Kensington PocketMouse - 72214 (K72214)
- Input Interface Type: Mouse
- Connectivity: Wireless
- Platform: PC Mac
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not amazing, but workable mini travel mouse
Pros
Easy setup, on-off switch, small but useable size.
Cons
Chunky USB antenna, doesn't work with some machines & surfaces, nonintuitive interface.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
A fine buy for the cheap ebay price ($9), and a nice travel kit addition, but quirky, and probably not worth full retail price ($30-$40.) Recommended if cheap!
I might be as unhappy with it as other reviewers had I paid $40 for it at Best Buy, but instead I paid a grand total of $8.99 on ebay for this mouse, which someone had returned to Best Buy (the reseller I bought it from included the Best Buy return label.)
SIZE and SHAPE: these are the best part of this mouse. It's plenty small (about the length of my pinky finger, but I have big hands). It's easy to toss in a small bag or carry-on, and easy to take along when I'm going to be doing a lot of work with my laptop. It's not so small that it's difficult to use; I hold it and use it just like my regular full-size desktop mouse, I'm just further down on the body of the mouse with this mini mouse. The USB antenna piece isn't so large that I can't plug in another USB device, but it's close, and if the other USB plug were large, it would be a problem.
I'm right-handed, but it would probably work equally well for a left handed person, as it's fairly symmetrical in design. (To program the buttons, one would need to go to Kensington's website and download their MouseWorks software, which I haven't needed to do.)
BATTERIES: Battery life has been fine: multiple hours with one set of two rechargeable AAA batteries. I haven't run them down to nothing, so I can say precisely what the battery life is. I should note that I get better battery life out of these rechargeables than I ever have out of ANY disposable (alkaline) batteries. Loading the batteries takes a little getting used to, but is easy enough when you know how: the manual is pretty close to useless on this matter, since it's difficult to tell from the diagram how it works. (Hint: it's the piece that says Kensington that moves, and it moves towards the back of the mouse.) I would have liked it if they could make this mouse use a single AA or AAA battery, but this is a minor quibble.
TRACKING: Well, it tracks like a mini travel mouse. That is, not fantastic, not great, but serviceable, and preferable to my laptop's trackpad. Make no mistake, this is a mouse for when you need to travel light/compact, but still don't want to use the trackpad the whole trip. If you want a "desktop replacement" type mouse, this isn't the mouse for you. It's certainly not gamer-quality responsive, but I don't need this: I just need it to get from one place to the next on my screen, and it does this, if somewhat jerkily.
SURFACES: it works fine on basic surfaces: my wood desk (worn, not shiny); the clear blue plastic chair I sometimes use my laptop on next to my overcrowded desk; an airplane tray table; my basic mousepad (though not very well). It doesn't like to work on a clear, plain glass tabletop, which is irritating, but not a crisis. Some surfaces, especially very shiny/bright surfaces, confuse it, but this is also a problem in other optical mice I've used.
SETUP & USE: I had zero difficulty at all with this: my laptop didn't require any drivers (newer Dell laptop running Windows XP). I plugged in the USB antenna/key, put in working batteries, followed the minimal instructions for turning on the wireless connection, and it worked. Similarly, it worked instantly in my wife's laptop (a somewhat older Averatec laptop also running XP).
The syncing for setting up the connection isn't intuitive; you actually need to look at the instructions, or have used a similar wireless mouse before. On the USB wireless antenna/key, it's obvious, as there is only one button, which you press first, and the LED then blinks to show you it's awaiting a syncing signal from the mouse. On the mouse itself, the sync button is on the bottom of the mouse, and you need to press it with a pen or something similar, after pressing the USB key button. Not intuitive, but it works fine.
It does NOT seem to want to work on my desktop machine, but I was only testing it for fun (for the purposes of this review), and don't need it to work on the desktop. Nevertheless, it's a little irritating to have it not work on this machine.
FEATURES: The on/off switch is a nice feature to conserve battery life, but it's a somewhat strange sequence: press the left-click (main click for right-handed people), then press the bottom sync button. It seems like this could have been more straightforward. The scroll button is a very nice feature not seen in some mini mice, and one which I use a LOT, so this was an important feature for me. The button responsiveness is fine, about average compared to desktop mice. The small circular silver button behind the scroll wheel is a mystery to me, and the skimpy instructions are no help in identifying its purpose.
INSTRUCTIONS/DOCUMENTATION: This is pretty dismal. It gives basic enough information, in plain enough language, but provides little detail, and the illustrations are simple and somewhat unclear. I don't want to have to go to Kensington's website to download additional software to learn how to program the buttons (since I doubt I even want to bother programming the buttons at all.)
OVERALL: The key here, I guess, is that you shouldn't expect this mouse to be amazing: just small, and workable, when you don't want to drag along a full size mouse, and you don't want to rely solely on the trackpad. For nine bucks, it's a nice, average serviceable addition to my travel computing kit. For $40, like other users, I'd probably be disappointed, too.
SIZE and SHAPE: these are the best part of this mouse. It's plenty small (about the length of my pinky finger, but I have big hands). It's easy to toss in a small bag or carry-on, and easy to take along when I'm going to be doing a lot of work with my laptop. It's not so small that it's difficult to use; I hold it and use it just like my regular full-size desktop mouse, I'm just further down on the body of the mouse with this mini mouse. The USB antenna piece isn't so large that I can't plug in another USB device, but it's close, and if the other USB plug were large, it would be a problem.
I'm right-handed, but it would probably work equally well for a left handed person, as it's fairly symmetrical in design. (To program the buttons, one would need to go to Kensington's website and download their MouseWorks software, which I haven't needed to do.)
BATTERIES: Battery life has been fine: multiple hours with one set of two rechargeable AAA batteries. I haven't run them down to nothing, so I can say precisely what the battery life is. I should note that I get better battery life out of these rechargeables than I ever have out of ANY disposable (alkaline) batteries. Loading the batteries takes a little getting used to, but is easy enough when you know how: the manual is pretty close to useless on this matter, since it's difficult to tell from the diagram how it works. (Hint: it's the piece that says Kensington that moves, and it moves towards the back of the mouse.) I would have liked it if they could make this mouse use a single AA or AAA battery, but this is a minor quibble.
TRACKING: Well, it tracks like a mini travel mouse. That is, not fantastic, not great, but serviceable, and preferable to my laptop's trackpad. Make no mistake, this is a mouse for when you need to travel light/compact, but still don't want to use the trackpad the whole trip. If you want a "desktop replacement" type mouse, this isn't the mouse for you. It's certainly not gamer-quality responsive, but I don't need this: I just need it to get from one place to the next on my screen, and it does this, if somewhat jerkily.
SURFACES: it works fine on basic surfaces: my wood desk (worn, not shiny); the clear blue plastic chair I sometimes use my laptop on next to my overcrowded desk; an airplane tray table; my basic mousepad (though not very well). It doesn't like to work on a clear, plain glass tabletop, which is irritating, but not a crisis. Some surfaces, especially very shiny/bright surfaces, confuse it, but this is also a problem in other optical mice I've used.
SETUP & USE: I had zero difficulty at all with this: my laptop didn't require any drivers (newer Dell laptop running Windows XP). I plugged in the USB antenna/key, put in working batteries, followed the minimal instructions for turning on the wireless connection, and it worked. Similarly, it worked instantly in my wife's laptop (a somewhat older Averatec laptop also running XP).
The syncing for setting up the connection isn't intuitive; you actually need to look at the instructions, or have used a similar wireless mouse before. On the USB wireless antenna/key, it's obvious, as there is only one button, which you press first, and the LED then blinks to show you it's awaiting a syncing signal from the mouse. On the mouse itself, the sync button is on the bottom of the mouse, and you need to press it with a pen or something similar, after pressing the USB key button. Not intuitive, but it works fine.
It does NOT seem to want to work on my desktop machine, but I was only testing it for fun (for the purposes of this review), and don't need it to work on the desktop. Nevertheless, it's a little irritating to have it not work on this machine.
FEATURES: The on/off switch is a nice feature to conserve battery life, but it's a somewhat strange sequence: press the left-click (main click for right-handed people), then press the bottom sync button. It seems like this could have been more straightforward. The scroll button is a very nice feature not seen in some mini mice, and one which I use a LOT, so this was an important feature for me. The button responsiveness is fine, about average compared to desktop mice. The small circular silver button behind the scroll wheel is a mystery to me, and the skimpy instructions are no help in identifying its purpose.
INSTRUCTIONS/DOCUMENTATION: This is pretty dismal. It gives basic enough information, in plain enough language, but provides little detail, and the illustrations are simple and somewhat unclear. I don't want to have to go to Kensington's website to download additional software to learn how to program the buttons (since I doubt I even want to bother programming the buttons at all.)
OVERALL: The key here, I guess, is that you shouldn't expect this mouse to be amazing: just small, and workable, when you don't want to drag along a full size mouse, and you don't want to rely solely on the trackpad. For nine bucks, it's a nice, average serviceable addition to my travel computing kit. For $40, like other users, I'd probably be disappointed, too.
