|
03 JANUARY 2005 |
|
A4Tech Battery Free Wireless Optical Mouse |
|
Many people
have come to enjoy the freedom
from wires by owning a wireless
mouse. Almost all wireless
mice these days rely on
batteries. Rechargeable or
not, many people dread the day
where their mouse will stop
functioning right in the middle
of a game or when when working
on an important task.
Today, we will be taking a look
at a wireless optical mouse that
immediately sets itself apart
from all other wireless mice
because it does not use any
batteries at all. It is
A4Tech's Battery Free Wireless
Optical Mouse.
Some of you may immediately be
wondering how this mouse can be
wireless without the use of any
batteries at all. Instead
of batteries, the mouse relies
on electromagnetic induction
technology. If you have
ever heard news of being able to
recharge an electronic device by
just placing it on a special
surface, this technology is
similar to that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Everything came in
an attractive blue box. The main
selling point of the product is
immediately indicated with the
statement, "No battery required", right
in front of the box. Inside the
box, there were three pieces: the
wireless mouse, the mouse pad, and the
installation brochure. This is
obviously a very simple package.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The mouse is quite
simple. It has a black and silver
design with the use of clear plastic on
the sides and near the scroll wheel.
The size of the mouse is quite small
making it very portable and ideal for
notebook users. The mouse has only
three buttons. It has the usual
left and right mouse buttons. The
third button is in use by pressing the
scroll wheel. The scroll wheel is
slightly wider than the typical scroll
wheel, but, nevertheless has a nice
scrolling feel. The left and right
mouse buttons don't take much effort to
press, but does make a slightly louder
clicking noise when a button is pressed.
Sometimes, it takes much more effort to
press the scroll wheel as a button.
In this case, the scroll wheel was easy
to press. The bottom of the mouse
has four small gliders and the optical
sensor right in the center of the mouse.
Other than that, there's nothing else to
see at the bottom of the mouse.
The pad is the
other piece that must be used with the
mouse in order to work. The pad's
main surface has a silverish color and
is very smooth. The top of the pad
has LED's which indicate if there is
power to the pad and if it is in use.
The "Tune" buttons allows you to change
the frequency if there is ever a case
where the RFID frequencies it uses are
interrupted in any way.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
With a
Windows XP computer, it was
extremely easy to setup the
mouse and pad. By just
plugging in the pad to my
computer, Windows XP detected
the device immediately and
installed it automatically.
After that, the mouse was
operational and I was able to
move the cursor on the screen
with the movement of the mouse.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
When picking up the mouse,
I felt that this mouse was one of the lightest
wireless mice that I have ever used. Even
Logitech's popular MX series mice as well as
Microsoft's Intellimouse series mice cannot
compete with the weight of this mouse. When
using the mice on the pad, I experienced very
smooth movement. This is mainly due to the
rather smooth surface of the pad. Since
the mouse must be used with the provided pad in
order to work, this will immediately determine
whether this is the right product for the buyer. The
use of the pad for one thing prevents switching to a
different mouse pad. Mouse pads come in
all shapes and sizes these days and those who
would like to be able to change their mouse pad
may be disappointed with this product.
The size of the pad is
reasonable, but could definitely be larger. I would
have to say that the pad visually seems to be
half the size of a standard 8x11" sheet of
paper. That makes it immediately smaller
than a typical mouse pad you can buy in the
stores.
I was surprised with the
performance of this mouse. I was expecting
the tracking abilities to be subpar with this
kind of technology, but I was proved wrong.
Even with quick movements, the mouse was able to
keep up. I still can't say that it's as
good as Logitech's MX510 or even the MX700, but
the performance is still much better than your
average cheap wireless mouse.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was sceptical about A4Tech's Battery Free
Wireless Optical Mouse, but I was very surprised with the
performance of this product. This product is lightweight
and performs rather well. I think this mouse would be
great for those who would really like a wireless mouse, but
absolutely dread having to change the batteries of a mouse.
My only concerns about this product is the rather small pad and
the lack of additional buttons. Nevertheless, this is
still an excellent product. A4Tech has shown us an
innovative new technology for wireless mice and I look forward
to them releasing additional products based on this technology.
At the price of about $40 on A4Tech's online store, it is
comparable to the price of Logitech's lower end wireless mice
except without the hassle of batteries.
|
|
Reviewed by
ronald@digitalreviews.net |
|
|
|
