This is literally a hands on because it is a mouse and you of course operate it with your hand!

In all seriousness though – I have been waiting to put this mouse through its paces since I first saw it at last years Surface Book 2 launch event in New York City. At that time I had a few minutes with it and took note of its lightweight, ergonomics, and its overall sharp looks.

A few weeks ago I finally got my hands on one of these mice and my initial impressions were backed up now that I have been using it daily.

I spend several hours a day in front of a computer so a comfortable mouse is key to not experiencing any kind of repetitive motion  injuries and over the last few years my mouse of choice has been the Surface Arc Touch Mouse. For whatever reason those just worked for me and so I quickly adopted them for all of my devices.

The Surface Precision Mouse will look familiar if you have used Microsoft’s past ergonomic mice and this one comes with a few extras that make it a solid choice for computer users.

  • You can pair this one mouse with up to three devices via Bluetooth. If you use the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center on those three connected devices you can actually move between them as long as they are aligned and setup in the software settings. Microsoft calls this Smart Switching and it is terrific with my three laptop setup on my secondary desk (seem image in the gallery below). There is a trick to making this work and I have found I must pause at the side of the screen and then make a deliberate motion with the mouse in the direction of the next device to gain control via the mouse. Of course, you can also just flip over the mouse and switch between connected computers using a brief press of the device pairing button on the bottom.
  • The mouse wheel has two modes available and they are selectable using the scroll wheel button that is just behind the scroll wheel on top of the mouse. You can switch between smooth scrolling or scrolling that uses magnetic detents to introduce a clicking type of a feel to your scrolling.
  • There are three customizable buttons along the left side of the mouse but in order to customize them you must use the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center software. The mouse wheel button can also be customized to open a specific app of your choice.
  • The mouse has a rechargeable battery and comes with a USB cable that you can plug into the front of the mouse and then one of your devices to charge it up. One limitation when charging via the USB cable is that you will be unable to use Smart Switching until the device is unplugged from the USB cable. I charged it up when I first got the mouse and have not yet needed to recharge it yet.

This mouse might seem expensive at its suggested retail price of $99 but IMHO it seems worth it from the perspective that you can use it with three devices and Smart Switching makes that very convenient, the ergonomics are great and in line with Microsoft’s past efforts in this area, and it feels well built and solid in the hand.

Note: Amazon is carrying the Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse for $88.78 right now.

Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse Gallery