Why You Can Trust CNET Cherry's MW 8 Advanced is a clever little mouse with one frustrating flaw
There's more sweet than sour with Cherry's latest travel mouse.
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If you've ever shopped for a gaming keyboard or any mechanical keyboard, you've come across the brand Cherry. The German company's mechanical keyboard switches are without a doubt the most popular and well known for their performance and durability. What's perhaps not as well known is that most of its keyboards and mice are for office work, not gaming. Which brings me to Cherry's MW 8 Advanced, an excellent little wireless mouse with one infuriating shortcoming.
First, the good stuff. The $50 MW 8 Advanced is essentially a travel mouse, although Cherry doesn't specifically call it one. It has a compact low-profile design that makes it perfect for slipping into your laptop bag. If you have larger hands or simply prefer a more ergonomic design, this might be too small for everyday use. (If you like the look, though, maybe seek out the MW 8 Ergo instead.)
The sides are rubberized for better grip and the top is finished in brushed metal. The left and right mouse buttons have a firm, satisfying click to them and the scroll wheel has a tactile bump to the movement.
Just behind the wheel is a button that lets you quickly jump through DPI settings -- 600, 1,000, 1,600 or 3,200 -- which is a nice addition and a feature more typical of a gaming mouse. There are the standard browser forward and back buttons on the left side, but that's it for buttons.
What helps the MW 8 stand out from your average wireless mouse is its sensor and connection options. The PixArt laser sensor Cherry used lets you work on just about any surface including glass. If you've ever been stuck working on a glass-topped desk attempting to turn a magazine or room service menu into a mousepad, you know the value here. I couldn't find a surface it wouldn't work on.
When it comes to connecting the MW 8 to your computer, you have two wireless options and it'll also work while charging its built-in battery. You can connect via Bluetooth or use the 2.4GHz wireless. A USB-A receiver stores in the base held firmly in place with a magnet.
A magnet keeps the MW8's USB receiver held in its base.
The dual wireless is great because it means you can connect fast without messing with Bluetooth, but you can also connect to a second computer with Bluetooth. A switch on the mouse's base lets you pick which connection you want to use. This certainly isn't the first mouse to have this option, in fact, the MW 8 Advanced is a direct competitor to Logitech's $50 MX Anywhere 2S. Cherry's edge over that model is being able to stash the receiver in the body. It generally looks and feels better to me than the Logitech, too.
Where the MX Anywhere 2S' wireless beats the Cherry is that, in addition to having 2.4GHz wireless, you can set its Bluetooth up to connect to three separate devices. A button on the bottom lets you jump between them. Beyond that, the Logitech wins for having one thing the MW 8 Advanced doesn't: software.
There is no included software to, for example, set the forward and back browser buttons to do something else, or program the scroll wheel's button. Logitech's software not only lets you do those things, but with its Flow feature you can move your cursor and copy and paste things between two computers on the same network.
It's this lack of software that turns me off to the Cherry. It's certainly something the company could easily remedy because otherwise, the MW 8 Advanced is an excellent travel mouse.