I just picked up two wireless mice for my wife and myself, both Logitech M305 (different colors). We both tried one of them to see how it was, but haven’t opened the second yet. If we both try to use the same model, will they interfere with each other, or do they know how to keep themselves separate?
We just tried, and my wife is able to move the pointer around my screen using my mouse from her seat.
Potentially its possible, but most wireless devices just run a bluetooth stack which can handle more than a few devices on the same channel without issues, just like wifi.
More info here:
These mice aren’t Bluetooth, and they claim that they are “automatically paired” with their receiver, which sounds like trouble to me.
At work we had a wireless (not bluetooth) mouse that worked just fine for years. Then we brought a second one into the same office. They both still work just fine, but for some reason the first one is constantly telling us it has a low battery.
Press and hold the connect button on the mouse to change RF channels.
What connect button? There’s a sliding on-off switch, and the usual mice buttons and scroll wheel.
The Logitech website doesn’t say anything about this, but one feature is that the little tiny USB dongle can be set up to work with multiple mice and keyboards, so you can leave the dongle in, and have one mouse/keyboard pair at work and a second set at home, all using a single dongle and single USB slot. To do this requires installing some software to set it up to work with multiple devices, which sort-of implies two mice won’t both start working on a single PC on their own, but you’d think somewhere they’d mention this.
At a minimum, I’ll turn off my mouse and unplug my dongle before we try using hers.
No, but don’t leave them alone together, unless you want an entire desk full of tiny little mice…
My Dad and I have the same cheap wireless mice. If we’re close enough, the signals have interfered making my mouse laggy and imprecise (I dunno how the two fought for dominance). But we’ve also had both mice going from farther distances and it’s been fine. So if the two of you plan to be sitting on each end of the couch, watch out, but if she’s in the living room and you’re hanging out in the bedroom across the house it’s okay.
My husband and I both own Logitech Performance Mouse MX models, and we use them on our laptops maybe 3’ apart. Haven’t seen a problem yet.
Then you just get a wireless cat.
I have three computers on my work desk and two of those have Microsoft wireless keyboards and mice. The mice sit about 18 inches from each other.
The installation process uses a USB connected pod to “find” and then lock onto a keyboard and mouse. I ran this process for the first PC and after it was finished I placed the keyboard and mouse about 15 feet away and ran the process for the second set of wireless keyboard/mouse.
After the second installation I brought back the keyboard and mouse for computer 1.
They never interfere with each other.
My wife and I used to use an older model of RF wireless Logitech mice. It was possible to get it confused so that one mouse was controlling both computers, but there was a button on the receiver, and a button on the bottom on the mouse. We would press the button on the receiver, then the button on the mouse we wanted to link to it. Then the same for the other mouse. They would pick different channels and prevent any confusion.
The button on the bottom was very small and recessed. It required a paperclip, pencil point, etc. to push - you couldn’t have done it with your fingers alone. I would assume Logitech still uses something similar.
With my wireless mouse, I can get about 5-8 feet away before it stops working. Depending on battery strength. So if you’re in the next room with the mouse, you should not see any issues.
Newer Logitech mice, such as the MX Revolution I’m using, don’t have a reset button. And the receiver has become a very small thumbdrive size stick that is no longer integrated with the charger cradle. I’ve never had a problem with interference, but the Logitech Setpoint software that comes with it has a “Connect Utility” which brings up a dialog box containing a sequence of steps to perform. Somebody describes it for the VX here:
I had a friend who was having unexplained problems with his wireless mouse (only one in the house) for some time. Finally diagnosed it one warm summer evening, when his window was open, and we recognized the computer game sounds coming from the bedroom window of his neighbors teenage son. And realized that these house walls were probably less then 10 feet away from each other on that side, and had the exact same type of wireless mouse – he had actually bought his based on the recommendation of that neighbor kid.
Ours has the same USB part as in Ferret Herder’s link, so based on her experience, I’m confident we’ll be OK. I was planning on trying it last night, but my wife never booted her computer.
Thanks everybody.
They can interfere with each other. It was even something that came up on tech sites for IT people. They finally figure out two people have the same radio wireless mice. Your best bet is to write support for Logitech and not open the other set until you get their response.