Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 - Slate
by Microsoft
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List Price: Our Price: $13.50 You Save: $16.45 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 - Slate
Customer Review: Another bad design from Microsoft
Summary: 3 Stars
I owned this mouse for two weeks and can't live with it any longer. I'm going to return it tomorrow.
Pros:
To be fair, it gets the basic features you want for a mobile mouse: small form factor, long lasting battery, snap-in receiver, auto shut-off.
Cons:
It just doesn't perform good enough to fulfil its basic responsibility as a pointing device.
It firstly comes to me the bad design in cursor tracking. I quickly got lost in pushing it around. I couldn't get a solid feel of moving cursor to the destination I commanded. It's rather quite spongy and floating in the air. My palm and wrist struggled to fine-tune my muscle to make it cooperate and got strained quickly. I believe I might be able to get use to this after two or three months of use. But I just can't bear it for all other problems listed below.
Then there comes the buttons. The buttons feel flimsy and weird, unlike another other mice I tried: logitech, microsoft intellimouse/wheelmouse/basic mouse. The worst thing is it's hard to keep it in place while double-clicking. It ends up turning my double-clicking into dragging frequently.
Optical tracking: it doesn't perform very good if not the worst (comparing to the notorious basic optical mouse from microsoft). It skips a little bit on my desktop (textured wood surface) but stalls a lot. This might be improved if I use a mouse pad. But it doesn't sound like a good idea to carry a mouse pad around with a laptop computer. I think I should buy a laser instead.
The last and minor complaint is about the build quality: the upper-rear piece (battery chamber cover) got a sharp edge and kept scratching my palm.
Customer Review: Good mouse, but poor battery life - needs a new battery every 10 days
Summary: 3 Stars
When I first got this mouse, I was very excited that I can say goodbye to wires and the dust collection.
Positives:
- Good mouse, responds well to movement, clicks and double clicks
- Ergo styling : Even though not as much comfortable as a bigger mouse, it is decent enough, I have been using it for 4 months now and I feel comfortable
- Compact size : fits in a laptop bag without causing a bulge
The mouse in two pieces, the mouse itself and a wireless transmitters that you plug into the computer. When not in use, the transmitter (which looks like a USB drive) latches into the mouse and switches off the mouse and thus saving power.
When you want to use it, detach the transmitter from the mouse and this will power on the mouse and starts communicating which the transmitter which is connected to the computer.
The way I (or any lazy computer professional) would like to work is to keep the transmitter plugged into the computer for the full time we work during the day (8-10 hours) and then at the end of the day before I pack my laptop, I unplug the transmitter from computer, latch to the mouse and packup.
But, the problem is that if the mouse is 'powered on' for 8-10 hours a day for 5 days a week, the battery (Tried duracell and energizer) lasts only a week to 10 days.
If you want to extend the battery life, power off the mouse by latching the transmitter back to the mouse whenever not in use like during lunch breaks, meetings etc.
But I do not want to do that, will wait till a smarter mouse comes up that can manage its power well. I am not using this mouse for now, switched back to my wired mouse.
Customer Review: Still the best
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this mouse about a year ago. At the time, it was the best for ergonomics, portability and performance. After giving mine away to someone yesterday, I have been looking for a new one. I thought something better must have come along in a year but don't look like that is the case.
The Logitech V500 that hides the receiver completely inside looks promising because its low storage profile but its ergonomics is very poor. And, its high tech scroll panel is completely hopeless. If I wanted to use my finger tip to scroll, I can just use the touch pad on my laptop.
I also looked at the new MS 6000 laser laptop mouse. Looks promising and has the same ergonomics as my old mouse but the rubber keys just doesn't work. It seems that when MS put the rubber grip on top of the buttons, it completely destroyed the feel of a mouse button as you know it and expect. It takes significant effort to push the buttons and there is something else intangible about it as well. I actually have to think about how to push the button every time instead of just doing it.
May be I should wait for the new Logitech V400 but I am worried that its 2.4G will interfere with my WiFi like my old 2.4G cordless phone. I end up having to buy a new 5.8G cordless phone so my WiFi doesn't drop every time the phone rings.
I never experienced the on/off problem someone else complained about when you store the receiver. The only problem I had after a year is that the swivel part of the receiver became a little loose. I never had to turn it for better reception anyway so as long as it doesn't fall off, I am ok. So, it looks like I have to stick with this old mouse, again
Customer Review: Great design and features, simple set-up
Summary: 5 Stars
A mouse is such a basic computing tool it is easy to assume all such devices are pretty much the same. In other words, how much functionality is there in the first place to improve on? In the case of the BX3-0000x, apparently a lot.
First and foremost, there's the wireless feature, which follows the standard rule of less (wires) is more (ease of use). Then there is the smaller size, which increases mobility and storage value. Smaller isn't always better, of course. I have a micro MS mouse that I have used for close to a year, but it borders on being too small for my tastes. However, the size of the BX3-0000x is perfect as far as I'm concerned.
In judging most computing devices, the bottom line for me is usually how easy it is to set up and start using. No worries here. The "getting started" brochure is actually a waste of time and material, because with my Dell notebook and XP operating system, I simply plugged it in and never gave it a second thought.
What really sets this product apart is its strikingly simple and intuitive design. It starts with the wireless aspect (I will never use a wired tracking device again if I have any choice in the matter), the USB receiver that snaps into the bottom of the mouse when not in use (no more frantic groping around the bottom of my laptop case), and the power-saving feature that automatically turns off the battery when the receiver is attached.
At less than $30 with rebate on Amazon, this adds up to a great value purchase, too. The only problem is that both my daughters and my wife each want one now.
Customer Review: Choppy scroll wheel and wireless issues!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this mouse a couple of weeks ago. The first thing that I noticed is that the scroll wheel has a very choppy feeling. I use a Logitech for my desktop and it has a very smooth operating wheel in comparison to this microsoft mouse in which the scroll feature clicks with each turn or operation of the scroll wheel. If you are use to scrolling down on web pages you will find that you will undershoot or overshoot when trying to scroll to a certain point on a page. The 2nd problem that I ran into was connectivity issues. When I plug another USB device in, it seem's that communication is speratic with the mouse and I have to unplug and replug the XMITR into the USB port (several times) to get it to operate smoothly. Recently I went out of town and after owning this mouse for only a few weeks I found that it was having connectivity problems (even within 1 foot of my laptop). I messed around with it for about half and hour trying to get it to work properly (pointer was jumping around the screen and acting speratically) I finally I threw the mouse across the room. It may seem a bit childish but after purchasing a name brand mouse and having it perform like a china made import in addition to having to go back to the integrated laptop pointer, to say the least I was a bit upset. Although I may consider giving it another try if I excahnge it, I may compare other brands and or models due to the bad scroll wheel design. If you use the scroll wheel a lot and your mouse has a pretty smooth feel to it then you will know what I mean the first time you try this model.