Iogear WIRELESS BLUETOOTH MINI MOUSE ( GME225B )

Rating:
Summary: The mini mouse story
Review: I have been fond of using bluetooth devices since a longtime. My notebook had an wireless optical mouse of logitech. This mouse is no to handy for a travel use. The mouse looks big , but the comfort of the palm rest is very good. My USB ports were insufficient for the various device i had . Atlast i thought i will get a common device like the bluetooth which works for my phone , printer, PDA, mouse.
I found this device on the net and was very hesitant to try it. I liked the shape of it. i had seen some reviews. Some say it was very nice and the others were not happy.
But i was really happy when the mouse arrived.
1. The mouse was very small and had cute design
2. very handy to carry with a travel pouch
3. The precision of the mouse was good
4. Found a solution for my USB port clogging
5. No problems with compatibility
6. Dual hand compatibility
7. No stcky antennas
The only thing which had a negative point was the
1. some how the mouse doesn`t have good comfort when the palm is placed. The mouse is so small that you can forget placing your ring and index finger on it.

Battery life:
was happy about it . i will update you with that in a few days.


Rating:
Summary: Love it, lovely, funny looking.
Review: I purchased this mouse after the Logitech V500 and Targus mini-mouse bluetooth.

At the begining, after an initial research - seems like most users recommend the USB wireless mouse over the bluetooth. Well, I tried V500 which is the USB wireless. The mouse is a beautiful piece of art and it works flawlessly (although, I personally prefer the real wheel rather than the touch and glide design and sadly having to report that you'll need to install Logitech software which take about 24 MB HDD space in order to enable that side to side scroll). The problem is the USB receiver piece that sticking out there(left side on my Sony T150) and it just constantly annoy me, having to worry about something will knock it off and afterall, I decided to give the bluetooth a shot for a peace of mind since my Sony T came with bluetooth.

The Targus bluetooth minimouse came with the USB bluetooth adapter/dongle for the notebook that doesn't have Bluetooth fn. I initially chose it for that reason because I worried that the bluetooth tech is perhaps dying and may be I could carry it on to use with my future notebook or even PC when it doesn't come with one.

Problems are : 1. it cost a little more when compare to the other bluetooth mini-mouse that doesn't come with one.
2. It still doesn't solve my peace of mind about having something sticking out. Although this is not major because I manage to make the mouse work with my notebook's bluetooth. Then it get me to think -- do I pay extra $20 just to have this dongle for the unknown future ?

3. Design and fn. I found the connector button is hard to press. The device sometimes seems to get lost often (the Iogear has never) when you turn on and off either the notebook or the device and has to detect it again. Somehow you have to be very vigilant about timing and synchronize both real well. Sometimes it doesn't even come on, try changing battery and found the battery is still good. I'm not sure this is a flaw or perhaps the defect of my unit.

Now the Iogear GME225B.

I'm intrigued by the appearance of this mouse on the web and even more astounded when first got it. It just look plain funny and wierd. The mouse look really long (or tall)_the image on Iogear website is a little off from the reality. The image at Amazon.com is exactly what the moust looks like. Because it's narrower than the others (Targus, Logitech V500). That narrowing make it look thick (higher from the ground) but it's actually not that much thicker than those two. It works nicely and actually feel comfortably in the your thumb, index and middle finger. Forget about your ring and little finger - they can't get on the mouse.

I do not have any problem initialize it at all. It's detected and works flawlessly from the beginning and have not lost the connection. I've owned it now for > a week, never have to re-connect it again (contrary to Targus_ that one's every day job) The connect button is much easier to press and for those who wondered, there is a physical button for on/off. The only thing that I haven't figured is whether or not it has auto-off feature like Targus. It seems like the LED seems to constantly blink (although it blink dimmer when idle) and no document anywhere about the auto-off. It worried me a bit since I fell to sleep quite often (frequent napper !).

It does come with 2 lousy rechargeable AAA batteries (rated 600 mA) which seem to work fine. I don't actually appreciate much of the idea because the key for notebook mouse is the portability and convenience. It seems to make more sense to just stick alkaline or lithium batteries (the Energizer AAA lithium is out there) in and just hit the road. Anyhow, this is provided at no extra cost and it's still an option if you want to use the non-rechargeable batteries. Afterall, I have no complaints about it. Probably will only use rechargeable at home. Will report about battery life later, clearly there are many other AAA rechargeable with higher juice (>600 mA) available. I'm not sure though that this's recommended by the manufacturer though ?(My big desktop mouse - logitech M600 can take rechargeable NiMh energizer 2200 mA just fine). Do it at your own risk, I guess.

Update 2/8/05_ lousy 600 mA rechargeable battery seems to last real good.

I thought that connecting USB cable will make this mouse a simple wired USB mouse and charging the battery. Sadly to report that it doesn't seem so. Given that when I turn off the bluetooth on my notebook, the connection is lost. Seems like the USB connection only charge the batteries, bummer....

Afterall. I think this is a very good mouse. Funny looking, work nicely. Rechargeable batt are extra (if you really think it gave you advantage). The only thing that I wish it can be added is the thumb button (back and forward) for web browsing. The same one I have on big Logitec mouse. But none of the current laptop mouse has that (not yet as of Feb 05).

I think..... highly recommended.