Customer Reviews

HiRO H50064 3-In-1 2.4GHz WiFi Presenter with Laser Pointer and Wireless Mouse (H50064)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have used a Varatouch I-point remote (IR, Class IIIa 4.5 mW 670 nm laser pointer, full mouse functions, numeric keypad) one of the first remotes on the market, for about 5 years now to give seminars and decided it was time for an upgrade to an RF system. After researching all of the options carefully (Kensington, Keyspan, Interlink, Logitech), I came across this little-known (new?) model from Hiro Inc. It arrived promptly from the vendor and was essentially plug-and-play in my Mac G4 PowerBook. It has an ergonomic design, with easy access to the laser pointer button and slide control dial on the side, and to the mouse control pad and left and right mouse buttons on the face. The laser pointer is only Class II (<1 mW) but has a wide beam and short wavelength (650 nm +/- 20 nm), making it comparable in brightness to the Class IIIa on my old Varitouch. The mouse control is excellent using my thumb, even a bit better than the old Varitouch (probably using 8 axes with a slight bias for the horizontal and vertical axes). Slide controls are easy to use, although the F5 and Esc functions do not seem to work with the Mac. [Revision: you need to hold the Esc button a bit longer for it to work.] Black and white blank screen functions do work, though. Takes AAA batteries and comes in a nice box for storage/transport. Wish it had a builtin storage slot for the receiver and a numeric keypad for jumping slides, but other than that, this is an excellent model with full features, easy operation, and an attractive price. Looking forward to giving my first talk with it!

Addendum: After 9 months and 15+ talks, I'm still very happy with this model. The only minor note I have is that the lettering on the side buttons starts to wear off over repeated use.

I work in higher education within the Media Services. I've been contantly looking for a reasonable "clicker" to control ppt's. It has easy to find/replace AAA batteries first of all. You can use the mouse function to double click your file and bring up powerpoint. Once you're in, you push in the side wheel to start, and flick it up or down to navigate through your slides. Then you just hold it down to go back to the edit screen. I tested this on laptops with both XP and 2000, and the unit was running in under a minute without me doing anything other than just plugging in the receiver. Also, I wasn't sure when I purchased it but you can reset the 'id' number to avoid crosstalk between units. I don't have two yet, so I'm not sure if they retain their new 'id' after unplugging...most units do I believe.

The only minor gripe is that you have to perform a secret handshake to activate the laser pointer, but even that is pretty easy.

Great little device, nice carrying case, perfect for the price range.


Update (2008): It's been two years since this review, and I (as well as many instructors) are still very pleased with this device overall. I've used it on newer Macs (OS 10.5) but have not thrown it onto Vista yet. It's still by far my favorite "clicker". Moving the cursor on a Mac seems to be a little slower, but nothing critical. The device is a means of instructor presentation, so the mouse function is mostly for weblinks, playing embedded videos, etc.

I made the mistake to buy the Kensington laser pointer before this one. The Kensington is a good one, very well made, but it is slightly more expensive and lacks the mouse control. I to not know any cheaper model with mouse function. I can maybe prefer a bit the ergonomy of the Kensington, together with the very practical possibility to store the USB receiver inside the unit, but this is probably just my taste and the hiro is quite comfortable either and lighter. My kensington has the embarrassing feature that the laser pointer is interpreted as RETURN on some applications (Exporer on Windows and Opera on Mac OS, for instance). I do not know it that is a bug or if there is some reason for that. However the Hiro does not have this behaviour and that is another reason for which I prefer it.

The wheel system of the Hiro presenter is very practical. Compared with my Kensington I found no difference in the quality of the laser: both do their job perfectly. The mouse control is simple and practlical and it will take a very short time to be confident with it. My unit worked perfectly wothout extra software on both Mac an PC. Overall I am extremely satisfied.

On the minus side, the labels on the button on the side are printed with very poor colours. the "fn" label diapperared immediately after a few days of usage. A bit disappointing, but, after all, nothing really important. The unit also lacks programmable buttons, but I do not know any presenter with this feature.

Bottomline. This presenter works well, it is not expensive, and the mouse control is a true must.

Pleasant surprise. Took maybe 2 minutes to be up and running effectively including installation (automatic) on my XP notebook. Ends the "next slide please" distraction. Gives complete control of the computer, not just power point slides.

Great value. Also comes in an exceptionally sturdy box I'll probably keep it in for travel.

I have seen several clickers - this one beats them all and absolutely rules! It has a built-in mouse, which is really operational, and most importantly, does not interfere with slide flipping. There is really no way of pressing something by mistake here. You flip the slides using a conveniently positioned button (up/down shifter) on the side of the device. The laser pointer button is right above it. You can also disable the laser option, which might be useful for laser addicts :). Very ergonomic design. Too bad does not have a timer, but hard to expect it at this low price. Comes with an elegant and sturdy travel box. Worth every buck!

The Hiro presentation mouse is a well made product that works well under linux. Im running Ubuntu Dapper and the setup was essentially Plug n Play. I had to insert an additional ExplorerPS/2 InputDevice section in xorg.conf before all the functions worked though.

A note for Openoffice users. Pressing the next slide switch sends a Page down event to the computer which works well for Powerpoint, but skips the animations in Openoffice. My current hackish workaround is to temporarily map the Pagedown key (keycode 105) to the Spacebar (KP_Space) using xmodmap. It would be nice to have programmable keys, but thats not a show stopper.

Pluses: plug n play, good range, AAA batteries, usable laser pointer.

Minuses: non-programmable keys, mouse is a bit difficult to manoeuvre, usb dongle does not dock onto the mouse when not in use.

Pros: Reasonable price, immportant features, came w/ batt's, virtually instant set-ups and easy. Excellent versatility viz. PPt, on-screen demos, signal range, size, user-friendliness, teaching tool, etc.

Cons: Built-in F5 and ESC controls could be more precise. Easy to not hit correctly. Reconnecting the Hiro link to computer was very difficult once unlinked.

I am a high school science teacher and have found this device very useful in the classroom. It allows me to roam the classroom, keeping order, while lecturing from projected slides/documents/diagrams instead of being tethered to my computer at the front of the room. The pointing device takes a little getting used to, but once you've practiced for about an hour it is fairly easy to control from that point on. The integrated laser pointer is key.

I have been using this WiFi presenter for 2 months and have yet had to replace the batteries. I use power point presentations to teach classes for at least 6 hours a day 5 days a week. It has freed me up to actually mix in with the students. I have used this from over 30 feet away and have not had any problems. Granted after a week or so of use the labels disappeared. By then I had the pointer and mouse fuction down pat so it did not matter anyway. I highly recommend this item and other instructors that have used this are purchasing thier own now!!!

After a year and a half I still have not changed out the batteries!!! I would not use any other presenter. It does all that I need it to do!! My best purchase yet!

I love this little gadget. It works beautifully, freeing you from a static position behind the lecturn near your laptop. It has increased the effectiveness of my teaching many times over. Wouldn't be without it now. I use Mac OS X, so it was important to me that the device would operate well under this system. And it does. Plug in the USB RF receiver, and it works "out of the box".