Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Mouse 4 stars, presenter 1 star.
This is a good, very sensitive mouse, with an outstanding tracking. It is subject to some software hiccups as may be typical for a wireless mouse. The options are to pair it with the provided USB adapter or with the bluetooth radio of a computer.As long as the pairing is not changed for the mouse, it will start right away after the computer or mouse is powered on. The tracking is very good, better than for most mice, including on dark semi-reflective materials. The tilt-wheel is convenient and, within Windows XP, it operates more consistently within different programs than for mice from other manufacturers. The IntelliPoint software serves any MS mouse you may connect.It can reprogram mouse buttons *only* if Mouse 8000 is paired with the provided bluetooth adapter. In particular, the 'magnify' button will be interpreted as 'browser forward', if the computer's bluetooth receiver is used. The case coming with the mouse is useful.
The presenter design within this mouse is ridiculous, embarrassing for a mature company and a product in mass production. For one, the presenter works only with the latest version of Powerpoint. Commonly used software, for remapping of mouse buttons and keyboard keys, is incapable of remapping the presenter buttons to adapt them e.g. for the Acrobat. Cursor or scroll keys are not available in the presenter mode of the MS Presenter Mouse 8000.
The switching between the mouse and presenter modes is done with a protruding button that will be knocked over and over during presentations. The button acts as an electronic toggle, i.e. switches from one mode to another when you press it. The problems is that it may be hard to figure out in which mode you are in. There is a brief inscription appearing on the screen following the toggle, but what if your eyes are turned away from the screen? This strongly reminds the program installation-unistallation in the former Windows where you never knew where you were in - maybe the same genial management was involved in approving the design. In any case, this toggle guarantees wreaking havoc in presentations, as you start knocking mouse buttons while thinking that you are in the presentation mode. While there are plenty of mouse buttons that could be used for the presenter, the toggle deactivates those buttons and absurdly activates additional buttons at the bottom of the mouse. (You cannot avoid touching all of them anyway, so there is no potential gain of any type from making them separate.) The latter presenter buttons are inactive in the mouse mode. These buttons are cramped next to each other and, aside from some indentation for the laser pointer, are relatively featureless. Three of those presentation buttons are for multimedia. You are sure to touch them while trying to advance your presentation. The effect is of randomly activating a multimedia program, something you might least desire in the middle of your presentation.
Fortunately, the laser pointer works also in the mouse mode.With this, one way to get ahead with non-Powerpoint presentations, and have a scroll-wheel access, is to employ the mouse mode in the presentations, rather than the presenter mode. However, even though the mouse side-buttons can be reprogrammed for scroll manipulations as well, there is no way to prevent hitting the mouse click buttons, wreaking havoc again. The latter buttons cannot be deactivated within the IntelliPoint or other software.
In spite of prior try-outs, I struggled embarrassingly through several presentations trying to use this mouse as a presenter and will not repeat my mistake further. The laser pointer could be brighter but, if the rest were OK, would be passable.
Obviously, the potential advantage of a mouse-presenter combination is in the reduction in the number of accessories carried around and in the USB ports used. In my situation, with some other peripheral I needed to use, I had to carry additionally a USB hub, so was looking forward to a reduction in the accessory number, when using this mouse. Nonetheless, the mouse turned out to be such a disappointing compromise, that I am back to separate accessories.
Surprisingly another manufacturer, Kensington, went down the same absurd route of disabling one half of buttons and enabling another half on a mouse-presenter combination. However, at least their mode toggle button is mechanical and cannot be activated accidentally. Couple of other mice, currently outside of the US market, by Samsung/Pleomax and Siemens/Fujitsu, more sensibly reuse the mouse buttons for the presenter and have mechanical toggle switches. As flaws, Pleomax lacks cursor/scroll keys in the presenter mode and has its laser pointer deactivated in the mouse mode.
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Product Description:
Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse WinXP USB for US Only
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