Wireless vs bluetooth mouse

Hi every one,

I am waiting for my M17X to arrive and i am looking for a mouse to go with it.

I was interested by bluetooth since it would save a usb space (even if the m17x has lots of space) and that the dongle wouldnt be sticking out.

I did a quick research on the net but i could only find old articles/threads.

I saw that the baterry life of the bluetooth mouse seems very short compared to RF (3 months vs more then a year).

Can any one confirm this ?

Has RF mouse, i am looking at the logitech m510 and for the bluetooth the gigabyte GM-M7700B.

You guyz have any other ideas ? I am not looking for a small mouse. I want a normal size mouse.

Thx in advance for any help !

Jo

 

If you can spare a USB port, get a good wireless mouse. Bluetooth mice are only for people who don't have any USB ports available or who don't know any better. As a rule, bluetooth mice suck in comparison. Logitech, the largest manufacturer, doesn't even offer a bluetooth mouse anymore, and Razer offers the absolutely disgraceful Orochi. Is a bluetooth mouse usable? Sure. Is it going to perform as well or have as good battery life as a similar non-bluetooth wireless mouse? No.

 

Thx Qing Dao for quick response !

Your response answers why in stores (brick n mortar & web based) there is so much less ( or none) bluetooth mices.

So Bluetooth is off my choices.

So I will order tomorow probably the Logitech M510 ! . I liked the feeling of it when i tried it in store.

If any one has another idea of a full size mouse (willing to pay abit more then a Logitech m510), dont be shy with an idea ! Dont really need a crazy gaming mouse with full of butons.

Thx again.

Jo

 

It also depends on the mouse brand as well. I've heard that Logitech RF mice are legendary when it comes to battery life. I personally have a pair of Microsoft wireless mobile mouse 4000's. I bought one for my M17x and it worked so well, I got a second one for our desktop. With continuous use (and never powering it off), one AA battery lasts about a month. But like Qing Dao said, an RF mouse will usually perform better than a Bluetooth mouse just because the RF ones do better than the Bluetooth ones by design.

 

Thx for anwser Radji.

Im ordering m510 now.

 

Here another review of the discussion/review on another related forum...

Bluetooth Mouse Vs. Wireless Mouse

and

How to Choose the Perfect Mouse and Keyboard

I have bluetooth for my dell and haven't notice a lag on usage I do have two gateway that has bluetooth built in for the P-6860FX, P-7811FX of which I will order M$ 5000 bluetooth for and load my games onto them and see how it plays. But Bluetooth mouse are more expensive then dongle mouse. But I would recommend to stay away from the HP wifi mouse as that tends to loose connections sometimes or not respond when you want it to. But I would say it comes down to price and what your expecting from the mouse itself if every productivity is what your doing the battery will drain as the mouse the the most used device compared to the keyboard. I have a logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combination and the mouse eats the battery faster then the keyboard does. But if you do heavy gaming I would recommend a corded mouse not a wireless mouse for faster response time in laptop configuration that is and that would follow the same for desktop as well.

 

I've have the Logitech M510 for over two years and absolutely love it. I've never experienced lag with it and while I thought of getting a new mouse from time to time I never committed because of how well the M510 still works.

 

Qing Dao has no idea what he's talking about. The Orochi is fantastic and serves a purpose: a wireless GAMING mouse. Bluetooth is fine and just because a large manufacturer is adopting its only proprietary nano unifying receiver (and avoids BlueTooth licensing fees, just like laptop manufacturers have to pay to license HDMI) does not mean in the slightest that Bluetooth, or Bluetooth mice suck. Bluetooth is very good option if you only have two (or maybe one) USB port and don't want to keep it occupied all the time. Bluetooth also allows greater range and there's a reason laptop manufacturers give you that option (they pay for it so YOU, the consumer, can use it).

 

I have a feeling bt range is much shorter than rf? Any one have experience?

 

No it isn't.

Yes they do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

actually atm I'm gaming with an orochi. it's great.

 

The radio chipset used in all Logitech wireless mice has Bluetooth built into it. Therefore, the manufacturer of the wireless chipset already paid Bluetooth licensing fees. And besides that, I really doubt that Bluetooth licensing fees are driving all the major mice manufacturers away from Bluetooth when it is run by a non-profit organization and the number of cheap Bluetooth gizmos out there is staggering.

Bluetooth isn't optimal for mice. Mice only need very low bandwidth, and that is fine with Bluetooth, but they also need very low latency and absolutely no hiccups in service. And although Bluetooth is long in the tooth now, it still isn't universally adopted, it isn't perfect and people still have issues with it from time to time. So to have absolutely zero problems and optimal performance, we have micro adapters for wireless mice. You also said that Bluetooth has longer range, but that is simply not true. If you have no USB ports, sure, get a Bluetooth wireless mouse. But that is the only situation where you should consider it.

The Razer Orochi isn't a wireless gaming mouse. It is an average gaming mouse and an average wireless mouse, but neither at the same time.

 

Care to explain why? Because my Orochi 2013 is far better than the Darkfield wireless Microsoft and two Logitech mice (M325 & Anywhere Mouse MX) I've used previously.

It might be depending on specs but in general RF should have 10-30ft while BT can have 10-100ft

 

Gladly.

1) Build quality. Every single Razer mouse I have ever tried, including the Orochi, DeathAdder, Mamba, and Lachesis has exhibited inferior build quality to all the Logitech and MS mice I've used. They are cheaply put together but cost twice as much or more than their competitors.

2) Software. Logitech's and MS' software for both Mac OS X and Windows just works. Plug and play, with minor configurations along the way. Razer's pre-Synapse 2.0 drivers are buggy and unstable. Synapse 2.0 is even worse. Heck, the community complained so much about it that Razer put the old drivers back up for download.

3) Customer service. Razer never wants to take responsibility for their lousy product, whenever they decide they want to answer a tech support request/question. In the few instances where I've needed Logitech's support, they were always prompt, courteous, and professional, providing quick answer and RMAs for replacement when necessary.

 

I was asking why you hate Bluetooth so much, but it appears that it might also stem from your fervent hate of Razer so nevermind

 

Fine, you like your Orochi. But that has nothing to do with Bluetooth vs a proprietary wireless standard. In wireless mode, its performance is simply not up to par. It gets very poor battery life and its theoretical maximum performance is only as good as the cheapest Logitech wireless mouse. If you want a wired gaming mouse, buy a nice wired gaming mouse. If you want a wireless mouse, buy a wireless mouse. If you want a wireless gaming mouse, which the Orochi is most definitely not, buy a wireless gaming mouse.

This is completely bogus and I don't know where you get this from. The technology is almost identical and range should be identical. Power output and frequency is the same. Range was pretty much identical when I tested it myself. Like I said before, the wireless chipset in Logitech wireless mice, is capable of Bluetooth. It transmits Bluetooth using the same antenna and at the same power as it does for all wireless signals, so we should expect the same range. The class 1 Bluetooth devices that can reach a 100ft range are mostly for commercial uses, such as outdoor/indoor Bluetooth hotspots and such. The Bluetooth in your computer, phone, mouse, etc. are class 2, which has a maximum useful range of 30ft.

Besides that fact that there is no difference, I don't see why it matters anyway. It sounds like you are just trying to invent reasons for why Bluetooth mice are better. In my apartment, where there is heavy 2.4Ghz traffic, Bluetooth and wireless mouse performance was perfect up to only about 20ft in line of sight. I'm not sure why you would ever want to use your mouse at that distance anyway, but Bluetooth has no advantage in range.

 

Just get the most reasonably priced mouse for what you need. At the 3ft distance you'll probably be using it, all this range discussion is irrelevant.

 

Well my htpc is about 15ft from me when I dine. So range matter for some.

 

Now, now. Different strokes for different folks. No need to be calling someone an idiot. Furthermore, Bluetooth licensing is free. It only costs if a manufacturer wants to use a certain Bluetooth chip or such in their device which was already developed by another company.

Bluetooth Frequently Asked Questions

Depends on the frequency. Lower frequencies can't carry as much data as the higher ones, but higher frequencies suffer from what's called higher propagation loss. That is, the signal loses power quicker than lower frequency signal and therefore can't travel as far.

You're correct. Specs do vary. The Bluetooth standard's theoretical range is 1-100 meters. ( Bluetooth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). But it depends on the hardware involved, especially the size and power of each endpoint's transceiver. Realistically because of the 2.4GHz signal Bluetooth uses, 30ft is usually the maximum usable distance.

20ft sounds about right. We have the same issue in our house. Too many other things trying to run on 2.4GHz at the same time will shorten a bluetooth device's range. But he's not totally off base. A friend of mine works for Qualcomm and I've he's told us some time ago they are by Bluetooth version 6.0 or so the usable range will be 50ft or more.

 

I think part of the difference in opinions on the Orochi bluetooth here is the two versions: theres the original from a few years back, and an updated rerelease called the 2013 model. I own both, and the bluetooth of the new version is worlds better than the original. On the original there was noticeable lag and it would sleep way too often and quickly, making gaming and even general usage very disappointing. Wired it worked great.

The new 2013 version, which I was skeptical would be any different, is actually quite an improvement. Once setup it actually feels as good as wired 95% of the time and is more than adequate and enjoyable to use for my needs. The constant sleep issues are gone and theres essentially no noticeable lag, and yes I even play BF3 with it just fine but I suck regardless of what mouse I'm using ha

It is a mobile sized mouse, so probably not what you want if you want a larger mouse, but it has convinced me that bluetooth is an option finally. Logitechs are of course great as well wireless and I have a couple as well, but I don't always have the dongle handy. And having said all this I usually game wired regardless

 

The whole point of the nano receiver is that you never have to remove it from a USB port.

 

If you have 2-3 USB ports, it might not be ideal.

And to reiterate, my Orochi 2013, is a very good mouse for my claw grip and I notice no perceivable difference in lag between this and my Deathadder OR Mamba. Though, same can be said with my Logitech wireless mice so I might not be so sensitive to lag...

To the battery life issue, Orochi 2013 should last 3 months so it's not exactly 1 years but that's not a huge issue to complain about BT vs Wireless. Id be more interested if we debated the power drain issue, as I've read conflicting reports about Bluetooth module drain vs wireless USB

 

A lag of 100ms or less is probably not noticeable unless your really looking for it. Battery life also is dependent on signal factors. For bluetooth, longer distance from the mouse to the BT transceiver (5ft or more) will obviously require more power to get the signal back and forth. With RF, if it transmits on 900MHz (vs Bluetooth's 2.4GHz) then theoretically, it doesn't require as much power to send it's RF signals over the same distances.