Last month Kensington introduced MP230L Performance mouse - a wireless mouse with variety of functions and comforts for the home as well as work environment. The MP230L is sold in only one design - a black gloss finish with a lower wide black grip, which maintains an ergonomically correct hand posture on either hand.
To tackle this review, I’ve taken the MP230L with me to work for the last couple of weeks since it has been in my possession. And I found myself subconsciously resting my hand on it due to its form fitting my hand; in the time I’ve had this mouse, I’ve spent hours doing forms/reports with it as well as other applications that require frequent mouse use. It handled sufficiently well as it glided smoothly across the table and maintaining good onscreen interaction equaling performance of some of the gaming mouse I’ve used. Speaking of gaming, I did manage to squeeze in some non-mouse, critical gaming like World of Warcraft and it responds nicely; but this MP230L is geared for an office/school/home office environment, even though, it did bring two design features from gaming - the side button and DPI adjustment, if you’re not familiar, the side buttons are great for quick scrolling up and down a page or document and The DPI buttons on top control pointer speed from when you need to shoot through pages, to slowing it down and to draw a line in CAD.
The MP230L’s 2.4Ghz USB dongle is standard plug and play device making it easy to use on other peoples PC’s. And as far as distance is concerned, I used the MP230L about 15 ft. away from the dongle while using a projector, which made my life all that much easier. I haven’t gone past that 15 ft. mark just because there hasn’t been a need but I’m sure 20 ft. is easily attainable.
One of the highlighted features is the Track on glass Sensor which makes it easy to use on some of those difficult desk surfaces. My best example are those black/grey gloss counters or tables that some might have at their jobs; the more common stock laser mouse usually ends up on my jeans or book to get decent onscreen interaction, because with a gloss table – that isn’t happening. That plus I’m sure many of you have a habit of your mouse pad somehow “walking off” to who knows where. I have used the MP230L on a variety of surfaces including glass and it does as promised with no breaks, stutters or non-compliance, allowing me to finish whatever it is I’m doing without the need of a mousepad.
The Bang:
What I like about the MP230L? Three things: first no mouse pad needed; at work we have the black glossy desktops which other computer mice can’t handle. I even tried it on wood, glass, countertops, and even the floor and I didn’t find a surface it wouldn’t work on. Two, it plugged into any computer and worked straight away. Why is this important? Because I feel Lysol isn’t enough to fight what might be lurking deep within the crevices of office equipment handled by many and if I can, I would rather bring my own stuff in when using a general use work pc. Yes I’m quite the germaphobe! And finally it’s wide enough for my paws and very comfortable; I even grabbed it once with my left hand and it didn’t feel foreign to me.
The Slack:
What was missing for me? It needs an extra set of side buttons; I’ve gotten used to using both sides and at times find myself searching for those additional buttons.
So at this point, I’ve given Kensington’s MP230L Performance Mouse heavy usage and found it performing as expected; the design maybe simple but it has what is needed to get through the daily slosh of emails, word docs and other mouse related applications, with the huge plus given that it almost doesn’t discern where it’s being used whether it be wood or glass, this baby is ready to go almost anywhere you need it. And out of TOV 5 stars, I’m giving the Kensington MP230L Performance mouse a TOV 4.5.
