Okay, not quite – Logitech expect it to land in mid-November. And it’ll set you back $600 (as opposed to the $US300 RRP in the States) and will work with either your PC or your PS3.

Logitech G27 Racing Wheel for PC and PS3 to be Available in Australia

Real Metal, Real Leather, Real Racing

SYDNEY —November 4th, 2009 — Logitech Australia today announced the local availability of the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel. Replacing and improving upon the venerable G25 Racing Wheel, the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel is designed to deliver the definitive sim racing experience for the PC and PLAYSTATION®3. With the G27, whether you’re sliding sideways around a gravelly curve, or screaming through the streets of Monaco, the world’s greatest circuits feel closer than ever.

The G27 features a powerful, dual-motor force feedback mechanism that smoothly and accurately delivers high-fidelity force effects to the hand-stitched leather wheel, so you can feel traction loss, weight shift, and the surface of the road. The helical gears deliver exceptionally quiet steering action, virtually eliminating noise and unwanted vibration. A six-speed gated shifter lets you choose exactly the right gear for the turn, while new RPM/shift indicator LEDs let you know just when to up- or down-shift. And the clutch pedal makes heel-and-toe downshifting possible, keeping your gear changes quick and your RPMs high all the way around the track.

Nick Angelucci, Logitech Australia’s Product and Marketing Manager said; “In designing the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel we have improved upon the highly esteemed Logitech G25 with easy access to more programmable buttons on the wheel, better feeling from the shifter module and improved responsiveness from the force feedback transmission. It all adds up to making a wheel that delivers an unsurpassed racing experience, all from your own lounge room.”

The Logitech G27 Racing Wheel is expected to be available in Australia from mid-November for a suggested retail price of $599.95(AUD) inc. GST. For more information about the Logitech G27 or Logitech visit www.logitech.com.

The 700, which we first heard about in September, costs $US150 overseas. Here, it’s $300. The 900, which Jason reviewed back in August, sells for $US400 in the States. Here, it’ll set you back $900.

I’m not going to spend time ranting about copping the short end of the stick on international gadget pricing again. I’ll just suggest you shop around online – there’s no reason why the US version wouldn’t work in Australia…

[Logitech]

The price you pay is that it’s got a single hi-speed USB port instead of a pair, which has been de rigeur on gaming keyboards lately. And of course, it’s got space for 36 macros. It’s $US80 and works with PC or Mac. [Logitech]

The entire kit includes a 3-stage, pivoting laptop stand, a wireless keyboard and a wireless M505 laser mouse (along with the tiny, USB-based Unifying Receiver that communicates with the peripherals).

Purchased alone, the components would run you $US130 ($US50 for each peripheral and $US30 for the stand). But combined in this Costco-like bundle, you’ll get it all for $US100. [Logitech]

A Brief History Lesson

The original MX500 is the sliced bread of mousing ergonomics: The form factor is so good Logitech won’t f—k with it more than six years and countless iterations later. The perfectly balanced ergonomic arch and thumb groove precisely straddle the line between suggestive and aggressive, so it feels just right, like Zach Morris.

The MX500 evolved into gamier, glossiers variants with boosted tracking engines, the MX 510 and still available MX518. That, in turn, gave us the original laser-based G5, which saw the loss of a thumb button through leprosy, and had a janky scroll wheel. Logitech fixed it with another take on the G5, adding back the missing thumb button and giving us a scroll wheel that worked, making the mouse great again. That brings us to the G500.

Let’s Start with the Good

Like I said, there’s a reason Logitech has kept the basic MX500 silhouette around for so long, through at least six other mice: It just works. There are some minor tweaks with the G500, which actually feels slightly more symmetrical, with a wider but less pronounced thumb groove that flows more smoothly into the body of the mouse, but it’s basically the same. It’s a little more texturally vivid than I’d prefer, with sides that feel like rubberised sandpaper for gripping, but I got used to it fast enough.

The laser engine inside now pushes 5700dpi, or exactly 100dpi more than Razer’s latest laser engine. Logitech peeing on the pissing match, in other words. It also polls at 1000Hz, the same speed as Razer’s sytem. (FWIW, I couldn’t discern any difference between Microsoft’s 500Hz polling and Razer’s 1000Hz in actual gaming sessions.) The G500’s tracking and accuracy is excellent, both on cloth pads and my fake wood desk.

Crippling Flaws

The reason I dragged you through a brief tour of Logitech mouse history is because Logitech repeats it with the G500. The original G5 screwed up on the thumb buttons and scroll wheel, and the G500 manages to screw that up spectacularly too.

It’s the first gaming mouse Logitech has graced with the hyper-scroll tech that’s been in its high-end consumer mice for a while — it’s got a toggle button that lets you pick between regular clicky (but still speedy) scrolling or the hyper-infinite scroll, where one flick of your finger spins the scroll wheel almost forever, shooting you down a million lines in Excel in half a second. Which is great, if you spend a lot of time in Excel or zipping through web pages — not so great if you’re flicking through a handful of weapons in Left 4 Dead. Even when it’s not in hyper mode, the scroll wheel’s still pretty fast and loose — though that’s something that you can mitigate with careful scrolling.

What really murders the scroll wheel, though, is that middle-clicking is an act requiring damn near surgical skill. Half the time you attempt to middle click, and you think you have, you’ve actually just left- or right-scroll clicked. Which is not the same command. Meaning, if you’ve mapped middle click as a lightning fast shortcut to get back to your main gun after you’ve tossed out a proxy mine, you’re gonna get shot in the face trying to pull out your gun.

The thumb buttons are almost as bad. Instead of two clearly distinguishable buttons, we’ve now got a nearly seamless button strip that actually contains three buttons for you to press. And, just like the scroll wheel, you’ll go to click one button, and wind up hitting a different one, particularly the new “middle” thumb button. You don’t know how many people got backstabbed by Spies in Team Fortress 2 after I tried to hit the forward button to yell at them via voice chat but tapped the wrong button.

Don’t Buy

Gaming gear, in theory, should be all about precision. That’s why Logitech tells us the dots per inch the mouse’s sensor can handle and how fast and how often the mouse gets data from the laser sensor. That’s why I can adjust the dpi rating on the fly. That’s why Logitech includes weights with the mouse, so you can even adjust how much it weighs, down to the gram. Yet two buttons that people use a lot are huge failures in precision. Whole buttons. That negates basically everything else that’s good about the mouse, which is a lot, like the heavy braided cable, or built-in profile storage, so you don’t have to redo your settings everytime you take it to a different computer.

So, my advice? If you’re dedicated to Logitech, wait for the next G500, or the surely inevitable wireless variant. Logitech will probably fix the problems in the revision, just like they did before. Or, just stick with the actually good G5, which is $US20 cheaper, at $US50. You don’t really need 5700dpi anyway. If you’re open to other mousemakers, in the same price range, I’d suggest Razer’s DeathAdder, which recently got beefed up with Razer’s newer tracking engine and a less flimsy cable, Microsoft’s wireless SideWinder X8, or SteelSeries’ relatively frill-free Ikari.

Classic Logitech ergonomics still great

Crazy fast sensor tracks really well

Scroll wheel design is not great for games

Thumb buttons completely screwed up

Users of glass desks are the kind of people we’d expect to be fans of minimalism. Problem for them is all that glass and smooth surfaces and creative use of negative space is kinda put to the torch by having to use a trackpad so their mouse gets some kind of traction with the surface below it.

No longer! Now glass desk users can enjoy the same mousing goodness the rest of us do, sans mousemat, using Logitech’s Performance Mouse M950 or Anywhere Mouse M905. Or so we are told.

According to Logitech:

To track on glass (that’s at least 4 mm thick), Logitech Darkfield uses dark field microscopy to detect microscopic particles and micro-scratches on these surfaces, rather than tracking the surface itself. Similar to the way in which our eye sees the clear night sky, the mouse’s sensor sees the clean areas of glass as a dark background with bright dots – the dust. Then, the sensor interprets the movement of these dots to track exactly where you’ve moved the mouse.

Hmm, really? We can’t wait to try one of these. You’ll pay for the luxury of mousing on glass. The M950 (pictured) is priced at $199.95 and the M905 (compact design for mobile users) at $149.95. The new mouses (mice?) will be available early next month. That’s sooner than you think. [Logitech]

The S315i has a built in rechargeable battery that’ll give you 20 hours worth of playback in a body that’s less than two inches thick. It’ll also charge your iPod.

The S125i is a truly portable unit, running off four AAs for 10 hours worth of playback, or the mains if you want to charge your iPod at the same time. It weighs less than 500 grams and features a Bass Boost button, which I assume is for boosting the bass.

The S315i has an RRP of $199.95, while the S125i will cost $99.95. Both should be on shelves this month.

When you live out in the woods, thieves are the least of your worries.

This video was captured using Logitech’s WiLIfe line of security cameras and submitted to the company as part of a weekly contest that rewards customers with the best videos. Awesome—perhaps they can use any money they won to buy a gun or throw into the pot on a down payment on a place in the city. At any rate, the second and third place videos are also pretty amusing.

[WiLife]

Sure that is more than Guitar Hero for Wii (including guitar and drums) will cost you but for those that love to have the best for rocking, the Logitech stuff is made from the best stuff on earth (just like Snapple). The wireless guitar has a maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and metal frets. Even the wireless controller has a white finish with a glossy-black pick guard.

Like those for the PS3, the Logitech Wireless Drum Controller for Wii has got three drum pads and two cymbals. You can adjust them to your liking and there is a recessed-rim around the pads that help avoid accidental rim shots. And haven’t you always wanted a kick pedal made of stainless steel. The Wii remote fits into the panel on the drum set (and into a slot on the back of the guitar).

Logitech also released a wireless drum set for the Xbox360 which is pretty much the same as the one for the Wii without the opening for the remote. Same pricing and all.

For those watching the cash, you can always find the closest pub with a Rock Band jam session and totally mooch on their instruments. [Logitech]

The Squeezebox Radio is the cheaper of the two, coming in at $US200. It’s got a built-in amplifier and speakers to pump out music streamed from online or from your music collection stored on your computer without needing to plug into your stereo. It’ll download from iTunes or stream from Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius or Last.fm. The screen isn’t a touchscreen, but it’s got six buttons for navigating or selecting what you want to stream.

The Squeezebox Touch is the fancier of the two at $US300, and looks just like those leaked pictures. Designed to plug into your existing stereo, it’s got a 4.3-inch touchscreen for choosing music to play and viewing album art, and it streams everything that the Radio does. Since it doesn’t have built-in speakers, it supports sampling rates of up to 24 bits at 96kHz. It’s also got a USB port and SD card slot for listening to music stored on thumb drives or memory cards.

The Squeezebox Radio drops later this month, while the Squeezebox Touch arrives in December.

Limitless Choices: Logitech Brings Your Digital Music Together, Unveils Two New Squeezebox Wi-Fi Music Players
Logitech Squeezebox Radio, Logitech Squeezebox Touch Deliver All The Music On Your Computer, All The Music On Internet Into Your Home;
Feature Streamlined Interface, Facebook App

FREMONT, Calif. – Sept. 3, 2009 – You’re a 21st century music lover but your stereo is stuck in the 20th century. To help bring the digital world into your home, Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today unveiled the Logitech Squeezebox™ Radio Wi-Fi music player and the Logitech Squeezebox™ Touch Wi-Fi music player. Both Logitech Squeezebox Wi-Fi music players give people simple, intuitive access to a wide variety of music choices including free Internet radio, personal digital music files and music subscription services.

“Digital music and the Internet have radically changed how we discover, share and listen to the music we love,” said Sam Feng, product marketing director of Logitech’s Streaming Media business unit. “Now, millions of people are downloading music through iTunes® and listening to Internet radio stations and music services and our newest Logitech Squeezebox Wi-Fi music players bring it all together. Just plug one in and you can be ready to discover and enjoy music from around the world.”

Logitech Squeezebox Radio – Small Package, Big Sound
The Internet has changed everything, including your radio. With the Logitech Squeezebox Radio, you’ll get the simplicity of old-fashioned radio with the power of the Internet wherever you want to listen to music.

Unlike other complex Wi-Fi music systems, Squeezebox Radio sets up easily. You just plug it in, turn it on, connect to your home network and like magic, you’ve got access to a world of music – Internet radio, your personal music collection including DRM-free iTunes Plus downloads, and subscription services such as Napster®, Pandora®, Rhapsody®, SIRIUS®, and Last.fm™. And the Squeezebox Radio’s colour screen can display album art, track and station information, visualizers and more.

With six preset buttons located on the side of display, at the touch of a button the Squeezebox Radio makes it easy to enjoy your favourite song, Internet radio station or playlist. With automatic brightness adjustment and a built-in alarm clock, the Logitech Squeezebox Radio is even ideal for your bedside table. And if you want to listen to music in private, a 3.5 mm jack lets you plug in your headphones.

At just 5.12 inches (130 mm) by 8.66 inches (220 mm) by 5.04 inches (8.5 cm), the compact design makes the Squeezebox Radio ideal for your living room, kitchen, bedroom – even your patio. While it’s a space-saver, the Squeezebox Radio still delivers clear sound with minimal distortion – no extra speakers required – thanks to the 3/4-inch high-definition, soft-dome tweeter and 3-inch high-power, long-throw woofer.

For your convenience, a rechargeable battery pack that is sold separately will let you move the Squeezebox Radio around your home without interrupting the music. The battery can power your Squeezebox Radio for up to six hours and recharges automatically when it’s plugged in.

Logitech Squeezebox Touch – colour Touch Screen Puts Music at Your Fingertips
So you can seamlessly discover a world of music and play it through the stereo system you already own, the Logitech Squeezebox Touch Wi-Fi music player has a stunning 4.3-inch colour touch screen that lets you easily select and play music – and even view album art. Plus, to provide a better listening experience, the Squeezebox Touch supports sampling rates of up to 24 bits at 96 kHz, delivering rich sound with very little distortion. Simply plug in the Squeezebox Touch to your existing speakers, connect to your home network and you’re ready to rock out. An included USB port and SD card slot on the back of the Squeezebox Touch also lets you access music and photos stored on flash drives and memory cards.

To put control within reach, a wall-mount bracket (sold separately) lets you put your Squeezebox Touch at eye level – near the stereo, over your kitchen table or wherever you want convenient control of your music. With the optional Logitech Squeezebox Touch Wall-Mount Bracket, the power cord and speaker wires can be run inside your walls so cords or cables aren’t dangling from your Squeezebox.

Streamlined Interface, Facebook App and Flickr Support
The intuitive Squeezebox interface was designed for speed and convenience. The colour display found on the Squeezebox Radio and Squeezebox Touch help you quickly locate your favourite radio stations, playlists or music services. And, with its redesigned menu system, you can easily choose from a variety of applications to enhance your listening experience.
Plus, if you’re a Facebook fan, you can share music recommendations, as well as check out your friends’ statuses, recommendations, and full-color photos right on your new Squeezebox. Photo slide shows from the popular photo-sharing site Flickr are also supported on both new Squeezebox Wi-Fi music players.

The Squeezebox Family
Both the Logitech Squeezebox Radio and Logitech Squeezebox Touch can seamlessly integrate into your existing Wi-Fi or Ethernet-based home network, as well as with the Squeezebox family of products, which includes the award-winning Logitech Squeezebox™ Boom Wi-Fi music player, Logitech Squeezebox™ Duet Wi-Fi music player, and the audiophiles’ choice, the Logitech Transporter® Wi-Fi music player.

All of the products in the Squeezebox family work together so it’s easy to expand your system. Simply add additional Squeezebox Wi-Fi media players to any room you like and then you can listen to one song throughout your entire home – perfect for a party – or enjoy a different song in every room.

Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Squeezebox Radio Wi-Fi music player is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in September for a suggested retail price of $US199.99 (U.S.). For a limited time, a special edition Logitech Squeezebox Radio Wi-Fi music player will be available in red at http://www.logitech.com and select retailers. The Logitech Squeezebox Touch Wi-Fi music player is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in December for a suggested retail price of $US299.99 (U.S.). The Logitech Squeezebox Radio Accessory Pack (which includes a battery pack and IR remote) is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in November for a suggested retail price of $US49.99 (U.S.). The Logitech Squeezebox Touch Wall-Mount Bracket is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in December for a suggested retail price of $US99.99 (U.S.).