Being the tech enthusiast that I am, I generally review products, apps, or tech concepts that excite me. This sometimes brings readers to ask me if I have encountered a product that did NOT impress me. Over the years I have reviewed many products and the majority of them, once they draw my attention enough to blog about them, did impress me. I have given some negative reviews as well about different apps, but there was always a redeeming factor about anything I reviewed; until now.
A few months back I was on the market for a new mouse for my new Macbook. I of course wanted something that would not ruin the beautiful aesthetics of the Macbook, so my first inclination was to stick with Apple. I looked at Apple’s offering when it came to mice and saw the Mighty Mouse. I immediately tweeted a question asking people what they thought of it and was met with very mixed reactions. What was interesting was that the people who liked it could not tell me why they liked it, they just said they use it and it’s fine. The people who did not like it, REALLY did not like it.
I had the Mighty Mouse stuck in my head so I ignored the negative responses and went ahead and purchased one. Wow was that a mistake. The mouse looks nice, and there you have it, the only positive thing I have to say about it. The shape is not in the least bit ergonomic and it is a pain to work with. It is is flat and the human hand is not. The feel of it is so unnatural in your hand unlike many mice I have used made by other manufacturers. When using the Mighty Mouse you get the feeling that the only thing Apple had in mind when designing the thing was looks. Usability was not considered at all.
The mouse’s main advantage is its 360 degree trackball. Totally useless. It is too small and once again, very uncomfortable. It stops responding every so often due to the dirt it seems to collect. There are endless videos on YouTube instructing people how to clean it, but I am pretty sure that would not be necessary if it had been engineered properly.
The side buttons, which are supposed to function as shortcut buttons that are configurable, are also unusable. They do not actually move, so you do not know if you did or did not press it. It’s like Apple tried to do everything wrong with this mouse, and we all know that when Apple wants something from their products, they get it. Apple is a perfectionist company and this mouse is perfectly horrible.
I do not know if this was a Bluetooth issue but using the mouse with the Macbook, the Bluetooth would disconnect very often and I would need to restart the Bluetooth radio. Highly annoying. Sometimes it would turn out to be the batteries, other times, it was an unknown issue.
Getting down to more details, the battery cover…Oh man is this thing annoying. I had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to open it, no, I am not kidding. Even after watching the video (the fact that such a video exists shows I am not alone), I still could not get it open smoothly, I had to use a knife. No big deal when the batteries last long but when I have to change them every 2 months, it can get very annoying.
I could go on and on about this mouse, but I wont. Bottom line is I bought it 3 months ago and I am now selling it, if I can find a buyer. My next mouse will most probably be the Microsoft Arc, a simple mouse that was actually engineered for the human hand. Seems Microsoft do know how to do some things better than Apple, who knew?
-Hillel
I love the scrollball, personally. I will agree about the side buttons, though.
Actually, what you’re describing is not problems with Apple’s mouse, but with your preconceptions and dogmatism. I have no problem using the MM side buttons. I have no problem using the 360° track ball and find its size perfect. I’ve been using a mouse for decades. Optomechanical mice always need cleaning. Deal with it.
The real issue here is you.
Stop whining and grow a pair. If you don’t like one mouse get another. Stop blaming others when YOU didn’t do the research and investigation. Accept some responsibility for your won failings.
Don, thanks for commenting, always appreciate feedback. I guess we can agree to disagree but the bottom line is many people I spoke to felt the same way…Anyway, moving on, I love my Mac, live my iPod, but never getting an Apple mouse again.
Shut up, don. mighty mouse really freaking sucks- all of hilzfulds points are legit. It’s pretty ridiculous that you’d throw out those personal attacks on the author. have some respect.
the mighty mouse does have its upsides, but overall its a very disappointing product. the only reason I still use it is because it came with my imac. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I have an iMac, a powerbook g4, a macbook, huge fan and advocate of apple. but the mighty mouse needs therapy.
@mirywhitehill
Don- Who are you trying to defend here? Why are you being so nasty? Do we have another apple employee posting on our blog? Wouldn’t be the first time…
I don’t understand why Don would be so nasty, but I agree that aspects of the MM are a matter of personal taste. I love the scroll ball, but hate the side buttons. When you a dragging something for a long distance, you may have to pick up the mouse while keeping the left button down. And those stupid side buttons are positioned right where you need to put pressure in order to keep the left button down when the mouse is in the air. So you end up activating the function assigned to the side buttons when you don’t want it. Also, because there is some kind of a sensor instead of a real right button, I find that the mouse misreads right-clicks as left clicks way too often. This is a nightmare in software like Adobe Illustrator! I basically have to disable the right-button and side-button features in order to make the mouse usable. I love my Mighty Mice, but I realize that the design sucks.
You might want to reconsider the purchase of that Arc mouse, though. Are you willing to put up with having the back end fall of the mouse pad and then catch on the end whenever you have to mouse down to the bottom of the screen? I am sure not. The MM has its flaws, but to me the Arc looks like one of the dumbest mouse designs ever conceived.
I thought I was the only one with the problems you mentioned. The darn BlueTooth is always disconnecting and the batteries don’t last. They’re hard to replace because you can’t get your fingernails under the end to pop them up. Just as I was reading your article, my trackball stopped scrolling sideways. It’s annoying how often I have to clean it.
Apple needs to patch the firmware to correct the Bluetooth and battery drain problems, but the trackball and battery changing issues are design problems. I’m to cheap to get another one, though. ~CK
I totally disagree with your review. I’ve used the Mighty Mouse much longer than you have, I’m sure, as I’ve had mine for several years now. I like the Mighty Mouse a lot. You could say that your hands don’t fit it, but I wouldn’t qualify it as being unergonomic. Not everyone has the same kind of hands and likely yours doesn’t work for it. It works very well for mine.
I like the buttons and the side buttons too. The scroll ball is neat. Yes, the scroll ball could use some work but that’s the only flaw, I think.
By the way, I also don’t have any problems opening the battery cover. I think you need to pay closer attention to how it’s done. It’s very simple. Just put the tab downwards and flip the mouse over and the cover opens up.
Mice are very personal things and probably more personal than keyboards (unless you use a special type of keyboard). So if this Mighty Mouse doesn’t fit your hand, go for another kind of mouse.
For sure though, I love my Mighty Mouse. And the neat thing about it is that it can use either one or two batteries.
@chao
just because you (claim to) have used MM longer that the author of this post doesn’t mean you have a more objective opinion of it. In fact, I would argue that it means you have less.
I have no problem with the battery cover, but the batteries are impossible to remove without the use of something thin and pointy (or just banging them out- which is probably not good for the mouse).
I also like the buttons on the side, by the way.
@mirywhitehill