optical mice

THIS UNIT WORKS BEST WITH THE MATCHING DOCKING & CHARGING CRADLE, WHICH WAS SOLD IN A SET WITH THE UNIT I BOUGHT AS A REPLACEMENT FOR THE ORIGINAL DAMAGED ONE. The dock acts as a booster antenna, far extending the unit's range. I bought one of these to use with my two Compaq notebooks, both at work and at home, where it shows one of it's major drawbacks, (if one is as consevative as I, in wanting to conserve batteries when not in use) the mouse, powered by two AA batteries, has NO ON/OFF SWITCH, so, when transporting between work stations, one must remove one or both batteries to shut down the unit, which otherwise remains on when not connected to the computer. This may be different when used in conjunction with the charging station (sold seperately) which I have not purchased yet. Disconnecting the receiver and/or removal & replacement of batteries in lieu of a power switch requires resetting the frequency each time the mouse is moved.
Another drawback is that the transmitter will not work through the chassis of a metal framed laptop, where the USB ports are either in the rear or on the left side, a problem Targus attempts to solve by including an extention cord (about 6" long, half the lenght really needed).
If the transmitter and receiver are not in direct line-of-sight, the advertised three foot range falls off dramatically, causing hesitations and missed or partial click actions. Also, the receiver contains a BRIGHT blue light that FLASHES CONTINUOUSLY with movement of the mouse AND clicking any of the controls, which is HIGHLY distracting when one is trying to concentrate on one's work.
Some may complain that the control switches are somewhat stiff, but I prefer a more crisp click action on my controls, which this unit provides. With internal power provided by the two AA batteries, the mouse does suffer somewhat from overweight (a 3V camera battery may have been a better choice), but the loss of that annoying cable drag more than makes up for this.
For a fixed station home or office PC, this medium priced optical wireless could be a welcome addition, but it's not the best choice for use with a notebook, especially in portable mode.
NOTE:

Either Targus has come out with an advanced model(I recently purchased a replacement for the original damaged unit), or I failed to read the fine print in the owner's brochure. The unit DOES have an ON/OFF switch, operated by pressing the "Sync-Up" button on the bottom of the unit for three seconds, which will put the unit in "sleep" mode until the button is pressed again to re-activate it.

This new model is much better than the older unit. The greatest improvement is the on/off switch and power saving functions. The old version would only save batteries when it was left still, which never happens when it's in my bag and always ended up taking the batteries out which was a real pain.

I do not find the switch hard to use as some people have indicated. I have short nails and stubby fingers, but I have no problems with it. It's designed to not be accidentally switched off.

I use 700mAh NiMH rechargable batteries in the mouse and it's been a week now and I haven't had to change them with moderate use. I also find it comfortable to hold and pleasing to look at (important with laptops I think.)

The wheel rolls silently, but the clicking could be a little quieter since it is a laptop mouse that you may want to use in a classroom or boardroom.

The bendable usb adapter is a nice addition and I would recommend this mouse to anyone. I have used it successfully in Windows XP Pro, Gentoo Linux and FreeBSD.

I got this mouse because it is small and easy for travel, however it has many technical difficulties. The battery cover is complicated and hard to remove, the usb reciver blinks when ever you use the mouse, the off/on button is very small and frustrating, and much more. overall....DO NOT BUY THIS MOUSE AND WASTE YOUR MONEY!