“I purchased the Mighty Mouse, eventually, with skepticism, chiefly from reading an equal share of both positive and negative reviews. I remember taking a trek down to the Apple Store in Regent Street, London, with a couple of friends—who had iPod issues they were looking to sort– to buy this little rodent of a computer device. I got home that day, plugged it in, installed the drivers and I was away,” Aaron Wright writes for Apple Matters.
“My first reaction? Wow, excellent! I couldn’t understand why so many people were knocking this mouse, it was sort of a revolution as far as Apple products go, we finally had a two buttoned mouse,” Wright writes.
“However, that joy wasn’t going to last. I believe I purchased my Mighty Mouse around September 2005 and used it pretty much daily until about two weeks ago, when I finally decided enough was enough. I wasn’t fed up with any of the software functions of the mouse, nor was I disappointed with anything else the mouse had to offer, as such,” Wright writes. “I was actually fed up of using the little white piece of plastic because the scroll wheel [Scroll Ball] had completely clogged up. It had ceased to function and I was angry and frustrated that I could no longer take full benefit of the £40 I paid for it. I’m now planning to return it to the Apple store this weekend to see if I can get a replacement, but then I got to thinking, is there any point?”
“I look after my computer equipment quite well, especially considering the amount of money spent on it, I think it’s only right. But no amount of cleaning could prevent the [Scroll Ball] getting clogged up,” Wright writes. “Here’s something I now fear. Every new iMac sold since January, I believe, comes equipped with a Mighty Mouse as standard, no more singled-buttoned ‘Mouse.’ I’ve had my Mighty Mouse less than a year and it’s already gone [bad] on me, so what’s in store for all those iMac buyers out there? It’s a worrying thought for Apple if other users out there experience the same issues I’ve had with mine.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s Mighty Mouse is a great mouse when it’s clean. It’s the only mouse we’ve found that we actually use the scrolling feature routinely… when it’s clean. We’ve had multiple Mighty Mouse units in action since last August. On average, they have each been cracked open and the Scroll Ball’s tiny magnetic rollers cleaned approximately six (6) times in the past 11.5 months. That’s way too much, Apple. We don’t know how to fix the clogged Scroll Ball issue, but Apple should really work on this problem. Our hands are generally quite clean; we do wash frequently. We can only imagine how quickly a Mighty Mouse in a classroom setting would clog. This whole thing reminds us of one thing: time to go crack open another Mighty Mouse and clean the ball’s tiny magnetic rollers once again. Sigh.
[Update: 1:04pm EDT: We’re back. Cleaning accomplished. Again. Aren’t we fast? We’ve had a lot of practice. A clean Mighty Mouse is a joy! Anyway, for those in need, Apple has an impotent, impractical “How to clean your Mighty Mouse” doc and video on their site, but real instructions on how to clean your Mighty Mouse can be found here.]
Related MacDailyNews articles:
ZDNet UK review gives Apple Mighty Mouse 6.6 out of 10 – August 31, 2005
Dr. Mac: ‘Mighty Mouse is the finest mouse Apple has ever produced’ – August 09, 2005
The Boston Globe: first shipments of Apple’s Mighty Mouse ‘sold out almost immediately’ – August 08, 2005
Mercury News: Apple’s Mighty Mouse looks ‘like the world’s most carefully crafted bar of soap’ – August 08, 2005
AnandTech: Apple’s Mighty Mouse ‘isn’t exactly perfect’ – August 05, 2005
NY Times’ Pogue: ‘I certainly prefer the Mighty Mouse’ to Apple’s standard one-button mouse – August 04, 2005
Apple’s Mighty Mouse dissected (with image) – August 04, 2005
The Motley Fool: ‘Mighty Mouse may be the next step in Apple’s quiet crusade to lure Windows users’ – August 04, 2005
Mossberg pans Apple Mighty Mouse, says Microsoft’s latest mouse is better – August 04, 2005
Review: Apple’s Mighty Mouse – Third-party USB mouse makers should be very afraid – August 03, 2005
Apple introduces multi-button ‘Mighty Mouse’ with ‘Scroll Ball’ for Mac and Windows – August 02, 2005
Apple’s new ‘Mighty Mouse’ provides audio feedback for clicking and scrolling – August 02, 2005
Apple’s mythical two-button mouse – March 19, 2005
RUMOR: Apple may soon debut two-button mouse – March 15, 2005
Apple’s Pro Mouse is truly a joy to use… for about five minutes – May 29, 2004
The time has come for Apple to ship a two-button scroll mouse standard – June 09, 2003
Should Apple reconsider the one-button mouse? – October 23, 2002
Other mice manufacturers allow me to pick my nose whilst browsing porn. Why not Apple? I thought they designed with the user in mind?
My MickyMouse, just disconnect it, turn it around rubble it, click it with a antistatic cloth, and it is ready to go for .. weeks ! Got it almost a year ago.
I just have problems when I get AstroGlide all over my mouse,
I have had two for well, since they came out. During lunch I work while I am eating, so I get oils and stuff on my fingers. It does clog, not often but it cleans easily if I unplug it, turn it upside down and roll that little sucker like crazy.
The only bummer was I thought I’d give a two button mouse a try, that lasted about a month. I can’t do two buttons, contextual menus popping up everywhere. So I am back to control+click.
– Press MMouse against lips.
– Gently blow on uniball, twice.
– MMouse is ‘unclogged’, and responds happily again.
I’ve had a mighty mouse ever since they came out last year. Never had the problem listed here. I wouldn’t give up its scrolling capabilities for any other mouse out there. I wish it conformed to my hand a bit more than it does but still the best mouse that I have bought in years.
Well, I’ve had pretty much the exact same experience as Aaron Wright. I love my Mighty Mouse, I really do, but I’ve given up on expecting its scroll ball to work consistently, or, recently, at all. I can scroll the ball all I want, but the mouse doesn’t make a sound, and the page doesn’t budge. When it does work, more often than not it’s just horizontally, or only up and not down.
I can only assume that this is the result of the scroll ball being ‘clogged up’, as so many people have complained about. I began to notice problems not that long after buying the Mighty Mouse (about a year ago, like Mr. Wright), and the scroll functionality has become steadily less consistent, finally finding a kind of consistency in not functioning at all.
At least the problem I had at one point, where the mouse registered the centre mouse click as always depressed, vanished. It appeared gradually, stuck around long enough to be damned irritating, and then vanished completely for no apparent reason.
I’m sorry, but I have to label the Mighty Mouse the one example of a failure by Apple to meet its own standards. I’m a Mac user and an iPod user; I’m used to products I buy from Apple offering intuitive function where the competition is inelegant and unreliable, not finding myself in situations where apologists defend the product by telling me i just need to purchase a can of compressed air or pull the entire product apart.
The Mighty Mouse is, essentially, to other mice what Windows PCs are to Macs: it doesn’t ‘just work’ like it should. I’ve never encountered another mouse which got confused as to what the user was clicking or simply refused to scroll. It has looks and ergonomics going for it…but nothing else. Sorry, Apple, but you’ve got a less-than-satisfied customer on this one, and I’m not the only one.
Magic Word: age, as in “the Mighty Mouse doesn’t age well.”
“my girlfriend hates dirty balls!”
My girlfriend LOVES sweaty balls!
1. If you have a defective mouse, call Apple, I can’t help you. This begs the question, have you communicated yer present difficulties with Apple? You know, Apple might even send you a replacement mouse.
2. If you can’t or won’t perform the simple task of routinely cleaning of yer mouse, you should hire someone to clean it for you. Set up a bi-weekly schedule with a trained and reputable mouse cleaner to surgically remove the gunk.
3. If hiring an experienced and board-certified mouse cleaner to obliterate the grime in yer mouse is too expensive, buy a trackball.
The advice provided is not intended to replace sound and sensible judgment in maintaining the proper function of the Mighty Mouse; and does not apply to mice that have been damaged by neglect, abused in fits of pique, tampered with by unskilled primates, or subject to physical conditions that exceed manufacture’s recommendations.
Cubert,
Don’t you find they leave sweat stains on her chin?
I know I’ll be crucified for this, but you all should try a Microsoft mouse. I built a PC about 4 years ago, and I’ve had the same Microsoft mouse since, and I couldn’t be happier with this mouse. Probably many will have problems with purchasing anything Microsoft out of principle, but I like my mouse. Logitech makes good stuff, too, and stuff customized for Apple computers.
The mighty mouse blows. I love Apple stuff, but that thing is total crap. I’ve got a simple MS mouse, and it’s hands-down the best mouse I’ve ever used. Simple, wireless, ergonomic, and without an endlessly long USB plug.
That little ball irritates the fsck out of me when it gets dirt on it. One grain of sand is enough to render it inoperable. Nice to see that it wasn’t just me.
This is a maintenance issue, not a design flaw.
I got one of the new iMac Core Duo’s when they first came out, which came with a Mighty Mouse. After about 4 months, the scroll ball stopped scrolling down, but would scroll in any other direction. I dealt with it for a few weeks until I could get a chance to go to an Apple Store, since the closest one is almost 2 hours away.
A couple days before my trip, I was on a Mac Forum I frequent, and noticed a thread complaining about the exact same thing, the scroll ball would not scroll down. There were several people in the thread experiencing this problem. I decided to check out Apple’s website to see how long the warranty is on the MM, and noticed a very large number of reviews complaining about the same issue. A few of the reviews suggested cleaning the scroll ball with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip.
I decided to try this for myself. I soaked a q-tip in rubbing alcohol, and used it to spin the scroll ball rapidly in every direction. After doing this, my MM worked perfectly again. You may have to do it a couple of times if it is really bad, but it doesn’t take long at all. It took about 5 minutes the first time, and now I just clean it once a month and it only takes a minute or two.
Thanks MDN for the cleaning links. I LOVE my Mighty Mouse, and wouldn’t want to go back.
It does work better with Aperture than PhotoShop, I need to scroll around photos, not zoom it. Adobe should fix that.
Thanks also to G-ZUS, and Hoolahan. I’ll try your suggestions as well.
My boss, a lady, complains that her Mighty Mouse “tit” does not work properly. Kind of makes it more fun to use.
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wash your hands dirt asses… I’ve had my mighty mouse since launch and had NO problems with the ball.
from Hoolahan:
“- Press MMouse against lips.
– Gently blow on uniball, twice.
– MMouse is ‘unclogged’, and responds happily again.”
you expect us to give a blow J to MM for real?
I’m a going to say this once:
MACMICE’S “THE MOUSE” IS THE BEST MOUSE AVAILABLE FOR THE MAC.
That is all.
Could not say how mine works. NEVER use it.
I got a Logitech keyboard and laser mouse (usb wireless) and been quite happy. Its mouse has a standard MS type roller in the middle.
Actually the keyboard is programmed with lots of pre programmed buttings but most work quite well too.
Later,
Just had my MM scroll ball cleaned last week; the Genius recommended just using a cotton swab with a little bit of rubbing alcohol once a month or so.
I really like the MM overall; it’s great to have the right click feature (I use it a ton on Firefox), the scrollball makes it much easier to view long pages (or to get past all the ads on MDN), and I’ve got the side squeeze buttons set to bring up Dashboard so I can quickly check the MDN headlines on the MDN Widget or my Gmail on the Gmail Inbox Widget (yeah, I like Dashboard — wanna make something of it?).
I too am waiting for the Bluetooth Mighty Mouse to go with the Bluetooth keyboard…
EEEEEEWWWWW MICE?
Forget the damn mice!
Get the Kensington Expert Mouse with the scroll ring and 4 programmable buttons. Excellent driver software, too!
http://us.kensington.com/html/2200.html
The ball has optical pickups. When crud gunks it up, pop out the ball and brush them off… 10 seconds on a slow day.
What Kensington needs to do is release a Bluetooth mode! THAT would be perfection!
Must be a lot of dirty hands around — mine gives no problems, despite going on laptop trips to faraway places.
Dirty balls? A lick or two cleans them up fine…
Mr. Reeee (If that is your real name):
My father’s Kensignton trackball failed 2 years ago. He sent it back to the company for repair. I’m not certain if the device was still under warranty or not. Kensington sent him a completely new and upgraded trackball. He’s been a loyal fan of Kensington ever since.
I want a wireless mighty mouse that has a recharging station!!
There are many people on this site that are claiming that they’ve had no problems with their Mighty Mouse “tit” (I’m not including myself in that category, but it is working now without breaking it open)
Maybe Apple quietly improved the mouse and the new ones don’t have the problem as much.