HardwareHell

Laptops are becoming ever more popular - Today any low end PC can run XP rather smoothly, browsing the web became accessible to the common man (poor people) - more over, capitalists are rushing to deliver millions of laptops to Africa and other 3rd world countries (OLPC initiative) - analysts believe with the availability of OLPCs, the average African will now be able to score affordable food on eBay!

For us hungry-for-CPU-power folks though, laptops have also become a reasonable alternative to our bulky tower stations, a take-me-with-you workstation that you carry with you in a sexy sleeve - and the minute we start using laptops for more than 15 consecutive minutes, comfort consideration bubble up to the surface.

Comfort means avoiding the touchpad, that small surface you move your finger on, while engaged in timely tapping to manifest your will - it’s simply not comfortable enough for continuous work, after all if it was, we’d see more of it on our workstations.

That’s where RadTech comes in with the BT500+ mouse - a mini-mouse that’s tailored for mobility: A small, wireless mouse based around the Bluetooth protocol that recharges through the USB port, so you won’t be hogging any extra power sockets soon, and if you run out of batteries, just shove in the attachable USB cable, and recharge the mouse while it functions again through the cable.

Recharging works through the USB port, though the cable is not a standard mini-USB cable rather than a non-standard one - if you lose the cable, with all your predominance, you’re screwed! Therefore it might be wise for RadTech to use a standard mini-USB cable, as it’s widely available and easily replaceable.

Installation was a breeze - I, being a predominant male, much like yourself, predominant reader, avoid reading manuals, mostly due to the inability (or disability?) of my cognition seeing the benefit of doing so, so, I turned on the mouse, went into the Bluetooth settings in my shiny boy-fan’ish MacBook Pro, and a couple of clicks away, the lovely BT500+ mouse was configured and playing nicely with the gorgeous OSX.

I’m on the move quite a bit, and for those lengthy train sessions, work at the office, business meetings or lectures the BT500+ comes in very handy, whip it out and comfortably get your work done - no cables and most importantly, no clutter.

When it comes to comfort, I wouldn’t replace my desktop MX500 or Evoluent Vertical Mouse 3 with the BT500+, the mouse is only covered by part of your palm, and the larger the palm, the more unfamiliar it’s likely to feel - and while in the same breath, remember this mouse is not intended to replace your desktop mouse, it’s a mobile mouse that’s intended to be small and bag-friendly, even side pocket friendly (clutter free).

Precision wise, I won’t comment too much - somewhere around 3 years ago mice just became precise enough for me, I lack the ability to differentiate as the precision needed by me is achieved - the BT500+ is precise for any mundane utility - including for my novice Photoshop/CS3 skills.

Windows XP/Vista wise, the mouse works with the wonderful X-MOUSE driver for Windows, giving customization options most users are likely to think they need.

Overall - I strongly suggest this mouse to my mobile OSX and Windows lovers around the globe, it’s small, Bluetooth based wireless connectivity, comfy for its size mouse, rechargeable using an included, non-standard USB cable with the ability to keep on truck’en as it charges.