Kensington SlimBlade

Has anyone used a SlimBlade from Kensington? I test-felt one at the big yellow tag (best buy) today, and was surprised at the size, weight, and quality. of course it wasn't hooked up to anything, so I was just going by how it FELT. I think the SlimBlade may have replaced the VX revolution on my wish list..

 

I have the Kensington Bluetooth Slimblade Trackball Mouse. I also have a Logitech V470 bluetooth mouse (which I don't really use anymore).

Here's my opinion of the Kensington mouse:

Pros:
- Comfortable to use (IMO)
- Great build quality -- feels really solid
- Looks nice
- Scrolling with the mini-trackball is cool

Cons:
- Sometimes after not using it a while, the mouse inexplicably isn't working and I need to remove and re-add it in Vista's Bluetooth Devices thingy... which can be annoying and takes a minute or two. Other times I actually remove a battery and pop it back in to get it to work again (there's no on/off switch).
- Doesn't seem to auto-sleep as expected, which has the effect of making battery life not as good as the V470 (but still acceptable IMO)
- Switching modes on/off/sleep/etc. is unintuitive using the one multi-function button.
- Reduces my laptop's battery life noticeably (maybe 15% I guess?) when using the bluetooth mouse (compared to touchpad only). (This is about the same as with the V470.)
- A little heavy (IMO), especially with the 2 AA batteries in it. Slightly heavier than the V470, I think (although that also takes 2 AA batteries).
- Doesn't have any "extra buttons" (like browser back/fwd buttons, search button etc.)
- A little more expensive than some other mice

So... even though I have more "issues" with the Kensington than I did with the Logitech... I prefer the Kensington anyway since the larger-but-flatter shape is so much more comfortable for me. But... I kind of wish I got one with a tiny receiver instead of Bluetooth... in order to hopefully have fewer connectivity issues and better battery life. Either the Logitech V550 Nano... or this Kensington one look nice to me.

Edit: I just realized though, I haven't tried Kensington's drivers yet... I've just been using what comes with Vista. Maybe I should give Kensington's drivers a spin.

 

Yep, i have a Slimblade, and so does my dad. He has the bluetooth presenter mouse. I forget which one i do.

Its very nice and confortable to use. Ive dropped mine multiple times and it still works like a charm. The bluetooth connectivity was annoying and difficult, but that was probably just me, because i never used a bluetooth mouse before.