Belkin Bluetooth Mouse with USB Adapter

Average customer rating: 2.0

Belkin Bluetooth Mouse and Apple don't mix
Trivial mac install, extremely poor OSX compatibility
Pretty good on OS X
Poor Macintosh OSX Compatibility

Listmania:

Bluetooth Computer Mouse

Belkin Bluetooth Mouse with USB Adapter

Manufacturer: Belkin Components
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B0000SX3D8
2003-10-16

Related Categories:

Wireless Mice

Optical Mice

Bluetooth

Wireless Mice

Optical Mice

Bluetooth

Computer Accessories

| Belkin | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics

Networking Cables

USB Cables

Wired Networking

| Belkin | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics

Mice & Keyboards

Home Office Electronics

| Electronics | Categories | Target

Product Description

Belkin brings you new products using Bluetooth technology, the interface that gives you fast, simple control of your computing devices-without cables. Long a leader in peripherals and accessories, Belkin Bluetooth Wireless Optical Mouse is a great way to add wireless input convenience to your computer. It allows you to navigate your desktop with optical precision from anywhere within 10 meters of your desktop or laptop computer.Designed to fit in the right hand, the Bluetooth Wireless Optical Mouse enhances your efficiency with both ergonomic comfort and advanced features. It sets up easily and requires no separate desktop receiver. Simply use the Mouse with a PC enabled with Bluetooth technology, which supports the HID profile. Belkin's included Bluetooth USB Adapter enables your desktop or notebook computer with Bluetooth technology, allowing you to connect up to seven other Bluetooth devices.

Customer Reviews:

Belkin Bluetooth Mouse and Apple don't mix.......2005-04-13

Belkin advertises their F8T041-B Blutooth Mouse as compatible with Apple products if you have OS 10.2.6 or above, but it is not full featured. Don't be lured into thinking it has 4 buttons plus a scroll wheel. After 15 days of email and a 50 minute phone call, I was told by their support staff that my 2 buttons and the scroll wheel is the best it can do.

Okay, so they don't make all the features for Apple that they do for Windows users, what else is new? My only gripe is that it is advertised on their product box and elswhere that it works with OS X. It doesn't mention that if you pay the same amount of money and use it on an Apple computer you don't get all the features.

I had to pay shipping to receive this product and now must pay to return it. None of that money will be returned to me. I hope Belkin makes a lot of money making products for OS X. But I also hope they make the products up to the grade of their advertisements.

Trivial mac install, extremely poor OSX compatibility.......2004-09-14

The lack of documentation was no surprise, nothing has MAC documentation and that's ok. The install was pretty easy. I took the mouse out of the box, turned it on and clicked the bluetooth icon on my Mac to do the pairing. Configuring the side and scroll buttons to drive expose was also trivial. However...

The connection is intermittent. I get the "connection list" warning every 15-30 seconds. The mouse may or may not be connected after a 30-45 second pause to type (much like I am doing now) and may or may not require a few seconds to reconnect. Its not usable. So I changed the batteries and fideled around with my Bluetooth settings. No joy. I even rebotted my Mac. Still no joy.

When Belkin cares about the Mac market enough to include documentation, I'll care about their product enough to figure out how to use it. I mean, its almost as bad as open source software: it might work if you set it up right, but there's no documentation. Until then, it goes back to the store and I am back to either a bluetooth one button mouse or another wireless standard.

Update:

I went back and bought the Microsoft wireless mouse. Its not bluetooth, so its not as handy with my PowerPook with built-in Bluetooth, but it works and has 3 buttons!

Pretty good on OS X.......2004-04-02

Although there's no documentation about OS X, it's simple to set this thing up (in 10.3.3): just open the Keyboard & Mouse preferences, choose Bluetooth, and click "Set up new device..." and push the connect button on the bottom of the mouse.

And while there's no OS X support for the third (thumb) button, you're still a right-click and a scroll wheel ahead of Apple's own Bluetooth mouse offering... for less money.

Poor Macintosh OSX Compatibility.......2004-01-06

Zero documentation for installation and setup on Mac -- I had to download a PDF from their website and ultimately email Belkin Tech Support for help.

Once I got the mouse basically working, I asked them how to configure the various buttons. Out of the box, the side button does nothing. Belkin told me "We don't have any special software to program the buttons but you may be able to find a third-party application"!! Clearly their Mac OSX support is an afterthought. My advice: Wait and buy one that really IS compatible.

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