Customer Reviews

Adesso Easy Cat 2 Button Glidepoint Touchpad (Black)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I was looking for an alternative input device for my desktop setup since i was developing carpel tunnel with my mouse. For a while a trackball worked, but the pain merely switched to my elbow.
Since i was so used to the touchpad on my laptop, I started looking for one. The Adesso Easycat is pretty brilliant and works well and has solved my problems for now. I use it in conjunction with a regular mouse (a MS Intellimouse) and switch back and forth as needed. For most things I never have to reach for the Intellimouse at all. The Adesso is very programmable and can do all that the five-button Intellimouse does.

Some observations on the Adesso Easycat USB model:
-Its pretty thin and small and looks quite nice. The price isnt bad considering Adesso pretty much has a monopoly on USB touchpad devices.

-It does not ship with a driver, its supposed to be plug-n-play. HOWEVER, TO USE THE ADVANCED FUNCTIONS on it you DO need to download the driver from Adesso. Otherwise you miss out on a lot of functions and personalization features. The driver can be downloaded from the Adesso website (http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=272).

-Once you have the driver installed, you can customize it in every possible way - sensitivity, reprogram buttons, orientation, etc. It has a very wide variety of features including: horizontal/vertical scrolls, zoom, Browser forward/back buttons, left and right clicks as taps, drag, etc. On top of that, three 'buttons' are customizable (both buttons plus a 'click area'). (the reviewer below who complained that it was too sensitive for him probably did not know that you can install this driver and adjust it).

-On my setup, I had to reduce the sensitivity/speed of the left-click tap feature before it registered correctly.

-I placed mine right under my spacebar, with a piece of velcro. Its brilliant and works and feels more or less like my laptop's touchpad. For most things I never reach for the regular mouse anymore. its very intuitive once you've set it up the way you like.

In sum: It wont cure all your problems, but as an alternative and unique input device it will make your life a bit easier.

My quick review: I love my Cirque touchpad mouse!

My detailed review:

(1) First of all, I purchased the touchpad directly from the manufacturer Cirque,[...]

(2) There are 3 different versions of this mouse (the cirque website has them listed under Desktop Touchpads named Smart Cat Pro, Smart Cat, and Easy Cat) I purchased the Easy Cat b/c they said its the only one compatable with Macs. Not that the other ones wouldn't work, its just that the extra buttons/ features won't work with a Mac. (Too bad, they seemed pretty neat...) If you ARE a Mac user, the only advantage I'd say for going with the Smart Cat (versus the Easy Cat) would be larger touchpad size. The Easy Cat touchpad (usable space) is 2.5" by 1.75" so its plenty of space. A nicer toucpad would be nice, but if its worth the extra $20 is up to you.

(3) I got this touchpad because of problems I was having with my carpal tunnel. It got especially worse when I had days with heavy data analysis and lots of clicking to do. I figured the double-tapping motion would be better than repeated clicking. I haven't had it for long, but so far, I can definitely feel an improvement. It does take a few days to get used to the tapping instead of clicking but compared to the pain I was having before its well worth the "training." And if you like the regular clicking, the buttons are very large and soft to press.

(4) The features: basically I can do everything without ever having to click a button. The vertical scroll area is textured so all you have to do is place your finger over it and you can scroll up/down. If you click once in the upper-right hand corner, its the same as a double click. And you can easily double click and drag without having to press a button.

Overall- I think its the best mouse I could have gotten for my carpal tunnel (and I searched all over the place) especially for the price. If you have a PC, you might want to go to the Cirque website to determine if the more expensive versions are worth the money for you. If you have a Mac, the Easy Cat is the one to get (but if you want a larger touchpad, get the Smart Cat Pro even if you can't use the extra buttons).

Not everyone likes touchpads, so if you're one of those people, this probably won't change your mind (unless your experience has been limited to cheaper laptops with horrible implementations of touchpads). That said, if you enjoy using them or don't mind them, then this is solid option. I personally prefer touchpads over mice b/c they require a much smaller surface area and are easier to use in a variety of conditions (mice always need a flat surface). This model in particular allows you to simulate right clicks by tapping on the upper right-hand corner of the touchpad surface. You can also scroll both horizontally and vertically by using the lower horizontal side and the rightmost vertical side of the touchpad. This makes it possible to use the touchpad without ever having to rely upon the hardware buttons.

I own both the EasyCat and BrowserCat models, Browsercat 2BTN USB Silver Cirque Glidepoint Touchpad Win. In short, the touchpad surface action is identical on the two units. The EasyCat's advantage is it's smaller size, thus making it more portable. Aside from that, the BrowserCat wins in all categories, including the fact that the cord exits from the top instead of the side (making it easier to use either left or right-handed), the extra size makes it easier to balance on a variety of surfaces, the buttons are actually usable (if you rely on the h/w buttons which I don't), and the BrowserCat also has a small stand that allows you to prop it up at an angle. Ultimately, I use the BrowserCat at home and I keep the EasyCat packed in my bag for portability (though the BrowserCat is small enough to be used portable as well... just not nearly as small as the EasyCat).

That said, if you're one who enjoys using a Touchpad (I know many do not) and never use the hardware buttons (I do not) and want the smallest, most portable option. This is a winner. Otherwise, I'd strongly recommend you consider the BrowserCat model.

Finally, a tip for those who use these touchpads. Repeated use can result in some lack of responsiveness. I believe these units end up being affected by the natural oils that come off of your finger. This is easily rectified by taking a moist paper towel or napkin and simply cleaning the top of the surface. It's not something I have to do often (maybe once every month or so). I've owned this touchpad for many years and it still operates like new.

This touchpad is poorly constructed. If you're counting on using the physical buttons for clicking instead of tapping the touchpad to click, good luck. The buttons are very mushy and don't provide good feedback on whether you've clicked the button or not. Also, the software doesn't provide as many settings as the touchpads I've used that are built into laptop computers. For example, there's no way to adjust the tap sensitivity, or move the Right-click area from the upper right corner of the pad to, say, the lower right corner of the pad. Also, it's very difficult to get the adjustment right to be able to tap the title bar of a window and drag it to a different location on the screen. I'm fiddling with the "Tap Adjustment" and "Double-Tap Speed" settings to try and get this right, but it never seems to work right the first time.

I wish there were more available products like this to choose from. I might try another product called the "Ergonomic Touchpad." It's a little bit cheaper, but it uses the same software as this Adesso model, so it may not be much better. Hey Microsoft, Synaptics, Logitech, Apple! Somebody please build us a better external touchpad mouse.

I was skeptical of the usefulness of this item, but it has turned out to be quite the winner for me. I use it all the time. ALL the time. I have problems in both my shoulders, which makes it painful for me to use my mouse for extended periods of time (I do it anyway though). The EasyCat 2-BTN Touchpad Black GP160U (I'm putting the full product name in my review, since there are several versions, and the reviews I looked at before making my purchase gave different scores for different versions) takes a load off my mouse hand (and shoulder).

Anyway, I haven't downloaded or installed the software that allows you to customize some functions (I believe there's some software for that). I just use it instead of my mouse, and it's great for moving around the screen, opening/closing programs, clicking links on web pages, etc.

It's light and small. The touchpad itself is about the same size as the one on my Toshiba laptop, so I felt right at home with it.

It was easy to set up. I just plugged it into a USB port and was ready in a few seconds (I use it on my Windows Vista Home Premium machine). I place my Easycat to the left of my keyboard, giving me quick access to the mouse with my right hand. The only issue is I haven't mastered the art of clicking and dragging, like when you're drawing a rectangle in a digital photo to crop out a section. I'm sure it would be easy with a little practice, but I just grab my mouse for selecting/dragging actions.

If you're looking for an alternative to using your mouse for everything, I can confidently recommend this product. It does make a difference.

After reading the reviews on this product I was unsure what type of experience I would have using this product with Linux. I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 and the touch pad worked right out of the box including the right click and scroll areas. From my usage it has been a solid touchpad that does what I wanted it to do.

I purchased the Easy Cat a year ago. Just like the other reviewers have stated the click buttons are poor quality, just the cheapest part they can find in China. The two click buttons stopped working within a couple of months. I returned it to the company which took about 6 e-mails as no one would answer the phone. They first time they sent the wrong replacement so I had to return it again. Then I finally got the replacement. Guess what? the click button on the left stopped working just the same as the first one 5 months later.

You will notice that when the click switch starts to fail (and it will) that when you depress it you will start to get intermittent results causing you to have to click multiple times. Then it will just stop working. These touchpads have virtually no quality and they are not cheap for a mouse. So they overcharge for a product that will last you 6-months-1year then the front switches will break as designed. So realize they will break soon after the warranty expires and the company is very hard to deal with.

Initially it was a great concept but how do you do business with a company that knows it is shipping a fundamentally defective product? If you have any doubts about what this company is like to deal with, look up the company's phone number and try to get someone to answer the phone in the RMA department. They have got this down to a science. Try to find another manufacturer. Amazon should discountinue this product until the manufacturer fixes the defective switches.

I'm unaware of any other 3rd party products like the Adesso touchpad. If Apple would ever make a full-functioned trackpad, I'd gladly shell out the (big) bucks for it. However, the 2-button EasyCat seems to be the only game in town for a Mac user (the larger 4-button SmartCat is not Mac-compatible at all).

As it is, the EasyCat affords only bare-bone functionality for Mac users, as the provided software will only work on Windows machines. Here's a list of the drawbacks:
1. You can't change the functions of the buttons,
2. You cannot scroll horizontally,
3. You can't adjust the scrolling or tracking speed, and
4. The "tap-to-click" function cannot be turned off. I've managed to get used to "tap-to-click," however, and it turns out to be a better option than clicking the bottom-positioned buttons with the thumb. The reason for this:
5. The surface area of the EasyCat is so scant that only the smallest hand would be comfortable operating the thumb buttons.

Although the EasyCat will not replace my trusty Kensington trackball, I am keeping it as a secondary input device. The EasyCat trackpad demands the least amount of manual effort, and its small size and negligible weight make it easy to hold in the hand or lap, which is a relief from the stationary posture that the trackball requires.

1)This is the only type of pointing device that I can use because of my physical disability. Really great just tap and can left click, drag, and even lift finger to reposition for more drag with computer's locking feature on. You don't need to use the included left and right buttons.
2) The right click corner and scroll arrows are really nice features, even though with my physical disability I cannot them.
3)With this product being USB is easy to install. Don't even to have to use the included software CD. And you can plug-in or remove without restarting computer.
4) Word of advice. If you have a new laptop with a flat touch mouse built in the disabled the built in one or sometimes this one will freeze up temporarily from time to time competing with built in mouse.
5) they could have more selection in colors though. And I guess wireless is coming in this type of pointing device.

It does everything it should. It seems to have a "smart" feature that remembers where the cursor is when you lift your finger quickly, so a change in the position when you lift your finger doesn't produce an improper selection. I believe it would be better if the definition of quickly were relaxed a bit.

Overall, after a brief acclimation, it is my input device of choice.