Logitech V550 Nano review: Logitech V550 Nano

Laptop mice have to tread a fine line between portability and usability, and many end up being too small, or too flimsy, to use for an extended period of time. We didn't have that problem with Logitech's new $59 V550 Nano laptop mouse, and its solid construction easily outshined its main selling point: a unique "clip and go" dock that lets you clip the mouse to your laptop's lid.

6.5

Logitech V550 Nano

The Good

Solid-feeling and hefty; tiny USB receiver.

The Bad

Bland design, no thumb buttons, mouse doesn't snap onto docking button securely enough.

The Bottom Line

Logitech's new V550 Nano laptop mouse adds a unique "clip and go" dock that lets you clip the mouse to your laptop's lid, but we're not sure it's a feature anyone has been clamoring for.

Besides the somewhat anonymous-looking two-button mouse (there's also a tiny application-switching button below the scroll wheel that requires installing Logitech's custom mouse software), we've never seen so much extra stuff packed in with a mouse. Inside the package, there's a slim 2.4GHz USB receiver, a USB extension cable dock for the receiver (if your preferred USB port is hard to access, we suppose), a pair of AA batteries, the silver docking button, and a surprisingly nice small metal case that contained a second docking button (in black) and a plastic tool for removing the docking attachments.

The docking buttons have an adhesive backing and are meant to be used only once, so if you switch to another laptop, or get tired of having the dock on the back of your lid, you have to wrench it off with the included tool and throw it away.

We especially liked the tiny USB receiver--it sticks out from the USB port just 8mm, and we think everyone should adopt that as their USB mouse standard. We also liked Logitech's purported 18 months of battery life from just two AA batteries.

Attaching the dock itself was painless, and the mouse clipped on easily and seemed fairly secure once attached. Our only problem was that the mouse slides up onto the dock (rather than down on it) and putting the whole contraption into a laptop bag, we could easily see the mouse getting knocked off.