Wednesday 27 May 2009

Wireless Mouse - mouse, wireless mouse


Pros:

* Connects quickly and flawlessly with my Macbook laptop via the bluetooth connection.

* No USB connectors tying up precious slots.

* Good ergonomics. Some have claimed that the mouse is too small. I'm a fairly average sized adult man & have no problems.

* Seems to be solidly constructed with good quality.

* Love the right and left clicks and the fact that the scroll wheel can also "rock" left & right for additional programmed actions.

* Uses standard AA batteries.

* Comes with a nice travel pouch (mouse house) to store it in when not in use or on the road.



Cons:

* As others have said the mouse goes into power saving (green) mode way too quickly. When you move it after just a few (~ 9) seconds of being idle it has to wake up before it reacts. I haven't found it too annoying, but it is noticeable.

* The scroll wheel moves the window way too slowly. And yes, I did adjust the scroll speed to the maximum rate under Preferences and yes I did load and update the drivers to the most recent version. Logitech V470 Bluetooth Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks (White)

I've owned this mouse now for several weeks. Not long enough to comment on battery life, so far, but I can say that for a mouse its performance is decent. This is, by definition, a portable mouse so it's somewhat small. I have large hands and I was worried that this would be an issue, but it turns out that it's not too bad at all.



With that being said, I'm not certain whether all bluetooth mice seem to be jumpy, or if I've just been having lousy luck. After leaving the mouse still for about 10 seconds (or any amount of time longer) when you first move it it'll jump a bit. You'll have to do that "Ok, where's the cursor" thing for a second or two, but then you find it and it works fairly well. It does not perform well at all with the native Mac mouse driver, but once you install the Logitech software and play with the settings a bit, it tracks and scrolls much better and with an accuracy as good or better than any other bluetooth mouse I've used. I try to avoid installing unnecessary software but the Logitech Control Center makes a big difference here.



As for physical design, Logitech did a great job. It feels solid and well-built. The buttons and scroll wheel button give a nice satisfying click, with just the right amount of resistance. Of course, all the buttons are programmable. I honestly feel like I could throw it across the room and it'd come back for more - which is good since as a portable device it's intended to travel. Like I said before: the mouse is a bit small, but it's got a nice steep curve to it so it's easy to grip and I don't get cramps in my hand from trying to use it. You can tell that they definitely paid attention to ergonomics while trying to maintain portability.



Despite being all plastic, the silvery colored parts are intended to match the anodized aluminum of modern macs and their keyboards. This mouse matches my aluminum wireless keyboard perfectly. Plus, despite what the product pics show, the little light on top lights up blue - not green - to indicate a successful pairing or connection.



The only difference between this mouse and it's PC cousin is the color of the plastic, and this mouse works just fine on Windows.



This mouse may not be perfect, but I believe it's flaws are more from Bluetooth than from this mouse. I'm glad I bought it, and I'd do so again.

Typical Logitech quality. Includes all the expected configuration options for the buttons and wheel. Initially attempted to use the mouse as a plug-and-play on a MacPro, but repeatedly kept losing the Bluetooth link-up. Once the drivers were installed, it worked flawlessly. Nitpick: Prefer smooth-scrolling wheels, which this mouse does not have.

Used with a wireless mac key board and mac mini. Pros: Small footprint, pretty, has a mac-like look. Cons: Tracking is a pain, it takes a few seconds to activate when the computer wakes from sleep. The tracking for me is the major issue, even after adjusting the mouse settings it still moves either too fast and overshoots the target, or it moves too slowly. After you get used to it though it's not so bad. I'd keep looking to see if there's something better.

Make sure you download and install the latest Logitech software for this mouse (for OS X) from the Logitech website. If you don't the mouse cursor speed and feel is awful and skittery no matter how you set it in the system preferences. When you install the Logitech software you get fine control over the mouse sensitivity and scroll speed and can dial in the feel of the mouse to your exact taste.



The only reason I don't give it five stars is because the Logitech software is not very intuitive, leading to some confusion as to how to tweak the cursor and scroll speed. Not a disaster of an interface, but not well thought out either. - Wireless Mouse - Mac - Mouse - Apple'


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