Best digital nomad travel mouse 2018 – Buyer’s Guide
After your laptop, the second most important digital nomad tech item is definitely your travel mouse. Indeed, an external mouse allows more natural positions and hands gestures, and in the long run will make you much faster than if you keep using rather than the trackpad of your laptop.
If you want to try that, which mouse should you chose? I actually traveled for a long time with a cheap $5 USB mouse bought in a corner shop in Cambodia, and I considered it to be good enough. However, I recently tried high quality wireless mice, and the change was incredible: they are more precise, faster, and less straining on the wrist. I can only recommend this choice. Going wireless also means less mess in my bag, which is always nice to have 😉
The criteria to guide our choice of the best travel mouse would be the following:
- The autonomy: how many months or years between a change of battery?
- The type of battery: do we need to change the batteries, or is it a fixed battery that we can charge over USB?
- The wireless technology: does it require a USB dongle, or is it a Bluetooth mouse?
- The size: mini mouse, or full size mouse?
- And finally does it work well on all type of surfaces.
Everybody will have their own preferences. For me, the winning combination is a full size mouse (more comfortable) with fixed battery chargeable over USB (never run out of battery, and no worries about the autonomy) and Bluetooth (does not use a USB port on the laptop).
Here is the review of our top 3 mouse that do very well on those different aspects:
- Logitech MX Anywhere 2
- Microsoft Mobile Mouse 3600
- Logitech Marathon Mouse M705
#1 Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Wireless Mouse
Of all the mice we tested, the Logitech MX Anywhere really stands out. With its blue laser it works incredibly well on all type of surfaces, including glass. It comes with the possibility to pair to 3 different devices with Bluetooth, as well as a USB dongle in case your device would not be compatible with Bluetooth 2.0. It has a fixed battery that can be charged over USB, which essentially turns it into wired mouse for a few hours when you run out of battery. The charge lasts about 6 months with a daily intensive use, which is also nice.
You can switch it off easily with a small connector on the bottom of the mouse, and it has two extra buttons on the right which are situated in a usable position (rare enough to be mentioned :D). The mouse is symmetric and works well both for left and right handed people. However, the extra buttons are on the left side of the mouse and not well located if you are left handed.
Overall, this is an incredible mouse. The only drawback is that it is not cheap: it costs around $80. Amazon sometimes has a special issue available at half the price, and at that price it is great value.
The is definitely our top pick, and has now become my got to my mouse. Get your hands on one and try it, you will not regret it! Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Wireless Mouse!
#2 Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Mouse 3600
The second best mouse for digital nomad that we recommend is the Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse 3600. With its simple design, light weight, nice colors, and low price, it is great value.
It uses a single 1.5v battery and works very well on all kind of surface. It is not as precise as the MX Anywhere 2, but at a quarter of the price you cannot expect everything! It’s a wireless mouse based on Bluetooth 2.0, which will require Windows 8 or more to work properly. It remains quite simple with no extra button, but in compensation remains also very light. The autonomy is great, I did not had to change the battery on mine for over a year.
At around $25 the Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Mouse 3600 is definitely a great entry level choice!
#3 Logitech Marathon Mouse M705
Finally, our third pick is the Logitech Marathon Mouse. Would you guess it? The strong point of is mouse is its autonomy. With 3 years on a single set of battery, it is indeed quite impressive! The mouse uses two standard 1.5V, which makes a it a little bit heavier that the other models. This can be a plus or a minus depending on your taste. It works on a USB dongle only, so will consume a USB port on your computer, but its design is great.
I found the laser to be similar to the Microsoft Mouse, but lower in quality than the MX Anywhere. On most surfaces you won’t see or feel the different, but on some types of glass it is indeed less precise or difficult to use. Its price is mid-range, which can make it a good option if you prefer Logitech to Microsoft, or if you cannot use a Bluetooth 2.0 device on your laptop.
Our third choice is then the Logitech Marathon Mouse M705
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