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I’ve been a PowerBook G4 (12″) owner since shortly after they came out. I *love* my PowerBook and when it reaches it’s effective end-of-life, I’ll be getting another one. One thing that is really fantastic, that many people overlook, is the incredible utility associated with the built-in Bluetooth. When it comes to frequent relocation of the PowerBook, it’s nice to have wireless connections to the majority of the peripherals that you use for I/O. Especially the keyboard and mouse. (Illustrated).

I use[d] it for syncing my [old] mobile phone (via iSync) [and am waiting for OS/X 10.4 and the inclusion of support for SyncML based mobile phones to get this functionality back]. I also use it extensively for GPRS connectivity, when applicable and when roaming isn’t a factor. I have an excellent data plan on my mobile provider.

Perhaps the real icing on the cake is when you are traveling or frequently working with the PowerBook in different locations. In these cases, it’s really nice to have a keyboard or mouse available to use. Especially if you don’t have to worry about wires. To this end, I’ve tried quite a few bluetooth mice. I settled on the Apple Keyboard fairly quickly, but the mouse dilemma is a different story all together.

Comming from a UNIX background, and in particular, an X-windows background (which has nothing to do with OS/X whatsoever — X is a protocol for rendering graphics and window items over a network), I miss the 3-button mouse. Lately I’ve grown accustom to the 5-button mouse (aka 3-button mouse with scroll-wheel).

The X-window world makes copious use of all three buttons. Typically, the main use is selection, copy and paste; all these are handily taken care-of by Mac OS/X’s nearly universal implementation of Command-X, Command-C and Command-V. The nearly ubiquitous keystrokes for the cut, copy and paste that have been with us since Mac OS. (Yes, Mac OS 1.0).

The only problem with the Apple Mouse is that it has only one button. In *all* other respects it is a truly *fine* mouse and I wish Apple would just sell a version with 3-buttons and a scroll wheel. Because of this deficiency for my decidedly non-Mac application requirements (namely Ethereal and a few other fine non-native applications that are important to my work), I have tried quite a few other Bluetooth mice.

The list so far includes:

* Apple Wireless Mouse,
* Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer for Bluetooth, and;
* Logitech MX900,
* MacMice Bluetooth, and;
* Bluetooth Mouse FT-BT21

My general experiences are summed up in the paragraphs that follow.

Apple Wireless Mouse

Once again, this is a fine mouse. Well built, long battery life and the batter life indicator works right within the Apple Control Panel. Integrated power button / lens shade is a nice touch. In short, this is a fine example of the design prowess of the Apple world. If only it had more buttons.

IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth®

What a lofty name! I guess if you’re Microsoft, and you introduced a whole line of “Blue” Mice, you might need to go all out when naming your Bluetooth mouse so people wouldn’t get confused. This is a nice mouse, but it suffers from a few fatal flaws for the mobile traveler, and in my opinion a few additional flaws that are not related to the mobile professional at all.

Firstly, the mouse is huge. Did I mention huge? Definately not compatible with a slim travel bag. ( I should mention that the version I have lacks the tilt-wheel, apparently those weren’t *en Vogue* when I purchased mine).

Secondly, the mouse has *no* on-off switch, any motion near the LED/photo-diode will result in the mouse activating and dramatically shorten your battery life.

Thirdly, the mouse seems to ’sleep’ after a relatively short interval, causing the host computer to ‘lose track’ of the mouse. Not to fear, a quick wiggle and the mouse reconnects to the host, but not without problems:

Fourthly, the mouse seems to buffer all motion while disconnected. Therefore, in the example given above, when you discover that you have lost connectivity, you give the mouse a little shake of varying violence until it wakes up. Thereupon, the mouse diligently sends all the stored motion commands to the host computer and your mouse cursor does a ‘walkabout’. It goes far beyond Brownian motion simulation and if you were unfortunate (or stupid) enough to click while doing the wiggle-dance, you’re about to be subjected the the random spastic dance *plus errant clicks*. The effects can be quite devastating for the uninitiated. I watched my wife drag her home folder to another volume accidentally, all under the drunken influence of the random walk. This is a *serious* annoyance and effectively eliminates this otherwise well-designed (physically) mouse from the competition.

Logitech MX900

Physically very similar to the Microsoft device mentioned above, but it has the following refinements that really work in it’s favour:

* Recharging stand and built-in rechargable batteries,
* On-Off Switch, and;
* Long lived connections (eliminating the random walk problem).

MacMice The Mouse BT

I haven’t played with this one yet. It’s potentially the overall winner if it doesn’t have sleep and random-walk problems since it is physically so similar to the handy and elegant Apple Mouse. I’ll try one of these if the F21-BT doesn’t work out.

Bluetooth Mouse FT21-BT

Tiny. Really tiny. Might even be too tiny. But so far it really works well, so this is the current wining travel mouse. No random walk problems so far.