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Be wary buying MX Master 3 for Mac

T

tarantulasloomlarge

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2020
39
37
TLDR: Having issues with MX Master 3 for Mac with my M1 Air. I tried two of them to no avail, and now use another cheaper mouse without problems. Caution buying.
I'm on Big Sur 11.2.3.
I bought the MX Master 3 for Mac back in January. On startup it was fine. Everything worked as expected, and I tweaked settings with the Logi Options software. One day the mouse suddenly reverted settings. The following issues were:
  • Scroll direction would flip
  • Previous/forward buttons on side stopped working
  • The gesture button (and the gestures I had customized in Logi Options) stopped working. When I press the gesture button, the cmd + tab selector comes up.
  • Logi Options stopped changing the mouse settings. I will toggle a setting, like swap left and right buttons, but the mouse does not "match" the software.
Despite my attempts, nothing seemed to solve these issues. I tried the following:
  • I turned the mouse off then on
  • I connected the mouse via USB-C to my laptop
  • I powered off and on the laptop
  • I "forgot" the mouse, and reconnected.
  • I did the above, this time connecting on the second profile instead of the default first
  • I "forgot" the mouse through Logi Options
  • I uninstalled Logi Options
  • I reinstalled Logi Options
The mouse continued to display these issues for a few days and then started functioning properly (with my custom settings). It worked for another couple days before the issues popped up again. It's as if there are two "states": One where the mouse works as expected, the other having the same issues again and again. The mouse switches seemingly at random between them.
I gave up and contacted support. After a while (they were backed up due to Christmas) and a few emails Logitech ended up sending me a brand new MX Master 3 for Mac. I appreciate that; the problem is that the exact same issues persisted.
For this second, brand new mouse, I connected with Logi Options completely uninstalled. The mouse worked fine with default settings. Another couple days passed, and same flip-flop issues began again.
I tried installing SteerMouse. It's a program for customizing your mouse. Still, the mouse would flip-flop between a working and broken state.
I use a G305 with the dongle now. With SteerMouse, it works as expected. Problem is SteerMouse costs $20.
Pretty disappointing that a mouse branded for Mac caused me such issues. For how expensive the mouse is I really just expect it to work. I guess simple is better.
 
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Ma2k5 said:
I’ve been using MX keys and Master 3 on my Mac for a while with no issues.
Click to expand...
Same here, no issues at all. I use the MX Master 3 on my 2014 MacBook Pro as well as my desktop at work (windows). On windows however, I've had the Options software occasionally not working (launched it, nothing happened) and once or twice it seemed to have forgotten I reversed the scroll direction. On my Mac however, no issues at all.
 
The only issue I’ve had with my MX Master 3 and MX Keys is flow doesn’t seem to work on M1 Macs yet. It seems to be a known issue though and I‘m hopeful it will be updated soon. It works perfectly between my iMac and PC. Also it works going to my M1 Mini, just not going back. Aside from that they are the best keyboard and mouse on the market.
 
tarantulasloomlarge said:
I use a G305 with the dongle now.
Click to expand...
This right here is key. I have an MX Master 2S and had the exact same experience when using it with my iMac connected via Bluetooth starting sometime around Mojave, and then after a bugfix was backported also with High Sierra (I think around 10.13.2 or .3). The problem persisted and my mouse lost all settings, and nothing would help. Rebooting - no dice. Disconnecting and reconnecting - no dice. Reinstalling the software - no dice. Then, all of a sudden a few days later, it would resume normal operations.

One day I figured out the culprit was Bluetooth. I've been using the 2S with the dongle ever since and not once has it shown this weird erratic behavior ever again. The dongle is key, Logitech mice and Macs and Bluetooth don't mix well.
 
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I have the Mx 3 but I use well I have forgotten the 3rd party software name.
Damn....
It’s silicon native anyway and it works perfect
 
I use MX Anywhere, MX Master 2S and Master 3 with my M1 Air and have 0 problems.. Used these with intel Macbook Pro before, also zero issues (and was using the Master 3 with M1 Mini as well for a few weeks before returning it, again, 0 issues, all my custom settings worked 100% of time). Must rather be something messed up in your Mac OS I am afraid :(
 
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mj_ said:
This right here is key. I have an MX Master 2S and had the exact same experience when using it with my iMac connected via Bluetooth starting sometime around Mojave, and then after a bugfix was backported also with High Sierra (I think around 10.13.2 or .3). The problem persisted and my mouse lost all settings, and nothing would help. Rebooting - no dice. Disconnecting and reconnecting - no dice. Reinstalling the software - no dice. Then, all of a sudden a few days later, it would resume normal operations.

One day I figured out the culprit was Bluetooth. I've been using the 2S with the dongle ever since and not once has it shown this weird erratic behavior ever again. The dongle is key, Logitech mice and Macs and Bluetooth don't mix well.
Click to expand...

It should be noted that the OP, and anyone else who opts for the Mac version of the MXM3 doesn't have that option unless they buy the dongle separately.

Logitech shortchanges the Mac buyer by including a C2C cable, but no receiver.

The "regular" version includes the receiver, and an A2C cable.

No difference in price.
 
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mj_ said:
This right here is key. I have an MX Master 2S and had the exact same experience when using it with my iMac connected via Bluetooth starting sometime around Mojave, and then after a bugfix was backported also with High Sierra (I think around 10.13.2 or .3). The problem persisted and my mouse lost all settings, and nothing would help. Rebooting - no dice. Disconnecting and reconnecting - no dice. Reinstalling the software - no dice. Then, all of a sudden a few days later, it would resume normal operations.

One day I figured out the culprit was Bluetooth. I've been using the 2S with the dongle ever since and not once has it shown this weird erratic behavior ever again. The dongle is key, Logitech mice and Macs and Bluetooth don't mix well.
Click to expand...
Hm but wired is still buggy. Unfortunately I don’t have a unifying dongle either!
 
tarantulasloomlarge said:
whats the difference between this and steer mouse? Steer mouse is actually a lil bit cheaper!
Click to expand...
Can’t answer that :)

It was just the first software that popped into my mind when I read your post :)

EDIT://I personally use the magic mouse because I think that mouse is better and more versitile with its touch surface
 
My MX3 works perfectly as long as I'm using the unified receiver. Over Bluetooth it also works mostly fine, but oddly the back button always jumps back two pages instead of going to the previous. I googled the issue and sure enough, there was a Reddit thread about Mac+MX3 users all talking about the Back/forward mess. Someone there mentioned that it only happens in BT mode, and it turned out to work exactly the same for me.
 
Logitech Options software is not optimized for M1 Macs yet. There are multiple community threads about it on Logitech website. It's sad that Logitech can't get their act together on that. I have an MX Master 3 for Mac and MX Keys for Mac, both being used over Unify receiver for my M1 Mac Mini and over bluetooth for my Intel Macbook Pro. I have given up on Flow due to above said issue. I'm using a combination of ShareMouse and Better touch tool. Good luck.
 
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Logitech mice connected with Bluetooth on the Mac have always been kinda janky for me. Meanwhile they work fine via BT on Windows. And other mice seem to connect fine over BT to the Mac. Seems Logitech + Mac is not always the best combination.
 
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chairmanmiao said:
I encounter the exact problem as the OP. I have a MacBook Pro 16 with. macOS Big Sur 11.2.3. Just bought the Master 3. Wondering what's the fix.
Click to expand...
Use the USB RF dongle or switch to a different mouse. There's something not right between Logitech's chipset and Apple's BT implementation. Don't know if it's software on the Mac side or hardware on the Logitech side, but they don't play well together.

I have a Microsoft BT mouse which is 10x smoother than Logitechs, but there's still something funny about macOS's BT stack. While the mouse is very smooth, there's microstutter every 10 seconds or so. My Apple Magic Mouse 2 shows no such artifact.
 
chairmanmiao said:
I encounter the exact problem as the OP. I have a MacBook Pro 16 with. macOS Big Sur 11.2.3. Just bought the Master 3. Wondering what's the fix.
Click to expand...
I got SteerMouse software which fixed all problems. Costs $20 though.

If you can, return it and get a mouse that works.
 
xraydoc said:
Does SteerMouse fix the choppy pointer motion too or does it just handle the programmable buttons?
Click to expand...
I've noticed it seems smoother but not sure if that's true. This past week SteerMouse has worked fine but yesterday the mouse was in "glitch mode".

Enough is enough I suppose! I'm off to get a magic trackpad 2... and I promised myself I wouldn't be buying any peripherals that didn't have usb c... ah!
 
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I have had no issues with the MX Master 3, but, I don't use the Mac-specific version. I know of a few who have issues and it always comes back to the one designed for Mac, the standard version never appears to have an issue.
 
LeeW said:
I have had no issues with the MX Master 3, but, I don't use the Mac-specific version. I know of a few who have issues and it always comes back to the one designed for Mac, the standard version never appears to have an issue.
Click to expand...
The Logitech mice are perfectly fine if you use their RF dongle. It's when connected to bluetooth that they become problematic on macOS, regardless of being the "standard" or "Mac-specific" versions. The Mac-specific versions are simply different colors and don't come with the RF dongle.
 
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