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back to article Mobee Magic Charger

Anyone who uses a wireless mouse has been there: the moment when you push or prod it and nothing happens - the battery has died. If you're smart you have as many rechargeables as the mouse takes in there, and if you're really smart you have the same number again sitting in the charger, ready for use. Mobee Magic Charger …

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  1. Neil Brown

    £45

    For another wire on the desk, and for something which, if the review unit represents those on general sale, does not seem particularly well moulded.

    For £10, I could perhaps be tempted, but £45 is a heck of a lot of money for that.

    (In any case, if I switch the mouse off at night / when I'm not using it, I have no problems with the operating battery life - I get a month or so between recharges, and then simply recharge the batteries overnight.)

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  2. Fuzz

    Get a decent mouse?

    My logitech does 18 months on a single set of batteries.

    Software on the computer tells me when the battery is getting low to give me plenty of time to plan a recharge or buy some new batteries.

    One of the points of having a wireless mouse is to reduce desk clutter, this just increases it.

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  3. Jolyon

    Debretts

    Not sure I wouldn't just as rather have a wired mouse as a wired mouse charger.

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  4. Hardcastle the ancient
    Stop

    What is wrong with wire?

    I thought we were supposed to be saving the planet? not stuffing more and more batteries in things?

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    1. tommy060289
      Reply Icon

      surely rechargeable batteries are good for the planet

      Unless I've made a grave error, I certainly throw away a heck of a lot less rechargeable batteries than I do their disposable cousins?

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      1. Paul Shirley
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        you aren't doing it right *enough* ;)

        I probably do throw away more rechargeables than disposable batteries. The only disposables we ever have are the freebies thrown in with new gadgets and they end up lasting years in various remotes! Some of the recent gadgets came with rechargeables anyway.

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  5. Richard 74
    Pint

    £45?!

    Battery charger + batteries from Duracell, Energiser etc = around £15.

    That comes with 4 batteries, meaning that when the current batteries run out of juice, I can just swap them and carry on. Rather than put my mouse to dock for a few hours and be unable to use it.

    My old Logitech G7 came with two rechargeable battery packs and a USB charger for them. Just swap over when you run out. They didn't last long (few years old, by now the charge is about a days use) but it worked easily enough and never left me short of charge.

    Yes, sure, you can charge this mouse over night. But what if you forget? And it runs out in the middle of the day? My mouse takes 2 rechargeable AAAs, and they last for a few months. For the price of this you could buy the charger, the batteries, my wireless mouse and keyboard bundle (Logitech Wave) and still have change for some alcohol!

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    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      My G7s are still working flawlessly

      Got them in 2005 and loved them immediately. Best mice I have ever had, and most practical as well.

      And since they've been working since 2005, they have to be the most robust wireless rodents I have ever had.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another constant power drain

    This charger unit appears to be constantly pulling power from somewhere. It reads to me that this is a gimick rather than being something that the really energy conscious would get involved with.

    I'm still on wired mice because I believe they're kinder to the environment; less power usage and no batteries to throw away.

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  7. stucs201
    FAIL

    Oh dear, so much wrong here

    So many places where people have failed to think on this one:

    1) The original failure. Why doesn't the mouse come with a charging dock in the first place? Every wireless mouse I've ever bought came with one. Never had a problem with running out of charge unless I've forgotten to put the mouse away for several days in a row (one of my wireless mice solved even this by having exchangable batteries despite having a charging dock).

    2) A USB powered mouse charger? So the obvious assumption is the charger is powered off the computer? Except you want the charger powered when the computer is off and you're not using the mouse, not when the computer is on and the mouse isn't in the charger because you're using it. OK you can get a USB adaptor that plugs into the wall, but thats yet another thing to buy.

    3) Why wireless? Whats wrong with a couple of metal contacts? Works fine on my wireless mice. A little more efficient that wireless charging.

    4) If you are going for wireless power to the mouse then why use it to charge it? Why not power it directly? Put the charger in (or under) the mouse mat. At this point USB power starts to make sense too, since you need power when the computer is on (not when its off). Now take it a step further, if you've got a USB wire running to the mat to power the mouse then put the reciever in the mat too. Reciever is now much closer to the mouse (especially compared to a plug in the back of a tower under a desk), so less chance of signal problems as an added bonus.

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    1. Sooty
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      step 5?

      realise that having a wire from the pc to the mousemat, to wirelessly power both the mouse and the bluetooth reciever, could be made much cheaper, simpler and more reliable, by connecting the wire directly to the mouse.

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      1. stucs201
        Reply Icon
        Facepalm

        re: step 5

        Except the mouse moves, the mousemat doesn't.

        A wire running to the mousemat can be routed neatly once and any slack tucked away out of sight. A wire running to the mouse moves around with the mouse and can get caught on stuff.

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    2. Dale 3
      Reply Icon

      Charging mouse mat

      When I saw the headline I thought I would get an article about someone finally making a mousemat with a built-in charging coil. Nope. Looks like that patent is still waiting to be grabbed.

      The possible advantages are smaller or lower capacity batteries making the mouse lighter, and it can be continuously charged. Or, thanks to USB to the mat, it can switch off the mat until the charge drops below 50%, to avoid running the charger constantly.

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  8. Paul Shirley

    A4Tech had a simpler approach

    A4Tech cracked this one last century: put a charger in the wireless receiver dongle.

    Not quite as elegant but with major advantages:

    : you have a spare pair of cells on constant trickle charge without having to remember to dock the mouse overnight. Its pretty hard forget to put the spares in the charger when swapping out.

    : forget to dock and let it run down and you'll end up waiting for the Apple mouse to recharge. I get to just swap batteries as normal whenever they die, or pre-emptively if I could be bothered.

    : its dirt cheap. About £45 cheaper.

    : without the charger circuit it uses AA cells for 2-3x longer life between charges

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  9. alcopops
    WTF?

    Have I missed something

    Couldn't you just get a rechargeable mouse with cradle? I have one, it cost me about £7 from ebuyer a couple of years back. I know people who purchase Apple generally are happy to get ripped off for their tech, but £45!

    If they were to invent one that charged itself off your movement motion, now that would be worthwhile!

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  10. Mr Floppy
    Headmaster

    NiCads?

    The picture are NiMH batteries and not NiCd.

    That's good that you can replace them because a good pair of eneloops actually will have a nominal charge of 800mA. Neat gimmick

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  11. lawndart

    How about...

    A mouse with a little ball in a socket on the underside? You use the movement of the mouse to rotate the ball which then spins a couple of wheels in the mouse. The wheels can be connected to an armature which can be used to generate the power the wireless connection needs. As an added bonus, you could also use the wheels' positions to track the movement of the mouse!

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  12. Wortel
    Meh

    Heh.

    Well sorry, but however neat wireless charging is (instead of the 'yet another plug' syndrome with most chargers), I don't see the point for a wireless mouse right now. The charger would need to be able to charge other devices too, and a single purpose battery pack isn't going to do that.

    My Logitech VX Nano battery life is measured in months on one set (two AAA cells, 5+ months) and gives plenty of visible warning (top side LED will light up red when 'low' reached) before conking out. That's plenty of time for a cheap solar charger to charge another pair while left in the window facing out.

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  13. Rick Brasche

    did the wireless keyboard and mouse thing

    was all "l33t' in the early 'Oughties. Until the base station charger went out, rendering both the keyboard and mouse nonfunctional. Went back to wired and happily hack and game with a single USB cord to the PC (mouse goes into the keyboard)

    Only wireless keyboard need I have is running the multimedia PC serving the living room telly. And that's wireless mostly by necessity.

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