Verbatim Easy Riser Bluetooth Notebook Laser Mouse

The Verbatim Easy Riser Bluetooth Notebook Laser Mouse ($26 street) is a competent mouse that gives you the ease of Bluetooth connectivity, but its key feature?built-in height adjustment?falls flat. It's similar in size to the Editors' Choice Logitech Couch Mouse M515 ($49.99 direct, 4 stars), and even with its foibles, it still offers a decent Bluetooth mouse for less.

Design
The height adjustment may be misleadingly described, as the adjustability isn't so much a matter of setting the height to your personal preference as it is of choosing between two height settings. The Easy Riser has two positions, raised and lowered. In the lowered position, the mouse has a profile not unlike the Logitech M600 Touch Mouse ($69.99 direct, 4 stars)?a comfortable 1.1 inches off the surface of the desk. In the raised position, the back end raises to 1.3 inches with the mouse buttons and scroll wheel shifting to a slightly steeper angle. The height change is almost entirely in the height of the mouse body, particularly the portion under the heel of the palm, closest to the wrist. For being such a key feature, the height adjustment seems like a non-starter that most will ignore.

The Easy Riser measures 1.1 by 2.2 by 3.7 inches (HWD), though it expands to be 1.3 inches thick when adjusted to its full height. It's also light, weighing a mere 3 ounces, with two AAA batteries contributing to the weight. It's lighter than the 4.6 ounce Couch Mouse M515, but has more corners, thanks to a rectangular design that allows use with either the right or left hand. The squared off shape of the Easy Riser isn't uncomfortable, but it isn't the most ergonomically friendly shape, either. Pair that with the raised wrist position that raising the Easy Riser forces your hand into, and there may be some ergonomic issues with this supposedly ergo-friendly mouse.

Features
The mouse is fairly simple to set up. Pop in the batteries, and power on the mouse using the power switch on the underside of the mouse. On your Bluetooth-equipped PC, go into Devices and Printers and click "Add a Device"?the mouse should appear, ready to pair with your laptop. If it doesn't, simply press the "connect" button on the underside of the mouse. Once you're all paired up, that's it. The beauty of Bluetooth is that there's no cord to bother with, no dongle to lose, and no goofy adapter and charger like the one used with the Razer Mamba (2012) ($129.99 direct, 4 stars). You shouldn't need to reconnect either, even when powering either the laptop or mouse on and off. Once the two are paired, you're all set, and you also get the greater range offered by Bluetooth; up to 30 feet. And, unlike the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse X7000 ($59.99 list, 3 stars), the mouse is the normal size and weight.

The Easy Riser is a laser mouse, using a laser optical sensor that tracks at 1600 dpi. While this isn't sensitive enough to satisfy engineers or twitch gamers who demand extreme accuracy in their mice, it's more than sufficient for day to day use in the home or office. The right and left mouse buttons click easily, though they are a bit noisy. The scroll wheel is a bit stiff, and won't provide any sort of inertia scrolling, but it's adequate. It's also clickable, serving as a programmable middle button.

The included software lets you adjust the settings, but it's rudimentary to say the least. The Mouse Settings utility lets you assign a specific action to the middle button, letting you click the scrollwheel to minimize windows, open a few predetermined menus, or you can assign the button with cut, copy, or paste functionality. You can also adjust the speed of vertical scrolling. Most users won't find the utility to be useful, but it's not needed to use the mouse either.

To conserve battery power, the Easy Riser has an automatic sleep mode that kicks in after a few minutes of disuse. Turning it back on is as simple as moving the mouse and waiting a moment for the mouse to respond. The mouse can also be turned off with a switch on the underside of the mouse, and you'll definitely want to turn it off when taking it somewhere in a laptop bag. Another handy feature?the mouse will also pop up a warning when the battery life dips too low, giving you enough notice to pick up new batteries within a few days of the two AAAs dying out.

All in all, the Verbatim Easy Riser Bluetooth Notebook Laser Mouse is a decently priced Bluetooth mouse, and for those who find it comfortable, the height adjustment shouldn't be a problem. It's more affordable than the Editors' Choice Logitech Couch Mouse M515, but it just isn't as comfortable. If comfort is a sticking point, you may want to shop around.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Verbatim Easy Riser Bluetooth Notebook Laser Mouse with several other computer mice side by side.

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