Cherry MW 9100 review: A travel mouse of fine distinction
A stylish and muscular travel mouse with a handy DPI selector and a surprisingly low price
Pros
- Stylish and weighty
- Simple DPI adjustment
- Crisp and quiet click-action
Cons
- Lacks the Logitech Anywhere 3’s freewheel scroll wheel
- Bronze version only available with keyboard
If you want a compact mobile mouse but still want something that feels a little more sturdy and weighty than the likes of Logitech’s highly regarded MX Anywhere 3 (£90) then Cherry’s new MW 9100 travel mouse could be just the ticket.
Despite its low price – look around and you can easily find it for less than £30 – the MW9100 feels like a high-quality device. The slightly rubberised and sculpted side panels feel pleasant under the finger and the cracked-ice patterning rescues it from design oblivion. The click buttons aren’t made of aluminium as they are on more expensive Cherry mice (the MWE 8C Advanced, for example) but they look and feel as though they are.
If you’re just starting to work from home and need all the kit for a home office, you can get the MW 9100 in a bundle with Cherry’s wireless DW 9100 slimline keyboard for around £80, which again is good value, and you get a choice of two funky colour schemes: silver and white, or the very fetching black and bronze.
I’m not for a moment suggesting you should predicate your home office purchases on aesthetics alone but, if you can get quality kit at a low price that also looks great, why wouldn’t you? Both the mouse and keyboard can operate from the same compact 2.4GHz wireless dongle so you only need to sacrifice one USB port.
Buy now from Amazon (w/keyboard) Buy now from Amazon (mouse)
Cherry MW 9100 review: What does it do well?
Rubberised side panels and a compact shape mean the wireless Cherry MW 9100 fits snugly in your hand and, partly due to its 92g heft, it feels rather more substantial than the competition. If I had to use a smaller mouse for a prolonged period I’d reach for the Cherry MW9100 first.
This Cherry mouse doesn’t just look and feel more expensive than it is, though. It also performs like a much more costly accessory. The main buttons have an impressively sharp yet quiet click-action, while the three-stage DPI switch behind the scroll wheel certainly isn’t something you’d expect to find on a mouse at this price point.
This allows you to quickly skip between 1,000dpi, 1,600dpi and 2,400dpi settings on the fly, depending on your requirements. You can also download the Cherry Keys Windows application, which lets you easily assign shortcuts to the side buttons and scroll-wheel click.
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Cherry MW 9100 review: What could be improved?
The MW9100 lacks one feature that I like about the Logitech Anywhere 3: the option to put the scroll wheel into a freewheel rather than a notched scroll mode. It’s arguably not a feature you’ll miss if you’ve never used a mouse that has it, but once you have, you will. Of course, the Logitech travel mouse is twice the price of the Cherry so something has to give.
It’s for the same reason – price – that I can’t bash the Cherry for having a rubber rather than a metal scroll wheel like the one you’ll find on the Logitech. Other than that, the MW 9100 is impossible to fault.
Cherry MW 9100 3 review: Should you buy one?
If you’re on a budget and want a smaller mouse, then the MW 9100 should be right at the top of your shopping list. For under £40, the price is just right, and it’s even better value when bought for £80 in a bundle with the equally good wireless DW 9100 Slim keyboard – an absolute bargain for the homeworker starting from scratch.