BlueTrack technology was developed by Microsoft a couple of years ago. Basically it’s better than your typical optical and laser mice because you can use it virtually on any surface such as granite, carpet and wood. Sadly not on glass and mirrored surfaces.
Anyway, I was able to try out one of these mice during a an MSI-ECS and Microsoft Hardware press event and I was impressed with its performance. I tried it on a rough surface, my skin, my shirt and the tracking accuracy didn’t degrade. I also tried a laser mouse and although I can also use it on those surfaces, my cursor would jump all over the screen from time to time.
This one was the Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 (Php2080) which offers 10 months of battery life on a single AA battery. It has a nice rubbery grip on the side and the shape and size feels comfortable in my hand.
So BlueTrack mice sounds really good and all right? But what’s the catch? Well there’s the price. The most basic BlueTrack mouse, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500, costs Php1200. But for a person who uses a laptop most of the time in different surfaces, don’t you think you should invest on a good mouse? Just like investing on a good pair of earphones if you often use your MP3 player.
For gamers, there’s also the SideWinder X8 mouse that has this technology and it costs Php5450 with a worldwide three-year warranty.
So are you most likely invest on a mouse such as this? Or will you keep buying those Php500 wireless mice?
5 comments
How is it better than optical/laser if it doesn’t even work on glass? I used to have a clear-glass tabletop and an A4Tech mouse with Glaser technology, and it worked great. Even the mouse I use now (a regular optical Logitech M215) works flawlessly over uneven cloth (I can mouse on my lap or pillow without a jumpy cursor). I believe it’s more a matter of optics (how the light is processed) than type of light/laser.
I would agree re: the Glaser mice, but the thing with my Glaser mouse was that its performance started degrading over time. It just got to a point where I couldn’t use it on glass anymore — which was totally weird.
I use a Microsoft Wireless Presenter Mouse 8000 (I do a lot of presentations and it doubles as a clicker) and about the best thing I could say about Microsoft mice is that their weight and shape are just about right. My fingers would hurt with el-cheapo PHP500 mice — not so with my Microsoft mouse even with 8-12 hours straight use. That’s enough reason to buy one for me.
I think for normal usage a BlueTrack mice won’t have much that of an advantage but it would if you’re gunning for accuracy and performance if you don’t have a mouse pad with you all the time with your laptop.
Logitech’s Darkfield technology is more superior if you’re going to consider glass surfaces which Microsoft did not think of intentionally when developing BlueTrack due to their survey of people using their laptops on glass counters.