A Less Than Ideal Mouse
Posted by Doug Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:18:12 GMT
This week I’ve bought a Logitech V270 Cordless Optical Notebook Mouse for Bluetooth. On paper it’s a great mouse. In practice, not so much.
I’m now a traveling software developer using an Apple Powerbook. I’ve relied on a wired Kensington Iridio mouse for a long time. It’s quite serviceable, but not fantastic. I wanted something I could travel with easily. Naturally I started looking into Bluetooth mice since my Powerbook has built-in Bluetooth. I spent longer than I should have at Micro Center looking at all the mice they had trying to decide on which I wanted.
I settled on Logitech’s Bluetooth mouse. It’s a simple and fairly inexpensive mouse that claims Mac compatibility on the box. It has a fairly high resolution of 1000dpi. Also, it comes with a handy little carrying bag to keep it from getting bunged up in my bag. Add in a physical on/off switch and it’s nearly the perfect travel mouse.
The only problem is that it’s constantly loosing connection with my Powerbook. I think it’s a designed feature for conserving batteries. The solution is simply to hold the left mouse button until it connects again to the Powerbook. The result is that nearly ever time I go to grab the mouse it’s disconnected. Very annoying. Even while I’m actually using it connection can be lost. I find it hard to believe that a battery saving option would be to simply stop working while in use.
I’m not sure what to do about it. I guess I should return it since it’s a fairly annoying mouse to use. But I like everything about the mouse except this very intrusive problem. If you have a solution to this problem, I’d love to hear it.
Also, if you could recommend a better Bluetooth mouse I’d like to hear that too. Here are my requirements:
- Bluetooth
- At least two buttons and a scroll wheel
- No “base station” to travel with. I want to simply toss the mouse in my bag and go
- On/Off Switch
- Reasonably high DPI to make Photoshopping easier.
- Mac support, of course
- Ideally I’d like to see battery level too; but oh well…
Here are two mice I’m considering:
Does anyone have any experience with either of these?
Is there any such thing as a mouse with bluetooth or USB that is not Mac compatible?
I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so. However, right on the packaging some mice say they are Mac compatible and some say not. I think that is mainly referring to extended features. For some mice (like the Logitech MX900) you have to use a custom mouse driver to get access to the 10 or so extra buttons. This is a good example because the MX900 is a cool mouse, but ends up being a very average mouse that’s very expensive if you can’t get drivers that will allow you to program the extra buttons.
I like my IOGEAR mini bluetooth mouse. It is 2-button, scrollwheel, rechargeable from USB with replaceable AAA batteries, has an on/off switch, and has a charge indicator. Works flawlessly with my Powerbook and Dell laptop. It is however smaller than your typical mouse, but I find that lends to accuracy for me, and I have big farmer paws.
http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GME225B
I’m tempted by “The Ball”, a new bluetooth trackball that is getting good reviews. http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/the_ball_bluetooth_wireless_trackball
Thanks for the recommendations, Victor! That IOGEAR mouse looks very promising. I typically like something a little larger, but I’m willing to experiment I think. As far as a trackball goes, I’ve used them and have liked them. For a traveling mouse I’m not sure I’d like it though.
Well, I’d be curious as to which way that you went. I am presently sick of traveling mouse with no on/off switch. And I’d actually rather a standard size mouse as they are much more comfortable for me.
However, I think that I’d have to modify your criteria a bit as I use expose and dashboard quite extensively so I need to have a couple more buttons. I also would want to be able to either a) use standard AA batteries or b) have a USB charge cable like the IOGear mouse. I really HATE these built-in batteries that require the base unit for charging. I already carry so much stuff that my backpack looks like I’m going camping for a month. :) Course I carry my camera and lenses and graphics pad…little insane but it is a complete mobile studio if necessary.
I have actually been tempted to buy the http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2158,CONTENTID=10776 desktop from Logitech just to have the mouse. I use the mx1000 on my G5 an love it. Enough buttons to support my crazy habits.
I like the mx900 and use USB Overdrive http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/News.html to get the extra button support. BUt just throwing it in the laptop burns through batteries to often.
- Best regards,
Rob
did you ever solve your problem? i just bought the logitech v270 and its killing me slowly.
I ended up solving this problem with this post about the Logitech Mediaplay. It’s not bluetooth and it has a dongle; however, it works flawlessly and has plenty of buttons. I’ve decided I really like having forward and backward buttons for web browsing. USB Overdrive works very well with it. It has an on/off button too.