An optical mouse that works well and won't break the bank
Written: Dec 19 '04 (Updated Dec 19 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inexpensive, optical, lightweight, easy to grip and handle
Cons: Buggy drivers
The Bottom Line: Great entry level optical mouse. I recommend a more eye-catching Netscroll Traveler, which comes in a variety of colors, with buttons integrated into the cover, making it look stylish.
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| mrfriendly's Full Review: Genius NetScroll Plus (GM9169040) Mouse |
[ The purchase ]
I opted for the Genius Netscroll+ Eye since I don't have a lot of money to spend. At about $11.50, it's less expensive than some mouse pads I've seen. I purchased it to replace my old Logitech PilotMan. After about 5 and a half years, it had become nearly impossible to click it. My fingertips were aching daily from the pressure required.
[ First impression ]
The first thing I noticed was the lack of a driver diskette. Could the store have been to blame? I can't tell. Either way, it was not a problem, since I had downloaded the drivers the night before.
As soon as you turn on your PC with the new mouse attached, it lights up like a Christmas light. It has a translucent bottom cover that's very neat to look at. The buttons are arranged in a smile design, which you may not notice unless you look at your mouse instead of the screen.
[ The good ]
The mouse handles very well, it easily glides across the mouse pad. The buttons are very easy to click--thank goodness!
The Netscroll+ Eye is easier to hold than the Logitech PilotMan, since it has less of a 'hump.' It's also soft to the touch as opposed to having a glossy plastic feel to it. The fact that it's lighter also makes it easier to use, but I'm sure all optical mice are lighter.
[ The bad ]
I found that certain applications were not obeying the mouse wheel setting in Control Panel. Whether I set it to 3 lines, 6 lines, or one page, they would still scroll only one line at a time. It made no difference whether I enabled Office97 mode or not.
Since these applications worked fine before, I suspected the Genius drivers were to blame. And I was right. I solved the problem in an unorthodox fashion: by installing the Logitech MouseWare drivers instead. Now the mouse wheel works fine and it scrolls smoother than before as well.
A minor problem I ran into was my old mouse pad. It was cut and bent out of shape, but I couldn't let go of it because I liked it so much. Well, I had to. An optical mouse needs a perfectly flat surface, or the cursor will skip on the screen.
[ Tech support ]
After 7 days, I have yet to hear from Genius tech support, so it seems I will have to use the Logitech drivers as a permanent solution.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 11.50
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Epinions.com ID:
mrfriendly
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Location: Outside US
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
A pseudogeek who occasionally shares his opinion on the hardware he buys.
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