Targus AMW43US Wireless Mouse for Mac

by Targus

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 2 inches ; 8.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001HQFJYI
• Item model number: AMW43US
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 8, 2008

Product Description

Targus AMW43US Wireless Mouse for Mac AMW43US Mice

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Mouse with reservations, February 16, 2009

By 

Joshua I. Pitts "Ian" (Odenton, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Targus AMW43US Wireless Mouse for Mac (Personal Computers)

I really, REALLY wanted to love this mouse. I purchased it because my Bluetooth Mighty Mouse was having dirty ball issues. (That sounds bad, doesn't it.) Before I received the Targus, I read a blog post online that detailed how to disassemble and clean the scroll ball mechanism in the Mighty Mouse. I performed the procedure and all was well in scrolling up AND down land again.

When I received the Targus, I opened it up and plopped batteries in it quickly. It has a nice feature where the USB transmitter actually stows away inside the mouse.

The mouse immediately was recognized in OS X. My first impressions were that the tracking is way fast. I remedied this by adjusting the tracking speed all the way down using the Mouse preference pane in System Preferences.

Something, however, seemed off. I've been an Apple user for 3 years and have gotten used to how Apple mice track. They allow you to move the mouse slowly for super-precise mousing and then also allow you to quickly move the mouse to other areas of the screen. The problem with the Targus is that it lacks this same tracking acceleration curve. I found myself constantly overshooting where I wanted to place my cursor or mouse pointer. I tried a number of different software packages found online to attempt to remedy this and none of them worked.

I believe the key to fixing this issue is in Targus' hands. They need to write a mouse driver that allows either the default tracking (likely somethign Windows users would like) or tracking that mimics the Apple Mouse tracking as closely as possible.

If Targus can pull off Apple Mouse Tracking emulation, I would pull it back out of my storage drawer and put away my Bluetooth Mighty Mouse for good. Until then, I'll just keep disassembling my Mighty Mouse every month to clean the scroll ball rollers.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Mouse, January 3, 2009

By 

C. Daniels "daniels608" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Targus AMW43US Wireless Mouse for Mac (Personal Computers)

This is a great mouse. It works right out of the box with my intel iMac (OS X 10.4.11 Tiger).

The mouse has 5 functional buttons. (Left click, Right click, Middle click (to open dashboard), and a 4th and 5th button on the left side of the mouse.) Out of the box, buttons 4 and 5 activate Expose and auto scroll functionality in Firefox.

The 4th and 5th buttons are programable by downloading the software from the Targus website. With the software installed, the buttons can be used to open programs, run apple scripts, and perform keystrokes (i.e. Function Q to quit programs). Once the software is installed the buttons default functions change to Browse Forward and Backward in Safari.

The best thing about this mouse: NO SCROLL BALL. It uses optical tracking for 4-Way scrolling. The days of cleaning the old mighty mouse ore OVER!!! Be sure and plug the mini-USB transmitter into a USB 2.0 hub. Plugging into the keyboard's USB 1.0 port works, but the optical scrolling seems to be a bit more responsive when plugged into my 8 port D-Link USB 2.0 Hub.

The touch scroll is also a battery indicator. It will glow red for 8 seconds with 60 minutes of battery life left, and will blink continuously with 30 minutes of battery life left.

The cursor runs very fast out of the box. I adjusted the speed in System Preferences to something more manageable.

The only con I can think of right now are some slight ergonomic issues. It is taking some time to get used to the feel and size of the mouse. It is slightly larger than the mighty mouse, and not quite as rounded. The 4th and 5th buttons are spaced apart just enough so I have to move my hand and adjust the mouse depending on which button I want to use.

Overall this is an excellent mouse, and would definitely recommend it as opposed to buying another mighty mouse.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This mouse grew had to grow on me., January 13, 2009

By 

Jesse Garrison (San Francisco, Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Targus AMW43US Wireless Mouse for Mac (Personal Computers)

This mouse really had to grow on me.

The feel and comfort is much better than Mac's mighty mouse.
The wireless part works great with having the USB behind my computer.
The drag of the pointer is very quick and sensitive. Great for people with two screens. I tried fixing this in the mac preferences setting and it doesn't seem to work.

My only serious complaint about the mouse (but will not return this item) is the scrolling sensor on the top. It's slow. It's fine if you are scrolling web pages but when you jump intro programs where you scroll a lot in 360 like Final cut Pro, Livetype, Soundtrack, Logic; etc. If you have to scroll a lot then the Mighty Mouse is worth the price, but I can live with it since I only paid $31 for it.

I would recommend this mouse to anyone except if you are computer artist.

4.0 Stars