You know the saying, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have?” I believe in it — except when it comes to gifting. For that, my philosophy is the exact opposite: I don’t think the best gifts are aspirational, but rather super-practical things that someone can use immediately, not years down the line when they move into a bigger home or finally land their dream job with a corner office. I also don’t use gifting as a way to force new hobbies or interests, like knitting or puzzling or painting, on people. Runner friends get better running headphones; dog-owning friends get dog-walking-appropriate slippers; boozy friends get slower-melting ice cubes.
So when my dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas last year, after months of working from home, I knew exactly what to tell him: a better computer mouse. Except I wasn’t that vague. “Dad,” I said, “I would like the Logitech Master 2S.” A big reason I asked him for this specific wireless mouse is because mouses from the Swiss brand’s Master Series top all of our guides to the best computer mouses, thanks to their ergonomic finish, customizable controls, and two scrolling wheels. (The slightly more expensive Master 3 is the latest version; I chose the older, cheaper model so as not to seem too greedy — someone else was paying, after all.) But I also chose this model because I had been using Apple’s Magic Mouse, and tech YouTuber Sara Dietschy told us she switched to Logitech after finding that mouse “cramped,” a sensation I also felt because my hand was both too tall and too wide to get a comfortable grip on the Apple mouse.
Thankfully, my dad listened (not always a given with dads), and when Christmas came, I opened the exact gift I asked for. Before I even turned the mouse on, I could see why it has the reputation it does. There’s a natural resting place for each of your fingers on its soft matte-black surface, and all of its nine (yes, nine) customizable controls are placed very intuitively on its body. If you need them, you’ll find them with ease, but if you don’t, you might not even notice them. Once I turned it on, though, the gadget got even better.
When first connecting the mouse, you’re asked to download and open Logitech’s desktop app. That app allows you to change the function of each of its nine controls to suit your needs. I kept the right- and left-click buttons normal (I’m not a maniac); set the side scroller to function as a volume control (when scrolled) and the top one as a play/pause button (when pressed); programmed its two tiny side buttons to let me navigate forward or backward between pages while web browsing; and set the thumb pad to show me an at-a-glance view of all my active desktop windows. (These are just some of the options — the programming choices, while not limitless, are basically that.) For what it’s worth, I also haven’t had to charge the mouse since I started using it four weeks ago. Work, obviously, is still work. But having an accessory that makes doing it that much more pleasurable can mean the difference between a good day and a bad one. And, to me at least, a good day at work is far more satisfying than a papier-mâché kit.
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