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Wireless Mouse with no Batteries

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the nothing-better-to-post-thanksgiving dept.

GI Joe writes "Hardcoreware.net have posted a review of a mouse with no batteries; it receives its charge through induction from the USB powered mousepad. Of course this means you must use the mouse on this mousepad, taking away some of the big advantages of a wireless mouse. However, they said that the mouse is otherwise very accurate, and has no lag at all since it uses RFID."

16 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. Seen this before... by kahei · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...from Wacom! Who, incidentally, are the best hardware company ever.

    http://www.wacom.com for your batteryless pointing device needs.

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
    1. Re:Seen this before... by nukem996 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes but that mouse costs from 100 to 200 dollars. This is much much cheaper.

    2. Re:Seen this before... by SetupWeasel · · Score: 2, Informative

      My graphire 3 pad came with mouse and pen for $85, and the pen was the only thing I was interested in. The mouse works well though, and though I didn't need it, it has been pretty helpful.

  2. Apart from the "cool factor" by hacknslashdot · · Score: 3, Informative

    Why would anyone want one?
    Pehaps i'm unusual, but the major advantage of an optical mouse to me is that it can be used on any surface ... not with this mouse, gotta be used on the mousepad it comes with.
    AND the major advantage of wireless is that the mouse is in no way connected to the computer (apart from a distance/obstruction restraint for the wireless connection) ... not with this mouse, you can only use it as far away as the cord for the mousepad will reach.
    I'm not trying to start a flamewar but I just honestly can't see any advantages of this. Can someone point some out for me?

  3. Re:hmm... by Mycroft_VIII · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not entirely, I have such a device where the 'pad' provides power. However it's a Wacom pad and bothe the included pen and mouse are powered by the pad.
    In this case it makes sense because it not about being completly wireless per se, but about having the ability to switch between normal mousework and pressure sensitive pen work with a BUNCH of wires or batteries.

    Mycroft

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  4. Re:Why complain? by Calroth · · Score: 2, Informative

    However, the downside of wireless mice is changing batteries. It's annoying to stop to replace the batteries, especially when you're in the middle of round of CounterStrike...

    Well, I'm not sure about yours, but mine starts giving warnings (a blinking red light) when I've got a good hour or so of battery left. Defusing the bomb takes less than an hour (god bless Counter-Strike) so you can wait until you've done that before swapping the batteries ;-)

  5. Personally by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 2, Informative

    The wire on my mouse isn't annoying when you use it in it's normal position (ie where I've positioned my mouse mat).

    It only gets annoying when I want to move it and use it in another position for some reason (such as needing that bit of deskspace for something) in which case the wired mousemat is going to be just as annoying, if not more so (I'd have to move both the mouse and the mousemat as they work in tandem, whereas now I can get away with just moving the mouse).

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  6. Re:RFID? Don't they mean RF? by kbranch · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't use a mouse pad because none of them provide a large enough mousing surface.

    You obviously haven't seen this.

  7. Re:There goes that... by radio.cgt · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not sure if this is related to what you were looking for, but SplashPower are making 'charging pads' that charge any (electrical) device as long as the battery is fitted with a kind of reciever. Unavailable in shops at the moment though, although apparently they're working with some unnamed companies for launch in 2005.

  8. Re:RFID? Don't they mean RF? by Trogre · · Score: 2, Informative

    When you are gaming you can't pick up your mouse and move it to the other side of the pad or the other guy kills you.

    Trackballs don't have that problem.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. Another review by z3021017 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here at Overclockers Australia

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  11. Re:Why not power by motion? by neurocutie · · Score: 2, Informative
    Well, what's happening in those self-winding watches is that the motions of your wrist through-out the day can transfer much greater mechanical energy than it takes to move those tiny little watch hands over the same time period. The energy is captured by a unbalanced flywheel and stored in a spring.

    In the case of the mouse, it is unlikely that you could generate and capture enough energy to power a mouse. You would also have to factor in the very poor efficiency of converting mechanical to electrical energy (maybe 30%). Then you'd have to have batteries in there anyways to provide energy when the mouse is not moving. I think you'd be better off charging up these batteries in other ways. Like how about using several high powered 860nm IR LED's to power solar cells on the mouse (but solar cells are about 20% efficient).

  12. Re:Bleh.. by Drakonite · · Score: 1, Informative
    The watches do not generate electric power, they have a weight that winds a spring.

    Um... no. While a watch like you describe MIGHT exist (I've never seen one, nor heard of one working on that priciple) I promise you the majority of batteryless watches are electrically powered quarts watches.

    They have a small knetic generator (you can google if you want to know how they work) which charges a power cell, which in turn runs the watch as though it was a (semi) normal quartz watch.

    The Seiko Knetic is a good example of this type of watch.

    --
    Shoot Pixels, Not People!
  13. Buy a WACOM! by g_braad · · Score: 2, Informative

    Try a Wacom Graphire 3 with mouse... first of all you have a real drawing tablet which is pressure sensitive... and you have a mouse with NO optical! all is done by the Tablet itself and you can even make it work with the Tablet PC version of Windows XP when you install the Penabled drivers. Hurrah!

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    F/OSS & IT Consultant
  14. Re:Bleh.. by servognome · · Score: 2, Informative

    Most self-winding watches I've seen work on that principle. Even the rolex knockoffs I've seen use the moving weight to wind a spring.

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