Of Mice and Men - a Matter of Trust (Trust Ami Mouse Mono Scroll)

Member Name: mattygroves10

Product:	Trust Ami Mouse Mono Scroll
Date:	01/07/05 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Useful software, inexpensive

Disadvantages: Bog standard wheeled, corded mouse . Stupid instruction booket

Over my working life, I have used my fair share of mice (I even used to keep pet mice, before computer mice were common...but that's another story). I have used single button mice (back in my Mac days), double button, single scroll, ball and optical mice.

As it happens, though, I am not a mouse aficionado. Yes, I do like optical mice, as they have no ball to get clagged up, and I really do like the scroll wheel. However, I prefer using the keyboard whenever I can (as I can touch type), and so have never actually gone out to buy a mouse (I just tend to use whatever comes with the computer).

Here at work, however, we are in the dark ages. I am typing this out on a (horrors of horrors) Windows 95 machine. Many folks here don't have little scroll wheels on their mice. However, when I had computer problems, I got the opportunity to smile sweetly at the IT lad, and ask for a curvy keyboard and a scroll mouse.

Many scroll mice aren't compatible with Windows 95 (apparently), however, this little baby came with a disk and an instruction booklet, confirming that it would indeed scroll. So, installing the disk, I rocked and rolled...

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Appearance
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My mouse is beige (needs a clean at the moment) at the top, black on the sides and bottom, with a little purple wheel. It has the Trust logo on it. Turning it over, the ball (which needs cleaning from time to time) is purple. Clearly, we have a bit of a theme going on here.

The packaging contains the mouse, a floppy disk, and an unfeasibly large instruction manual (which informs you that the packaging contains the above, and, "if anything is missing or damaged, please contact one of the Trust Care Centers. You can find more information at the back of this instruction manual." What happens if it's the instruction manual that's missing??)

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Starting up
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The system requirements are very basic - 486 processor, PS/2 port, 16mb RAM, floppy drive, Windows 95, and, of course, a computer.

As mentioned above, a 3.5 inch floppy comes with the mouse. This contains the driver and software (on Windows 95, the scroll button won't work without the software, though the mouse itself will). This takes just seconds to load, and is all very self explanatory – it more or less loads itself.

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Using
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Obviously, you can use this mouse as you would any other. It scrolls, it rolls, the buttons (left and right) work as you'd expect them to. For the record, the mouse rolls smoothly, the cord is of a sufficient length (this is important, as my computer is under my desk), it is sufficiently robust (I have dropped it once or twice). In other words, it is as good as any other mouse of similar price, function and quality. It is slightly shaped to the hand (I am right handed), so whilst it claims to be right and left-handed, I would think it would be less comfortable for lefties.

What's different about the Trust mouse is not so much the mouse itself, but the software that comes with it. With most mice, if you press the scroll wheel (the little wheel between the left and right mouse buttons), you get the autoscroll function - your cursor turns into little arrows, and you can whizz up and down your document or website or whatnot without pressing any buttons.

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The Nifty Bits
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With THIS mouse, you can program how you want that wheel pressing to work. In fact, when you press the wheel (if you are using the 'lucky jump' option), you get a little menu with fourteen little icons (and a bigger bit at the top with www.trust.com on it). These buttons allow you to do all sorts of things - and you can choose from lots of functions. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Once you've set up the mouse, you can access the Trust mouse menu either from the little icon that appears in the taskbar, or from the Control Panel. Here, you get the usual mouse options (left or right handed use, speed of double click, speed of scrolling and so forth). You also get a settings tab. Here you can set what icons appear on the 'Lucky Jump' menu. The functions include the aforementioned autoscrolling - but you can also have buttons to take you to the My Documents folder, to open the Internet Explorer, to run a DOS program - pretty much anything you can do from your Start menu (and you can have a button to take you to your Start menu).

It is quite straightforward to set up, as on the Set-up menu each icon has a description that does actually describe what it does (i.e. Control Panel), and the icon is the usual Windows icon for that task.

I use the 'Lucky Jump' feature a lot (though mostly to launch IE). It saves me (especially as I'm using Windows 95) from going to the Start menu or minimising all open windows each time I want to open a new window.

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The Good and the Bad
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I have been using the Trust Ami Mouse for some time now (around 4 months), and have had almost no problems with it.

The software has crashed on me once or twice, but then, my computer crashes on an alarmingly regular basis, so I am willing to give Trust the benefit of the doubt here.

The instruction booklet seems enormous (it's playing card size, but is quite thick), but in fact that's only because it comes in 14 languages. The English section is nine pages long, and includes set up instructions, technical specifications, maintenance (cleaning the ball), and trouble shooting.

It also includes safety instructions. Being unfamiliar with mouse-caused accident, I paid especial attention to these. It is just as well I didn’t invest in that floating mouse mat. The booklet helpfully tells me not to 'use the devise in a damp environment, such as a bathroom, a damp basement, a swimming pool, etc.' All I can say is Trust clearly doesn't trust its customers! Trust also thank me for using their product, and say: "We wish you hours of fun with it"...but not in the swimming pool. Obviously.

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Prices, availability and recommendation
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Trust advertise the Trust Ami Pro Single Scroll Mouse on their website at 4.95 euros. Elsewhere on the web, they seem to go for as little as just under £2.00 - although you may find the postage a killer. PC World don't seem to carry these (at least according to their website). (As an aside - just doing my research here, goodness, I didn't realise you could pay £50.00 + for mice!)

All in all, hardware-wise, it is an inexpensive, bog standard wheeled (not optical) three button mouse. The software, however, gives it an extra edge over many similar devices.

I'd recommend it if your usual mouse broke, or you wanted a second mouse, though I wouldn't necessarily search far and wide for it.

Oh - and remember, mice and water don't mix.

Summary: Inexpensive, easy to use, basic, silly instruction booklet.