The Mighty Mouse Has Lost Its Tail

An anonymous reader writes "It's all over the place - Apple has just released a Bluetooth version of the Mighty Mouse for $69. It features a new laser based tracking system and gets it power from either one or two (you decide) replaceable AA batteries, but does not work with Windows yet (no words on Linux)."

Bad link

[TINGEA77]

bad link, use this instead... BTW how is this news!!??

http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/ [apple.com]

Re:Great Cycloptian Mouse Batman!

[GundamFan]

It's there... you have to lift up ou index finger and then click to "right click", it's a pain it use.

a real link

[KatTran]

People that link to stateful pages really annoy me.

http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/ [apple.com]

Re:Any other bluetooth mice?

[arkhan_jg]

You could try the bluetake BT500 [neoseeker.com] mouse; it's really really small, ideal for a lappy, made by a thermaltake spinoff company. Nice crisp movement with the 800 dpi laser. You should be able to get one without a bluetooth adapter, which will make it a bit cheaper. Also, it does work on linux - see note 4 [bueche.ch].

There's also the logitech MX900 if you fancy a more conventionally-sized mouse, and are a right-hander.

Re:Great Cycloptian Mouse Batman!

[tricorn]

Actually, it doesn't function like a control-click, it actually sends in "button 2" (and you can configure button1-button4, no action, or various things like Exposé, for any of the four "buttons": left, right, scrollball, and side button). Control-click is taken to mean the same thing as "button 2" in most places, but the difference can be clearly determined in the software.

I've seen a few people have problems with the Mighty Mouse - they rest both fingers on both sides of the mouse, sometimes lifting one or the other, so have problems with consistently left-clicking. I've had no problems at all with it, other than the scroll ball sometimes failing to respond in one direction (rollers get dirty, no way to take it out to clean it, but a cotton swab and a touch of isopropyl alcohol and swirling the ball around a little, seems to clear it right up).

Bluetooth HIDs with Linux -- jump in, water's fine

[ColonelPanic]

I use the mouse from Microsoft's "Optical Desktop for Bluetooth" with Linux, although I had to write a new driver in order to use it at first. But it works just fine today with the stock BlueZ HID protocol code in the 2.6 kernel series, along with the Apple Bluetooth keyboard, which I prefer to the Microsoft keyboard since it looks better when all the keys have been rearranged into a sane (Dvorak) layout. See this old page [klausler.com] where I dramaticize what it took to get these Bluetooth gadgets working.

Re:Too bad it doesn't work with the PC...

[dunkelfalke]

there are lots of actually.

trust mi5300m [trustwebshop.com]
trust mi5400x [trustwebshop.com]
anycom btm100 [anycom.com]
kensington pilotmouse mini bluetooth [kensington.com]
level one blm3000 [level1.com]
logitech v270 [logitech.com]
sony vgpbms30 [sony-europe.com]
targus amb02us [targus.com]
targus amb03us [targus.com]

shall i go on?

Re:So much for standards

[technos]

Really short cord

Mouse is really designed to be plugged in to the USB hub of the keyboard next to it. You know, the Apple Pro with the 6 foot cable?

the ball sometimes doesn't work (push really really hard and roll to fix it)

Better way to fix it; Alcohol on the roller ball, copious amounts. Roll the ball on a clean cloth. You'll be surprised how much crap it has gathered off your fingers.

Best way. Slice the retaining ring off the bottom shell of your mouse. Pop the darn thing apart. Two press fit ribbons and a small phillips, then you can clean the scrollball better. It just snaps apart, and the magnetic rollers only go in one way.

the side buttons only act as 1 button.

Its only a four button mouse. Right, left, both, side button(s). You might be better off buying a 5 button mouse, the buttons on the Apple mouse are nearly impossible to get an accurate single side click on. It's more like a four finger squeeze. (Ring and thumb, middle and fore aloft)

I use a Mighty Mouse. Bought it launch day. Went in to see what a PPC Mini was running after 'partner' discount, as I wanted to replace an antique RS PPC machine. Love the damn thing to death. Second best mouse I have owned, and the first best is heavily colored by the fact it was my *first* one 25 years ago.

Re:Any other bluetooth mice?

[Chris Pimlott]

Same here. I've been very happy with it. The V270 is specifically aimed at laptop users that already have Bluetooth, so it doesn't come with a dongle. Just the mouse itself and a cute little zippered neoprene bag to protect it when travelling. Probably non-coincidentally, it was also the cheapest wireless I could find at Microcenter.

It's small enough to be easy to travel with, but still a good size for a normal person's hand; it's not one of these tiny micro mice you often see aimed at travellers. It's a no-frills mouse, for sure - two buttons and a scroll wheel, that's it--but what else do you really need, anyway.

The battery life is quite good, I've gotten over 2 months on a pair of regular old AA alkaline batteries, using it as my primary mouse for regular 40 hour weeks. There's a manual on-off switch that I usually use, but it also has an idle power saving mode, so it doesn't seem to hurt it much if I forgot to shut it off before I leave for the night.

It's an optical mouse, so it works while on a variety of non-mousepad surfaces, which is very handy when travelling. I do use mousepad at my desk, though; mostly for the wrist-rest. I haven't noticed any latency issues, I played through most of Half-Life 2 on it and never noticed any lag from it.

No real problems using in it Linux; occasionally, when I first boot up, it won't detect, but turning it on and off fixes that. I'd buy another one in a second.

Re:Any other bluetooth mice?

[Reaperducer]

I'll second this. I picked one up in Japan two years ago after searching in vein in the United States for a two-button Bluetooth mouse with a scroll wheel. The thing is great. VERY small. Runs forever on two AAA batteries.

Interestingly, the blinking bluetooth light actually illuminates the scroll wheel. Sort of like functional eye candy.

RadTech BT500

[MBCook]

There is no doubt that what you want is a RadTech BT500 [radtech.us]. I bought one when I bought my PowerBook early last year. It's a tiny little mouse, and it's easy to carry around. That said, it is comfortable and works great. It looks nice too. Looking at the product page, they've changed it since I bought it. Mine is powered by two AAA batteries, and it lasts a long time. The new once comes with two NiMH AAAs and can be recharged with an included USB cable, which would be nice to have.

Re:Mighty Mouse!

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist]

you guys are all retarded.

I have been using the original mighty mouse since it came out. right-clicking is easy and comfortable. it also has a middle click (also easy and comfortable) and a 4th mouse button by squeezing the sides (easy for me, but a bit uncomfortable for some people who hold the mouse differently).

the scroll wheel works rotates in all directions - vertical, horizonal, and any angle in between all easy.

it's a fantastic mouse, much better than my MX900. get a clue before you troll again.