I am a big fan of Bluetooth mice, as they are (usually) easy to setup and are very portable. I don’t like using one of the precious USB ports for the purpose of plugging in a wireless dongle. The dongles, even the ultra small ones, stick out and are easily misplaced or forgotten when you are constantly on the move. I like Apple’s own Magic Mouse well enough, but it comes with its own set of issues – it has very low profile, the touch controls are a bit clumsy, and at nearly $70 it is a bit overpriced. I was hoping that iHome’s mouse would be a viable alternative, but it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

**** Setup ****

Bluetooth mice are relatively straightforward to setup, especially on Macs. However, you need to know where to look for the right setup options. This mouse comes with the instructional booklet, but even that is missing a few key steps or more detailed explanations. A few small screenshots would have definitely been useful. After I had originally connected the mouse I had to disconnect it in order to change a few of its features in the System Preferences, like the scrolling speed and the primary button. Overall, there were a few kinks in the setup process that might in principle be avoidable. I am not sure if the problem is has more to do with Apple’s software and its preference for Apple hardware though.

**** Design ****

This is probably my biggest disappointment with this mouse. It is a very small mouse with a very low profile. I think it is even smaller than the Magic Mouse. It is not meant to be used for prolonged periods of time, hence it is best used as a secondary pointing device. This is not so much of a problem for me since I use trackpads with both my Mac Mini and MacBook Air, but if you are primarily relying on your mouse as the pointing device you will be straining your wrist in no time.

**** Connectivity ****

It took some fiddling with the on/off and the sync buttons before the computer recognized the mouse. Furthermore, the connectivity seems to get lost every once in a while, something that often happens with the Bluetooth peripherals in my experience. However, the connection usually gets reestablished immediately, and there is very little delay and interruption of activity.

**** Conclusion ****

If you were looking for a travel mouse to use with your MacBook, then this would be a decent choice. This mouse is about half the price of Magic Mouse, but, IMHO, it is worth that much too. There are a few Mac-specific Bluetooth mice out there that seem to provide a better value for the money, but I have not used any of them so I can’t comment on how good they might be. I’d give this mouse 3.5 stars – it’s a decent product with a lot of room for improvement.