I got the MX Master 4 and I could not be more disappointed

I got an email this morning informing me that my Best Buy credit was about to expire if I didn't use it. So I pulled the trigger on the updated Logitech MX Master 4, the latest and greatest in the quintessential productivity mouse line of the past decade. I owned the MX Master 2 as well as the 3, and the 3S. I love these mice.

However, I wasn't particularly drawn to the marketing for the new model, and I also got this really nice little mouse last year that I unexpectedly love using, so I didn't get the 4th gen, but I did keep the 3S around, because there are times where I'm doing things like video editing where being able to scroll side to side is important, and my favorite mouse in every other way simply doesn't have that. So yeah, why the heck not? Let's give the newest one a shot.

After one day of using this mouse, I kind of despise this product. I expected to be lukewarm on it at worst, so finding myself actively antagonistic toward it is quite the surprise. In fact, I actually can't think of a single mouse I've ever felt this way about, but this one really rubs me the wrong way.

First, I find this mouse incredibly uncomfortable to hold, which is a shame because that was literally the main draw of these mice previously. The issue is that they have adjusted the angles around the device in a way that, if you're lifting the mouse off your desk, which is a thing I constantly do, the point that your fingers hit when lifting it are the two backwards and forwards buttons on the side. Apparently that's just where my fingers naturally hold the mouse, and I'm constantly rubbing up against those buttons, and it's uncomfortable. It makes me feel like I have to treat the mouse delicately because if I squeeze too hard, I'm going to depress that button. That would be enough on its own to make this a really disappointing purchase for me, but fear not, it gets even worse because the software on this product is something I truly despise.

As someone who has never really used the Logi Options+ app, I wasn't really bothered by it before, but I got it set up for this one because I wanted to use the new Bolt dongle, and my word, it's awful. It requires quite a few permissions to function, and that's all fine, whatever. I've used it in the past, and it just kind of lives in the background and you never really notice it. But what kills me is one of the main selling points of this new device, which is the stupid radial menu that comes up when you click down the haptic pad thing on the left side of the device. You get this low-res, cheap-looking grid of actions that, the moment I saw them, I already knew would be something I never wanted to do and ideally would never see again.

Of course I can go into the software and customize it to do something else, but this kind of button was available on the 3S, and I never used it there, and I don't know what I would use it for here either. If you think this is awesome, or this is me being too biased in my review, then yes, I am biased. It's my review. Go write your own if you disagree.

All of this is a shame because much of the rest of the product is quite good. I love the ability to be able to easily pair and switch between three wireless devices, mixing and matching between the USB-C dongle and Bluetooth. I love that if I install the software on each device, the settings change to match the device if I want things to behave differently between them. I actually like the materials more than I thought I would, and it seems like they'll be easier to clean than the soft-touch material of the 3S. I love the silent buttons, which could be a placebo, but actually feel even more quiet than they were before. I like the frosted look on the mouse buttons, they look quite premium. Not to bring up a sore subject, but I like that I can charge it while I use it. I love the magnetic scroll wheel, which is still outstanding to this day. I love the feel of the buttons in general, and I love the position and feel of the side scroll below.

Here's the thing: basically everything I like about this mouse is a carryover from the 3S that came before. Effectively, everything new is something I think has made it worse. Even some of the things that I complimented, like the materials being better than I expected and the frosted button being pretty nice, I actually think those are worse than the 3S as well, because when I look back at the 3S, it doesn't look old and busted. It actually looks more futuristic to me; it looks more like a unified device rather than this new thing clearly constructed from many pieces of plastic.

The other problem this mouse has going for it is that I've got a mouse from last year that I really freaking like. It has far less functionality than the Logitech, but it feels so good in the hand. It's so incredibly light, it's so accurate, and I love how it looks. In terms of raw functionality and compatibility with my multi-computer desk setup, the Logitech is objectively a better fit, but I love this mouse so much that I use it anyway. In a similar vein, a wireless keyboard that could pair to my three computers with a press of a button would be more convenient, but I use a wired keyboard that only works with two of my three computers because I like it so much.

So that's where I am. I know this is a day-one review, and I know you shouldn't necessarily review things right away, so let's call this first impressions. But I am shocked at how much I actively dislike this product. I really appreciate the functionality that it has, but a combination of the less comfortable feel in the hand and the incredibly frustrating software add up to a product I just cannot recommend to anyone with similar preferences to me. I would still highly, highly recommend the MX Master 3S, and in fact, I may return this one and stock up on a few of those so I have them for years to come.