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The best travel mice of 2023: Logitech, Razer, and more

The traveling professional should have the best travel mouse in their bag.
By
February 18, 2023
Logitech M535
By Logitech
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Positives
Compact
Budget-friendly
Works with various platforms
Great battery life
Negatives
Older design
Older connectivity protocols
Logitech MX Anywhere 3
By Logitech
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Positives
Premium materials
Track on glass surface
Advanced productivity features
Negatives
Higher cost
Small size may not fit your hand
Logitech M170
By Logitech
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Positives
Portable
Affordable
Many color options
12-month battery life
Negatives
Uses AA batteries
No Bluetooth
Only three buttons
Razer Orochi V2 Wireless Gaming Mouse
By Razer
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Positives
Ultra-lightweight design
Six programmable buttons
Portable
Negatives
Higher priced
Some will not need the advanced features
Microsoft ARC Mouse
By Microsoft
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Positives
Excellent portability. Lightweight design. Good overall performance.
Negatives
Limited number of buttons. High latency. Limited companion software.
LTC Jeeves NT-33M Trackpad
By Unknown or discontinued
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Positives
Portable
Wireless
Doubles as number pad
Good battery life
Negatives
Expensive
Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse
By Microsoft
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Positives
Simple and sleek design
No chords or dongle
Really nice scroll wheel
Many color options
Negatives
Not very ergonomic
Very few buttons
Razer Pro Click Mini
By Razer
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Positives
Seven programmable buttons
Nice and elegant design
Great battery life
12,000 DPI
Negatives
Expensive
A bit small for gaming

A good travel mouse is essential to the on-the-go professional, student, or anyone who prefers a mouse’s tactility over a laptop trackpad. Here are some of the best travel mice in various price points and categories.

See also: The best mice you can buy

Buying the best portable mouse

Portable mice are quite convenient, but they have more criteria to fulfill than your regular mice. First and foremost, a good portable mouse has to be a good mouse. That means having a solid feel with the body and the clicks, solid sensitivity, and enough features to not feel lacking.

With portable mice, this balance is even more critical. Since these mice aim at portability, there are often some compromises made. The key to picking the right travel mouse is to decide what your priorities are, and see which one fits the profile best.

For example, if you need a travel mouse that is great for productivity, you can get something like the Logitech MX Anywhere 3, which is a tiny little workhorse. For gaming on the go, however, you can pick something different, like one of Razer’s portable offerings. There are also some great portable trackpads out there if that’s more your style.

Another key factor to consider is the wireless interface. You get two options here — Bluetooth and RF (also known as wireless.) Bluetooth has become increasingly common, but some of the cheaper mice still employ the older RF technology. These mice come with a USB dongle to connect to your computer. Bluetooth mice are obviously the better pick, with a convenience and battery life advantage, especially if there’s support for Bluetooth 5.0 LE. That said, performance mice can take more advantage of the dongle’s latency improvements.

Lastly is the portability itself. Travel mice generally have a small profile, and all the picks on our list have that in common. You can consider the weight of a mouse depending upon your requirement. The battery life is also part of the portability, so ensure you get a mouse that also meets your needs on that front.

The best portable mice

While laptop trackpads have improved significantly over the years, many people still like the comfort of a traditional mouse when using a computer away from home. In this list, we have wireless mice ranging from $25 – $80 for productivity features, gaming, and for those who enjoy using a trackpad but need an external pad for optimal comfort. Let’s get into the best mice for travel.

Logitech M535 — The best portable mouse overall

Logitech M535
Logitech
The Logitech M535 is a tried and true classic; it was released in 2015 and still flies off the shelves almost six years later. This mouse strikes a great balance between price and features with a tilt wheel, adjustable DPI levels, and gestures enabled through Logitech’s software.

The M535 is a Bluetooth-only mouse, so you won’t have to worry about taking up a USB port to use it, and Logitech advertises a 10-month battery life. It helps that the price is also very reasonable.

Logitech MX Anywhere 3 — The best high-end travel mouse

Logitech MX Anywhere 3
Luke Little / Android Authority

We promise Logitech won’t consume this entire list, but how can we talk about the best travel mice without mentioning the MX Anywhere 3? This is the company’s highest-end, most feature-packed mouse with Hyperfast scrolling.

You also get premium build quality, a rechargeable battery, and control across multiple computers. It’s pricey, but for those who want the best of the best, look no further than the MX Anywhere 3.

Logitech M170 — The best budget travel mouse

Logitech M170
Logitech

On the opposite side of the Logitech spectrum, the M170 is one of the best travel mice if you want to spend very little money. The ultra-portable design is discrete and simple, yet comfortable enough. It has no Bluetooth, but we can live with a USB receiver when the price is so low. It costs only $14.99 MSRP, and we often see it going for less on Amazon.

The portable mouse also comes in various colors, including blue, pink, white, red, and others. And if you care for battery life, apparently this one can stay alive for 12 months without changing batteries!

Razer Orochi V2 — The best portable mouse for gaming

Razer Orochi V2 Wireless Gaming Mouse

Now that we’re out of Logitech land, the gamers in the crowd will appreciate the Razer Orochi V2 mouse for its gaming-grade sensor. It features an up to 18,000 DPI sensor so you can wind down and play some games after finishing work away from home.

It’s not the smallest mouse on this list, but it is smaller by gaming standards and is among the smallest mice Razer has to offer. Battery life expectancy is at 950 hours. It can use either Bluetooth or a 5GHz receiver.

Microsoft Arc Mouse — The most portable mouse

microsoft arc mouse touch
Microsoft

Microsoft’s premium entry into the land of portable mice is the Arc Mouse Touch, and this one is unique. There’s no on/off switch on this mouse; instead, it folds flat to turn off and folds into an arc to turn on. It was designed with Microsoft’s Surface devices in mind, but it is a Bluetooth mouse and, as such, will work with anything you can pair it to.

The “touch” component refers to the scrolling motion that you’ll use to navigate pages and documents. You’ll be cruising through web pages and documents by moving your finger up and down near the right/left click buttons.

The form factor on the Arc mouse is hyper-portable — you could toss this into a laptop sleeve with no issues. The $70 price tag may be worth it if you’re tight on bag space.

LTC Jeeves NT-33M Trackpad— The best portable trackpad

LTC Jeeves NT 33M Trackpad
LTC

Now, we know that some of you actually prefer a trackpad, and for you, we have the LTC Jeeves NT-33M Trackpad. It’s actually pretty special in that it doubles as a number pad. It can be used both wired or via Bluetooth. The manufacturer claims it can last between 15-20 days between charges. And it supports multi-touch controls.

Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse — Minimalist and colorful for design enthusiasts

Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse
The Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse is simple, minimalist, and gorgeous. The design is as clean as they get, and the metal scroll wheel offers excellent quality. It’s also one of the most fun and playful mice around, thanks to the wide color availability. It operates through Bluetooth 4.2 and has a 12-month battery life.

Razer Pro Click Mini — The most elegant portable mouse

razer pro click mini 1
Amazon
Razer is back, and this mouse slipped under my radar initially. I’ve tried out the original Pro Click mouse, and it was fantastic, so I’d expect no different from this Razer Pro Click Mini. This eight-button mouse adds two buttons to the standard form factor by using a tilt wheel.

For an extra bonus as a portable mouse, the Pro Click Mini won’t actually click at all; it’s equipped with silent switches that remain tractile in use, so your spam-clicking an app to get it to open won’t distract the person next to you. Textured side grips help keep the mouse steady on a desk too.

Big bonus: it can connect to up to four devices between its 2.4GHz receiver and three Bluetooth profiles.

FAQs

If you have a wireless mouse with a USB dongle, you’ll need to plug it into the PC to get your PC to detect it. If you have a Bluetooth mouse, you’ll need to pair it via the Bluetooth settings on your PC.

Wireless mice and wireless keyboards connect separately to the computer, and are registered as individual devices, even if they’re one of those combo offerings. As such, any wireless mouse will work with any wireless keyboard, as long as you connect them both to the PC separately.

There are a lot of small mice that share the same minimal footprint. If you want the smallest of the smallest mouse, you can pick something like the Logitech Wireless Mini Mouse.

Only in some cases. Some companies like Logitech offer unifying wireless connectors which can replace the lost dongle. Some others like Razer sell the dongles by model. You’ll have to check the manufacturer’s website to see if you can get a replacement dongle for your mouse.

Mousepad options are limited for those using portable mice, but you can just get the smallest size available for your favorite mousepad. Our pick is the Amazon Basics Mini Mouse Pad.