CUSTOMIZABILITY
Gyration’s Universal Remote Control is
the WYSIWYG of input devices—you
can’t change a single element of the
interface. It can learn functions from
your other remote controls, but that’s
absolutely meaningless for a PC user.
In fact, the Gyration device doesn’t
even come with a CD! No drivers, no
software, no anything.
The MX Air’s configuration utility is
absolutely wonderful by comparison.
You can assign a multitude of actions
and options to the device’s six
configurable buttons. Taking it one
step further, the MX Air even lets you
customize button profiles for individual
programs. And we love the handy
taskbar-like menu you can pull up
with the device; it’s great for selecting
programs from a distance away.
WINNER: LOGITECH MX AIRAnd the Winner Is...
PRECISION
We didn’t set up a target
and have Wild Wild WestWild Wild WestWild Wild West –style aiming –style aiming
tests with these pointers. But we did
test their range using a highly scientific
“walk down the hall and wave your arm”
test, and both devices dropped out at
about 30 feet.
We found that the Logitech MX
Air was typically more responsive and
less jittery than the Gyration device
during daily use. Adjusting speed and
acceleration using Windows’s built-in
mouse configuration panel helped the
Gyration’s responsiveness a little bit, but
it simply can’t compete with MX Air’s
software utility.
Worse still, the Gyration’s mouse
pointer frequently veered to the left on
its own, and achieving picture-perfect
accuracy with it was a hit-and-miss affair.
WINNER: LOGITECH MX AIRFUNCTIONALITY
What a bummer. We
thought this would be the one category
in which the Gyration mouse would surely
put up a fight. It’s hard for a mouse
with three buttons to compete against
a freakin’ remote control, after all. The
Gyration can control your TV, your cable
box, and your PC, although it’s specifically
designed to work with Windows Media
Center (and is touted as “Vista-ready”).
These features look great on paper,
but we found that the Gyration, in fact,
does notnotnot work with Vista. We followed the work with Vista. We followed the
instructions to the letter (plug in the USB
transmitter, use remote), but no amount
of cajoling could get Media Center to
pop up and the media-friendly buttons
wouldn’t work properly.
WINNER: LOGITECH MX AIRGYRATION UNIVERSAL
REMOTE CONTROL
$150, http://www.gyration.comF
or those playing the home version of this month’s Head2Head, the
fi nal score is fi ve for the Logitech MX Air and zero for the Gyration
Universal Remote Control. We’ve given good reviews to Gyration’s
standalone mice, but this remote just isn’t up to par.
The Logitech can do just about everything the Gyration can do.
Granted, you can’t use the MX Air to control your television, but we’d
much rather have a mouse that can be used for any computing taskwhatsoever and still function as an acceptable couch-surfing con-
troller. You don’t even need half the buttons on the Gyration remote,
considering most of its button-based options are point-and-clickable
within Media Center itself.
Nothing beats a remote control for your entertainment center;
however, Gyration got greedy and tried to cram too much into a
single device.round^3
round^4
round 5
OCTOBER 2007 MAXIMUMPC 15