Customer Reviews

Kensington Ci75m Wireless Notebook Mouse in Black K72278US

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Kensington has come up with a very interesting concept for this mouse. The thin and flat design makes this a mouse that is quite compact and portable, yet it is still pretty easy to grip and control. The packaging for the mouse is easy to open, not one of those hard plastic shells that could destroy your scissors. The mouse comes with 2 AAA batteries, the manual, and the mouse itself. There is no software; you just simply plug it in and go.

The mouse performs very well, but do note that the sensor is 1000 dpi...it takes a little getting used to. The mouse glides very nicely along a wooden surface. The buttons are quite firm and solid to click, not flimsy as some well-known competitors' mice. The scroll wheel is almost as flat with the rest of the body, certainly not elevated as other mice. There is no tilt-wheel; while it would be a nice addition, the flat design seems to prevent that possibility. The edge of the mouse is rubberized, creating a very comfortable grip.

The top half of the mouse easily detaches magnetically from the rest of the mouse body. Detaching the "lid" exposes the battery compartment and a little mini-USB wire. The mini-USB wire can be unwound and enables the mouse to be used as a wired mouse when it is not possible to use it wirelessly (such as when you run out of batteries or use it on an airplane). The wire plugs into the receiver, which itself plugs into your computer's USB port. There are a few flaws to the wire, however. The wire is quite short and there could be trouble reaching a USB port. For example, if you are a right-handed Macbook/Macbook Pro user, you may have trouble trying to use the mouse wired from the USB ports on the left-hand side of the computer. Another flaw is when winding the cord back, one must take care to make sure the cord does not overlap; otherwise, there will not be enough cord left for the plug to snugly fit back into its holder...and the "lid" will not fit back on. Finally, the wire is very flimsy and does not look like it will last too long. Use sparingly.

The receiver can be tucked into the bottom of the mouse when not in use. Doing so also protects the sensor and turns off the mouse. This seems to be the only way to turn off the mouse. There is no physical on/off switch. The manual states that the mouse will go into sleep mode after several minutes of inactivity. I tested this and found the mouse to go into sleep after about 6 minutes of inactivity; a bit too long, in my opinion.

Overall, this is definitely an excellent product for those who use their laptops away from their desks frequently. I would not recommend this mouse if you stay at your desk most of the time. I would try to avoid using the mouse in its wired mode as much as possible, but it is a nice peace of mind feature for those times when you run out of battery power. I've only used the mouse for a few days, so I cannot comment on the battery life.

Pros:
+Flat, comfortable design
+Battery indicator in scroll wheel
+Sturdy build quality
+Magnetic top "lid" to access battery compartment and mini-USB wire
+No additional software needed for either PC or Mac
+Compartment for receiver
+Wired mode for those times when wireless isn't possible

Cons:
-No tilt-wheel (but that's a personal preference)
-mini-USB wire seems flimsy
-Hard to wind the mini-USB wire so it fits snugly
-No on/off switch
-Sleep mode kicks in after 6 minutes of inactivity

One of the most important accessories for a notebook user is a wireless mouse, and the Kensington Ci75m is a great choice for almost any user. I have owned this mouse for two months now and have a pretty good idea of how it functions.

This thin mouse stealthily fits into a side pocket of a backpack or case. The shape is reminiscent of the Apple mice. I use the mouse about 4 or 5 days out of the week for 5+ hours each time. Battery life has yet to be an issue for me, though there is apparently a low battery indicator light that illuminates the scroll wheel.

The scroll wheel is only vertical. Fans of horizontal scrolling should look elsewhere. Personally, I hardly ever use horizontal scrolling, but I have found myself slightly disappointed after trying to push the scroll wheel sideways in excel. The wheel also feels slicker/slippier than most other mice I've used. This may be as a result of the smaller wheel to maintain the thin profile of the mouse. The wheel does feel more grippy in warmer/more humid conditions though. Only a minor pet peeve. The wheel is also a litter higher than in usual mice. Presumably, this is to prevent the wheel from sticking out of the top. It is initially awkward to hold the mouse that high, but I have gotten used to it.

The center click requires a little more pressure than usual, but is satisfying. It performs the normal center click on PC's. In the brief times I've used the mouse on macs, the center button displays all the windows (I think it's called expose?).

One of the biggest selling points of the mouse is its ability to be used as a wired mouse. Simply lift up the magnetically secured top from the bottom of the mouse, and a wound cord is revealed. The cord plugs into a mini-usb port in the receiver. The most frustrating part of the mouse is rewinding the cord. There cannot be any slack and the cord cannot overlap itself, otherwise the plug will not make it all the way back to its place under the top. I've found it helpful to use the thin part of the usb receiver to carefully tuck in the cord as I'm winding the cord back up.

I don't game using the mouse, so there is not a noticeable lag for me. Of course, gamers may expect a degree of latency from most wireless mice. The mouse operates at 27 Mhz frequency. This was a bit disappointing as many Microsoft and Logitech notebook mice are 2.4 Ghz. The range of this mouse is about 5 ft (vs. the ~30ft of 2.4 Ghz mice).

The mouse falls asleep after about 5 minutes of inactivity. To wake the mouse up, either click a button or scroll the wheel.

I recommend this to anyone wanting a slim, portable mouse with a wired option.

Pros:
-attractive glossy black finish
-very slim form factor
-magnetically closes
-2 AAA duracells included
-no software requird, plug and play
-wired mode for wireless restrictions or lack of batteries
-1000 dpi
-rubber sides
-usb receiver docks into and turns off mouse
-battery low indicator (but, I have yet to see it)

Cons:
-only 27 Mhz
-must wind cord tightly
-thin cord
-scroll wheel closer to front of mouse than usual
-slippery scroll wheel (subjective)
-no horizontal scroll
-rather large usb receiver (sticks out badly from a notebook)

I hadn't seen this mentioned in the other reviews, but I had a problem with the orange one getting dirty on the sides. I've used it less than 2 weeks and where you hold it on the sides has darkened enough to be unsightly. The orange I paid more for no longer looks spiffy, but worn, grungy and dirty. The orange material is rubbery and there seems to be no way to clean it off. I hate to see what it would look like with 6 months of use. The company was nice enough to send me a replacement black cover, but be aware if you prefer the orange, it might not look pretty for long.

I have to say I absolutely love this mouse otherwise though. Don't know what took me so long to go wireless, but it performs beautifully, and powers down when not in use to save the batteries and sensor. I'm using it on a desktop MAC G5.

Edited to add where my thumb rests on the side of the mouse the rubber is totally disintegrating. You can just rub it off in balls of rubber it became so soft there. There's a large indentation on that side. I can't be the only one, and I don't work with any chemicals that would do that. Kensington has great customer service and sent me a new black one, but please be aware this might happen!

I bought this as a replacement for Logitech wireless travel mouse which was very small. This time around I didn't want to get the super small ones because it was just too uncomfortable to use especially during long use.

With the Kensington, it's flat and wide but surprisely comfortable to use and hold. At first I had doubts because I figure it had to contour to your hand in order to be comfortable. But that's not the case with this mouse.

The best part about this mouse is that it has the cord as the backup if your battery runs out. Everything you need include the cord and receive is all hiden inside the mouse. Purely engenius! I can't tell how many times my batteries ran out at the most critical time and search for batteries.

Kinsington mice are very high in quality. I have an older desktop mouse and it is one of the most comfortable and long lasting mouse of all. I have used Logitech, Microsoft, and other brands and Kinsington is the best.

I highly recommend this mouse.

The mouse and RF receiver work well as a "standard" 2 button mouse. The Kensington MouseWorks 6.2 software will not function on my W2K-SP4 system. Because of that, the scroll wheel button can not be programmed to perform any function. Even the driver for my corded 3-button mouse will not recognize the scroll wheel button on the Ci75. So I cannot perform a double-click with the middle button, which is a major pain, and I will probably toss this mouse in the garbage.

Kensington tech support claims this is a 2 button mouse, even though the web site says its a 3 button. It actually has a side click button on the wheel, making it a 4 button mouse. But Kensington does not offer a driver for this model, so those extra buttons are non functional.

The receiver sensitivity is good, 5 feet or more. The buttons are a bit mushy and ambiguous, sometimes missing a click or a scroll, but not too often.

This is a great mouse. It's thin, it's comfortable and it works!
It has a magnetic top so you can open it up to change the batteries.
AAA batteries last forever. But if you're on a deserted island and your batteries die... there's a cord wound up inside so you can plug it in to your laptop. I love good thoughtful design!!

My friend's dog ate my first one so I bought another one just like it.
I would definitely buy it again in the event of another dog episode.

This little guy works the first time and every time without a hitch. Just plug the wireless receiver into the USB port and it goes to work instantly. Its compact design is very functional and it looks cool too. Despite some other reviews, I do not find the size of the USB receiver a problem because I only use the mouse when my laptop is on my desk.

One word of caution is to unplug the wireless receiver from your computer when you're not using it, and reattach it to the storage slot underneath the mouse. This will save battery life. Doing this does not require any extra steps or cause any surprise problems for your computer functions.

The mouse failed after 6 months - left click would not work. Acco/Kensington agreed product was faulty but refused to replace the product because they said I could not provide them with a valid confirmation of purchase. This was despite sending them a copy of the Amazon order invoice from my account and a copy of my credit card statement showing the purchase. Their position was the Amazon invoice did not confirm that I had made the purchase - despite the fact that it showed payment made from my credit card with the full details and I had sent them the credit card statement. This stikes me a totally unreasonable behaviour and way to get out of honouring the so called 5 year warranty. The people in the technical suport office (in Holland) were unhelpful and I found that to question the fact that I had made a valid purchase offensive. From my experience neither the product nor the company can be trusted. Because of the atitude to takes towards its customers and its inflexible warranty terms I recommend avoiding any Kensingston/Acco products.

I bought this mouse as a Christmas present for my mom. It is a great looking mouse and the back-up USB feature is great. It worked great at first but after about 9 months of use the outer rubber (the black covering around the entire mouse) covering and the rubber covering around the scroll wheel began to melt off, so we ended up just having to tear the whole outer covering off, leaving an orange plastic cover.

I'm going to purchase another mouse, but I won't buy another one with a flimsy outer covering. It works well at first but don't expect it to last in the long run.

This mouse looks nice, but that's about it...
Here are the (major) issues:
1. The upper side of the case comes off too easily.
2. The lower and upper parts of the mouse are held together by 3 little magnets glued to the plastic case with some superglue. Anyone with a bit of brain can realize that you cannot stick metal to plastic with superglue. The magnets *will* come out of the plastic case shortly after purchase, sticking to each-other and preventing the plastic case from closing properly.
3. Once this happens, the 3 primary buttons (left, middle, right) become very difficult to use, requiring about twice the pressure to "click".
4. The tracking is terrible. The arrow's path on the screen is fairly "gritty" and lacks the finesse that I have seen in other mice (Microsoft, Logitech, Dell, HP, etc).

Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.