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A4Tech BatteryFREE Wireless Optical Mouse PDF Print E-mail
Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov   
Wednesday, 20 June 2007



The pad surface is a hard, bumpy, random, silver one. With the light weight of the mouse and slick feet, this ends up being one of the slickest surface/mouse combinations I've come across. I only wish that it was larger. Here you can see it alongside my Logitech MX310 resting on an Xtrac Pro mouse pad which measures 8.5" x 11", the smallest reasonable gaming/professional mat size. I'll let the image speak for itself.

The final feature of the NB-30 is a red activity LED which comes on whenever the mouse is moving. Since the wheel and some of the trim is clear, the optical sensor LED always shines through to a degree. In motion, the brightness doubles. Much like the "run" LED on the mouse pad, it doesn't really serve any purpose other than to look cool. The sensor is rated at 620 CPI (counts per inch), which is slightly less than the notebook model and definitely less than Logitech's mice.

Testing was the same as always: do some work, play some CS:S. In normal work and even in most of the gaming, there's no major difference between it and either Logitech mouse. However, there were more than a few times when I would run out of mouse pad room. The result was not the same as when running out of pad on a regular optical mouse. Because the unit loses power when placed even an inch away from the pad surface, there's a bit of lag and some irregular behavior (can't think of a better way to describe it) that occurs briefly when the mouse comes back into contact with the pad. In the CS:S realm, this translates into death.

It's hard to say that A4Tech's approach is the wave of the future. While the idea of a lightweight, battery-less cordless mouse is an appealing one, the need to always use a specific mouse pad takes away much of the concept's versatility. However, users who despise both corded mice and the weight of their cordless counterparts may find this to their liking. As it stands however, the biggest slap-in-the-face for the NB-30 is the pathetic mouse surface area. It needs to be at least doubled before serious gamers and professionals can take it into consideration.

Pros
  • Novel concept using proven technology
  • Lightweight
  • Oversized, easy to use wheel
  • Great tracking in most situations
  • Comfortable grip
  • Extremely smooth gliding
  • Red LED
Cons
  • Lack of pad surface area leaves much to be desired
  • More grip on the back of the pad is needed
A4Tech's BatteryFREE NB-30 wireless optical mouse and pad is a great concept that falls a tad short in execution, almost exclusively due to the size of the mouse pad. It's even smaller than a lot of standard, sub-$1 generic pads given out as promotional items. On the other hand, if you prefer small pads (by using a higher sensitivity for instance) then this may just fit the bill. If interested, you can pick one up at their online store. Personally, I'm curious to see if a larger version is ever made.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 July 2007 )
 

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