Review: Mighty Mouse

I finally got a Mighty Mouse yesterday and have been using it for about a day now. It's definitely one of the best looking mice, but not the most usable.

My favorite feature of the Mighty Mouse is the unique scroll ball. It's much faster, quieter, and more sensitive than most scroll wheels and it doesn't bounce back when you stop scrolling like a lot of scroll wheels do.

The Mighty Mouse is flatter than most mice I'm used to (such as the Belkin Bluetooth Mouse), so at first I found it a bit uncomfortable. Since I already tend to lift my finger off the left button when I right click, I didn't have any problem with right clicking. Middle clicking is also very easy. However, I find the 'squeeze' action unnatural. I find that I can simply hit the button on the left side with my thumb as I do the side button on most other mice.

The side buttons are also a bit too far forward; they would probably be more comfortable if they were pushed a bit further back. It isn't possible to detect the two side buttons separately. I would have preferred to see a Bluetooth model. On the plus side, the MM is perfectly symmetrical and either button can be configured to act as the primary button, which makes it nice for left handed people.

Apple's Mighty Mouse software is OK but no match for USB Overdrive, which supports all of the MM's features including horizontal scrolling. Unlike USB Overdrive, Apple's software can't assign keystrokes or modifier keys to mouse buttons and it doesn't let you change the settings in different applications.

If you're already using USB Overdrive, Apple's MM software will prevent it from handling the Mighty Mouse although it will still work with other devices. If you've installed Apple's software and would like to regain the use of USB Overdrive, you can do so by removing AppleHIDMouse.kext from /System/Library/Extensions.

Unless you absolutely love horizontal scrolling or are left handed, other multi-button mice are a better value.