Microsoft Bluetooth WS3-00001 Surface Mouse

Nice mouse. Smooth movement and scrol wheel works great.

When I bought this mouse a couple weeks ago I had done enough research into it and knew exactly what I was getting prior to buying it: a very simple mouse with no frills or extras to it. The aesthetic is what mattered to me and was a joint purchase with the Surface Keyboard. The major areas that actually factored into my rating were how well it operated, how it felt in the hand, and how the buttons and scroll wheel felt. Review may be modified later once battery power has been adequately determined since it's too early to tell.Operation - No real operational issues therein. I do feel it's a little bit sluggish once in a while when it's been sitting idle for a bit and then moved, but this is expected behavior of nearly all Bluetooth devices that have been sitting idle. The thing works as a standard Bluetooth device and will pair with pretty much everything, be it your phone, tablet, Mac, or regular PC/laptop with Bluetooth capability.Feel - The contours feel pretty good in the hand and the weight just right, if only on the light side of things. It glides pretty well over most surfaces, but I would still recommend a mouse pad for best results.Buttons - Clicks feel just right with a light press to operate while still resting one's fingers on both without fear of mis-clicking something.Scroll Wheel - The wheel is the only thing made of metal on it. The scrolling has good feedback, but the middle-click feels a little tight. This is probably intended in order to prevent accidental clicks while scrolling.In the end, it's just a very standard, very simple designer Bluetooth mouse. What you see is what you get here and the aesthetic and feel would really need to be the only reason for buying it. It's perfect for an office environment and/or those who are seeking to create a minimalist desk, especially when paired with the Surface Keyboard.

I personally love this mouse! It is really ergonomic and the surface texture feels good in the hand. The color also works really well with the surface studio computer and keyboard. I tend to like a simple mouse that doesn't have too many functions and this is very minimal and easy to use. The scroll wheel feels really nice as well as the click feel, not to mention the sound is a good click that isn't too loud.The battery life is great and very rarely need to change the batteries, maybe once or twice a year if you are using it a moderate amount. I don't do a lot of gaming with it, mainly work. That being said, I'm sure it would be great for casual gaming if needed. Otherwise it is a great all-around mouse that would be a great addition to any desk setup.

I spend a significant amount of time with my mouse in my hand, whether on a desktop, a laptop, or now (hooray) on a Surface tablet. Touchscreens and scroll pads are fine for casual everyday use but nothing beats a mouse for productivity, whether while working with spreadsheets, long lists or graphic editing.I go through computer mice at a ridiculous pace, they rarely last more than 6 months. I used to be married to Logitech mice because of how they feel in my hand but I got to the point of being dissatisfied with their build quality and poor support. The Sculpt Bluetooth model was the first Microsoft mouse I bought in many years and I was so pleased with it I bought two more of them. I was only slightly displeased that the scroll wheel didn't feel as solid as the metal one on my Logitech and the fact that the Microsoft was slightly smaller than I preferred.So I was excited to see this new model from Microsoft in a minimalistic shape and now featuring a metal scroll wheel and the promise of having a more comfortable shape.I this new mouse a lot. The extra weight of the metal scroll wheel is much more conducive to quick flicks of the finger to send the cursor through numerous spreadsheet cells at a time or several web pages, without overshooting. As far as the shape, let's be realistic ... everyone will have a different idea of what feels good in their hand. My preference is toward larger. The shape of this Surface mouse is not larger but different and after a little getting used to, it feels pretty solid.While this is sold as a mouse designed for the Surface there is no reason it can't be used for any Bluetooth-enabled device. It is backward compatible with previous Bluetooth protocols. I carry the mouse with me and use it with my desktop, laptop and tablet without batting an eye, it just works.Microsoft also promises longer battery life. That hasn't been an issue with any of their mice I own, they seem to run forever on a set of batteries, but I will gladly take longer battery life.The $50 price is about right if you are used to paying more for style but honestly the mouse isn't that much different from the essentially the Sculpt mouse dressed in basic black that is often discounted for less than half of what the Surface Mouse sells for.SOME THINGS TO KNOWWhile the length and width dimensions are almost identical the Surface mouse is more of a rectangle with rounded corners while the Sculpt Mouse is more egg shaped. The Sculpt Mouse seems much taller, but in reality it is only taller by about ¼”. It just “seems” much larger. The Sculpt Mouse also seems much heavier and in fact it is, the actual weight is 4.65 oz vs the Surface mouse at 3.20 oz. Other differences is that the Sculpt Mouse has the blue “Windows” tab that I thought was so cool when I bought it and then ended up never using because I was always brushing against it accidentally. Unlike the Sculpt Mouse three active buttons on the Surface Mouse (left click, right click and scroll wheel click) require a bit more pressure to activate. I think that’s a good thing … one of the most frustrating things about the Sculpt Mouse is that I was always clicking the left button by mistake by simply resting my finger on it. Not so with the Surface Mouse. On the bottom of the Surface Mouse there is only one tiny on/off/pair button, no slide switch to turn the mouse off. I like that the ring around the entire perimeter of the bottom of the Surface Mouse is a Teflon-like glide surface, it keeps the mouse from wiggling side-to-side and also helps prevent gunky build-up on the glide pad that plagues so many mice.. Finally, a subtle touch, the battery cover is magnetized. That’s can be a minor convenience to avoid a fragile plastic clip from breaking some day but it can also be a very small concern if you happen to lay your mouse on top of a credit card or something else with a mag stripe.Other than physical feel of the device what’s most important about any mouse is how well it tracks. As a photographer/graphic designer I have a graphics tablet handy for any artistic-related tasks but it seems there is always a need at times for a mouse to track with high precision. The Surface Mouse is more precise, especially when tracing complex curves, but just as important is that the Bluetooth signal “wakes up” fractionally faster than the Sculpt Mouse so it doesn’t have that miniscule lag time before the cursor moves. It is evident that Microsoft invested a little more into designing the Surface Mouse than the Sculpt Mouse and I dare say a lot of other lower-priced pointing devices I use.I like this mouse enough for it to earn 4-stars but it’s just not THAT good that it should cost $50, hence the price is one strike against it.

The fit and finish is on par with the Apple Magic Mouse 2, and maybe even a step above. It doesn't have the aluminum base, but the plastic is finished in a finely matte frosted treatment that makes it feel almost like the Alcantara material they use for the Surface Keyboards.The metal scroll wheel literally feels like a high end watch crown. Like smooth, heavy, well-engineered metal. If you're like me, you'll find yourself scrolling up and down even when you don't need to.I also really enjoy the aesthetic of both this mouse and the companion keyboard. They look timeless and modern atop a desk - I just wish they made the keyboard in a mechanical version.I've tried gaming mice in the past and found them to be either too bulky, over-engineered, too small, or some combination of the three. This mouse feels large enough to have been designed for actual human hands, without having too much bulk on top. It's not a gaming mouse, but I have no issues gaming with it at all. It also happens to be as precise and smooth as any gaming mouse I've ever used - and doesn't require any proprietary software to get it tuned in. It works right out of the box.