Logitech Partners with iFixit for Self-Repairs

Same, I went through 2 MX Masters in like 2 or 3 years. Now I just get a cheap steelseries and cringe at the rainbow LED

This is an old anecdote, but my Razer Lachesis used exactly the same Omron manufactured microswitches as my Logitech G303 and my Kensington Orbit trackball.

I have really strange physical requirements for my mice due to disability, and it's generally a pain to find stuff that works for me -- so i've gotten pretty adept and swapping those switches out from sheer necessity.

It's a shame that no one (seems) to make any mice with a nice magnetically coupled wear-free switching system. I have such switches on stupid things like my racing sim wheel, but not on stuff that I use daily.

I just hope they break within a year and I get a free new one from amazon. I wonder if it's illegal to knowingly buy products that will break down within a year with the intention of getting a new replacement.

Switches are a beginner level solder job to replace. And because there's not much going on inside mice, it tends to be easy to get to the PCB that holds the switches.

FWIW logitech now also offers mice with optical switches, which are claimed to never double click

There's three ways to resolve this if you're someone with a heavy hand (which you might be).

1. Find a mouse that uses heavy-duty mechanical switches (technically inside the shell, it is possible to use a switch like those used in keyboards, which are designed for more actuations at a heavier actuation weight). This is somewhat difficult, as not many such mice exist.

2. Find a mouse that uses optical switches which are less likely to wear out from use because of no mechanical forces being exerted on the part of the switch that relays the signal. This is easier because most high-end gaming mice are switching or have switched to optical switches.

3. Find a mouse that moves your hand into a plane where you exert less pressure on the switches. I use a vertical mouse, and I have not had any issues since switching, even though it uses the same Omron switches as the mice I kept destroying.

I think you're right about most manufacturers souring the same switch components. In my experience even a high end mouse commonly needs to be replaced after 2 years. Now I rotate through a few different types of mice every few months to try to reduce repetitive strain. Since I started doing this my mice have been lasting a lot longer. In time, not in click count of course. Some interesting tips in this topic that I'll have to check out.

This is wild to me. I don't think I've ever worn out any mouse button nor had the same happen to my kids (who play a LOT of fast twitch/heavy clicking games). I use an M720 on my desk setup as does my wife. I think mine is over 5 years old and I know hers is over 3 years old. I had a 5+ year old M705 that the M720 replaced (for convenience of multiple computer control, not because of a failure).

I have the Logitech G403. I've had it for about 7 years and it's still working great. I don't know how long ago you had your Logitech, but it's possible they've improved since then.

> I stopped buying logitech mice because the switches wore out in all of them.

I still have a wired USB mouse I bought from Logitech in the late 90's that was in daily use for well over a decade without issues, but more recent wireless mice that I have purchased from Logitech haven't lasted much more than a year. Either one of the buttons fails or the scroll wheel fails.

I had this but its a fairly easy fix, you take the mouse apart and bend the metal on the switch slightly, and it fixes it for a couple more years.

Due to market pressures, 'we will buy $xxM per year guaranteed if you make this cheaper', Omron moved bulk of microswitch manufacturing to China. Japanese Omron switches were 10M clicks in name only, they were build like Toyota builds cars. Chinese made ones all die around 10Million clicks which is around a year. Mouse is "just" $30-50, too little for someone in the west to bother repairing or even considering hassle of RMA. Logitech turned their physical products into recurring revenue business.

There are mice with optical microswitches - you move a plastic knob that blocks the light path between two diodes soldered directly into mouse pcb. Personally I just replace switches regularly using a bag of Chinese $.5 Omrons.

From my experience in tech support most of the issues with mouses and keyboards are because of accumulated gunk, specially if you have pets or smoke near the computer. Since they are normally simple devices on the inside you can just remove the screws and clean all the dirt and you won't break anything. I actually just did this 5 minutes ago to my mouse because middle click wasn't working. Found out it was just a bunch of cat hair stuck in the mouse wheel. Other common source of issues is the USB cable, and those can be replaced if you know how to disconnect the contacts from the main board and resolder them.

I have bought multiple Logitech G102s, because they're super cheap and it's my go-to mouse. Good DPI, good hand-feel, good price. SUPER precise and reliable.

I spent a LOT of money on a high-end Corsair mouse, bought the same model twice, and every time I had issues with "double clicking when should be single clicking" or "not clicking at all".

I HATE Razer for forcing you to register with your email address if you want to even customize your RGB colors. Never again. I spent time trying to write a driver for OpenRGB, but that was just too much for me at the time. And why should I be expected to do that? I wasn't even using Linux at the time, this was on Windows/MacOS!

Interesting. I have used the mx anywhere (this did wear out) , mc anywhere 2 (still going 3+ years now), and the super light and g350.

They all work pretty well.

I havr HAVE gone through a lot of are the usb dongles they connect to. Those go bad fairly regularly.

I have also had this double click issue after around 2 years.

It took me a second to think through why this comment didn't resonate with me.

It's because I use Bluetooth with laptops, and my desktop has over half a dozen USB-A ports (and Bluetooth!)

Are there common scenarios where the WiFi dongle being plugged into a USB-C to USB-A adapter is better than Bluetooth?

that or bring back the G500. the weights were dorky but that mouse was simple and comfortable

I learned that those switches are actually pretty standardized and you can just desolder them and buy proper ones for ~1$ and at least my older G500 could be opened and disassembled fairly easily.

Same. Lost a perfectly good G403 Hero to double clicking and spinning out. A quick perusal through r/MouseReview shows that this is nearly an epidemic among Logitech users

PSA: optical switches cannot ever get the double click issue. There are quality inexpensive optical switch mice to choose from as well.

Just in case -

My G600 started double clicking ~2yr ago. I hate replacing things, so I tried a bunch of guides to fix it - opened it, cleaned the switches, soaked them in alcohol, etc. It would stop double clicking for an hour but then would happen again.

Was going to pick up a new one when I read a reddit comment that said it could be static buildup in the mouse & that just spamming both the buttons at the same time for 30s could fix it. I did this and ... it fixed it. I also usually hold the mouse upside down while doing this so maybe it was just dislodging dirt that the alcohol didn't get. Who knows.

In any case, holding the G600 upside down and just spamming r+lclick for 30s generally solves the problem for me for at least a few months. (I've been heavily using the mouse since ~2016) Maybe this helps, maybe not.

Side note - I love this mouse. Tried to switch to a Razer mouse and it broke within 3 months. RMA'd it and the replacement had a bad side button so I just gave up and went back to the G600. It's not ideal for my use case but finding a good mouse does seem impossible these days.

I've got two Logitech G500s mice, and the buttons broke on them too.

What I did was sourced some replacement Omron switches that have a "made in Japan" stamp on them, vs the ones that were in the mouse labeled "made in China".

It seems that the switches made in Japan are higher quality/have better QA.

I wear holes in the skins of my MX mice, no switch issues. I wonder if they’re using the same parts or not.

> I would appreciate also firmware, but that's likely to remain a dream.

This was exactly my thought too.

Not knocking the self-repair scheme, but in my experience there is quite a disparity between the (relatively high) quality of their hardware - at least with MX mice/keyboards - and the low (IMHO) quality of the firmware and software.

I've never had any Logitech hardware fail but I have spent countless hours trying to fix or workaround their software/firmware.

I've mostly replaced it all with Karabiner and Hammerspoon now, but I still can't actually use my devices to their full capabilities.

A small number of consumer keyboards, and lots of DIY designs, some with prebuilt offerings, can run QMK or other open source firmware.

I used a G700S for nearly ten years, only got rid of it because a decade of human use caused it to get pretty gunked up. I never had a mechanical failure in that whole period.

Well, from your description alone any damage you experience within one year would fall under legal warranty in most countries, so Logitech would hurt themselves as they would have to replace/repair it.

What's more interesting is how well the product works after 3~5 years. I had a few Logitech mice which worked fine, but i.e. had a matte rubber coating which inevitably dissolves and gets sticky after a few years...

> I buy the latest MX, Vertical, and trackball almost every year unless it's super minor updates so maybe I'm just not using one mouse long enough but they've been fantastic.

That's exactly why you don't experience issues, your devices don't spend enough time getting clogged with sweat, oil, dry skin and dirt.

All of my gamer friends use Logitech to the max of their abilities, and almost all have experienced issues with their products. We're from a poor country, originally, so we only change the gear when it's absolutely needed.

Personally, I only recently retired my old MX518 bought in 2005 and I had to rewire it twice in 25 years, the USB cable fractured each time, but the mouse itself was flawless until, 25 years later, the MOUSE3 button stopped working.

I like the idea of having repair guides for devices, to fiddle less when self repairing. I'd expect fewer negative reviews once these guides get published.

>>I buy the latest MX, Vertical, and trackball almost every year

Why?

My oldest actively used mice in my household are two decades old, variations of Intellimouse.

My razer death adder was a luxury / whim purchase and is 5 years old I think.

My daily workers are ms skulpt and they're several years old each too.

(and let's not go to keyboards, where the original das keyboard and original MS ergonomic hold the fort still :).

And my Kensington trackball is at least 20y now and still works as new. I do have a razer Lachesis whose rubber started melting so I just sanded it off and back in service :)

I do have a friend who keeps buying mice but he never quite managed to explain why, other than "shiny - want!" (which is totally understandable! :), so I wonder if you have more specific criteria or needs? Am I missing out on something?

(I did buy a fancy many button Logitech once but the clutch scroll was such a massive and immediate Nope to me, it still sits in its box in the drawer :-)

I have had multiple Logitech devices fail on me with double click, battery and mouse wheel issues. But only after a few years or more. And they are one of only a few that do mice for larger hands.

The thing that has only recently made me swear off them is their utter hostility to Linux support. Now I don't want their software, but I expect when I buy a mouse I can at least get the hardware working in Linux, but no dice..

So no more Logitech mice.

> I don't think I've ever had a Logitech mouse die on me

Likely you are not using the mouses heavily. I had many die on me. Especially my sweet, sweet G500 - the best mouse ever for people with large hands - actual large hands, that is. I repaired the clicker a few times by soldering in new clickers I bought online, but they wear off too fast.

I replaced my first G502 only a few weeks ago after many years of service. The left click was starting to be a wee bit unreliable, but the real reason for replacing it is that, AFAICT, my sweat was slowly but inexorably corroding the metal scroll wheel, and it was at the point where it was really really uncomfortable to scroll. It's been such an indefatigable workhorse that I bought a couple more G502 along the way — one for use on the go with my laptop, one to keep at the office for work.

I used to buy MX Master or whatever every year. We have several people and a bunch of computers in our house, so I bought around 20 or 25 of these "high end" mice.

But about half of them died within 15-16 months. And by "died" I mean, 1 click became either 0 (bad) or 2 (much much worse!).

None died within the 1-year warranty period, though. So that matches your experience. And the mice are so good I was almost OK with that, but not with more than 1-2 mice.

So then I bought a shitload of non-logitech mice, but.. it's hard. Ignoring the awful software and premature mechanical degradation, there really aren't better mice. I ended up with mostly ASUS ROG Chakram (good, but laughable charging flaws) and Razer Basilisk 3 Pro (good, but not good enough for the insane price; costs more than my first car).

a quick search might find that there are (asus) mice with socketed switches

I try not to use their software at all. Don't need to install fancy software for a mouse. Found a free alternative to control the keyboard RGB that isn't bloatware trash.