As a technology power-user, any device that will improve or increase the use of technology in my job or lifestyle is well worth trying. I’ve tried several dozen different mice and trackpads over the years, so the opportunity to test the Smartfish: Whirl Mini Notebook Mouse was a welcome one. The name is a real mouthful though, so I’ll just refer to it as the Whirl Mini. 

At first glance, this was a surprisingly large mouse, despite being a “mini” intended for notebooks. Since I use both a notebook and a desktop, it was a reasonable test to try it with both systems. Obviously, there wasn’t any difference… with just one minor exception. Notebooks are known for having a low profile (thin, light, compact, etc). Older wireless mice typically have a large adapter sticking out of a USB port, but more recently, companies have moved to the more compact USB mini adapters, and the Whirl Mini has done the same. Basically, this means that the USB adapter for this mouse is really tiny, so you don’t see a big stick out the side of your laptop. But what sets this one apart a little bit, is the range and responsiveness of that adapter. Many mini adapters that aren’t Bluetooth simply have poor range, or can’t pass through too many objects. Namely, the smaller the adapter, the less powerful they tend to be. With other mice, if your adapter is plugged in under your desk, they often either can’t pass the signal through the desk at all, or they experience erratic performance. The Whirl Mini’s adapter had no problem passing its signal through multiple pieces of furniture, and worked flawlessly even when the mouse was 15 or 20 feet away.

But as for the mouse itself, it really took a bit of getting used to. I do quite a bit of graphics work, so testing the mouse’s sensitivity in Photoshop was a necessity for me. Unlike many mice, this one had no trouble with precise cursor movement, even though I’ve been using it on a slightly reflective plastic desk mat that covers the wood surface of my desk. In fact, the precision was some of the best that I’ve experienced.

While it’s a little small for my hand (it is a notebook mouse, after all), it was, as I mentioned, surprisingly large; larger than most notebook mice, but clearly smaller than a traditional desktop mouse. I think for most people though, this is a nice half way point, as it can be used for either. The size perception however, may be due to the extra height that gives this mouse its unique qualities.

The main body of the mouse gives off the feeling that it’s floating above the desktop, with a smaller foot underneath, and a ball joint connecting the two. This makes for a unique holding position that is intended to alleviate wrist and arm tension, by allowing the mouse to tilt left and right, or back and forth to suit the angle of your hand at any time. While I can see how this would relieve tension for most people, I personally found that it actually increased the tension on my wrist slightly, as I had to keep my arm elevated higher to use it. This may be due to this being a notebook mouse, with a larger hand using it, or it may simply be a result of being a heavy mouse user in graphics, where more precise usage is necessary, as opposed to the more generic daily use that the average person would require. I found it most comfortable to simply tilt the mouse up and to the right to straighten out my wrist, and leaving it in that position. That may, perhaps be its best feature: that you could angle it to the position you like most, and then simply avoid tilting it after that.

Another excellent feature is the lack of requiring a driver to be installed. This is often a pain point for many people: trying to install drivers for a new piece of hardware. So the fact that the mouse simply starts working immediately, just by plugging it in is a welcome feature. However, that same feature also creates a small problem: while the mouse has a scroll wheel (for vertical scrolling) and the wheel can tilt left and right (for horizontal scrolling), the lack of any driver also means that there’s no way to adjust the speed at which the mouse scrolls in either direction, nor is there a way to control the scrolling acceleration. These settings are features common to many advanced mice, so you’re left with only being able to use what your operating system supports. In my case, testing on both Mac OS X and on Windows 7, I could easily control the wheel’s vertical scrolling with the standard operating system’s control panel, but I had no way of controlling the horizontal scroll. And sadly, in applications like Photoshop or Excel, where 2-axis scrolling is particularly helpful, the tilt of the wheel resulted in extremely slow horizontal movement. It scrolls… it just takes a long time doing it.

Overall, the Whirl Mini is a really fantastic design, and its incredible precision definitely makes it worthwhile for avid mouse users. Although compact compared to most desktop mice, its extra size compared to most notebook mice seems, in my opinion, to make it a little less practical for users seeking extremely compact devices, but there’s no problem with using this, and carrying it around in a typical laptop bag.

Available at: GetSmartfish.com
Price: $ 49.95

*DISCLAIMER: I was sent items by Smartfish Technologies to help facilitate my review. Any opinions stated are strictly my own(or in this case my husbands).*