Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good design, good software, wonderful service!, February 20, 2002
This is the best computer peripheral I've ever purchased. One day God decided to remind me that I'm a psychology student and not a computer programmer, which he accomplished by interrupting my successful web design career with debilitating carpal tunnel syndrome. So I went out looking for an optical mouse (and braces, and an ergo keyboard, and a better chair, and a big big bottle of ibuprofen). Thus I came upon the Kensington MIAB Optical Pro. Now look -- I can even waste keystrokes typing silly reviews on Amazon [.com]! With four buttons plus a clickable scroll wheel, this mouse offers a great many opportunities to reduce wrist-flinging. It comes with customization software that allows you to define different click-equivalents for different programs. It's not perfect, but it's made my work much slicker and more pleasant. The best part came when the mouse broke. The Kensington tech actually _listened_ to my report of the problem and the hardware-testing I'd done to diagnose it. He immediately shipped me a replacement, even before asking that I send back the damaged mouse. This kind of service is even more valuable to me than the product itself.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best bet for a Mac user., October 10, 2001
Some months back, I took the plunge for a Mac Titanium G4 PowerBook. This resulted in all sorts of "legacy" issues for my then-existing peripherals, thanks to USB and FireWire replacing the older SCSI, LocalTalk and ADB protocols. And of course the replacement of ADB by USB required my getting a new mouse.
I'm pleased to report that this Kensington Optical Pro mouse is not only the last word in flexibility and programmability; it is a bargain as well. And, for the Mac, there are absolutely no mouse driver issues, as some Windows 2000 users have reported below.
For all the months that I have already used this mouse, I find little need so far to resort to its by-application programmability: The default settings seem to be all that I need, since I've long since committed to memory all of the relevant keyboard shortcuts that a programmed mouse might well provide. Particularly fine are the mechanical feel and the default action of the scroll wheel. (For web browsing, this default action is really appreciated. The inherent scroll speed of the G4 PowerBook is often simply too fast to control.)
The optical tracking system is flawless. I use this mouse on a very smooth desktop made of a material that is largely "featureless" and marvel at the ability of the optical system to accurately register movement relative to this featureless surface. Many years ago, I had a very early version of an optical mouse, made by Mouse Systems - a company no longer in existence so far as I know - for which a special "grid" mouse pad was required. That was not a problem, but now, for this Kensington mouse, a special pad is no longer needed.
I have only one quibble, and it is a very minor one. The cable need not be nearly as long as it is as provided by Kensington, at least not for a laptop. Perhaps there should be two versions which differ only by cable length: One for desktop computers and one for laptops.
Highly recommended for the Mac user. Windows users should refer to the other reviews here to make sure that they can be satisfied with the device.
Bob Zeidler
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kensington Doesn't Regain My Loyalty from Microsoft, January 25, 2001
In my review of the Microsoft Intellimouse Optical, I mentioned how I was still anxious to see how well the Kensington Optical Pro mouse would satisfy me. Ironically, a local advertisement the very next day found me quickly buying this mouse at half price. I knew the Windows 2000 drivers were still in beta form, but knowing the potential of this mouse from my prior experience with the Kensington Thinking Mouse, I was really looking forward to using it. But, what of the MS Intellimouse Optical that I was so happy with? One would become my primary mouse for my home PC while the other wound up being used at work. To my surprise, it is the Kensington that takes second place. For me, the biggest reason remains the poorly functioning Windows 2000 drivers. Under Windows NT all is fine, as I expect it is under Windows 93 or Millennium. If you are looking for a highly programmable mouse for use with anything but Windows 2000, I can recommend this mouse with one exception - the slick body and shape.First, the good points. The Optical Pro has what I'd come to expect of Kensington...a nice feel in primary two buttons and the wheel action. Where I find the MS Intellimouse Optical has a rather loose wheel - you can almost spin it - the Kensington wheel is tensioned nicely and doesn't spin freely at all. Similarly, I prefer the slightly greater effort required to depress the primary two mouse buttons. As with the Intellimouse, optical tracking seems very good and precise; I have no complaints at all here. Finally, the MouseWorks driver - In a nutshell, it is the most versatile mouse software I've ever seen. Although potentially confusing for some, the flexibility comes through the dynamic reprogramming of the mouse keys as you move from one application to another. If you only have a few applications with tailored mouse key functionality, it isn't that hard to keep them straight. The negatives: The aforementioned lack of Windows 2000 drivers; I think it is pretty ridiculous that Kensington is so late in the game with providing any working Win2K drivers, given that the O/S is now about 1 year old. Otherwise, I don't like two aspects of the design. Although one's hand rests very comfortably upon the mouse, the surface is a rather slick plastic. This wouldn't be a big problem save for the fact that the mouse is tapered to a narrower "tail", and a light grip on the mouse will often find your hand sliding off as you pull backwards. True, a slightly snugger grip eliminates the problem but it also increases the tension in your hand over an extended period of use. In this regard, the MS Intellimouse has a much nicer contour that is overall more comfortable to use. While Kensington could contour the Optical Pro differently, another solution would be to simply substitue a more grippy and perhaps rubberized texture to the mouse. The other issue is with the side buttons which, while not difficult to control, could be improved by moving them forward a bit more and slightly relaxing the tension to depress them. Buttons squeezed in from the sides should be more lightly tensioned while those on top should be more firmly tensioned, in my opinion. Overall, this is a good product that could be a great one with a little more tweaking of the ergonomics and the provision of fully working Windows 2000 drivers. Given that a mouse is one of the most frequently used PC peripherals, I strongly encourage trying one out for "fit" before purchase, checking local stores for display models.
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