Wireless devices need power, and that power usually comes from a USB plug of sorts. But Logitech’s Powerplay 2 is a neat trick in and of itself, charging mice sans cords.
Technology can do some pretty cool things, almost as if it was magic. That’s one of the thrills of wireless technology, whether it’s marvelling at how cordless sound can go from phone to ear with ease, or even glancing at your phone and seeing the battery get topped up from a wireless charging pad.
It’s that same thought that’s propelling Logitech’s latest improvement: a slightly thinner take on its Powerplay mouse pad, a peripheral that can almost inexplicably charge wireless mice with a small coin-sized battery simply by sitting on that mousepad.
Wireless charging pads clearly aren’t anything new: you can get Qi charging pads for phones and earphones, with as many as four devices charging on the one pad. However a charging pad that specifically recharges a mouse isn’t all that common, largely because cordless mice are typically recharged using a cable.
Logitech’s Powerplay 2 gets around this by providing a small “charging coin” battery that can be plugged into the bottom of a Logitech gaming mouse, which will then recharge from the Powerplay 2 mouse pad’s electromagnetic field, dealing with recharging in a wireless way.
The idea means gamers can keep charging their mouse while they’re playing games, simply because the mouse pad used to improve mouse responsiveness is being used to charge the coin in the mouse. A little bit bigger than the original (by 15 percent), it means gamers won’t really need to worry where they put their mouse, provided it’s on the mouse pad.
The price is where things get a little iffy, though. At $199.95 in Australia, Logitech’s Powerplay 2 is certainly not an inexpensive mouse pad, especially since it doesn’t come with a mouse, either. You’ll need to grab one of those extra, which start at around the $80 mark for a compatible model before going up in price.
