My wonderful Contour
UniMouse simply wore out after two years of heavy use. Although
Contour Design makes an optical mouse, it's their small MiniPro. It sold me on optical (see Make mine optical). It's a nice mouse for
use with a laptop, but I wanted a full-sized mouse on my desk.
I've used the Kensington
Mouse (their two-button mouse), Mouse-in-a-Box (one-button), and
Mouse-in-a-Box PS2/USB. I've also seen
good online reviews of the Kensington optical line, so I figured I
really couldn't go wrong for US$25.
I ordered the Kensington
Mouse-in-a-Box Optical from Outpost.com on Tuesday; it was waiting
for me when I got home from work on Wednesday. I plugged it into
my Pertec hub, then went to configure the
MouseWorks drivers.
Oops, the old copy of MouseWorks installed on my SuperMac thought
this was a trackball. Off to Kensington's site in search of new
drivers. I downloaded MouseWorks
5.50, rebooted, and configured the drivers to my liking
(single-click for the left button, double-click for the right). After
some experimentation with the scrollwheel, which I've never taken a
liking to, I decided to disable that feature completely.
The Mouse-in-a-Box Optical is quite a bit lighter then the
Mouse-in-a-Box PS2/USB - almost too light. But as
I used the mouse, I discovered
that it doesn't need to be heavy. In fact, it moves very smoothly with
just the least bit of effort. I like that.
The shape is quite comfortable, as is the lightly textured finish.
The buttons have a light, comfortable action. It's a good match for the
gray of my older computer, keyboard, and monitor.
However, I do miss my UniMouse, especially the third button where
the Kensington has its scroll wheel. The scroll wheel on the Kensington
can be used as a button, but that requires a good deal more pressure
than the buttons. That means I'm ignoring the scroll wheel completely -
but my finger wants to push it for double-click, a trained action from
two years with the UniMouse.
There's another learned behavior I've acquired over the years,
something I was not conscious of until now. Because traditional mice
tend to stick, I've developed a tendency to jiggle the mouse to move
the cursor just a pixel or two. The older the mouse, the greater the
need to nudge and jiggle - but not so with the Kensington Optical or
the Contour MiniPro. I really like that; the optical mouse tracks
flawlessly.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this purchase. Not only is this an
excellent mouse, it's quite economical at US$25.
Update: Continued use has discovered a problem with the
Mouse-in-a-Box Optical - clicking once sometimes results in the
computer registering two or more clicks. Newer drivers seem to minimize
the problem, but it doesn't go away.
Manufacturers and distributors: Interested in having
your product reviewed? Please read our review policy.
