mouse to have most of the special features it was advertised to have, the software is useful.
- willyt 5y ago
  If you have a mouse with more than left, right, middle buttons and scroll wheel, it needs a 'driver'[0] of some kind so you can configure what the extra buttons do. Otherwise you can ignore the extra buttons and just use it like a normal mouse. [0] I don't think it's an actual driver, I think it just remaps USB HID events from the built-in driver.
- handrous 5y ago
  Nah. I'm on a Logitech 720 (bluetooth, wireless, many buttons) and didn't even know there was anything that I could download for it for Mac. It just works. ... but I don't care about customizing button behavior or anything like that, and only have a mouse this fancy because I wanted to 3-device switching on it (so I could easily use it on Windows and iOS, too). Though now that I've got one I'm kinda in love with the free-spinning scroll wheel and would have trouble going back to a normal one (though I hated it at first).
howolduis 5y ago
I use an Logitech MX Master 3 mouse on M1 and can't say I had much issues with it. That being said, Logitech has zero support for Linux. A +$100 mouse will turn into a cheap $5 mouse when you connect it to a Linux device, which is very frustrating since I would like to use my mouse across all my machines...
- wadim 5y ago
  I use solaar[0] on Linux for my MX Master 2S; it's really nice and mostly works out of the box! [0] https://github.com/pwr-Solaar/Solaar https://github.com/pwr-Solaar/Solaar
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    Solaar is in the default repositories of Ubuntu, and it does everything the Logitech Unifying Software does, but unbloated.
CiceroCiceronis 5y ago
The situation’s not all that much better on Windows, given that I put up with Logitech’s shitty software crashing every time I unplugged a USB device for some months. Eventually just put the mouse into onboard profile mode, assigned all the buttons to F13-24, then mapped them with AutoHotkey. GHub, goodbye and good riddance.
daniel-thompson 5y ago
> The 3rd party mouse situation on Macs is totally out of control. Agreed. I have a 3Dconnexion CadMouse Pro Wireless, which is the only mouse I could find with [an actual middle mouse button in addition to a clickable scroll wheel]. After upgrading to Big Sur, physically clicking any mouse button doesn't register click events with the operating system. So I can move the cursor but not click it. The recommended workaround is to plug it in with the USB cable and use it that way. Is it 3Dconnexion's or Apple's fault? No idea, but this is just insane. When was the last time an OS upgrade caused your _mouse_ to stop working!? It's like taking a time warp back to the 90s.
- SAI_Peregrinus 5y ago
  I've got a Roccat Kone Aimo Remastered (ROC-11-820-BK, P/N GM1820-02-A01). It's got a wheel (with tilt), 2 clickable middle buttons, front/back, and a a sort of "shift" key for the mouse (hold it and any button can be mapped to an alternate function). Pretty comfortable (to me), and the driver can save all the settings to hardware in the mouse, so you theoretically don't need to keep the driver installed after you initially set the mouse up.
shocks 5y ago
Here on Linux, it (the Superlight) just works. There's libratbag[0] if you want to mess with some DPI settings. 0: https://github.com/libratbag/libratbag https://github.com/libratbag/libratbag
jabroni_salad 5y ago
I manage a ClickOnce application and every now and then a call will get escalated to me because it has suddenly become untrusted by the operating system. The root cause is the software for the MX Master helpfully sets some reg keys to distrust all ClickOnce applications every time it updates. Customers have been complaining it on their customer service forums for years about it.
larrik 5y ago
I tried 3 different mice on macOS and finally just bought a Magic Touchpad. I never understood why Mac folks were obsessed with keyboard shortcuts, but now I know. Mouse on Mac completely sucks and it's embarrassing. I have a Mac machine and a Linux machine side by side and my efficiency on Linux is like double that of on Mac, even though I use the Mac 90% of the time. (Mac destroys everything else on 4k scaling, though. Linux is atrocious at that. Windows is just "good enough.")
- selykg 5y ago
  > I never understood why Mac folks were obsessed with keyboard shortcuts, but now I know. No. Most Mac users are obsessed with keyboard shortcuts because they're faster and more efficient. This is true whether a mouse experience was super optimized or not. If you're typing moving to a mouse takes a lot more time than using a keyboard shortcut. Similarly being a left-hand shortcut wizard is highly effective when combined with a mouse as well. Lets not use stupid hyperbole here. I think 99% of Mac users could plug a mouse in out of the box and use it just fine on a Mac. Those that need the extra support can just as easily install one of the many 3rd party utilities that better handle mice support than the manufacturer.
  - yurishimo 5y ago
    Exactly, I don't care if the mouse is "tuned", I just care that the cursor moves at a reasonable tracking speed. That said, I'm full time trackpad, even on desktop, so mouse stuff is rarely an issue for me. I'm only using a mouse in specific scenarios.
  - larrik 5y ago
    I disagree here. I use keyboard shortcuts on both platforms, but I can be fast either way on Linux, while on Mac I just can't get used to the acceleration curves and other odd behaviors that simply don't happen on the other platforms with the same mice. I tried Microsoft, Logitec, and SteelSeries, which is about as great a variety of mice as can be expected. I know I tend to be in the minority on HN in my dislike of macOS, but I'm trying here. Conversely, I really really like the magic keyboard, and having an extra accelerator button is pretty nice (that isn't the stupid MS button).
beltsazar 5y ago
Does Steermouse support per-app button mappings like Logitech Options and Karabiner?
dylan604 5y ago
From steermouse front page: "Includes some options, “Double Click”, “Click Lock” and so on. A letter key is available for these clicks. For example, a space key + click allows you to grab-scroll in Photoshop." Isn't this the default behavior of Photoshop? I've been using space+drag since moses was a baby. How is this a feature of this software?
joshstrange 5y ago
Logitech/Razer/Corsair, all trash software. Thankfully I was able to work around having to use Razer with some open source software but I'm still stuck with Logitech (Logitech G Hub) for my camera and Corsair (iCue) for my headset. /Every/ /single/ /time/ I join a Zoom/video chat I have to open G Hub to fix the zoom level (set it back to 100%, it's stuck zoomed in ~120%). It's incredibly infuriating to join every meeting zoomed in, have my video freeze for 1-5 seconds when I open the camera settings in G Hub, then have my image pop to the right size (note: I don't have to click anything, just open the camera settings to fix it). Also I have to close (red button in top right of the G Hub window, not full quit) the G Hub window in between meetings (If I leave it up and just back out of the camera settings it won't fix the camera when I click back into the camera). Also sometimes G Hub just doesn't open and it's got 2-4 (lghub, lghub_updater, lghub_agent, lghub Helper) processes that you have to kill in quick succession to really kill the software (or they will restart each other) before you can restart it and try again. It also appears to need an update once a week or so which is fun to find out when you open it to fix the zoom level and have to wait until it finishes updating and relaunching. Razer was a huge PITA constantly forgetting my config and I couldn't be happier now that I have Karabiner handling everything for my Razer device. Corsair makes a great wireless headset that plays nice with Mac and has good range (I can walk around almost all of my house and stay connected which is a godsend for Zoom hangouts with friends). Unfortunately, their software, iCue, is trash. It regularly tells me my headset is "Unavailable" when it's working just fine and if I leave my headset off the charger (aka, I don't plug in it) and it goes to sleep then it's a 50-50 chance that it will forget it's config. I couldn't care less about the RGB nonsense on the ear cups but the bright LED on the mic boom (green = on, red = off) is distracting. Thankfully they have a setting to only show the LED when the mic is off (exactly what I want, I want visual confirmation I'm muted). The problem is if it loses it's config that defaults back to always on and I have to do a dance of killing the iCue software and relaunching it until it fixes itself.
- iudqnolq 5y ago
  > I don't have to click anything, just open the camera settings to fix it Fyi I frequently have to open zoom camera settings to make my laptop camera (Linux, darter pro) work. The fault may your case be shared with zoom, which is also a dumpster fire.
rcarmo 5y ago
I use a Logitech M720, which can be used on a Mac with zero extra software (although you can't use the fourth/fifth buttons, side scrolling works, response curve doesn't need any fancy tuning, etc.)
aidenn0 5y ago
So I am a membr of the trackballs subreddit. I run almost exclusively linux so I don't run into this issue, but two of the popular brands for trackballs are Logitech and Elecom. Elecom's software is far worse than Logitechs (also their firmware only vaguely respects the USB HID spec, so none of the extra buttons work with a generic HID driver). There are dozens of threads asking about how to use logitech and elecom trackballs on Macs and they all end up with "Well, I finally got steermouse and all my problems have gone away"
- progbits 5y ago
  Funny how the manufacturer does such a bad job there is money to be made in shipping an actually functioning driver...
  - aidenn0 5y ago
    Elecom doesn't even try with their firmware. They send an identical HID descriptor regardless of what the device actually supports (x +y scrollwheel, 5 other buttons). Here's the linux workaround: https://code.woboq.org/linux/linux/drivers/hid/hid-elecom.c.html https://code.woboq.org/linux/linux/drivers/hid/hid-elecom.c.... If you use a recent Elecom device and an LTS linux kernel you need to patch your kernel just to get the buttons working right!
rchaud 5y ago
Using a Logitech M185 barebones wireless KB + Mouse with no issues on a Mac. Plug and play. 2021 would be the first time I've even heard about headphones needing the vendor's app to work right, or input peripherals needing to install its own drivers like its 1998.
l30n4da5 5y ago
I think i'll stick with my cheap-o gaming mice that all run plug-and-play. almost 100% of the big-name companies that sell performance mice have this wierd thing where they force you to download and install bloatware just to have your mouse work properly. Had that problem years ago with my MadCatz R.A.T.. When MadCatz went out of business, my mouse turned into a paperweight. Currently using an A-JAZZ AJ52 (about $10 on amazon). Been using it for over a year now and it works perfectly for work and gaming. Drivers are plug-and-play, so no bloatware installed along with it. It really is nice.
mirekrusin 5y ago
I feel you man, I don't know how companies can make such good physical products and shit on them before selling with software of malware-esthetics w/prince-of-africa-wants-your-bank-account-info-to-help-with-his-fortune permissions, crashing as main functionality three-ring circus to provide checkbox and slider config.
- skoskie 5y ago
  If you authored a book in which you just trashed a particular subject, I would read it.
deleted 5y ago
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fossuser 5y ago
Is it a Mac thing? I've had issues with Logitech software even on Windows. Their mice hardware is pretty good, but the software is so bad I never install it and just use whatever works on the mouse by default. On Mac I use the magic trackpad for wireless because it's the only one I've found that consistently works with the bluetooth connection. I'm not sure who is at fault, but other bluetooth devices just constantly have issues (drop connection, fail to wake, fail to pair, etc.) For wired I sometimes use one of the Razer "Gaming" mice - I don't like the aesthetic, but there aren't a lot of great options in that category and they work well enough. Apple mice have never been good - they've always been form instead of good design.
- kayodelycaon 5y ago
  I've had good luck with the MX Anywhere 3. It's worked pretty much painlessly over bluetooth with two iPads and two Macs. (And I didn't install any extra software.) https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/mx-anywhere-3.910-005985.html?crid=7 https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/mx-anywhere-3.9...
  - fossuser 5y ago
    Thanks - I've mostly used their Marathon mice in the past, but I'll check that one out.
toss1 5y ago
Not dissimilar w/Windows, although maybe not as bad - the 1st thing that came up just now in a search for my device was a Logitech Support page about "If you are having trouble with Mac..." I use a M-R0056 MX Ergo trackball, primarily for CAD. It's fantastic hardware, very precise & responsive, controllable, and reliable even after years of being packed into/out of a laptop bag almost daily, etc. But the drivers? Ugghh. After looking at all the great function mappings and other stuff they could supposedly do, I did a whole bunch of setup, and found that the software was, to be very polite, flaky. Tried multiple fixes, but in the end, just de-installed and ran the hardware with the default Windows mouse software ever since. The Logitec software is just a complete waste of time. I haven't been in windows internals since Win32, so I have no idea if it is MS making it impossible to make good drivers, or it's lazy 3rd parties shipping second rate stuff. To me it feels like it's 2nd rate managed as bloatware - just use the biggest and quickest libraries available and ship it, but that is complete conjecture. Either way, it is really disappointing to get such good hardware and not be able to take advantage. If anyone has any insight as to why it's so bad, or what can be done about it...? E.g., is there a similar obscure utility like Steermouse for Windows (looks great, but seems Mac-only)?
stopnamingnuts 5y ago
> Nuked Logitech’s crap from orbit +1. It's the only way to be sure.
mihaaly 5y ago
Not the same ammount of crap but 3DConnexion drivers play in the same league. Huge (150M+) driver, on M1 Mac it is only in beta mode for almost a year, it forgets its 'smart' scroll behaviour - that is dumb like a brick - at every switch off, but without the driver there is no click! I am serious, the driver is mandatory to use the primary button. Without it only the mouse pointer and the scroll wheel works. It is just a mouse, although a real 3 button one, only one out there as far as I know. It does not require firewall exception at least.
ajh13 5y ago
I recently got a Xtrfy M42 mouse and it requires no additional downloadable software. Everything you need to change the DPI and RGB are physical buttons. Which was one of the main reason I chose it over other comparable mice.
OGWhales 5y ago
> But Logitech’s software is a fucking car crash The old software worked well. I was super disappointed when I got a superlight that it simply didn't work with old software. I'm on windows but describing the new software as a car crash is still extremely accurate. Anyone know of software similar to steermouse on windows?
danudey 5y ago
I had a Logitech G930 headset and a Logitech G-series keyboard and mouse. Worked great. Then one day it updated (in the background). Without the software running, the extra programmable buttons on my mouse (which I used a lot) wouldn't work, which is normal. With the software running, my G930 headset would now reconnect over and over for ten minutes whenever I plugged it in or turned it on, making it almost useless. It eventually resolved itself, but I don't know when because I didn't use it for a few years. Ugh.
babypuncher 5y ago
It's pretty sad when libratbag for Linux is better than the official Logitech software for either Windows or Mac.
varenc 5y ago
Highly recommend Steermouse to all Mac users with a Logitech mouse. The Logitech software is horrible. Constantly consumes background resources for no reason. I've only need to use it a few times to turn a mouse's color LEDs off.
passivate 5y ago
In the past when I ran into this issue it was trivial to reverse-engineer the vendor's mouse app and re-play whatever commands it was sending the USB driver/filter. If anyone has a G100s or a Razer DiamondBack 3G, I think I should have the commands saved somewhere and I'd be happy to dig them up. Since then, I've switched over to a driver-less mouse where everything is controlled via mouse buttons (XTRFY MZ1).
mattgreenrocks 5y ago
It's a total mess. What keeps me sane is I bought two G203's, configured them on my PC, saved the settings to the mouse itself, then used them on my work and home Macs. Note this isn't required, but mice often come configured with relatively low DPI or annoying button assignments.
isatty 5y ago
I use a G502 with the inbuilt driver and it works fine.

vladvasiliu 5y ago

Huh, interesting. I have an older Logitech G700s mouse, so it uses the older Logitech software. I never had any issue with it on a Mac. I only used it occasionally to adjust the onboard settings, and then forget about it for years on end. I now have a G703 (so new G Hub software) and while I haven't tried that on the Mac, I can configure the onboard settings from Windows or from Linux [0] with no issues whatsoever (aside from setting a button to show the battery level, which, for some reason, doesn't work). --- [0] The Logitech software doesn't work on Linux, but Piper/ratbag work just fine. https://github.com/libratbag/piper https://github.com/libratbag/piper

ratww 5y ago
> The Logitech software doesn't work on Linux This is funny, considering it's an Electron app. They just didn't take the time to port, apparently.
- vladvasiliu 5y ago
  I see this quite often and wonder what the reason is. Even for what seem like "basic" apps, as in not needing much interaction with the OS (say a note-taking app, as opposed to a video-conferencing app that presumable does more involved things, like GPU acceleration).
  - mmis1000 5y ago
    It still requires you to build on each environments once to make the native dependencies work properly. Although I don't think it takes too much efforts to do that. But besides that, signing binaries on mac is complex and requires you to pay $100 to apple. For someone that don't use mac at first place, they probably don't even bother do it.
    - vladvasiliu 5y ago
      Is this build somewhat complex and / or not guaranteed to run well? I have absolutely no experience with Electron development, and actually believed that the cross-platform thing was free (or almost). Again, at least for apps that don't need special functions that could be platform dependent.
      - mmis1000 5y ago
        Technically it is free, until some native dependencies involve. Because you still need to setup build chains on each platform to make them compile. For example, vc on Windows, gcc on Linux, xcode on mac. Besides that, unlike java, nodejs don't bundle a lot of stdlibs by itself.(It don't even have a lib for manipulate images!) So you end up being required to use custom native modules for some specific tasks.(If no js alternative available) The nodejs way is build yourself, so you will have the right one. But since it is a bundled electron program, it doesn't work and you need to prebuild it.

watermelon0 5y ago

Just as a counterpoint, I have G703, which I daily use on macOS and Windows, and hadn't had any issues with it or the G Hub. However, I'd prefer native, non-Electron app, that doesn't take 350 MB of space, just to configure my mouse (G Hub).

Isthatablackgsd 5y ago
Wait what, G Hub is a Electron app?! Well, that explains why the software felt odd/off compares to Logitech Gaming Software. I have G600, the software works in my MBA M1 but it couldn't pick up my mice. Because G600 is connected through the mini dock station dongle.
- vbezhenar 5y ago
  Those days every software rewrite is Electron. It's a plague.
azalemeth 5y ago
453 MB on my install. It's such a useless app that I used it once, configured everything, and then verified that the same mouse worked fine with libratbag on linux -- it does (I have it on a KVM box between two different machines). Next time I'll just configure it on linux. Their hardware is good -- but the software is awful.

oauea 5y ago

Is this an ad for paid-for mac software? Sure looks like it...

moolcool 5y ago
Macs are just missing a lot of extremely basic mouse features. In typical Apple fashion, using it "the right way" is dead easy, but anything different is impossible without third party tools.
smolyeet 5y ago
Not everything has malicious content , stop pushing this narrative
matsemann 5y ago
Kinda normal to have to pay for software to get basic functionality working on Mac, though. Like BetterTouchTools.
dang 5y ago
You can't break the site guidelines like this. You broke them with https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28233078 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28233078, and you've been posting a lot of unsubstantive comments and flamebait. This is the sort of thing we ban accounts for, so if you'd please review the rules and stick to them, we'd appreciate it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tgv 5y ago

I know. I have a Logitech mouse too. Nothing wrong with the hardware. The software sort of works on my own MBP, even though it regularly crashes or forgets its functionality, but refuses to run on the work MBP, which runs the same OS and is otherwise nearly identical. No messages.

solarkraft 5y ago

I have an M720, which requires Logi Options for smooth scrolling on macOS (also M1). It's monstrously large and has a weird UI, but besides that and it wanting full access to my key strokes ... it's okay. Stays out of the way, I haven't thought about it much at all. That said I do have some weird issues with my mac and haven't rules it out as a cause.

moolcool 5y ago

The mouse situation generally in the mac ecosystem is hot garbage. You need a third party tool to disable cursor acceleration and scroll wheel acceleration (both of which are major quality-of-life features). You also can't map pressing the scroll wheel to a click-and-drag scroll.

zabatuvajdka 5y ago
Is there a reason why? Does OSX lock down the driver subsystem or something? Personally I don’t have a fancy mouse (just a cheap wired Microsoft one) because it’s hard to find good ambidextrous mice. So it probably just uses standard mouse drivers.
- another_kel 5y ago
  I think the reason is that consumers of expersive & customizable mice are gamers who almost exclusively use windows. Razer used to have a mac version of their app but they just decided to not make their new app and support any new devices several years ago.
  - zabatuvajdka 5y ago
    Ah—yeah that makes sense. I would like to foray into better hardware territory at some point. There certainly could be a lot of value for all applications with quick mouse-triggered macros and whatnot. I typically swap my mouse hand to prevent repeating stress injuries so there’d have to be better ambidextrous support!

Wowfunhappy 5y ago

I have a Logitech G305, which I love. I configured the buttons inside of a VM, threw away the VM, and I never intend to touch the software again. (Unless I get a new mouse.)

Ballas 5y ago

Horrible software is why my Razer is in a box of unused wires. I am now sporting a Redragon that they have not even bothered to change the USB PID/VID, so it reports as a Pixart mouse (devkit?).

vbezhenar 5y ago

I used Logitech mouse on a Mac few years ago. I used Windows PC to configure it and it remembered all stuff inside. I did not install anything on Mac, it just worked. It's a pity to hear that they broke it. I used Asus mouse. It was truly underwhelming, even on Windows. It did not remember its settings, instead some "driver" software applied those settings on Windows startup, which caused mouse device to disappear for a few seconds every time I booted my computer with annoying plug-out, plug-in sounds.

oauea 5y ago

Looks like this software does not comply with EU regulations about refunds. > The registration information is not refundable because it is a short string and easy to copy. We cannot accept any refund requests for it. Please try this software before purchasing a license. You do not have to pay unless you are completely satisfied with this software.

lixtra 5y ago
For some goods the customer can be asked to agree to a no-refund. This is happening here. For Germany, see https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de/digitale-inhalte-widerruf.html https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de/digitale-inhalte-widerruf.ht...
zinekeller 5y ago
1) There is a trial period which allows to evaluate the software for its fitness. The software is time-limited instead of function-limited, which means that it'll be in the consumer's fault if they bought the software and found out that it didn't work (except for very limited problems, for example relating to said registration step). 2) EU regulations do have a nuance - and in this case, 1) makes determination if said software needs to have a refund policy for the consumer harder. While WinRAR does have a refund policy, it seems the period for refunds is shorter than what is mandated. win.rar GmbH is based in Germany, so how it did bypass these rules? Spoiler: they didn't, the rules allowed them precisely due to the evaluation period.

maccard 5y ago

To be fair, it's garbage on windows too. The best solution I've come up with is a VM to configure the on-board settings and then run without the software normally

SAI_Peregrinus 5y ago
Thankfully most of the better mice keep their settings (including macros) in hardware. So you can save all the profiles, settings, macros, button customization, etc, to the mouse, and then take that mouse to any computer and it'll work fine.
- 0-_-0 5y ago
  Which mice do? Is there a list somewhere? I just got a Steelseries mouse and the programmability only works if the driver is running in the background. I might as well just use Autohotkey. My previous A4Tech mouse was actually programmable.
  - maccard 5y ago
    My last Razer mouse did, as do both my Logitech mice.
    - 0-_-0 5y ago
      Thanks. Can the macros have loops and conditionals? E.g. keep sending left clicks every 0.01 seconds until I press the left mouse key.
squeaky-clean 5y ago
I have a Logitech g305 and it definitely doesn't run at the full polling rate without the stupid G Hub software running. It's noticeably smoother once I launch G Hub. Does anyone know if 1000hz polling doesn't work with the standard HID drivers on Windows or something?
- 5y ago

jonnycomputer 5y ago

I use the Logitech M510 on my Mac, and love it. Bought it in 2012 or 2013. The form factor of the Mac mouse is just a deal-breaker for me. Its beautiful, but makes my hand hurt. I never installed drivers for the mouse. Its just a mouse; I shouldn't need them. I recently bought their updated version of that mouse for our Windows machine, and tested it on my iMac; no drivers required. Maybe there are fancier mice that require special software, but I hardly use the fancier scroll functions of the mouse I have, so I have a hard time believing there'd be other controls that I'd be willing to install new software for.

silisili 5y ago
I've been using Linux for 2 decades now, and cannot remember a time a mouse didn't just work. Mostly Logitech, from PS2 to USB to wireless.
- yurishimo 5y ago
  I've felt the same way, even on a Mac, but I don't really care about how my mouse "feels" compared to some people. Does the cursor move? Good enough for me. That said, I'm all in on trackpads 24/7 now and have been for years. Nobody does trackpads better than Apple and using a giant external one while my laptop is docked helps me to remain productive when I need to undock. So much of your productivity is muscle memory and by using a trackpad full time, I'm also flexing those muscles.
  - jonnycomputer 5y ago
    I agree that Apple's track pad is the best out there. I find something are just not done well on track pads though. Certain games, certainly. Also things that require long click and drags.
    - pdpi 5y ago
      > Certain games, certainly. An acquaintance mentioned that her daughter damaged the trackpad on her MacBook. She was making do with a regular mouse, but apparently hated it horrendously for Minecraft and desperately wanted to get the trackpad fixed. I can't even wrap my head around the idea of Minecraft on a trackpad.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

torstenvl 5y ago

I wouldn't normally chime in with a "me, too!" but it's worth reiterating that Steermouse is a godsend for mice on Mac. Whether it's sensitivity and acceleration or setting up extra buttons (and chording buttons!) it works splendidly and I don't know what I'd do without it. Using it with a Logitech MX Anywhere 2 myself.

Eric_WVGG 5y ago
I’ll echo everything he said about Steermouse, except to substitute for Razer’s bananas mouse software, not Logitech’s.
- wlesieutre 5y ago
  I don’t think Razer even has Mac drivers anymore, they went Windows only with Synapse 3. And with Apple’s recent and repeated breakage of backwards compatibility, I doubt Synapse 2 runs anymore. It would have used used a kernel extension instead of DriverKit. Just as well, since Synapse is terrible.
skoskie 5y ago
You ever been in a car with a driver’s seat that has way too many options, so you can never really get the right position? That’s why I’ve never tried Steermouse. I’m afraid I’ll spend all my time trying to get all the settings right and constantly be frustrated. But after this thread, maybe I just just try it.
- torstenvl 5y ago
  Skip straight to the Cursor tab and set acceleration to .8 and sensitivity to 1775. Tweak from there only if you feel it's necessary.

duxup 5y ago

Do you HAVE to install third party software to make your mouse work on a Mac? I tend to just ... never install any software like that on my Windows PC.

Milner08 5y ago
No, you dont. They work fine (at least my MX Master does) without, however you may loose some features like back and forward. Plus you need the software to customize settings like what button does what.
snazz 5y ago
The HID drivers that come with your operating system work fine, but you’ll be missing out on any manufacturer-specific customization features (nonstandard buttons, remapping, DPI settings, lights, etc). I also don’t tend to install software like that (including the GUIs for graphics drivers too—just install the driver through Device Manager) and I don’t care about the lost functionality. But if you want your fancy gaming mouse to have most of the special features it was advertised to have, the software is useful.
willyt 5y ago
If you have a mouse with more than left, right, middle buttons and scroll wheel, it needs a 'driver'[0] of some kind so you can configure what the extra buttons do. Otherwise you can ignore the extra buttons and just use it like a normal mouse. [0] I don't think it's an actual driver, I think it just remaps USB HID events from the built-in driver.
handrous 5y ago
Nah. I'm on a Logitech 720 (bluetooth, wireless, many buttons) and didn't even know there was anything that I could download for it for Mac. It just works. ... but I don't care about customizing button behavior or anything like that, and only have a mouse this fancy because I wanted to 3-device switching on it (so I could easily use it on Windows and iOS, too). Though now that I've got one I'm kinda in love with the free-spinning scroll wheel and would have trouble going back to a normal one (though I hated it at first).

howolduis 5y ago

I use an Logitech MX Master 3 mouse on M1 and can't say I had much issues with it. That being said, Logitech has zero support for Linux. A +$100 mouse will turn into a cheap $5 mouse when you connect it to a Linux device, which is very frustrating since I would like to use my mouse across all my machines...

wadim 5y ago
I use solaar[0] on Linux for my MX Master 2S; it's really nice and mostly works out of the box! [0] https://github.com/pwr-Solaar/Solaar https://github.com/pwr-Solaar/Solaar
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  Solaar is in the default repositories of Ubuntu, and it does everything the Logitech Unifying Software does, but unbloated.

CiceroCiceronis 5y ago

The situation’s not all that much better on Windows, given that I put up with Logitech’s shitty software crashing every time I unplugged a USB device for some months. Eventually just put the mouse into onboard profile mode, assigned all the buttons to F13-24, then mapped them with AutoHotkey. GHub, goodbye and good riddance.

daniel-thompson 5y ago

> The 3rd party mouse situation on Macs is totally out of control. Agreed. I have a 3Dconnexion CadMouse Pro Wireless, which is the only mouse I could find with [an actual middle mouse button in addition to a clickable scroll wheel]. After upgrading to Big Sur, physically clicking any mouse button doesn't register click events with the operating system. So I can move the cursor but not click it. The recommended workaround is to plug it in with the USB cable and use it that way. Is it 3Dconnexion's or Apple's fault? No idea, but this is just insane. When was the last time an OS upgrade caused your _mouse_ to stop working!? It's like taking a time warp back to the 90s.

SAI_Peregrinus 5y ago
I've got a Roccat Kone Aimo Remastered (ROC-11-820-BK, P/N GM1820-02-A01). It's got a wheel (with tilt), 2 clickable middle buttons, front/back, and a a sort of "shift" key for the mouse (hold it and any button can be mapped to an alternate function). Pretty comfortable (to me), and the driver can save all the settings to hardware in the mouse, so you theoretically don't need to keep the driver installed after you initially set the mouse up.

shocks 5y ago

Here on Linux, it (the Superlight) just works. There's libratbag[0] if you want to mess with some DPI settings. 0: https://github.com/libratbag/libratbag https://github.com/libratbag/libratbag

jabroni_salad 5y ago

I manage a ClickOnce application and every now and then a call will get escalated to me because it has suddenly become untrusted by the operating system. The root cause is the software for the MX Master helpfully sets some reg keys to distrust all ClickOnce applications every time it updates. Customers have been complaining it on their customer service forums for years about it.

larrik 5y ago

I tried 3 different mice on macOS and finally just bought a Magic Touchpad. I never understood why Mac folks were obsessed with keyboard shortcuts, but now I know. Mouse on Mac completely sucks and it's embarrassing. I have a Mac machine and a Linux machine side by side and my efficiency on Linux is like double that of on Mac, even though I use the Mac 90% of the time. (Mac destroys everything else on 4k scaling, though. Linux is atrocious at that. Windows is just "good enough.")

selykg 5y ago
> I never understood why Mac folks were obsessed with keyboard shortcuts, but now I know. No. Most Mac users are obsessed with keyboard shortcuts because they're faster and more efficient. This is true whether a mouse experience was super optimized or not. If you're typing moving to a mouse takes a lot more time than using a keyboard shortcut. Similarly being a left-hand shortcut wizard is highly effective when combined with a mouse as well. Lets not use stupid hyperbole here. I think 99% of Mac users could plug a mouse in out of the box and use it just fine on a Mac. Those that need the extra support can just as easily install one of the many 3rd party utilities that better handle mice support than the manufacturer.
- yurishimo 5y ago
  Exactly, I don't care if the mouse is "tuned", I just care that the cursor moves at a reasonable tracking speed. That said, I'm full time trackpad, even on desktop, so mouse stuff is rarely an issue for me. I'm only using a mouse in specific scenarios.
- larrik 5y ago
  I disagree here. I use keyboard shortcuts on both platforms, but I can be fast either way on Linux, while on Mac I just can't get used to the acceleration curves and other odd behaviors that simply don't happen on the other platforms with the same mice. I tried Microsoft, Logitec, and SteelSeries, which is about as great a variety of mice as can be expected. I know I tend to be in the minority on HN in my dislike of macOS, but I'm trying here. Conversely, I really really like the magic keyboard, and having an extra accelerator button is pretty nice (that isn't the stupid MS button).

beltsazar 5y ago

Does Steermouse support per-app button mappings like Logitech Options and Karabiner?

dylan604 5y ago

From steermouse front page: "Includes some options, “Double Click”, “Click Lock” and so on. A letter key is available for these clicks. For example, a space key + click allows you to grab-scroll in Photoshop." Isn't this the default behavior of Photoshop? I've been using space+drag since moses was a baby. How is this a feature of this software?

joshstrange 5y ago

Logitech/Razer/Corsair, all trash software. Thankfully I was able to work around having to use Razer with some open source software but I'm still stuck with Logitech (Logitech G Hub) for my camera and Corsair (iCue) for my headset. /Every/ /single/ /time/ I join a Zoom/video chat I have to open G Hub to fix the zoom level (set it back to 100%, it's stuck zoomed in ~120%). It's incredibly infuriating to join every meeting zoomed in, have my video freeze for 1-5 seconds when I open the camera settings in G Hub, then have my image pop to the right size (note: I don't have to click anything, just open the camera settings to fix it). Also I have to close (red button in top right of the G Hub window, not full quit) the G Hub window in between meetings (If I leave it up and just back out of the camera settings it won't fix the camera when I click back into the camera). Also sometimes G Hub just doesn't open and it's got 2-4 (lghub, lghub_updater, lghub_agent, lghub Helper) processes that you have to kill in quick succession to really kill the software (or they will restart each other) before you can restart it and try again. It also appears to need an update once a week or so which is fun to find out when you open it to fix the zoom level and have to wait until it finishes updating and relaunching. Razer was a huge PITA constantly forgetting my config and I couldn't be happier now that I have Karabiner handling everything for my Razer device. Corsair makes a great wireless headset that plays nice with Mac and has good range (I can walk around almost all of my house and stay connected which is a godsend for Zoom hangouts with friends). Unfortunately, their software, iCue, is trash. It regularly tells me my headset is "Unavailable" when it's working just fine and if I leave my headset off the charger (aka, I don't plug in it) and it goes to sleep then it's a 50-50 chance that it will forget it's config. I couldn't care less about the RGB nonsense on the ear cups but the bright LED on the mic boom (green = on, red = off) is distracting. Thankfully they have a setting to only show the LED when the mic is off (exactly what I want, I want visual confirmation I'm muted). The problem is if it loses it's config that defaults back to always on and I have to do a dance of killing the iCue software and relaunching it until it fixes itself.

iudqnolq 5y ago
> I don't have to click anything, just open the camera settings to fix it Fyi I frequently have to open zoom camera settings to make my laptop camera (Linux, darter pro) work. The fault may your case be shared with zoom, which is also a dumpster fire.

rcarmo 5y ago

I use a Logitech M720, which can be used on a Mac with zero extra software (although you can't use the fourth/fifth buttons, side scrolling works, response curve doesn't need any fancy tuning, etc.)

aidenn0 5y ago

So I am a membr of the trackballs subreddit. I run almost exclusively linux so I don't run into this issue, but two of the popular brands for trackballs are Logitech and Elecom. Elecom's software is far worse than Logitechs (also their firmware only vaguely respects the USB HID spec, so none of the extra buttons work with a generic HID driver). There are dozens of threads asking about how to use logitech and elecom trackballs on Macs and they all end up with "Well, I finally got steermouse and all my problems have gone away"

progbits 5y ago
Funny how the manufacturer does such a bad job there is money to be made in shipping an actually functioning driver...
- aidenn0 5y ago
  Elecom doesn't even try with their firmware. They send an identical HID descriptor regardless of what the device actually supports (x +y scrollwheel, 5 other buttons). Here's the linux workaround: https://code.woboq.org/linux/linux/drivers/hid/hid-elecom.c.html https://code.woboq.org/linux/linux/drivers/hid/hid-elecom.c.... If you use a recent Elecom device and an LTS linux kernel you need to patch your kernel just to get the buttons working right!

rchaud 5y ago

Using a Logitech M185 barebones wireless KB + Mouse with no issues on a Mac. Plug and play. 2021 would be the first time I've even heard about headphones needing the vendor's app to work right, or input peripherals needing to install its own drivers like its 1998.

l30n4da5 5y ago

I think i'll stick with my cheap-o gaming mice that all run plug-and-play. almost 100% of the big-name companies that sell performance mice have this wierd thing where they force you to download and install bloatware just to have your mouse work properly. Had that problem years ago with my MadCatz R.A.T.. When MadCatz went out of business, my mouse turned into a paperweight. Currently using an A-JAZZ AJ52 (about $10 on amazon). Been using it for over a year now and it works perfectly for work and gaming. Drivers are plug-and-play, so no bloatware installed along with it. It really is nice.

mirekrusin 5y ago

I feel you man, I don't know how companies can make such good physical products and shit on them before selling with software of malware-esthetics w/prince-of-africa-wants-your-bank-account-info-to-help-with-his-fortune permissions, crashing as main functionality three-ring circus to provide checkbox and slider config.

skoskie 5y ago
If you authored a book in which you just trashed a particular subject, I would read it.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

fossuser 5y ago

Is it a Mac thing? I've had issues with Logitech software even on Windows. Their mice hardware is pretty good, but the software is so bad I never install it and just use whatever works on the mouse by default. On Mac I use the magic trackpad for wireless because it's the only one I've found that consistently works with the bluetooth connection. I'm not sure who is at fault, but other bluetooth devices just constantly have issues (drop connection, fail to wake, fail to pair, etc.) For wired I sometimes use one of the Razer "Gaming" mice - I don't like the aesthetic, but there aren't a lot of great options in that category and they work well enough. Apple mice have never been good - they've always been form instead of good design.

kayodelycaon 5y ago
I've had good luck with the MX Anywhere 3. It's worked pretty much painlessly over bluetooth with two iPads and two Macs. (And I didn't install any extra software.) https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/mx-anywhere-3.910-005985.html?crid=7 https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/mx-anywhere-3.9...
- fossuser 5y ago
  Thanks - I've mostly used their Marathon mice in the past, but I'll check that one out.

toss1 5y ago

Not dissimilar w/Windows, although maybe not as bad - the 1st thing that came up just now in a search for my device was a Logitech Support page about "If you are having trouble with Mac..." I use a M-R0056 MX Ergo trackball, primarily for CAD. It's fantastic hardware, very precise & responsive, controllable, and reliable even after years of being packed into/out of a laptop bag almost daily, etc. But the drivers? Ugghh. After looking at all the great function mappings and other stuff they could supposedly do, I did a whole bunch of setup, and found that the software was, to be very polite, flaky. Tried multiple fixes, but in the end, just de-installed and ran the hardware with the default Windows mouse software ever since. The Logitec software is just a complete waste of time. I haven't been in windows internals since Win32, so I have no idea if it is MS making it impossible to make good drivers, or it's lazy 3rd parties shipping second rate stuff. To me it feels like it's 2nd rate managed as bloatware - just use the biggest and quickest libraries available and ship it, but that is complete conjecture. Either way, it is really disappointing to get such good hardware and not be able to take advantage. If anyone has any insight as to why it's so bad, or what can be done about it...? E.g., is there a similar obscure utility like Steermouse for Windows (looks great, but seems Mac-only)?

stopnamingnuts 5y ago

> Nuked Logitech’s crap from orbit +1. It's the only way to be sure.

mihaaly 5y ago

Not the same ammount of crap but 3DConnexion drivers play in the same league. Huge (150M+) driver, on M1 Mac it is only in beta mode for almost a year, it forgets its 'smart' scroll behaviour - that is dumb like a brick - at every switch off, but without the driver there is no click! I am serious, the driver is mandatory to use the primary button. Without it only the mouse pointer and the scroll wheel works. It is just a mouse, although a real 3 button one, only one out there as far as I know. It does not require firewall exception at least.

ajh13 5y ago

I recently got a Xtrfy M42 mouse and it requires no additional downloadable software. Everything you need to change the DPI and RGB are physical buttons. Which was one of the main reason I chose it over other comparable mice.

OGWhales 5y ago

> But Logitech’s software is a fucking car crash The old software worked well. I was super disappointed when I got a superlight that it simply didn't work with old software. I'm on windows but describing the new software as a car crash is still extremely accurate. Anyone know of software similar to steermouse on windows?

danudey 5y ago

I had a Logitech G930 headset and a Logitech G-series keyboard and mouse. Worked great. Then one day it updated (in the background). Without the software running, the extra programmable buttons on my mouse (which I used a lot) wouldn't work, which is normal. With the software running, my G930 headset would now reconnect over and over for ten minutes whenever I plugged it in or turned it on, making it almost useless. It eventually resolved itself, but I don't know when because I didn't use it for a few years. Ugh.

babypuncher 5y ago

It's pretty sad when libratbag for Linux is better than the official Logitech software for either Windows or Mac.

varenc 5y ago

Highly recommend Steermouse to all Mac users with a Logitech mouse. The Logitech software is horrible. Constantly consumes background resources for no reason. I've only need to use it a few times to turn a mouse's color LEDs off.

passivate 5y ago

In the past when I ran into this issue it was trivial to reverse-engineer the vendor's mouse app and re-play whatever commands it was sending the USB driver/filter. If anyone has a G100s or a Razer DiamondBack 3G, I think I should have the commands saved somewhere and I'd be happy to dig them up. Since then, I've switched over to a driver-less mouse where everything is controlled via mouse buttons (XTRFY MZ1).

mattgreenrocks 5y ago

It's a total mess. What keeps me sane is I bought two G203's, configured them on my PC, saved the settings to the mouse itself, then used them on my work and home Macs. Note this isn't required, but mice often come configured with relatively low DPI or annoying button assignments.

isatty 5y ago

I use a G502 with the inbuilt driver and it works fine.