Until a couple of weeks ago when I received their Battery Free mouse to review, I hadn’t heard of A4 Tech. Since then I’ve taken the time to look at their website and see the wide variety of products they offer. They seem to specialize in input devices – keyboards and mice, mainly – but they offer such widely divergent items as cameras, headsets, and cases. Many of their products look quite interesting, and their prices (A4 Tech stands for A4ordable Technologies, it seems) are very nice.

Based on what I’ve seen of their products, it may be worth your time to take a look at what they have to offer.

Here are brief reviews of a couple of products I’ve had an opportunity to try out.

NB-30 BatteryFree Wireless Optical Mouse
MSRP $39.95

A4 Tech has created quite an interesting little gadget with their BatteryFree Wireless Optical Mouse. The mouse uses RFID technology to communicate position and button states to a mouse pad which plugs into your USB port. Even more interestingly, the pad transmits power to the mouse through inductance, so that the mouse needs no batteries for power. This results in a mouse with no wires leading out of it and which is far lighter than conventional wireless mice. In fact, it’s a bit lighter than my conventional wired optical mouse. The RFID technology makes it much less likely than Bluetooth that you will ever have interference from other devices, but it does require the use of the pad. For some this may not seem to meet the full definition of “wireless”.

The mouse itself is nice looking. It features a lighted “swoop” along the side and down the center lighting the center button/wheel. The left and right button switches are hidden below a seamless plastic cover that flexes when you click the buttons which leaves the mouse with a very nice, clean look. The wheel/center button is made of a soft material and is slightly convex, making it very comfortable to use. The mouse is very nicely sized and shaped to make it comfortable and although it is small and light it feels good even to my rather large hands.

Setup on XP is the definition of simplicity. Plug in the USB cord, place the mouse on the mat and press the calibrate button and start using it. The mouse stayed properly calibrated through all of the time I was using it, even after reboots and power losses.

As far as resolution goes, it is listed as 620 CPI, which is slightly lower than some high-resolution mice, but it is crisp and responsive. As an acid test, I’ve been using it at home for a couple of weeks now as my only mouse, giving it a workout in not only in practical things but in several games, including first person shooters. Perhaps it may not be up to the standards of the dedicated FPS mice that the online gurus use, but I found the BatteryFree mouse to be just fine for my less-than-l33t abilities. Certainly as good as any wired optical mouse I’ve used and better than most in the same price range. Even though the mouse has to stay on the pad to operate, I never found my self running off the edge of the pad as you often do with non-optical mice. The fact that it’s very light and doesn’t have any cord to snag on things during a critical moment in the game actually made me like it more for playing games than any wired mouse or Bluetooth wireless I’ve tried out.

The mouse and pad can “talk” to each other even when separated by an inch or two, so you could use the mouse with a standard mouse pad or even a thin book on top of the pad. The BatteryFree pad is sealed, so it is immune to spills or dirt, which should eliminate some of the worries about spills or crumbs.

While I was very impressed with the BatteryFree mouse, there are a couple little niggles:

I’ve gotten used to a 5-button mouse, and I really miss the forward/back functionality when I’m web surfing or using digital editing software. There is a newer model that boasts two additional “intelligent” buttons which may be a good choice if you are used to a 5-button mouse. Since A4 also makes a number of mice with even more buttons, including 8-button mice, perhaps we may see even some with a larger number of programmable buttons in the future.

Also, having a USB cord running from a dedicated pad to your computer may not suit your definition of “wireless.” You can’t pick the mouse up and use it on any handy surface like you can with a Bluetooth mouse – but you have to balance that against the BatteryFree mouse’s light weight, the fact that you’ll never have to buy batteries, and the lack of wires coming out of the mouse is a big plus.

I’ve found that the BatteryFree mouse has become my mouse of choice when I’m at the desktop. If you’ve ever wished you could shed the cord on the mouse but don’t mind using the pad, I’d suggest you give the A4 BatteryFree mouse a try.

EasyGo Optical Mouse
MSRP ??

Notebook users seem to have very strongly held opinions about the pointing devices built into the keyboard. There are the eraser stick advocates and the thumb pad advocates. Among the pad users some like the buttons above, some like the buttons below. But regardless of the heated arguments about which pointing device is better, pretty much everyone agrees that a mouse is a better choice than anything that’s built into the keyboard. The problem is that desktop mice are a pain to carry around.

To answer this problem, there have been a variety of mice specifically made for laptops. I’ve tried more than a few of them. The first few mini mice I tried were really too small and weren’t very comfortable. They came with little carrying bags, and if I didn’t get the cord neatly stashed, they would be terribly tangled the next time I pulled them out of my laptop bag. Then I chanced on a couple of mice that used little reels to wind up the cords. This solved the cord problems, but they were still a bit too petite for my hands and, to be honest, they just weren’t very sturdy and didn’t last all that long.

To address this problem, A4 Tech has come up with a nice, simple laptop mouse that I have to admit I’ve fallen in love with.

The EasyGo mouse is a bit bigger than most mice made for laptops. It’s still smaller than a desktop mouse, but it’s crafted to fit nicely in your palm so that you don’t feel like you’re using a toy mouse. It’s an optical mouse so you don’t need a pad or any special surface to use it, and it’s a standard three-button “wheelie” mouse. The wheel made of a soft material and is slightly convex, so it is comfortable to use, and the wheel is illuminated with a bright green light that dims when the mouse isn’t in use. There aren’t hinged buttons like in most mice. Instead the top section of the cover flexes when you press, giving a nice smooth look and crisp tactile clicks when you press. The mouse is slightly hourglass shaped, which gives a perfect place for your thumb to rest while you use the mouse.

To keep the cord from getting tangled, the EasyGo mouse is made to allow you to wind the cord around the “waist” of the mouse and has a space for you to fit the USB plug into the underside of the mouse. The cord stays securely stowed and the total package is barely bigger than the too-tiny laptop-mouse-and-cord-reel combos. It makes for a great compromise of portability and comfort. With an 800 CPI resolution, it’s a very precise mouse, as well.

Everyone who’s tried my EasyGo mouse has liked it, and everyone agrees that the nice, straightforward way of stowing the cord is an elegant solution to cord-tangles. It’s an example of not overcomplicating a problem, and the result is a great mouse for anyone who uses a notebook. It may not have the gadget appeal of some of the notebook mice you’ve seen, but you can’t beat its functionality and with the lime green glow it ain’t bad to look at, either.

http://www.a4tech.com/en/

--Tucker Hatfield
Technology Editor