@Lathi.net: A Less Than Ideal Mouse

A Less Than Ideal Mouse

Doug — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 11:18:12 -0600

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?

"A Less Than Ideal Mouse" by Doug

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:39:30 -0500

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.

"A Less Than Ideal Mouse" by danny

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:46:58 -0500

did you ever solve your problem? i just bought the logitech v270 and its killing me slowly.

"A Less Than Ideal Mouse" by Rob

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 23:03:02 -0600

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

"A Less Than Ideal Mouse" by Doug

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:56:36 -0600

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.

"A Less Than Ideal Mouse" by Victor Cosby

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 02:15:38 -0600

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

"A Less Than Ideal Mouse" by Doug

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:47:51 -0600

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.

"A Less Than Ideal Mouse" by Phil

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:04:39 -0600

Is there any such thing as a mouse with bluetooth or USB that is not Mac compatible?