MacMice The Mouse BT II – Nice or cheesy ?

Written by: Dave Cryer

Categories: News, Reviews

The Mouse BT II (USD $69.00) starstarstarstar
Website: macmice.com

tmbtii_main_320.jpgI am forever searching for that ultimate mouse, having tried offerings from Logitech, Microsoft and Apple I am always left with mixed feelings. Apple’s Mighty Mouse in either the corded or Bluetooth version looked promising, but I just did not get on with the whole two button sensor arrangement. I found myself having to lift my left finger slightly to get the right click to work. This was a shame as the shape and feel was spot on. So back I went to my Logitech cordless which is great, just a tad big.

The guys at MacMice just recently released a new offering call ‘The Mouse BT II’ and one just landed on my desk to review. To say I am excited is an understatement because the size and shape is almost identical to the Mighty Mouse but with some awesome differences.

First up, with the batteries installed, it is a nice weight, just right for pro use. The batteries are supplied and they are rechargeable, so resting the mouse on the docking station keeps things ready to go. The base of the mouse sports an on/off switch, so when not in use you can conserve some battery power. The second nice addition you will find is two proper buttons, yes no sensors to deal with hear, just nice positive feel buttons, plus a nice smooth scroll wheel, with no click ratchet like most other mice employ. There are no drivers here either, just pair your mouse via Bluetooth (works with XP too), plug in the dock to a spare usb port and you are up and running.

In use ‘The Mouse BT II’ offers really smooth tracking and nice precise control. I think this is helped a great deal by the weight of the mouse which, as I mentioned earlier, is just right. The scroll wheel is nice and smooth too, which makes surfing and using this mouse for more serious Photoshop work a joy.

The little charging dock seems strange at first, because there is nothing to actually click the mouse into, but it works great. Just rest the mouse on it and it locates the charging contacts, a nice blue light flashes to indicate it is charging (this stops flashing when charged).

So for just USD$69.99 you get everything you need, a well built, comfortable, wireless mouse, with the added bonuses of two proper buttons, a nice scroll wheel and a mini (very portable) dock to keep the mouse charged and ready for use. I for one will be shelving my current mouse and making ‘The Mouse BT II’ from www.macmice.com my first choice out of all the wireless mice available today. The only thing that knocks a star off my top rating is that I think the scroll wheel is a bit too small.

Link to product.
Click here to download the review in PDF format.
Supplied by: MacMice
Price: USD$69.99
Contact: 408-979-9979

There are 8 comments on MacMice The Mouse BT II – Nice or cheesy ?:

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  1. rick | Sep 18 2006 - 12:34

    Hey! Nice review, thanks! However, I am looking for a nice trackball mice, so if you happen to come across one, please include your review here. regards…

  2. Dale | Sep 18 2006 - 12:15

    Hey Dave- great review. Just wanted to poke at ya and say that while it took a little to adjust to the right click feature of the Mighty Mouse, I’m a devout MM user now, and have sucessfully retrained my muscle memory.

  3. Dave | Sep 18 2006 - 01:01

    Thanks for the comment Dale.

    Rick, re. your trackball need, MacMice also make a trackball, I have not reviewed it, but it looks kinda neat. Take a look over at the MacMice website.

  4. Robert | Sep 18 2006 - 02:20

    Thanks for the useful information. I’ll be sure to pick one up!

  5. Daniel Elessedil Kjeserud | Sep 18 2006 - 04:10

    Do you have to plug it into a USB port? Is it just for the power? If so, will a usb-hub thats not connected to my laptop do? I’m a big fan of not having to plug things into my laptop when I sit down at my desk. I just wanna put my hand on the mouse and everything works.

  6. Dave | Sep 18 2006 - 11:00

    To use the mouse, nothing needs to be physically plugged in. However, to recharge the mouse the little docking station needs to be in a USB port. A powered hub should also be OK for this.

  7. me | Sep 19 2006 - 12:51

    Ok review, but check your spelling. Also item does not ship to outside USA, very disappointing, maybe you could state that before we waste our time.

  8. Jeff | Sep 19 2006 - 09:06

    Well reviewed, thanks. As a convert from the PC, I have found the continued omission of twin buttons to be an unusual bit of apparent stubbornness in an otherwise brilliant evolution, so I’m glad to see them in this model. My objection to the one BT mouse I tried was the latency from “sleep” if I hadn’t used it for a couple of minutes; a power-saving function, but quite disrupting. The best overall solution I’ve found so far has been the Logitech wireless rechargeable laser mouse (non-Bluetooth), at about $79 if I remember correctly. Smooth, accurate, forgiving of featureless surfaces, no latency, and a recharging dock.