Mouse Reviews

This looked like it would add a new experience to my time at the mouse, and it did: vertigo.

After spending nearly 3 hours making the old version 3.30 WingMan software (last updated version, Logitech tech rep admitted that 3.30 had some rather nasty bugs, most noticably locking my system tight when it came to a testing stage) work with this device, after countless hoops and USB changes, I managed to get it to work. I toyed with 'iFeel Desktop', which I found to be rather amusing, although its ability to react seemed to be entirely in regards to a slight kick when changing menu options or rolling over icons.

I managed to get it to run in a game of 'Black and White', which it seemed to do quite well to begin with, although due to its constrained size, zooming in and out and basic navigation proved to be impossible.

The mouse is physically attached to the pad, giving it a wide range of mobility roughly 2"x3". This means that you can not use this at all for any applications that require any form of precision. If you need something that buzzes under your hand, get an iFeel MouseMan.

Imagine feeling pictures and links on web pages, the softness corduroy, the rough texture of sand paper. With the Wingman FF mouse, you can do all that and more! This is the most amazing computer product I have ever purchased! This mouse allows users to feel things like weight, textures, and gravity by simulating their properites. When you click and drag a folder across your desktop, you can feel the mouse resist you, as if you're actually pulling on an object. It also works with hundreds of software titles, especially ones with force feedback already incorporated into the program. Most of my car racing games have FF, so you can feel bumps in the road, the engine rev, and the car crashing. It's so cool. Once you try this mouse, you will never go back to normal mice.

When you use this product,you will never want to go back to any other mouse made. The sensation you receive is beyond word description. I discovered the Wingman Force Feed Mouse was invented by a company named Immersion. What will they come up with next?

A good product for use as mouse pad. Good points includes a stable base and non static surface. And if the eyes get strained after viewing the screen then the big cat can be refreshing.

Woven fabric top really grips the mouse ball, giving you control that you don't get on pads with smooth surfaces. Nice to look at too!

I recieved this mouse pad as a gift and thought that it would be perfect for use at the office--that is, until I put my mouse down. My optical mouse will not work on the mousepad, due to the solid black color of the leather. If I were using a standard mouse with a ball, however, this would be the perfect gift.

OK, so it's a pretty slick leather mouse pad & clock combo. That's handy enough, but it also has a pop-out calculator, which means when I need it, it's right there, and then it's gone till I need it again! Neat work Datexx!!

Don Kobes

I owned this keyboard for 5 years. Then, the age of the internet came, and still the 101/102 key IBM-style keyboard was predominant. Only recently keyboard makers switched to something much, much more useful. Not only new keyboards feature various multimedia and internet buttons, but also sleep-mode one-touch buttons and hey, even buttons connecting you directly to the vendor's upgrade site. New keyboards have volume knobs, which is so useful nowadays, when so many people watch DVD movies on their PCs.

But my main objection against this keyboard is not that it's old and not useful. Yes it's both, and the time is up for it to rest in the attic forever. The grudge I hold against this peripheral is the strain it puts for my wrists. As a student, and later as a technical writer I used to type for hours a day. This keyboard offers no rest for the hands. Circulation is not stalled, but you have every impression that this is so. You feel that you have to stretch muscles of the hands to adjust to the small space and angle of this kyeboard. It's unhealthy. Your veins will detoriorate in time if you are prone to such things. For your health's sake, you should consider buying a modern, large keoboard with wristpad embedded.

I've spent the past 5 years using the newer keyboards, such as the Microsoft "natural" keyboard, and the Microsoft "Internet" keyboard, but never quite got used to them. Finally, I broke down and bought myself a plain old vanilla IBM model. It's nothing fancy, but it works really well, and doesn't take up much space on my desktop. The keys are slightly textured, so your fingers don't slide off of them, and they operate with just a light touch. I also appreciate the double-size backspace key, which I can hit without even thinking about it. I figure that sooner or later I'll have to upgrade my computer, but you can bet that I'll be hanging on to this keyboard. In fact, I liked this one so much that I bought another one just like it to keep as a spare.

If you like portability then this is the keyboard and mouse for you. For the price, this is an excellent package; as long as you never turn off your computer. The range of the receiver to the keyboard and mouse is very good, as a matter of fact you can eek-out more than the manufacturer recommends. The bad part is the ID Connection. Everytime I shut down the computer and turn it back on the mouse no longer communicates with the receiver. When this happens I must reestablish communication by pushing a button on the receiver and then a button on the mouse. Sometimes I lose communication between the keyboard and the receiver after attempting to restart the mouse. The mouse is full-size, which is nice and the scroll works very well. But the communication problem rises to the top of my complaint list.

I paid 20 dollars for a set of these at auction and I must say that I am thoroughly pleased. uses only one AA for the keyboard and 2 AAA for the mouse. my range is usually 10 feet, but works up to 25-30 on new batteries. batteries usually last 6-8 weeks. If I were to complain, the set does have a compatability issue with Linux. (keyboard doubles every keystroke) and yes, if you unplug the base, you must reprogram (a ten second fix) but if your powersupply/ motherboard works correctly, then it will continue to deliver power to the keyboard thereby keeping connection. solid keystrokes and smooth mouse movement make these a great buy for the money.

I have had this mouse for a few months now. I do indeed think that it is a good mouse. It has a pleasing visual appeal and performs great for the money. The scroll wheel is silky smooth and has a nice positive rotational click. It is not not sticky and rough like some lesser mice that I have used. The little replacement button for window selection which acts almost like hitting Alt+Tab at the same time is a nice feature. Though if you are like me and have your hands on the keyboard most of the time you may find little use for it, I find that using Alt+Tab is more intuitive and I dont have to find the mouse. With this botton feature you have to move the mouse or scroll to the window that you choose to view, nice if your left hand is not near the keyboard. All this neat stuff and yes there are still some things that are left to be desired. A drawback for those of us that travel or use multiple laptops is that it is quite large, which is also why it is so comfortable, give a little take a little. Also the software must be installed on each computer you will use with the mouse for the little window button feature to work properly. I am not sure why but the mouse cursor will suddenly jump to some unknown corner of the screen for a moment then reappear. This can be extremely frustrating at times, not sure if that is from the mouse pad or the eye having a lint speck on it, but it happens fairly often and on multiple mouse pads I have tried. Thus the lower score. Possibly a dual optical mouse would take care of the random necessity this thing has for jumping around (done that about 4+ times since I began writing). Cheers.

As an unspectacular, functional foray into the world of optical mousing, this is a well-priced mouse with a good shape and feel, as well as a nicely-calibrated scroll facility.
There's little point in installing the bundled software, as any version of Windows from 2000 onwards will pick it up and detect it as an optical scroll-wheel mouse without problems, and allow you to tweak all the necessary settings through the default 'mouse' dialog box in Control Panel.

The 'pointer jumping to random points on the screen' peculiarity is usually a feature of the mousing surface you use. Use too-shiny a mousemat and the optical detector picks up false reflections and can make it think the mouse has moved a significant distance. Keep the alcove clear of dust and use a fabric surface to 'mouse' on and it should be fine.

Overall a good little mouse and one that I enjoy using for high-speed games without complication.

I expected this mouse to be as/or more precise then the optical explorer mouse I had from Microsoft. Once the MS mouse stopped working correctly. I bought this mouse. I have to say it fits my hand perfectly, but has many bugs. It will for instance: not record slight movements in opposite directions correctly, will sometimes just stop working only to start working 5 seconds later.

It's so buggy and it's not even funny. Save yourself the money. I installed / reinstalled drives, checked-rechecked, read-reread manuals. It still works like crap. Please buy another mouse then this.

This is my third mouse in about 18 months. This one will stick around awhile, I think. My last 2 mouses werre Microsoft Wireless mouses - Wireless Optical Blue and Wireless Intellmouse Explorer. Both were certainly adaquete, but had issues: The Wireless Optical Mouse Blue was a small for my hand, and the mouse was jerky. The Wireless Intellimouse Explorer was a huge leap further. 2 Extra buttons, much larger, and much more ergonomic. The mouse was still a little jerky but significantly better.

Both Microsoft mouses had a common issue. I was frequently accidently clicking the right button. Some corded mouses gave me this issue too, but it was by far most pronounced on those wireless mouses. So that was a criteria for my next mouse - a better right button. I tried both an MX700 and this mouse (Cordless Click! Plus Optical) and the MX700 had the light touch right button. The CC+O, however, had a vert stiff right button. Not so stiff as to prevent intentional right clicks, but to prevent accidental ones. So if you're like me, and find yourself unintentionally right clicking a lot, consider this mouse.

Furthermore, the extra buttons are nice. The Back/Forward buttons, while not tremendously useful, are nice. The real surprise though, was the "Quick-Switch" button located south of the wheel. I assumed it would be useful in games (just having an extra button), but shockingly, it's extremely useful in Windows as well. Clicking it pops up a menu duplicating the taskbar listing the windows that are open. Only - the list is sorted such that it is _extremely_ easy to switch between two windows. The top entry will only change between the active window and the window you're alternating with. It's useful for multiple windows as well, but seems to have been designed for two amongst many.

Ergonomically, this mouse is nice (though a bit smaller than my old Intellimouse). There are curved ledges to rest your thumb and pinky on, and to hit the forward/back buttons, an upward twist of your thumb is all you need. I did find my pinky dragged alongside the mouse, but it was less than with any mouse except my Intellimouse.

The biggest downside to this mouse is the driver. Both MS mouses let me customize the buttons actions on a per-application basis. In iTunes, or Winamp, for instance, I could make forward/back correspond to next/prev song. Logitech forces this on a system-wide basis. The other thing is that in games, the extra buttons on the MS mouse, back/fwd just showed up as extra buttons 4 and 5. On this mouse, games don't even recognize they've been clicked. The workaround is to go into the mouse properties in the Control panel, and specify Back/Forward/Quick Switch to correspond to keystokes - but here, options on a per-application basis would be far better than having to switch the options going between apps and games.

Despite the negative, this is the best mouse I've ever owned. I would only suggest it if you have the right-click problem I do - otherwise, the MX700, though more costly, offer an extra 2 buttons and needs no batteries.

Easy to follow instructions on the CD sleeve. It's very comfortable for my average adult male hand. You do feel the lower left corner of the mouse where it flares out. That may bother some with smaller hands. It is symmetrical so lefties should like it. Good button feel and tracking. The default setting is as an ordinary scroll mouse, but if you double click the settings icon in your systray (lower right of your screen by the clock), you can turn on the side buttons (internet explorer back and forward - or other cool choices) and adjust the scroll sensitivity. Attractive chrome-look fininsh if you like that kind of thing.

It's too early to say if it will be trouble free. I generally try to avoid Memorex products based on past troubles, but so far this one is a winner. Good combination of features for a plain mouse price. So if you're looking for an optical mouse to replace your old mouse, give it a try. If you don't like it, I'm sure you know someone who'll take it off your hand.

Update: 1/26/04
Uh-oh. After just twenty days of heavy family use the faux chrome finish is rubbing off where the heel of my hand rests on the casing. Doesn't look very good. Why did they paint it just to have this happen? I guess product testing is a luxury at Memorex. Plain old black plastic would have been just fine. On the bright side it still works without a hitch - but I felt it was worth revising my review because of the cosmetic problem.

The Paint as another reviewer called it hasn't peeled and I've had no problems with it. Love this mouse. Great buy.

PRO:

1. Scrolling wheel on the left of the keyboard allows one to adjust the volume with ease

2. Convenient buttons for web browsing and navigating windows

CON:

1. Product uses materials known to cause cancer. According to the tag attached to the usb reciever, "Handling the cord on this product will expose you to lead, a chemical known to the state of CA to cause [cancer, and] birth defects to or reproductive harm."

2. Rapid mouse movement causes the pointer to stall even when you follow the directions to keep the mouse and reciever away from strong magnetic fields, such as the monitor.

3. Mouse is big and awkwardly shapped and uncomforatable. Not for gamers and people with small hands

4. Mouse wheel squeeks

5. The letters on the keyboard being to fade after 3 weeks of use.

With so many keyboard/mouse combo's on the market, why punish yourself with a halfbaked item such as this? Surly, there are other items that don't contain carcinogen and cuase your hand to ache from using the mouse. I advise you to skip the Memorex RF 7000 wireless -- EZ Touch, and purchase another keyboard/mouse worthy of your money.

I dont know what the guy below me is talking about but I never had a red tag when I got mine saying it has cancer causing material in it. Load of crud. As far as mine goes I love it and I have owned 2 before it. Had it about a month now and NONE of my keys have faded he must of had some really dirty hands. My mouse I love. I play games all the time and it works great. There are two top buttons near the wheel (like all mouse to ) and one on each side that you can configure to do other tasks. I use mine to go back and forth on web pages. My mouse wheel doesnt squeak in fact it doesnt make any noise at all. I think infact the guy below was trying to make a funny. Its a mouse and the wheel squeaks hahaha. I dont think any one will be dissapointed with this set up. uses regular size AA batteries so make sure to get a NIMH set and charger and you will never be without. OH and the program will pop up a window telling you when the batteries are going dead. I let it keep poping for a week and the mouse still worked, got tired of seeing the window :P

You must buy this product if you have Targus Wireless mouse. Without cradle batteries have to be changed about every month or two. When I bought this cradle I thought that I will charge my mouse using USB. This is not true. Cradle should be actually plugged both in the outlet and into USB. As a result, I have now much more wires around my computer that I would have if I have bought just usual mouse. If you have a mouse, buy a cradle. If you are looking for a mouse do not buy wireless.

This docking cradle is such a useful addition to the Targus laser mini-mouse that it surprises me that Targus doesn't sell both units in a combined package, especially as the mouse itself doesn't have an on-off switch and will not "go-to-sleep" unless it remains connected to your computer during and after shutting down operations, a glaring oversight on the part of the designers, when the unit is used with notebooks, especially in portable mode, which requires removing one or both batteries to turn the unit off for transport.
Not only does the dock provide a base for the mouse when not in use, as well as keeping the included Ni-Cad batteries charged, but it actually seems to act as an extention antenna for the receiver, extending the range of the mouse to it's advertized 36" range. Without the dock, I have never seemed to be able to achieve the claimed operational range.
This accessory is such a useful addition, I bought two for use with my mouse, one for home and another for work!