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Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop for Bluetooth

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop for Bluetooth

List Price: $139.00
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT
Review: I used this product for two months, and it won - I give up. $120 down the drain. Frequently fades in and out - you have to wait for it to reset itself before you get any response from the keyboard or mouse. Many times, it would arbitrarily get stuck on one key (for instance, all of a sudden your screen looks like this: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I am going to toss this keyboard out.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Bluetooth connectivity
Review: I used to have the problem of periodically losing contact with the devices, requiring the attachment of a wired keyboard and mouse, and detecting and reinstalling both devices. Since updating to XP SP2 this no longer appears to be happening, making these device more acceptable.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Pretty Ones are Almost Always Bad for You
Review: I've had this desktop since it's release and all of the problems listed in the other reviews have happened to me:
1. No keyboard/mouse until Windows loads (no bios support)
2. Slow wake up time (3-5 seconds)
3. The bluetooth receiver always forgets the mouse and keyboard, at least once every other day - this requires unistalling the profile and reinstalling it (which is really fun to do while your keyboard/mouse is missing)
4. If you move the mouse or click the buttons during load the mouse won't be recognized when Windows loads.
5. keyboard will lock when typing and continue to type the same character 100's of times (very annoying)
6. Won't work with my Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PC (Tell me that doesn't make sense, Microsoft <-> Microsoft, but it's true)

That being said, I have been using rechargable batteries with my MSBlue desktop and haven't been too hampered by the battery-life. The low battery warnings go off quickly, but the mouse will usually put in a few days after the first warning before cutting out. More importantly, if you're not a "power user" and don't plan on using other bluetooth devices or have any special needs beyond basic mouse/keyboard use, this is one beautiful keyboard.

I'm planning on picking up the new Logitech Cordless MX Duo with Bluetooth (keyboard/mouse) to replace this when it becomes available [includes bluetooth profiles for pocket PC and a mouse charging station] unless Microsoft can produce some better competition in the next few months.

Despite the flaws, it will be hard to part with such a stunning center piece.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not Ready for Prime Time!
Review: I've had this product for about a year now, and I finally had to pull the plug. I started having crashes on boot up, and my pc wouldn't wakeup from standby. After taking this product out of the loop, all problems went away. Microsoft drivers are not available for download, so I have to assume they haven't had an update to the drivers since this product was released. Also, the mouse also goes through batteries like butter. I tried using rechargeables; however the mouse started acting flaky, so I went back to using non-rechargeable batteries. Finally I gave up, and I returned to my old corded keyboard and mouse.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Owned this since Dec 2003 and haven't had issues
Review: I've had this product for almost 3 full months and decided I was going to buy another one for home, until I came to the Amazon reviews. I was surprised to see how many people have issues with this keyboard and mouse!

Things I recognize in my set:
1. The mouse does eat batteries, but I work anywhere from 8-12 hours a day, 5 days a week on this set and mouse batteries last 2 weeks usually, and the keyboard batteries last at least a month. I'm using regular copper top brand name batteries. It's all standard office work so it's not like I'm gaming with the mouse or anything, but they do last at least 2 full weeks.

2. It does hibernate if you don't use it for a few min but I find that moving the mouse to the right and left ONCE, or pressing ONE key will wake it up and have it going in less than 2 seconds. That's responsive enough for me.

Things that have never happened (yet..?)
-no keyboard "stickiness" with repeating letters
-no loss of recognition of the devices, they have been very reliable for me

I don't have any other BT periphs so I can't attest to issues with that. I am running XP SP1 and once I did the BT hotfix upon install everything has been great.
I would recommend this to anyone that wants more security and range than RF but doesn't have any other BT devices.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: We should be allowed to sue MS for wasting our time and mone
Review: I've skimmed through other reviews here, checking to see if the problems i've been having with mine were common, and if there was a workaround that someone had noted.

Alas, this is not to be.

Summary:
1. The battery life sucks. Really. Sucks.
2. Connection problems ALL over the map. I'm in the middle of using the bloody mouse after putting in new batteries and it ceases to move. just dies, no reason, no form, and the workaround for this is to remove the device and readd it. For $150, I think not.
3. Authentication failures. I get them all the time. Often, the only way to solve my problems is to plug in a corded keyboard and mouse - and if i'm going to do that 100 times, I suppose I should dump the product.

If I could give this product a negative number for stars, I would. It's horrible, it's a beast on battery life, it's certainly not for new comers to computers and windows and bluetooth, it's bluetooth adapter certainly doesn't work with most devices (none thatI have) and to boot, it messes with my bluetooth adapter that I had to buy to solve that first problem! I like the idea of secure wireless connections, but surely Microsoft can do better than this.

Too bad I can't sue for damages and the waste of hours of my life.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WARNING: WILL TRAP YOU IN THE MICROSOFT EMPIRE
Review: Installing this product on your PC will most likely prevent you from ever using a Bluetooth product from a non-Microsoft manufacturer on your PC.

Installing the driver software for this product on Windows XP will prevent any other Bluetooth device driver software from ever being installed on that computer. Microsoft has used their integration with the operating system to make the Bluetooth driver installation PERMANENT, the only way to remove it is to reinstall the operating system, which will require the reinstallation of *ALL* software on the computer. This will prevent the use of other companies' drivers and hence, the other companies' products.

If you are comfortable using only Microsoft and Microsoft-compatible products for the rest of your computer's life, then this will not pose a problem for you. Otherwise, this imposes a strict limitation on which Bluetooth products you will be able to use in the future.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not an extremist
Review: It seems like so many of the reviews are either "this is the best product ever" or "this is crap". My actual exprience has been somewhere in between. The product feel is excellent, especially the mouse. They have a solid feel to them. The battery life is poor for the mouse. This is correct. I get around it by using NiMH rechargeables. I find that if I recharge them once a week I don't have any problems. The mouse doesn't have connection problems. I do find that sometimes(not always)when the keyboard goes into a powersave mode, it disrupts the bluetooth connection when you type something. Both keyboard and mouse do not work for a few seconds as it reconnects. Hopefully they will fix that, but it is probably a problem for some people. For me it isn't a huge problem, but an annoyance. In conclusion, I really like the mouse. I give it top ratings. The keyboard is nothing special.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't buy it for Bluetooth!!!
Review: It's very simple: if you want a great wireless desktop solution, but don't give a hoot about Bluetooth connectivity, this is the product for you. If you want to ever connect to anything else via Bluetooth, don't even think about it.

I have done hours of Googling looking for a solution to this problem, but have come up with the same result everywhere I go: the Microsoft BT dongle is virtually useless outside of communicating with the mouse and keyboard (and maybe a printer). It seems that many people have had to buy a BT dongle from a 3rd party and throw away the Microsoft dongle.

I feel extremely betrayed by Microsoft's claims of connectivity with this set-up. I just bought a Sony Ericsson T616 with BT, and can't use it with my computer. If you want to connect a phone, don't buy this product!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: annoying
Review: ive had mine for a long time and most of the time ive had it i hadent been able to get it to work, any other wireless keyboard and mouse set would probably be a better idea. on another machine the logitech wireless system worked as soon as it was pluged in, but this required many hours troubleshooting, uninstalling and reinstalling just trying to get it to finally see that yes there is infact a keyboard and mouse present within its range. so if your into annoying things, please by all means buy it. otherwise id at least recomment a wireless set where you can charge the mouse batterys so they dont run out too quickly. i suppose that is a plus, the batterys dont run out *too* fast with the microsoft one..


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