Cables Unlimited USB-2545 Eco-Friendly Battery-Free USB Wireless Optical Mouse

by Cables Unlimited

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 13 x 2.5 inches ; 15.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001EBJ9XS
• Item model number: USB-2545
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

This Innovative Battery free, Wireless Optical USB Mouse is the perfect solution for eliminating cable clutter. With the help of RFID technology this mouse is constantly supplied with energy via the specially designed mouse pad. This avoids unnecessary pollution caused by disposing used batteries. Long recharging times and annoying cables are a thing of the past.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars UPDATED: Great mouse, but has serious software and support problems, June 1, 2009

By 

J. Martin (Upstate New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cables Unlimited USB-2545 Eco-Friendly Battery-Free USB Wireless Optical Mouse (Personal Computers)

>> See bottom for update <<

I bought this mouse for using with my laptop in bed, and the 9" hard plastic pad works out very well on top of the bedding. The mouse is great, and I actually like that it's active only when on the pad (it dies when you move it more than about an inch away). If I want to disable the mouse completely, while typing, for example, all I have to do is movie it off the pad, then put it back on the pad when I'm ready to use it again. But as much as I like the mouse, I have some concerns that cause me to deduct a couple of stars.

First of all, there doesn't seem to be a software driver for this mouse for Windows Vista. The specs says this mouse works with Vista, and it does, but only partly, using the native Windows driver or the Synaptics touchpad driver that came with my laptop. The problem with those drivers is that they don't allow reprogramming all five programmable buttons on this mouse, so I'm stuck with functions I don't want on two of the buttons, and one button that evidently isn't programmed to do anything at all.

Both the mini-CD that came with the mouse and the manufacturer's website (more about that later) install a driver that doesn't recognize this particular model, with the horizontal scroll wheel. It thinks it's a different model with a completely different set of buttons and no horizontal wheel. With that driver I can manage through trial and error to program the buttons the way I want, but the horizontal wheel doesn't work at all. So I've gone back to the Synaptics driver, which does (surprisingly) let the horizontal wheel work, although it doesn't allow its function to be reprogrammed as the mouse documentation claims.

Horizontal scrolling with the wheel is more important to me than reprogramming the buttons, which is why I'm using the Synaptics driver. But there's no excuse for the manufacturer's own driver not working correctly with an OS as old and well-established as Vista was even before this mouse hit the market. The instruction booklet shows screenshots of a driver for this mouse, so it must exist somewhere, but it may be on an older Windows version.

My second major concern is the lack of support from the manufacturer. The manufacturer, by the way, is NOT Cables Unlimited, and neither that name nor the USB2545 part number is anywhere on the mouse or its packaging. I have no idea where Amazon got that.

The manufacturer is called A4Tech, which you can see if you look closely at the photo Amazon uses (which is accurate, by the way, except that the wheels on mine are black like the rest of it, which I like), and their part number for this mouse is NB-75D. Their website [...] displays an impressive variety of similar products and gives the impression that it's a decent company, with a friendly site and lots of downloadable documentation and software. My problem, as I said, is that the Vista driver they provide for this mouse doesn't recognize it, whether I download it or install it from the disc. I have gotten no response at all to the request for help I sent them more than a week ago, although they said they'd respond within 72 hours. That is not encouraging.

I do have one additional concern that may turn out to be unfounded. The very minimal operating instructions that came with the mouse warn against putting credit cards on the pad, since it powers the mouse by generating a magnetic field that can erase the magnetic stripe on a card. They don't mention any possible threat that magnetic field might pose to a laptop hard drive, but I keep my laptop a foot or so away from the mouse pad anyway, just in case.

If A4Tech comes through with a solution to the driver problem, I'll update this review, but having to go through this hassle justifies the reduced rating in any case. That's a shame, because this product deserves better support than they're giving it.

>> Update 7/23/2009 <<

A4Tech tech support finally responded with an alternate driver, and although it works a little better than the first one, it still is not the right driver for this model (it is for a two-wheel mouse, but with both wheels oriented vertically) and still fails to activate all the features on this mouse. I reported the problem and have been met with silence. I've given up. As I said before, it's a shame, because this product deserves better support than they're giving it.

By the way, I suspect (obviously I don't know for sure) that the other, excessively positive reviews of this mouse are plants by employees of the manufacturer or distributor, or other interested parties. They just sound phony and suspiciously similar to each other.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really wanted to love it, June 18, 2010

By 

Debra M. Lewis (Fort Myers, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cables Unlimited USB-2545 Eco-Friendly Battery-Free USB Wireless Optical Mouse (Personal Computers)

...but can't get past #3 in the *very* basic instructions. 1) Plug USB from mouse pad into computer. Check. 2) Light will start flashing red. Check. 3) Put mouse on top of pad in center. Check. 4) light will stop flashing and become steady red. NOPE.

I searched high and low for troubleshooting info, but the instruction manual that comes with the book is 5 double-spaced pages w/large font. At first I thought, "great -- it MUST be easy." And in theory, it really should be. I went online to the A4tech website, and looked for a support section. The only option is emailing; there is no phone number, and after reading other reviews, can't help by think I'm going to be flapping in the breeze here. I tried to download the manual, thinking it might be more comprehensive -- nope: "Error 404 - File not found." I even downloaded the drivers, even though they're not supposed to be needed for anything but advanced functions. No dice.

Color me frustrated.

I'm going to save the packaging, and give tech support their promised 72 hours to respond, and then ship it on back to Amazon. If they come through, I'll be sure to update.

UPDATE: More than 3 months later, never got a response whatsoever to two emails sent. Needless to say, I have long since returned it, but wanted to reinforce my earlier opinion of their non-existent customer service.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny!, January 22, 2010

By 

Paul Gomez "Markus" (Olive Branch, MS USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cables Unlimited USB-2545 Eco-Friendly Battery-Free USB Wireless Optical Mouse (Personal Computers)

I haven't had this mouse to long so I can't necessarily comment on how long the shelf life on this mouse is. But I've had it long enough to use it thoroughly and I must say that I'm very satisfied with it. As soon as I got it I plugged it in to my computer and was using it within mere milliseconds. The side scrolling wheel and the "double click button" are both very helpful little creature comforts. As for how well the wireless/no batteries technology works, let me sat that you will not be disappointed. It works like a charm and doesn't come up short on what it promises. You just have to keep it on the charger pad, which isn't as inconvenient as it sounds because it works like a mouse pad. Actually the mouse practically glides right across the charger with almost no friction. It's like it's floating on air. This is an amazing investment. I mean, think about it. Most wireless mice are this price or even more than this one costs. With the money you'll be saving on batteries, you'll easily get all of this money back within a year.