kamel622's Full Review: General Electric Wireless Optical Mouse (HO97990)
This review is a difficult one to write. Not because I’m no techie, although that is quite true, but the subject of this review, General Electric Wireless Optical Mouse was a birthday gift from my hubby.
About a month before my birthday he began asking me what I wanted. I know I don’t make it easy on him when I tell him I have no idea. I’m pretty content and can’t really think of anything that I need….well a new car would be nice, but I know that isn’t possible, anyway I thought he did great when he thought of getting me a wireless mouse. No more tugging and pulling when the wire had slipped down behind the desk, no more jerky movement when the mouse ball got dirty, no more taking the bottom of the mouse off and trying to get all the little gunk that builds up on the rollers. Yep, a wireless optical mouse sounded like a great addition to my computer desk.
The Mouse
The first thing I noticed was that this mouse was black and silver, matching my computer and monitor perfectly. Now I know that shouldn’t be what makes me fall in love with a new piece of equipment, but hey I like to have matching things.
The package tell me that this mouse can be used by either right or left handed people and has an ergonomic design to conform to the shape of your hand so that it is comfortable and easy to use.
I fell right in to the system requirements since I have Windows XP but this mouse can also be used with Windows 95, 98, NT, ME and 2000.
It says that has 800 DPI for faster than the standard optical mouse speed. I must confess I don’t know exactly what that means, but I do know that the mouse works (more on this later) and does what I point it to do, so I guess the speed is good.
The receiver for this mouse attaches to the computer and has a USB and PS2 compatible connection. Again, I don’t know very much about that and had my hubby make the actual connection, but it only took a moment, so I know that it is a simple process when installing. The package tells me I can put the receiver under my desk and forget about it. I have it sitting on top of my desk and can see when the red light is on, showing activity. It’s black and measures only 4” x 2 ½“ so doesn’t take up very much room. I have been surprised that none of my daycare children have tried to mess with it. (Darn, I thought maybe I could manage to write one review without mentioning the daycare kids. lol)
The package boasts that it has the latest technology built into chipset to increase battery life. Whew, I would hate to use it without that. There is also a touch on feature to help conserve battery usage, by putting the mouse to sleep when not in use. It is easy to wake it up again by simply touching the sides as you hold the mouse where there are two power sensor buttons that wake it up quickly.
This mouse also includes a scrolling wheel, which of course is almost mandatory to have on any mouse. This wheel doubles as a third button and can be held down to do continuous scrolling.
Included in the package is CD Driver Software to help install this mouse to your computer.
Then of course there is what they refer to as the User Manual, which in reality is a folded piece of paper with a few instructions, all done in English.
The Installation
As I’m looking at the instructions for installing one of the first things it recommends is uninstalling the previous mouse. Now I know it may be silly but this almost caused me hyperventilate. My mind raced with what Ifs. What If I couldn’t get it uninstalled? What If I couldn’t get the mouse hooked up right? What If I couldn’t use my computer???? Oh my gosh, that prospect is what really scared me. Okay, for those who are a bit more computer savvy stop laughing. Because we don’t really know what we’re doing, I’m afraid that we’re going to mess something up and not be able to fix it.
Okay, so I go to Add/Remove at my control panel and uninstall my old mouse. I’m holding my breath at this point. Hubby hooks up the new mouse, he takes a pen and pushes in the button on the bottom of the receiver, instructs me to push in the button on the bottom of the mouse while being sure to depress the power sensor buttons on the sides. Holding my breath I move my mouse….voila! It works. Whew, heavy sigh of relief.
Hubby then tells me to insert the CD Software and follow its directions. Very simple and really no big deal. It only took maybe a matter of five minutes until everything was set up and working.
My Feelings
So there I am being delighted with my new toy. No mouse pad, no wires, no ball to clean. The second night I moved it up and away from where it normally rests, you know so that the desk looked nice and neat. Next morning, it won’t work. Hmmm, perhaps the batteries that we had weren’t new ones or I shouldn‘t have moved it away from the receiver. Okay, no biggie.
Another few days go by…won’t work again. Battery change again??? That resolved it once more.
When this mouse is working right I absolutely love it. It is comfortable and easy to use BUT to keep it working right you must change the batteries constantly, like every few days and getting it to receive again can be very difficult. As I was writing this review it decided to not work again and after messing around with it for a while I finally got the batteries in just right, pushed the button on the bottom of the receiver, just right and pushed the button on the bottom of the mouse, just right, to get it working again. Very frustrating!
I loved receiving this gift and thought that my husband had done a great job. While of course it isn’t his fault that it doesn’t work like it should, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to go back to my old wire mouse. I feel terrible about that, because he tried so hard and I am so grateful for his gift.
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12-31-05....A few days ago I took my mouse back and exchanged him for the exact same model, thinking that perhaps the problem was with that one mouse. The second mouse didn't eat batteries, but it was jerky and sloooow to respond. I took him back tonight. :( I picked up another mouse, an hp wireless rechargeable optical mouse. I'll have to request it be added to the database after I've had it for a while. I hope this one works better.
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While the numbers at epinions and on my mouse are the same, the colors are different from what is pictured here. Mine is more black than silver and the receiver is black as well.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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