Apple Bluetooth Wireless Mighty Mouse by Apple Computer
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Digital camera reviews of Apple Bluetooth Wireless Mighty Mouse
Digital camera Review: Big disappointment from Apple
Summary: 2 Stars
I went to the Mac Superstore here to test this baby out hoping to get one for my new MacBook. What a disappointment; it has no weight to it making it feel unstable, the scroll ball was a good idea with very poor execution, and the right mouse button has to be the worst example of such I have ever seen. The entire mouse is the button, but it senses right and left click by which side has a finger on it when it clicks. This is annoying because you have to remember to lift your left finger to right click otherwise it just registers as a left click. Don't buy, I'm generally an Apple fanboy but this was an embarrassment. Fire the guy that designed this one Steve.Digital camera Review: Bluetooth Mighty Mouse Maintenance, Battery Life, Working Environment and Design.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've owned 2 of these Wireless Mighty Mouse already for quite a while. I've bought the 1st one in Sep 2006 together with my MacBook and the 2nd in 2007. I learnt to take care of it somehow the hard way. This is because I bought the 2nd unit thinking I wouldn't be able fix the rolling ball. Eventually I could manage to make it work again (thanks to the Apple Forums). Since then I have an extra mouse which is not that bad. Now I don't have to carry the mouse with me when I go with the laptop to the Fac. This is what I learnt from this bad experience: to get a consistent cleaning you'd better soak a paper towel or similar in alcohol stretch it on a flat surface and then holding the mouse upside down firmly push against the towel so that you can sequentially spin the ball in different axes. Trying this with dry towel can transciently unstuck the sensors that detect the ball motion but it won't last for long (still a provisional or emergency solution if you can't find alcohol on hand at the moment the ball stops working) whereas with alcohol it will work smoothly for weeks or even months. Alcohol won't damage the mouse (at least it hasn't done it in any of my two mice for the last year and a half). Alcohol is better solvent for the fatty dirt that comes from your hands so you can remove the dirt easily quicker. Unlike water, alcohol will evaporate from the inner cavities in a few seconds without leaving residues as it is much more volatile in when exposed to air than water, therefore minimizing the risk of short circuits. Alcohol isn't highly corrosive with metal and plastic surfaces either. Besides you can also 'kill' all of those nasty swine flu virions if you efficiently rub your hands soaked in alcohol.
On regard of the battery life, this mouse can fit 2 large capacity AA batteries, what I really appreciate (I hope AAA type would left aside in any portable device since they run out of charge much sooner and AAA rechargeable batteries usually range from as expensive to far more expensive). Even so my impression is that this mouse runs out of charge in just a few days, I daresay it uses up the batteries in no more than 50 hours of activity. This is a good reason to use rechargeable batteries as I've always done. I moved to rather expensive 4000mAh rechargeable batteries but I didn't notice a big improvement. Therefore my advise is to stick with cheap low-end ones and buy a few more spare batteries for replacement. It could also be that my battery charger doesn't fully recharge the batteries, I should check that but it would mean purchasing another charger. Even so, unlike the 2500mAh, I can use the 4000mAh with my cheap Coolpix digital camera for long, so my guess is that the charger is filling the 4000mAh batteries. Even with the 4000mAh the Mighty Mouse runs out of charge rather soon.
I'd like to comment two additional issues: unlike many other optical mice in the market the laser of this mouse is too sensitive to the surface becoming very, very imprecise. You will probably require a good hard mousepad. A cheap one doesn't help much. Paper sheets don't work either. If you finally find an adequate surface the pointer will move with precision and smoothly along the screen. This handicap can make the Mighty Mouse not a very good option to travel with unless you are wiling to carry your mousepad with you. By the way, I've found that on plastic placemats sold as Disneyland souvenirs the mouse performs also quite well, while being much larger than the regular mouse pads.
The 2nd issue isn't directly related with the mouse but with the Mac OS X. Tracking at maximum speed is still slow in Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. It needs a lot of movement of the hand what means you can easily surpass the limits of a small-sized mousepad, what as I said above in my opinion is almost a need for this model. In contrast, I don't have this problem working with Windows XP. The mouse tracks quite fast and is still precise. Most times I have my laptop attached to a 1920x1200p display what is probably worsening the problem. Even so, working with Win XP with the same computer and display gives much better results. I think Apple should widen the tracking speed range in the future, although at this point I'm pessimistic since in the last three years has done nothing to improve that feature.
Finally I'll revise two common problems attributed to this mouse: the 1st is that the right button is unreliable and often pressing it is interpreted as having pressed the left one. It is true that is not 100% effective, but in my personal experience it can take weeks or months to get a wrong shot. So for me this is not an issue. I suppose it will strongly depends on how you are holding the mouse. The 2nd is about the side button(s). I've read that some users complain to be to stiff while others claim they can be accidentally pressed. I'd agree with the former. The side button(s) of my two Bluetooth Mighty Mice are too stiff to press and get response. I guess Apple tried to fix this issue in later releases going to the opposite extreme. Probably they aren't placed in the best place either.
What could be improved:
the omnidirectional wheel is the best extra, although the mouse would benefit if Apple replaced a mechanical wheel for a light device as it occurred with the bottom ball. In case it was technically unfeasible it could be nice a touch sensitive surface similar to the former iPod wheels, which works nice. It wouldn't be necessarily a hemisphere at all. A mid-sized circle centered in the same place in which now is placed the wheel would do the job and would prevent any dirt to get in. The mouse bottom edge which directly touches the surface becomes also dirty quickly. Fortunately this doesn't disrupts the mouse functions. Even so it could be redesigned to minimize this problem. Some users has suggested to place the battery lid at the rear end instead of the bottom. They argue it can easily get open if the mouse falls off the mousepad. My 2 mice never got accidentally open. However, in a few occasions I had problems closing the lid again after a battery replacement. If the lid accidentally gets stuck in the middle of its way you'll really get hard to remove again while risking to get the lid broken trying to get it free from its locker. It'd be great a safer locker system.
The plastic outer cover seems flimsy, It's seems it could break like an egg shell it it fell down to the ground. A tougher plastic would be welcome. White is OK but I've seen other Apple mice with better looks. A transparent previous model was really very original although less ergonomic than this white one since the rear half was as thick as the front one. It'd be really nice Apple 'copying' the OWC's transparent HDD enclosure looks (borrowed from Apple at its time), so you can see all the electronics of the mouse innards. However, I think that Apple will eventually redesign the mouse in silver to clutch with the aluminum unibody laptops, keyboards and so on. IK find laptops aluminum cases an improvement while less prone to scratches than the plastic stuff. Nevertheless, aluminum in a mouse would increase the price and can be hardly justified.
I think this mouse shouldn't deserve more than 3 stars. I give an additional one since it is the only mouse I know so far with an omnidirectional wheel (aka the rolling wheel). Unfortunately, this feature doesn't work with Windows. I'd like that Apple should have include at least within the Boot Camp drivers the side motion for the ball since with many Windows mice you can get side motion once their drivers are set up.
Digital camera Review: Brilliant... until it breaks
Summary: 4 Stars
The Apple Mighty mouse (in both USB and wireless formats) is a worthy contender for the best mouse ever made. In particular, its tiny hyper-sensitive vertical & horizontal scroll button genuinely speeds up on-screen "productivity" to a level that, once you've got used to it, nothing else will do. Brilliant, that is until the scroll button stops working which in my case is about every 9 to 12 months. Bad news then... well yes, no piece of kit should do this, but right or wrong that's the way it is and when it happens I happily shell-out for a new one because it's that good to use. Look on it as the world's best and most expensive disposable mouse and you may not be too disappointed...Digital camera Review: Button Errors
Summary: 2 Stars
I owned this mouse for a few days. I purchased this mouse for the number of buttons, the scrollball, and the beautiful design. Occasionally triggering the squeeze function accidentally I could live with, but it would regularly misread a right click as a left click. Not once or twice, here and there, but about half the time, a right click would register as a left click.
I really appreciate the design aesthetic, I really do. I like having the single plastic shell, but it hampers the functionality to such an extent that I returned it. For the premium price, I'd expect to get a device that does everything it advertises and does it well. Maybe in the next generation.
Digital camera Review: Buy a mouse that works!
Summary: 1 Stars
I am a mac fan, perhaps pointlessly so since i've encountered so many problems with apple hardware. i had the wireless mouse for no more than two months when the scrolling became completely inoperative. it still seems to sync with my computer (i.e. the device is still recognized), but i can't move my cursor at all. utterly useless piece of junk. as other users have commented, design trumped functionality here. and don't expect any assistance or sympathy from apple support.