Sometimes, the best computer mouse is the one you have on you. Whether you’re on the road or working at your kitchen table instead of a workstation, a highly portable mouse proves beneficial. Logitech’s $79.99 MX Anywhere 3, the latest in the company’s line of “travel” productivity mice, puts some of the MX Master 3’s luxurious improvements in a bite-size package. While all pocket-size mice carry some inherent ergonomic compromises, the MX Anywhere 3 is a powerful and versatile tool for when you’re working in less than ideal conditions.
Mini Master
As a travel mouse, the MX Anywhere 3’s defining feature is its size. At 1.28 by 3.94 by 2.53 inches (HLW), its pebble-shaped chassis can easily slip into a small space in your bag or even your pants’ front pocket. It weighs 3.35 oz, which is quite light for a non-gaming mouse; and more than light enough to keep on you during a hectic travel day. The white plastic chassis, accented with silver, looks stylish and professional in any setting. It comes in black and pink, too.
Logitech’s also proud of the fact that the mouse works in pretty much any setting or, more accurately, on any surface. Logitech’s Darkfield sensor, which tracks at up to 4000 dpi in the MX Anywhere 3, has been tested to run on most smooth surfaces, including glass. That’s especially useful in the MX Anywhere 3, which is made to be used wherever and whenever you need to get some work done. The Darkfield sensor isn’t a new development; in fact, it’s been a Logitech staple for some time. Still, it is notable here, because the benefits are so complementary to the mouse and its purpose.
Across the board, that utility comes with compromises. Travel mice tend to be too short and lack support for your hand. That leads to discomfort, especially when you use one for a full work day. To Logitech’s credit, the MX Anywhere 3’s chassis creates enough of a hump at the base to provide palm support. Even so, the design is a little too thin and a little too narrow, and I felt myself squeezing my thumb and pinky in to hang on to the mouse without dragging them across my mousepad.
A six-button right-hander, the MX Anywhere 3 brings the line back to a more-or-less standard configuration. Two clicks, a clickable scroll wheel, and a button to adjust the scroll wheel feel in the center column. On the side, you have the standard back and forward buttons. Lastly, there are two non-adjustable inputs on the underside of the mouse: A button switch, and a button to cycle among up to three paired devices.
The biggest changes to MX Anywhere 3 all revolve around the scroll wheel. It features a miniaturized version of the MX Master 3’s electromagnetic scroll wheel. The chrome wheel, which creates both adjustable resistance and scroll texture using magnetic resistance, gives the MX Anywhere a pleasing scroll and a luxurious look. It feels unlike any other scroll wheel I’ve ever used, subtle but also free-wheeling.
The MX Anywhere 2S, which launched in 2017, used the scroll wheel button as a means of adjusting the scroll wheel itself, rather than as the “center click” you find on most mice. The MX Anywhere 3 brings back center click, which both adds more functionality and makes the mouse easier to use as a secondary device since its configuration doesn’t deviate too far from the norm.
As with all of Logitech’s MX mice, which are made primarily for productive “power users,” there are more tricks to learn, if you’re interested. To mirror the secondary scroll wheels found on the Editors’ Choice award-winning MX Master 3, scrolling while holding either of the side buttons enables a horizontal scroll, which is useful for wide spreadsheets, PowerPoint, and quickly scrubbing through video. Logitech Options, the company’s productivity software for MX mice, also offers app-specific alternate functions for the side buttons on many of the most commonly used work programs, such as the ability to mute and end a Zoom video call.
The MX Anywhere 3’s wireless capabilities are in perfect form. Offering both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz wireless functionality, the mouse’s wireless connection remain stable and lag-free, even in Wi-Fi-saturated airspace. What’s more, with Logitech’s multi-pairing feature, you can connect to multiple devices—a PC, a laptop, and a tablet or phone, for example—and quickly switch from using the mouse with one or the other. Having this option feels especially helpful in a work-from-home environment, where you may want or need to go from working in one room to another for any number of reasons.
Be careful when moving around, though. The MX Anywhere 3 does not have a dongle storage compartment. That’s an especially annoying oversight in a mouse designed for travel.
Lastly, having great wireless doesn’t matter much if a mouse doesn’t also have great battery life. Unsurprisingly, the MX Anywhere 3 does. According to Logitech, the MX Anywhere 3 should last up to 70 hours when paired via Bluetooth. I found that it lasted through more than four days of regular on a single charge, while using both 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth connections. When it needs more power, the MX Anywhere 3 features a USB-C charging port.
Options Anywhere
The MX Anywhere 3 works with Logitech’s MX-class configuration software, Logitech Options, to give users additional customization, controls, and unique software-based tools. Options offers many of the standard configuration options, such as the ability to remap buttons, either in general or on an app-by-app basis. You also have the ability to change the mouse’s tracking speed for the cursor and the scroll wheel, as well as customize specific scroll wheel-related controls. One of those features is “Smartshift,” a control setting that automatically changes the scroll wheel from incremental scrolling to frictionless when quickly scrolling.
As I mentioned, Logitech has specialized, app-specific button layouts for many of the apps workers use most, such as the Microsoft Office suite, Adobe Photoshop, Zoom, and Chrome, but you can also make custom layouts for those and any other apps you’d like.
Last, but not least, the MX Anywhere 3 supports Logitech Flow, a program that allows you to seamlessly move between using 2-3 paired MacOS and/or Windows computers, as if they were connected. It’s an incredibly useful tool for anyone who uses multiple computers, such as a laptop and desktop, on a daily basis.
Thanks to Flow, Options feels like an essential component of any MX Master mouse, including the MX Anywhere 3. It not only gives you more control, it empowers you to use your mouse and your computers more efficiently.
A Small Wonder
For $79.99, the MX Anywhere 3 delivers a lot of functionality for a portable pocket mouse. Its small stature, which makes it perfect for traveling or moving around the house, is also the biggest knock against it. While useful in a wide variety of less-than-ideal circumstances, it’s no replacement for more comfortable powerhouse productivity mice like the MX Master 3, or even Razer’s new, Editors’ Choice award-winning Click Pro. As a secondary mouse, the MX Anywhere 3 is expensive, but pros will find the extra money’s worth it when you can burn the midnight oil away from a desk without compromise.
