[G4] Mighty Mouse... or not

Ernest Vincent Pons-Worley eponsworley at mac.com
Thu Aug 4 21:14:08 PDT 2005


Well I got the Mighty Mouse today.  I'm sorry to say that I think I  
like the Bluetooth The Mouse BT by MacMice better.  The construction  
and quality of the Apple wireless mouse and the Mighty Mouse are  
better.  You can see, feel and see the quality.  The Mouse BT is just  
a little less... something.  It's subtle, but you can see that it's  
just not an Apple product.  It works perfectly, but it doesn't have  
the nifty on/off switch that covers the optical tracking lens.  The  
on/off switch is stupid and clumsy and having to hold down the "comm"  
button is stupid.  The Apple mouse just works.  So does The Mouse BT  
once you've paired it.  But something in the construction is not  
quite up to Apple standards.

Having said that, the curve of The Mouse BT is just very slightly  
higher and it fits my hand better than the Mighty Mouse, which feels  
too flat.  I also like the cantilevered two button construction of  
The Mouse BT.  The weird "it's one button, but it's really two" touch  
sensitive construction of the Mighty Mouse only seems to work  
properly for me when I push on it with my index finger in an un- 
ergonomic sort of way.  It's frustrating to have the right click be  
interpreted sometimes, sometimes not.

The squeeze buttons are really cool.

The scroll wheel... well--it's really cool to be able to scroll  
sideways as well as up and down.  But I'm having trouble getting used  
to the Lilliputean scroll bead.  The actual scroll wheel of The Mouse  
BT feels better.

There are other mice out there that scroll sideways as well as up and  
down.  For example, the Micro$oft Wireless Mouse 2.0 has a scroll  
wheel that toggles sideways, accomplishing the same thing, but it  
feels better.  (Forgive the reference to Mordor).  And why Apple  
didn't make this in a Bluetooth version beats me.  Maybe one's  
coming.   The Mouse BT is a Bluetooth wireless mouse.

My recommendation is that you try it out at the Apple store before  
you buy it and decide if you think it'll work for you.  You just  
might like The Mouse BT better--but The Mouse BT costs twice what the  
Mighty Mouse costs--another deciding factor.


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