A case of fine badge engineering (Trust Ami Mouse Cordless)

Member Name: isvikthere

Product:	Trust Ami Mouse Cordless
Date:	21/05/03 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: double scroll wheel and four more buttons, cordless so no nasty cable, low battery use

Disadvantages: still has a ball underneath, not fitted for demanding gamers

So I had this A4 tech cordless mouse I was using for some months with pleasure. Drops by my friend one day with an identical looking mouse but this time sporting the Trust badge and colours. My friend had some trouble with it and apparently it was the batteries that came with it that were the culprits. But needless to say, that by seeing the two mice next to one another I was confronted with one of the finer examples of badge engineering, a practice whereby identical products are sold under diferent brands.

As I manage to keep my desk relatively clean I was not that much in need of an optical mouse and, come to think of it, mice that were both balless AND cordless weren't even available yet at the time (spring 2001). However I was very much annoyed with the cable of the mouse I used before this cordless one getting caught behind either the screen, the speakers or the keyboard. In excitement I often give the mouse cable a violent pulll which at one occasion caused the mouse to die on the spot. Therefore I was in dire need of a mouse without a tail (or cable if you prefer). This cordless thing was it for me , whether it sported a Trust or an A4Tech badge, because with no cable, two scroll wheels on top and quickly accessible thumb buttons it came very well equipped. The mouse communicates with a small infrared receiver which you plug in your PS2 mouseport. Therefore you have to make absolutely sure there are no objects between the mouse and the receiver or you get cut off from your PC.

Also both the Trust and the A4tech mouse are sold with 2 plain AAA-size batteries which lasted reasonably long. However I soon replaced those with entry-level rechargeable ones and soon after with high capacity rechargeables. Those gave me an average autonomy of three weeks.

To be perfectly honest if I would have been confronted with the Trustversion of this mouse only I would have hesitated to buy this type of mouse as in the past I had some bad experienc
es with other Trust products which left me the overall impression of being cheap and nasty. Also at the time (second halve of the nineteen nineties) their online driver download services left much to be desired. However this cordless mouse is excellent and durable.

The sole drawback I discovered is that sometimes when playing games the mouse action wasn't always swiftly translated on screen making for some lag. So it's definitely not your best gamers mouse.

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