Joined on 08/03/04
A Problem Solver
Pros: I consider this mouse a problem solver. Without going into a long winded story about crazy cat mice which I absolutely love from Newegg for almost 10 years building systems and gaming. Until, they exhibit a drift that throws you off target in Battlefield and similar games getting you killed. The reason I liked those mice was the large size, the reassuring metal construct and weight for my trucker hands. After some careful reading I reluctantly decided to give Zalman Mouse a try. I find it adjustable, but perhaps the rear palm section needs to be a touch lower and a touch longer, but have not tried to do it yet. Still learning. I find it to be heavy which is what I want. There appears to be two eyes under that thing which tells me either laser and or optical which will have to never exhibit the drift of death. So I bought a one year warrantry against that day. I may buy the Newegg Premier one year membership to expedite future problems, I have been good and Newegg has been more than good to me despite previous issues. The Zalman exhibits all of the things I wanted, big, heavy and adjustable for width and so on. Consider the other thoughts and a couple of cons which are not really worth taking a egg off. I use these mice to fight arthritis and continue to game. Call me stubborn.
Cons: Ok the first thought leads to the right hand side bottom where there is a small plastic ledge getting in the way of the Pinkie finger. They need to make it longer, wider, lower if possible and smoother to improve the surface area. It's not a problem yet but I don't need or want that sensory interference on that finger. The second thought is the Palm end is adjustable but am considering a further adjustment to make it ride a touch lower. I hope I can do it. Hands are big from trucking. But I don't want to break it. A third thought leads me to the small 1,2,3,4 LED indicator to the left of the scroll wheel. It has to be reset to around 3 or 4 every time I boot machine despite it's awareness by sitting with the LED on beaming a blue cloud on the ceiling at night. Does that make sense? I have not tried the auto yet. Tempted to do so. but worried that game anti cheat software might kick me from gaming when it finds I am resting my fire finger with the auto key. There is a function slider on the left which I think is the famous sniper button where you can decrease the dpi to the most coarse and be able to shoot a rifle scope round into the enemy eye across the map without having to fight the sensitive higher dpi settings. I am not a sniper, but a gunner. A fifth thought would lead me to the width adjustment. I hope I can get it wide enough. Being careful because I don't know the long term durability of the hex bolts, plastic etc. You can tell I require heavy iron, I cannot stand and despise cheap junk that will break. We will see. The last thought is that the two mice buttons up forward at the finger tips need to be sloped at around 2 or 4 degrees more so I can rest the fingers on them rather than playing fingertip. I need to have the fingers down. Worse case scenario I can laminate or install plastic material at the required slope and fill in the gap between the mouse fire button and my long fingers. It's extreme to consider modding, or changing or adding on to force a product to match my hands. See other thoughts for the last further comment about the buttons.
Overall Review: Playing on a XTRAC Ripper Mouse pad, the big one on my desk for about 4 years now I think also purchased from newegg. I will be replacing it since I discovered that the lower left corner is worn down significantly slowing down my old A4Tech X7 mouse in Star Trek STO (I am xHeavy in the Fed day and night on it I invite you to join us) The Mouse was slowed by the worn corner of the pad. I solved the problem temporarily by rotating the pad 180 degrees to be upside down and take advantage of the less worn area. Speeding up the DPI setting to 3 or 4 allows me to move the mouse about less than a inch in any direction in STO Online and allow me to fight my Starship across the screen with the mouse. that eases my arthritis pain. I know already that when tanking or in world of warships, I can force the game to spin the game map around as I traverse the turret at top speed for tank or ship fighting. Same thing with STO when you are surrounded by Enemies. This reduced the need to "Swipe" the mouse as if you are brushing a bug off your arm so to speak. Less damage to the optical seeker I hope. At the end of the day I am calling this new mouse a good intermediate solution to my issues here until I am able to save enough for one of the true metal mice that are huge and strong for what I require. I never spent more than 100 dollars for a mouse but looking at a few for the future. I get grumpy. But that is life. I hope this review helps you and your thoughts about this product. The last thought I would present to Zalman is to not to be afraid and make the mouse in the future in a larger and longer size. I will be willing to spend the 20 or whatever dollars to make such a purchase. I think Zalman was trying to build this mouse for a female or children to wide markets rather than a really big strong mouse.
A particular habit will explain below
Pros: Its a nice computer for that price point. The hardware is particularly... useful in a small space. Emphasis small. Booted once.
Cons: The poor computer was not fated to do well after it booted once to desktop. I recognized signs of issues too deep to fix and too expensive to replace so the entire computer was harvested for parts box.
Overall Review: I have a rule in life, never to buy anything with HP on it. Not their fault. They make good office computers. However this buy was strictly a experiment in my life and it will not be repeated. Its a shame its obvious that hardware has advanced well and its useful for the parts box. Not as a working computer situation. I thought carefully as I wrote this review. You have to be able to absorb a certain amount of losses over a lifetime of buying, building and repairing computers as I have done. This particular HP is considered a small loss. Maybe someday its parts box will redeem some of that sting.
Quietly does the task
Pros: I needed a sealed battery unit and this one does it. Been through two storms with power issues and the unit rode it out nicely. Quietly does the task without unnecessary babysitting.
Cons: I exchanged a previous unit for this one and the experience with the new AI Bot system was not able to understand the situation. Ultimately a Human Support Person fixed it and smoothed everything over. Takes nothing away from the 5 stars.
Overall Review: I would be happy to purchase again in 10 years or even 20. But would want to keep a eye on your computer's total power draw in wattage etc. Battery prices will not get any cheaper with capacity after this year and its good to have it. My previous computer battery died after getting spiked years ago and the associated computer tied to it eventually suffered damage after 8 years service and was replaced with a new Battery etc. Its had 20 years almost. Arkansas storms can be vicious in power grid problems as tornados rip everything up regularly or ice storms killing the substations which then shift loads around etc. So a good battery for the electronics is a necessary tool in my home and Newegg generally by and large has provided excellent service and support where necessary.
Adequate
Pros: Weights. I like my mouse heavy.
Cons: The DPI Profile was built within windows when it arrived and downloaded from Logitech to manage the mouse. I used 1000 polling, 1000 minimum DPI (I could do slower.. for certain game situations) and several steps with about 7000 DPI as the maximum. The mouse is a little bit too narrow for my larger than usual trucker hands which are hams and does not adjust in any direction for width and length like the old Zalman Knoss did. So my carpal tunnel kicks in if I am on it too long. On the other hand the high DPI says I dont have to move the mouse too much. A saving grace. I run the thing on a generic card table the mouse does not have the correct materials to slide properly without digging in. You would think they can spend a few dollars to put in the best known sliding materials under there to keep it from digging in during battle. The G Light on the thing is turned off. Its a gimmick. Most of the buttons are tamed and turned off. Just the scroll, DPI up and down and I think one more for something something. All that was done within the Logitech Mouse control software. The Software is not perfect but its adequate. In the old Zalman, Previous mice and all kinds we never did any of that software stuff. Such is the brave new future. I bought the mouse as a temporary replacement until I can find a much bigger larger older style mouse for my hams. Preferably another Zalman GM4 or similar. Finally I took away a star because Logitch Failed to provide a braided covering on the cord. I can see the cord wearing through in a few months of battle already. Its too long for other issues with it. If Newegg did anything bad with this order is showing up with the mouse, box in a freaking grocery store paper BAG with a F--- barcode label on it. A PLASTIC GROCERY STORE BAG>.... Im offended. I know the shipping is free and getting more expensive but at least you can throw the dam thing into a little box with evergreen boughs or something for padding. SHEESH.
Overall Review: Its adequate but not my first choice of a buy. I suppose for the little teenagers with small hands and its great control would offer a thrill. But I need my mouse big, strong and heavy for the reasons already described.
Card is recognized but thoughts below.
Pros: Card was recongized by Windows 7 64 Bit Ultimate when installed into ASUS Rampage Black Edition II with a PCI EXPRESS PCI 2.1 BRIDGE adapter. It will NOT fit in the PCI 3.0 slots.
Cons: Firewire to a Sony DCR-TRV460 Camcorder is the reason for the card. Sony has retired the software needed to pull video off the digital 8 tape. Windows 7 64 bit does not work with the card and wont see the camera in firewire. I am forced to go ahead and replace the camera with a modern USB version with much better updated optical and space on memory stick etc. I MIGHT try one more time on another windows 32 bit 7 machine with card to see the old camcorder via firewire with a video editing program such as roxio etc. IF that does not work then I will sell the camcorder to the pawn shop for 5.00 and go spend 500.00 on a modern current new Camcorder and stream fast USB with a much better possibly 4K picture quality. Then edit the videos etc. I am sorry for many words. But in the end the entire expenses of the card, firewire and associated adapter is moot. It wont work with my current configuration, the build is the same as my previous newegg purchasing still operating after about 5 years to 15 years depending on what parts we are looking at. Sony is also responsible for cutting off the picture pocket software which is designed to pull Digital8 Tape video off the camcorder via firewire and refuses to release a working version after march of this year so the entire situation demands a brand new updated camcorder. So thats at least another 500.00 expense. Newegg is not at fault for this one I have been with them 20 years and continue to commit to parts from here without reservation. I have future builds planned and look forward to making it happen via Newegg.
Overall Review: No. Card is Pci 2.1, modern motherboards using PCI 3.0 and PCI 4.0 which I understand is new this year do not work. If you buy this card you need a open PCI express slot and buy another 40.00 PCI Express to PCI 2.1 BRIDGE adapater. (Take the little silver case slot bracket off) Technology moves forward. Firewire is dead, long live Firewire.
2011 and now 2019 still going strong
Pros: It has not quit yet. Ive got plans with a spare CPU and a laptop waiting for the original to burn up at some point. It could be today or years from now. It's served well beyond what is expected of it. I may order another when that time comes.
Cons: Just chase the dust bunnies now and then with the air can. It's not too bad. Not with a Delta Fan blasting on it from the case.
Overall Review: The computer I built and rebuilt again with this new device installed has been in service since about 2007 I no longer recall how many tens of hours is on that CPU and cooler. It's well in excess of 50K hours to date. That's probably money well spent.
Cools
Item appears to help the IBM Levenko Thinkpad keep cool air coming in. (And going out hot air vent) It is a rather light plastic frame type construction. I probably would have paid a few dollars more for a nickel copper frame around the fans to gain durability and a form of heat sink ability instead of that frame being made out of heavy plastic. Its not a bad item. Our first cooler. Did not experiment with controls. All 5 fans appear to move sufficient air but not too much that it causes trouble operating the laptop, But when transporting from place to place, some care is needed due to it's overall plastic.
Truck too slow.
Next time I pay the few dollars to have it flown out Electronics do well when they arrive less than 24 hours. In trucking there is a risk will sit and either freeze for several days or burn for same depending on season of year.