Mouse Reviews

The remote is beautiful, but I could not plug the receiver into my (less than 1 year old) laptop. I was able to plug it into my desktop computer, which is 2 years old. The GME321R has a PS-2 receiver, my laptop is not compatible with it. Apparently the GME322R does have the USB receiver, with a PS-2 adapter included. The laser is very strong. I am now eagerly awaiting the arrival of the GME322R model :). The description of the GME321R does not explicitly state that it is not USB-compatible, so be careful to chose the correct model for your system.

Pro 1: Since 1998,I've explored various options of using wireless mice (both IR & RF types) and a separate laser pointer, when I conduct lectures and corporate presentations - imagine right hand holding the wireless mouse and left hand on the laser pointer. This IOGear phaser is a definite handy 2-in-1 solution.

Pro 2: Outdoor operating distance = 17.2m/56.4ft. Indoor operating distance = 15.7m/51.5ft. I'm now able to walk around the lecture hall and still control the powerpoint slides! cool. See indoor/outdoor picture snapshots at tralvex.com/etc/iogear-phaser.jpg

Pro 3: IOGear Phaser doesn't requires any additional software driver, meaning that it would likely be still usable after a few more generation of MS OS (assuming that the PS/2 port is in use). I've to recently part with my favourite 4yr old wireless mouse/keypad "Sky Remote 102", as its drivers doesn't work on XP.

Pro 4: Last but not least, great ergnomics! Light weight, underneath trigger button, trackball & laser pointer.

Suggestion for IOGear: To consider a button for "Tab" key or a programmable button which would be irresistably useful, for us to toggle-out the slides to another app - video, mp3, browser, etc.

Cheers, Rex

PS: During my due diligence, I found a strikingly similar product called "Acrox Trigger" (at a lower price), from a Taiwanese company.

Wait a minute! A new device that simply plugs into the PS2 port, has no software, needs only a couple of lines of directions, works the first time around, and even comes with batteries? This doesn't sound like a computer product! Yet this very inexpensive device works perfectly to provide remote controlled Powerpoint slide shows with its built in mouse and laser pointer. The laser has a tiny shadow, but the "Phaser" otherwise works just as advertised, and it also fits the hand comfortably.

I purchased this mouse as my first optical mouse, and kept it for a few months. At the time I bought it it was inexpensive compared with other optical mice, and it had lots of functionality with its five buttons. However, its shape is very awkward and my hand and wrist would hurt after using it. I also found the drivers unusable and ended up using one of the MS ones, which worked great. I ended up buying a Logitech Mouseman Dual optical, which is definitely a better mouse and much better suited for me (read: game playing and graphics).
Bottom line: today there are much better mice out there at this same price point from both Logitech, Microsoft, and other companies as well.

I bought this mouse over a year ago. I planned on using it on my mac G3 running OS 8.6, but ended up bringing it in to work to use on my pc running NT 4.0. The mouse worked fine for the most part. Recently though, I have noticed wrist pain and that the mouse button won't always work. Keep in mind with the wrist pain that I use my mouse a TON at work. Also, I have noticed the scroll dosen't work in all programs. Same with the buttons.

The reason I didn't keep the mouse on my mac; the software to program the buttons dosen't support mac os.

I have used it for two months and I just love this mouse. You can get this for the half price of other brand name optical mouse, however, you could expect the same feel and function of the expensive optical mouse from this mouse. Only one drawback is that drivers are included in the floppy disk, not CD-ROM. Easy to set up and works great.

I initially chose this mouse at a local computer retailer because of its comfort and Mac-friendly compatibility. In my opinion, it is quite comfortable (a very natural feel), and worked decently well. However, there was a catch, as I was soon to find out. After about 3 months of rigorous usage, the mouse began to perform poorly; and it only got worse. I finally diagnosed the problem--dust had collected in the tiny roller pins, and attempted to clean it but with poor results. I would use the mouse at 7 in in the morning, and it would be fine. Then I would go back at around noon, and it was a radically different story--I would barely be able to obtain any steady range of motion, eventually having to spin the trackball as fast as i could, which resulted in sparatic dashes of the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. Absolutely nightmarish!!! I put off replacing it for quite some time, and in the meantime I simply used keystrokes and other desparate measures in a desperate attempt to retain some level of function on my computer. Yesterday, I purcahsed the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse (ASIN: B00005T406), and I am overwhelmed at the difference. I [happily] unplugged the distraught Kensington Orbit, and simply replaced it with the Logitech. It seemed as if nothing ever happened. Flawless change. Not even a whirring buzzing sound inside of the machine to alert me I had done something wrong. Because the Logitech is optical, I will no longer have to worry about dust buildup (a huge relief!!).
IN CONCLUSION: Skip the Orbit. Get the Logitech ...

I liked the idea of not rolling a mouse around my desk; particularly since i have a laptop and i don't like the track pad at all.
The Kensington Orbit was fantastic at first; up and running in seconds, easy to use and feels great in my hand.
However, after approx. 3 months use, I find that the left-right action gets stuck very easily and is very hard to start again. Getting the ball out to clean the rollers is easy, but actually cleaning those tiny little rollers is a nightmare, much harder than a normal mouse.
Plus, the rubber is so small it is deteriorating really quickly.
I discovered the roller itself gets stuck inside the casing and doesn't spring back as it should, so the roller is not touching the ball.
In conclusion: you get what you pay for: cheap and nasty!

i haven't had any of the problems of the other people that have written reviews. Sure it gets durty, but it really isn't that hard to clean. It is a great product and like i said before, i have NOT had any of the problems that the other people have complained of and i've had mine for 3 years. It really deserves a better score than a 2/5. and like i said in the title of this review, it is simpely the best trackball that i have ever used.

Used on a Mac OS X machine running 10.2.6. I found the other reviews really interesting because of their inconsistency. Many had trouble with the scroll pad, yet that part worked perfectly for me. The right clicking was also perfect. Where I had problems was in basic (left) clicking. I don't think it was an RF problem. I tried both channels, and as I said above, most of the functions worked fine.

Half the time it was as if the mouse (or perhaps the receiver cradle) would not detect a mouse up event. I'd click, and the system acted as if I was holding the mouse down. If I then quickly moved the pointer, usually the mouse up would get acknowledged.

The other half of the problem was mouse clicks not being registered at all if I clicked too fast. However, "too fast" for the Studio Mouse was no problem for any other mouse I?ve ever used. I had to force my self to hold the button in the down position a little longer than is natural for me. So what that gave me was a tiny timing window between "too fast" of a click and the system deciding I was holding the mouse button down. Argh! The last place you want to deal with thinking precisely about how fast you do something is with basic mouse input. The mouse ceases to be an extension of my mind and body.

There's probably something amiss in the mouse driver for the Mac OS. I suspect a conflict of some sort because it does seem to work fine for some, but I don't have a lot of extensions in my system. Unfortunately. I find I have little desire to spend the time and effort to track down a problem with something as basic as mouse clicks. Sorry Kensington, but it's back to the wired Intellimouse for me on the Mac.

All is not lost. The Studio Mouse drivers for Windows seem to not have these problems, so I'll be bringing it to work where I'm forced to use PCs, and I have a situation of a fairly long distance between my mouse area and the PC case. I bought it for the Mac, though, so that's why the 2 stars.

This mouse looks cool and it performs well in every area but one: scrolling. The wheel-less button is very difficult to control with any precision and it requires a suprising amount of pressure to activate. If you don't do a lot of scrolling then I'd recommend this mouse, but if this is a feature you use repeatedly then I'd give it a pass and wait for Kensington to come up with a better scrolling button.

Like many others, I waited for this mouse based on the marketing hype. It is quite nice to look at, but the real test is on actual use. The appearance, shape and feel is very nice, it is tapered and almost flat which is ergonomically great for small hands, however I find its squared-off base digs in after long use. I still prefer this over other brand name mice particularly those with "humped" backs which make my hand quite tired. This is my preferred mouse of the many I tried for fit and use.

I have no absolutely no problems with Mouseworks and its use in OS X (Jaguar) the current version is available on Kensington.com.

The "scrolling" takes some getting use to; it is not a wheel but a touch pad.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because for the amount of money, Kensington could at least have put a better cord on it. Its sticky casing catches on anything in its way, the edge of the keyboard tray for instance. I'm forever pulling the mouse back which is maddening especially when performing detailed mousing in Photoshop. The cheap cord makes for a great case for the wireless Studio Mouse. If only it was affordable.

I bought one a few years back and had to have it replaced after 6 months.

The replacement I received needed to be replaced 8 months later.

Today the replacement is needing a replacement.

The only fun thing is calling Tech Support and hearing someone named "Steven" speaking English with a Indian accent. They are however very professional and quick to fix the problem.

The problems were mainly bad battery time, loss of tracking ability, inability to work off a USB hub, and a handful of other hardware issues.

Knowing what I know I'd give it a pass!

This product looks good and works well, but what is hidden in the image is the block backend of the mouse. Because it of this the mouse is too small for large hands and is uncomfortable for small ones.

The scroll pad is ok, but if you like the feel of a wheel, this mouse isn't for your. One nice feature with the scroll pad is the ability to leave your finger in the up or down area, and just let your page scroll.

Over all, the price is to high for only a three button mouse.

I don't really understand all the bad reviews here on this mouse. It puzzles me because I have had 0 problems with mine. It's asthetically pleasing & functionally brilliant. I have both the wired and wireless versions of this mouse and love them both. The only reason I give this 4 stars is because it is not great as a portable due to the power adapter for the base. For desktop use, or for laptops in their main area of use (i.e. office or home, but not for travel) it is perfect.

I love the satisfying click it gives and the amazingly comprehensive programming (via mac system preferences pane). You can make this mouse do anything, design configurations for specific programs (I particularly find the button under the scroll pad to be useful for double click function and left+right buttons for "find"). You can set different speeds for slow or fast movement (!) and scrolling speed.

The scroll pad is NOT a touch pad, as mentioned by other reviewers, but it does not require you to press hard (come on folks, I am a scrawny 130lbs and it doesn't require "effort"). It scrolls as you drag your finger down and if you press either end it continuously scrolls. Very cool.

I also have had no problem (as others have mentioned) with installing software, getting it to work perfectly, optical tracking, clicking, etc. Again, I am completely puzzled because I love this mouse!

I'll have to return the mouse! I bought it because it has the "ergonomic" design. But I only used it for 2 hours before my wrist start hurting. I think the bottons are positioned too high. Also, the two side bottons are too far for my thumb to reach. I believe the mouse is designed for men with big hands. Not a good choice for women.

I bought this mouse because of its physical look (very attractive) and the advertised 3x longer battery life. In the end, I decided not to keep it. The shape and size of the mouse make it so uncomfortable to hold; my wrist and my hand hurt so much after a day of use. I thought that it needs a little time to get used to, but after a few days, I simply gave up. Therefore, before deciding on this mouse, make sure you try it first as it may not be for everyone.

UPDATE: I have tried some other mice like the Logitech Cordless Click! Plus and the MX700. I didn't like the way they fit in my hand either because of the rather weird shapes. In the end, I am settled with the Logitech 2x wireless mouse. It does not have two extra buttons like the others but is so comfortable to the hand. I just love the mouse. Sometimes, less means more (the mouse is only $29.95 MSRP)...

I was hesitant in buying another Wireless Mouse. Because my old Wireless Optical Blue Mouse one was constantly losing the conection to the reciver. But I spotted this one on sale and decided to give it a try. I must say it is much better than my old Blue one. It fits better in my hand and wheel movement is much smoother and quiet. Love the side to side motion but don't see to many time I need to. Can't give it 5 stars because I don't know this is the best. The optical is much more accurate than the old ball mouse. Never mind no skipping. Hope the battery life is as good as they claim.

This one is ok, but needs the adapter. I prefer the first one Belkin released. I have the cassette adaptor and cup holder in my Honda Civic. Works like a charm. !!!STAY AWAY from the FM transmitters.!!! I find them (I bought the one from Belkin and Griffen) both to be a waste of money...interference, static, etc...it defeats the whole purpose of digital music: clarity.

compare this first to a belkin auto charger and you'll notice the difference in the firewire cable. you'd need that flat thinggy to connect the charger to the new 3G ipods. look for other alternatives if belkins price too high.
.........

"Auto Charger for all iPods" is Griffin's strapline.

Well that is true as long as you buy an extra cable for the new version, or remember to take the cable that comes with the iPod.

Great work by Griffin... take an original product, change the strapline to include the new iPod and add a note on the back to say this device will only work if you go out and buy an additional item. Hey presto...Griffin have launched a 'new' product.

Just think of the other possibilities..."Sony memory stick, NOW compatible with all PDAs" (as long as you buy an adaptor).
Office 200x, compatible with all versions of Windows (as long as you buy an upgrade)...Damn it, I see where you got the inspiration from!!

Still it works, I suppose that's got to be worth a 2 points, (the extra point is for the marketing department. Good job chaps

This is a really nice keyboard and mouse combo.. when it works. Being a top of the line product and the high price, you would expect that Logitech would place a big emphasis on quality control. Unfortunately this doesn't appear to be the case as I've had to return my keyboard after only two weeks. During the first week, two of the keys stopped working, then they became stuck on permanently and finally stopped working again.

The keyboard is also very battery hungry. The media pad range was diminished by about half after only two weeks of using it so you better keep a healthy supply of AA batteries on hand. The mouse runs flat after 2-3 days if you don't remember to put it in the recharge docking station at night. I also had reoccurring problems with connectivity whereby the software would prompt for a blue-tooth connection code.

Although Logitech claims full pre-boot support, I couldn't get into the windows pre-boot menu, only the BIOS.

All of this may sound like doom and gloom, but in reality it still is an awesome keyboard, especially the media pad with the LCD display. You'd put up with most of the problems if the whole combo was a lot cheaper, but given the top of the line cost, you should get top of the line product, which unfortunately you don't.

I am actually using diNovo keyboard to type this review, and it is a bit of a struggle due to malfunctioning spacebar. :(

I did a bit of research on diNovo before buying it. Most online magazines (PCMag, CNet, etc.) highly recommend this product, noting its high price as the only drawback.

I got this keyboard/mouse combo a week ago, and I must say it looks and feels great. Separate keyboard and touchpad save you desk space. Mouse runs all day without a need for recharging.

I didn't experience any connection issues. It was only one time that I had to press the "connect" buttons on BlueTooth hub and mouse to have it re-detected because it stopped functioning all of the sudden.

The initial installation was smooth. I downloaded the latest drivers, got everything connected and everything went well from there... until yesterday.

All of the sudden the space bar (probably the most useable key on any keyboard) started losing response. I had to hit it harder to move the cursor and even then, at times, it would not respond. As I type this, I often have to hit the spacebar 4-5 times in order to make a single space between the words.

Another problem surfaced early this morning. The lower "fast scroll" mouse button would sometimes result in a "locked" fast scroll. This could be a software issue, I am not sure.

One thing is for certain, the assembly quality seems to be on the lower side. I reached this conclusion based not only on personal experience, but by reading other customer reviews and comments. Given the high price of this product, I am extremely disappointed, if not angry. This is probably the most expensive keyboard/mouse combo on the market, and one thing Logitech should have made sure is that it is of solid build quality. The product is produced by a Logitech plant in China, by the way.

As far as support goes, here is the story so far...

I made a big mistake by not saving the original packaging, so I am not sure if I'll be able to exchange it at local store.

I called up Logitech support (you can find their contact information at logitech.com), and had a live person on the line after a short wait. I told them about the problem, and the tech. support rep said that I have to exchange it at local store where I bought the product since it's been less than 90 days since the purchase.
I told him that I didn't keep the original box and that the retail store may have problem with that. He said that they will make an exception and handle the exchange themselves if the retailer won't accept the exchange.

I e-mailed the store where I got diNovo, and, at this point, I am waiting for their reply. I will post a follow-up review and tell how this thing plays out and if the replacement keyboard is any better than the original.

As a Mac user, this is the keyboard I expected to see come out of Cupertino. Since Apple has decided to not move to a 'more than one button' set-up (at this point it is just ego) I decided to snag one of these guys from Ebay on the cheap. Instantly, I loved it. Five minutes later I was ticked off to find that it does not work with OS X... well it does it you rig it up but th numerical keyboard does not work AT ALL. It is just a really expensive calculator at this point. What really gets me is how simple it would be for Logitech to write a simple driver so that Mac users, who are notoriou for over spending for great design, could use their product. Talk about a swing and a miss... shame on you Logitech. Same.

I'm not left handed but I alternate which hand I use regularly to keep from wearing one out. So a trackball that was shaped to fit either hand was required. This trackball serves that purpose, but as an earlier review stated, this is a mechanical trackball that relies on the ball turning two small rollers inside the device. The previous reviewer mentioned this is a problem when ones fingers are slippery, but I've found the more significant failure is the two rollers inside the device which contact the ball. The rollers (one for vertical and one for horizontal, which taken together allow the ball to track all angles) are very small. So small that every time you pick dust off them, you probably scrape away another few molecules of rubber, until eventually you have two tattered rollers inside the device. This wouldn't have been a problem if they'd been larger (or, they could have lasted much longer had they been larger). If you get this trackball, be prepared for frequent cleaning and eventual wear-out (mine has lasted a year...I'm going to try an optical trackball next, but am still finding it very difficult to find trackballs designed for ambidextrous use. Logitech sometimes has ambidextrous optical trackballs, but variety is slim. This Kensington TurboBall may be an acceptable choice for you. I particularly like the bulk of it, suitable for larger hands. The center scroll wheel works on some programs, but not all, depending on your system.

In summary, if you are a dry skinned, ambidextrous, exceptionally clean person with large hands, this is a suitable choice. If on the other hand if you are a slippery, dust-prone right-handed person, you have better options elsewhere.

I had a Kensington TurboRing and LOVED it. The TurboBall is their current warranty replacement as the TurboRing is no longer available.

Using a trackball with the fingers is, for me, much more comfortable than using one operated with the thumb. I get a pain similar to old Atari joystick thumb cramps when using thumb-movement trackballs. The finger movement on the TurboBall is quite smooth and very precise.

The scroll wheel on the TurboBall is in a USELESS location. There's no way to use the wheel without moving the entire hand off the unit or contorting one's thumb into an extremely uncomfortable angle. This makes the wheel all but UNUSABLE for any frequent use.

That and the roller mechanism used here is essentially the same thing as the TurboRing. Which means frequent cleaning and possible loss of the little red bearings. The bearing races do appear more sturdy than those used on the TurboRing (which is what broke on mine). But the rollers are still the same and probably just as likely to gum up. Mine tended to gum up once a week with daily (8+ hours) of use.

It's really a shame, the best feature of the TurboRing, and what sold me on it, was the ScrollRing. Kensington has seriously missed the mark with design of the TurboBall. It'd have been OK if the scroll wheel wasn't in such a horrible location.

Oh, but only if they'd put a ScrollRing around the ball of their Expert series trackball! I'd buy it in a heartbeat. It too suffers from a poorly placed scroll wheel.

Kensington warranty support is excellent but getting this as a replacement for my TurboRing just doesn't cut it.

Yeah, it needs to be cleaned every so often. Not a big deal, since it requires less cleaning than my optical Logitech Trackman (yes, I said less than an optical). I've had this one about a year, the 2 button (Orbit) version for about 5 years (and still use it with the original rollers), and the Logitech for about a year. The Logitech was a horrid mistake.

Very comfortable fit, but not quite as nice as the 2 button version, but still fine, and better than the more ergonomic looking Logitech. The scroll wheel is useless unless I am reading long documents, in which case, I let go of the whole thing except for a finger on the wheel. But it doesn't really matter, because the drivers allow you to set the buttons so you can hit a button (or 2 at the same time) and use the main wheel to scroll.

On to the drivers. They are what make this trackball awesome. You can set the buttons to function with a default set with a whole bunch of options (including bizzare keystrokes), and then set them for specific programs. I use many programs on a daily basis, and this allows me to keep basic functions like zoom in/out in the same place, no matter what program I am in or what the keystroke is. It also allows "chording" where you hit 2 buttons at once, and they act as an extra button, for those less than common functions.

If they made this with an optical ball, it would be perfect.

do not spend your money because you will lose money again and again to buy new high quality battery packs each 20 days!!!!!
i'm going to sell it asap!

DONT BUY IT!!!

I did not set out to become an authority on mice, but I have now used and reviewed several and find that I have very strong opinions about them. I type as little as possible (lack of skill), so the mouse is my number one contact point with the computer. I love cordless optical units and plan to never own another corded mouse, but I don't feel that one should have to sacrifice performance for convenience.

Based on much experience, I have become a fan of Logitech products. I bought a Cordless Click! optical mouse for myself and one as a gift for a friend with complete confidence that I would be pleased. Unfortunatly, this time my confidence was misplaced. I experienced a distinct lag in the movement of the cursor with every move of the mouse, and positioning it accuratly required concentration and effort. It behaved as if there is too little RAM, but that certainly is not the case as I have a new Dell computer with a very quick processor and lots of RAM. Additionaly, my friend has experienced the same problems on his new HP computer. I adjusted all of the settings without improvement, then uninstalled and reinstalled the software, again with no benefit in performance. I previously used a Microsoft Wireless Optical Steel Blue Mouse with my system which performed flawlessly. My wife now has the MS mouse and won't surrender it, so I returned the Logitech in exchange for a MS Intellimouse Explorer. The new MS unit is performing perfectly, so I can only assume that there are "issues" with the Logitech, most likely something in the software. I wish I had uninstalled the software and tested the Logitech with the generic Windows mouse driver, but I did not. I would have accepted the Logitech had it performed well with the generic driver since I don't use any of the advanced functions.

I really wanted to like the Logitech as I am very attracted to the feel of it. And I must admitt that I like to support companies that can meet and beat Microsoft in quality and performance. But this mouse just did not work for me. I will certainly try Logitech again as I have had many good experiences with their products in the past and I believe the Logitech MX700 is still the best mouse on the market (although it is sill also expensive). I hope this review helps!

I am using this mouse with a Hp zd7000 notebook and it is working very well. Installed without any problems and I was up and running in little time...actually the mouse was functional as soon as I plugged it into the port.

This mouse has a nice feel in your hand...which is why I bought it in the first place. Buttons work smoothly.

Overall a great computer mouse.