The Packard Bell Wireless Optical Mouse is a standard three button optical mouse.

It uses a charging cradle instead of taking rechargable batteries, but this is a mixed blessing.

This mouse features a symetrical ergonomic design, making it equally comfortable for both right and left handed users.

The mouse in annoying to install, and will not be recognised without first installing the drivers then pairing the mouse with the cradle. It can operate on one of three frequencies, and can interfere with some other wireless devices.

Build quality-wise this is possibly the worst mouse we have tested to date - it is very light-weight and feels very cheap and tacky - the buttons are loose and the scroll wheel feels poorly made. In use, the mouse is responsive enough, but not as precise as a laser mouse.

The biggest problem with this mouse is its battery life. Charging it is difficult and annoying - the first time we tested this mouse we thought the cradle was faulty and asked for a second model - the second model was just as bad. It is difficult to persuade the mouse to make good contact with the cradle and start charging, and even once it does start to charge, if you so much as breathe in the same room as it, the connection is liable to break.

We were unable to get sufficient charge in the mouse to test it properly - the longest we got out of it was 30 minutes of use before it died, promptly ending the life of our in-game character with it.

It is possible that both the models we tried were faulty, but after that experience it is hard to be motivated to try a third.

If you desire a wireless mouse, I would recommend either a Creative or a Logitech model.

Installation: 6/10
Configuration: 7/10
Responsiveness: 6/10
Ergonomics:8/10

Overall:6/10