My Review of the Anycom Bluetooth Optical Mini-Mouse

[kjarrett]

Hey guys,

It's here, it's cool, but it's taking some getting used to. I'm naturally going for the trackpoint! It's taking some adjusting.

Before I go further, let me say what my objectives were for this mouse. If you have other needs, you may want to look elsewhere.

1) Size. I wanted something tiny and unobtrusive. I don't use my T42p as a desktop replacement, I have a kickin' Dell XPS with a Logitech MX700. About half the time I'm using the T42p on my lap, the other half on the dining room table. That is the only time I'll need the external mouse.

2) Cost. Since I'm only using the mouse rarely (25% of the time perhaps), I wanted something really inexpensive. I could have spent twice as much and gotten something bigger/better, but, I think I made the right choice.

3) Aesthetics. I wanted something that looked really cool. Some of the other designs I saw were sorta ordinary.

Anyway, my review. More like quick impressions, but anyway...

Found this mouse thanks to a poster here. It's made by Anycom:

http://www.anycom.com/anycom/products/p ... 41&lang=us

Got it for $33.94 shipped from eCost.com:

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=498677

This thing is TINY!!! I'm talking itty bitty! I honestly didn't know it was THIS small. If you have large hands, stay away! Women will probably love this mouse tho. It's really sleek. It lfeels well constructed, but a little on the light side, has none of the heft of my MX700, but I didn't expect it to. My index and middle fingers can cover the thing entirely. It's really small.

Setup was easy once I figured out how to enable Bluetooth. I didn't see the applet in Control Panel and thought, great, I don't have Bluetooth on this laptop! I was sure I did, and thanks to Access IBM, I had it enabled in no time. Seup was straightforward. No problems. Instantly detected and working, simulataneously with my trackpoint.

Performance is good. I went into control panel and maxed out the sensitivity and it's right where I think it should be. It's nice to have a mouse wheel again! Accuracy is pretty much right there but I haven't done anything tough with it yet - like image editing (may try that later).

Appearance - it's cool as hell! Up close it looks like some kind of minature Klingon Battle Cruiser or something. Very stylish. As I said before, feels pretty well built.

No communication problems or interference with my wireless ... as far as I can tell. I've not seen slower connection speeds or anything else out of the ordinary. It just freakin' works. I love it when technology does that.

Extras - the mouse has an on/off button (hope I remember to use it). It has a USB cable for charging the batteries, which I don't plan to use (I have an external charger). The NiCad AAAs it comes with look kinda cheesy but we'll see how they last. Finally, it comes with a cool black velvet pouch for travelling.

I really need to take some pics of this thing next to my T42p to give it perspective, but, here are some pics from the manufacturer's website:

http://www.kevin-jarrett.net/images/anycom-mouse1.jpg (1.8mb)
http://www.kevin-jarrett.net/images/anycom-mouse2.jpg (1.2mb)
http://www.kevin-jarrett.net/images/anycom-mouse3.jpg (71kb)

The pics were originally in German, this is a German-designed product. It's very well made, I think. A little plasticky, but still well made.

So, for $34, I'm happy. It works and looks great and is just what I was looking for. If you're looking for a powerful bluetooth mouse to use with your T-series as a desktop replacement, this isn't for you. It is however a very cool and very inexpensive way to get an external Bluetooth mouse on your T-series.

More pics to come tomorrow when it's sunny in my dining room and I can get a few decent shots.

-kj-

[Leon]

great review.... glad it worked out!