Kensington 72117 PocketMouse Pro Wireless Compact Travel USB Mouse (PC/Mac) by Kensington
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Digital camera reviews of Kensington 72117 PocketMouse Pro Wireless Compact Travel USB Mouse (PC/Mac)
Digital camera Review: Best Wireless mouse for Travelers
Summary: 5 Stars
Kensington got this one right... I've owned several "travel" mice, both wired and wireless, but this one takes the cake. The first small travel mouse I bought was a wireless one from Targus. It had several problems, namely pitiful range, terrible battery life, and it was cumbersome. 1) The range issue was because the receiver was parallel to the table, and my USB port was on the opposite side of the computer from where I use my mouse. Kensington addressed this by making their receiver swivel 270 degrees to a vertical position.
2) The Targus had the mouse and receiver. This required me to keep up with both pieces. The Kensington mouse has a cool recess in the body of the mouse that holds the receiver when not in use. It also serves a very critical function described below next.
3) The battery life of the Targus was greatly reduced because it would NEVER TURN OFF. If the mouse did not detect motion in a few minutes, it would stand-by. There was no hardware on/off to conserve the battery. The problem is the mouse, when in my computer bag, would move around and the mouse would power up. This is a poor design. The Kensington mouse includes a switch that is automatically triggered when the receiver is stored in the body of the mouse. Very cool.
I also own the retractable cord Kinsington Mouse. This is a good mouse, but the retractor and the cord are very fragile and the scroll wheel is too jumpy. The wireless mouse eliminates the retractor and cable, and the scroll wheel is a much better design.
KUDOS TO KENSINGTON!!!
Digital camera Review: Better than reviews, but not for presentations
Summary: 4 Stars
I read the reviews AFTER I ordered the mouse as part of a Dell laptop package. Hence my expecations were very low. However in general, it exceeded these expectations.
I'm going on 3 weeks using it on the desktop all day and the batteries have NOT died yet. Hence I can only assume that the mouse is smart enough not to transmit when it is not being moved. Maybe I got a better revision, but this mouse has far more battery life than the 3-5 days I've read in reviews.
The movement is fine. It is sensitive, but you can adjust this.
The only disappointment is that the range is indeed quite small as indicated. 3 feet is about right. Therefore this mouse CANNOT BE USED FOR PRESENTATIONS. It is too bad really. If the range was even 6 feet, it might have worked for my presentation purposes.
Digital camera Review: Decent
Summary: 3 Stars
This mouse has positive and negative qualities. Compared to other wireless mice, such as the Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse, it is decent, but not too far above average.
The Kensington mouse is easy enough to hook up to the computer, just plug the reciever into the USB port. The more difficult part is getting reception from the mouse to the reciever. To get reception, a button on the reciever is pushed and held in for few seconds. Sometimes this does not work and must be repeated until it does. The Logitech mouse did not have this problem and usually worked right away.
Mouse movement of the Kensington is somewhat difficult to master. It moves too quickly and jerkily. The Logitech mouse was easier to manuever. It also moved very smoothly.
The size of both the Kensington and Logitech mice are similar. Both were a little bulky and difficult to carry around in a laptop case.
Battery life is another key to a excellent wireless mouse. The Kensington mouse has exceptional battery life. It seems to last forever. The Logitech battery life, although still very good, doesn't compare to that of the Kensington.
Most wireless mice have their drawbacks. The Kensington is a decent mouse, and it serves it's purpose well enough.
Digital camera Review: Don't use on Dell Inspiron 8500
Summary: 1 Stars
The mouse works fine but I give it a 1 star because of the incompatability with the MouseWorks software with the Dell Inspirion 8500. The Dell Inspiron 8500 has a built in track pad and pointing stick which is configurable from the mouse control panel.After you install MouseWorks, all configuration options in the mouse contol panel gets replaced by the MouseWorks software. As a result, the track pad or pointing stick configuration options gets removed. The track pad and pointing stick still works but there is no way to configure it. Luckily, Windows XP has system restore so I manage to restore everything back the way it was.
Too bad Kensington did not create the Pocketmouse Pro Wireless without the requirement to install the MouseWorks software like there PocketMouse Pro with the retractable cord. Otherwise, it would be a great mouse.
Digital camera Review: Don't use on Dell Inspiron 8500
Summary: 1 Stars
The mouse works fine but I give it a 1 star because of the incompatability with the MouseWorks software with the Dell Inspirion 8500. The Dell Inspiron 8500 has a built in track pad and pointing stick which is configurable from the mouse control panel.After you install MouseWorks, all configuration options in the mouse contol panel gets replaced by the MouseWorks software. As a result, the track pad or pointing stick configuration options gets removed. The track pad and pointing stick still works but there is no way to configure it. Luckily, Windows XP has system restore so I manage to restore everything back the way it was.
Too bad Kensington did not create the Pocketmouse Pro Wireless without the requirement to install the MouseWorks software like there PocketMouse Pro with the retractable cord. Otherwise, it would be a great mouse.