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Tuesday August 28, 2007
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Wenger, having apparently run out of things to pack into their Swiss Army Knife, are busting out a couple of new mice. And before you ask, there's no corkscrew or Philips-head screwdriver concealed anywhere in either the SPYDER Wireless Laser Mobile Mouse, or the Daytona II Wireless Optical Mobile Mouse. But they do look good, and both carry their USB receivers on their underside for easier travel and storage.
Aside from aesthetics and convenience, these mice have the best scroll wheels this side of Logitech's MicroGear technology. The chrome wheel on each mouse has a ribbed rubber-grip tread and nice tactile "click" feel when turned. It's not a huge deal, but a nice feature for a couple of mice that retail for less than $40.
The Daytona II Optical is the cheaper of the two, at about $30, and while it isn't a laser mouse like its more expensive sibling, it has the same five buttons, comes in shiny red and black, or blue-on-silver, and sports grooved side grips for more comfort.
Slightly higher-end, though still cheap at $40, is the Spider Laser Mobile Mouse. Aside from the sexier-sounding laser technology, the Spyder's design is slightly different, with a curved-in left edge for your thumb, which feels slightly more ergonomic, but makes the mouse unfriendly to lefties. If you're a rightly, the Spyder comes in black, with silver accents, or red, with black and chrome accents.
The only real downside I see with these mice is that both USB receivers have a red LED light that flashes quickly every time the mouse is moved or a button is pressed. That's not exactly a good idea, considering these are billed as mobile mice. Having a bright red light blinking in your field of view out of the side of your laptop is distracting even a well-lit office. In a dim coffee shop, it would probably also bother the tweaked-out espresso-drinking people around you.
Still, if you can forgive or ignore the LED issue, at $30 and $40 respectively, the Daytona II and the Spyder Laser are both fairly inexpensive mice for the sexy design and smooth comfort they bring to the mousing party. They may not be as innovative and comfortable as similar offerings from Logitech, but at about half the price, they're arguably better looking, particularly if you like your peripherals polished and shiny. Both support XP/Vista and OSX, and are available now at the usual online retailers. Not bad Swiss Gear. Not bad. But MacGuyver and I still want a mouse with a foldout screwdriver and toothpick.
Post by Matt Safford
Posted By:
Gearlog
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March 16, 2008 11:18 AM
I bought a Daytona and it worked about a week. Now it's absolutely dead. McGuyver would be out of luck. New batteries again abd again, but the mouse itself is light-less and lifeless. You said it looks good, and that's still true, they just have a short lifetime.
July 22, 2008 4:47 AM
Daytona doesn't work from the first day of my purchase. I am able to see LED's glowing, but the cursor never moves. I would say it's a piece of crap. Please think before spending your hard earned money. I think company wants to make money on a product which never work at all.
December 13, 2008 11:29 AM
I just purchased the Spyder. I did a very quick check with my Macbook and my work laptop running Vista and the mouse works very well. I did notice that it doesn't feel as comfortable as I wished it would be. My wrist felt like it was cramping a bit and may have to do with the size of the mouse (could be a little bigger). But I assume that the small size is due to the fact that it's supposed to be a device that can be packed away in a laptop bag without taking up too much space.
The track wheel is very impressive for the price. The tacktile feel gives you an idea of how much you have to scroll the wheel to get to the part of the page you want to get to. The rubber surface is comfortable and gives you good traction when scrolling quickly through a page.
As for the blinking red light on the USB reciever, it really doesn't bother me all that much. If it bothers poeple or if it makes them fee a bit conscious that other people are bothered by it here's an idea - a little strip of electrical tape to cover the light.
I love this product; but, as I've said, it's my first day with it. I'll write up an update after I've put it through its paces for the next 3 to 4 months.
January 19, 2009 10:53 PM
I bought the Pantera II and had it about 2 weeks...now it is dead. I bought new batteries, and still nothing.
January 28, 2009 9:20 AM
I got the spider mouse, Iv had it about a week now and it works perfect for gaming (Warhammer Online) i like the feel and the thumb reassess (SP?) it has very good sensitivity and the buttons are easy to click witch is good when your franticly clicking to kill Stunty's (dwarfs=Leet speak = P) The only down side i have found so far is the lack of range for the USB reseaver to the mouse, Witch i guess is ok beings its suposed to be a laptop mouse and sit right next to the reseaver.
I would Highly recomend this to any gamers or Officer folks that use Laptops and travel alot its easy to store easy to setup and it works great. Again mind you i have only had it a week so all the talk about short life hasn't gotten to me yet but ill let you know after about a month if i remember too = )
All in all i give this a 9/10 for Price in comparasin to Value. If it last longer then some people are saying then its deff a 10/10 good buy.
P.S sorry for the bad spelling, No im not 12 im Acctualy 21 i just never finished school = ( HINT HINT TO YOU KIDS OUT THERE!!! dont look like a fool when talking online, Finish school Or you will regret it latter......
February 21, 2009 1:02 PM
i just got one red hot mice and it didnt work at all
March 7, 2009 11:41 AM
Replaced battery, and now I can't get the mouse (Pantell ll to work. What am i doing wrong?
Thank you
March 30, 2009 8:38 PM
Junk. Bought it. Taking it back. Doesn't work at all.
Website worthless. I will get a different mouse from a company that actually supports their products.
April 7, 2009 3:10 PM
Bought the Black Spyder for my wife's laptop 3 days in the reciever stopped picking up the mouses signal. Refuses to connect to the mouse both are supposedly working properly. No damage to either unit and replaced batteries 3 times. I would NOT RECOMEND this mouse. It is a piece of junk and has the lifespan of a mayfly. Spend your money on a dead dog before buying this mouse.
April 9, 2009 2:34 PM
Just installed the Swissgear mouse. I happened on this site as I searched for a driver. The mouse doesn't work at all (well, the led does light up). Total ripoff. No product support I can find.
April 16, 2009 10:22 AM
Hadthe Spyder for about a week, had trouble opening drop down menus and then just stopped working completely after 2 weeks.
The product is not even mentioned on their website!
May 22, 2009 5:09 PM
Mouse works OK - Suspect the other users here are not syncing their mouse and USB receivers at the same time. Both have buttons that have to be pressed within 1-2 seconds of each other to sync, otherwise the mouse will appear to be dead.
There is no provided Swissgear mouse driver to use the left side buttons. Mine left the Logitech mouse driver installed, which doesn't support it's side buttons. And their is no driver downloadable from their website.
Also, one of my left side buttons is way too hard to press, so I can't press it without also providing opposing force of my other fingers, and this activates one or the other of MB1 or MB2 (left/right mouse buttons.) This obviously takes me somewhere I don't want to go, so I can't use that left button. Fry's Electronics would not take back my mouse, saying they no longer supported it.
So, I would not buy anything from Swissgear again.
June 7, 2009 1:33 PM
I bought the spyder to replace the best mouse I ever had that went dead after 5 years of awesomeness. The spyder doesnt even compare to its predecessor that retired. Not to mention the fact it loses its signal and refuses to reconnect all the time. DO NOT BUY THIS MOUSE ! I IMPLORE U, you will be severely dissapointed if u buy it. I cant return it because it worked properly just long enough for me to trash the reciept:(
June 20, 2009 1:43 PM
I've had the Daytona II for about 2 months. It quit working. The LEDs glow but it doesn't work. I can't find the manuf. website anwhere and can't find any way to return it for repair. I would not recommend this product.
June 25, 2009 9:50 PM
I wish I read preview before I bought this piece of junk. It worked one day and that was the end. I looked all over to find drivers, nothing. DO NOT BUY this product.
June 28, 2009 9:55 PM
i got the spyder for my sister and it was great at first. its nice considering that my sister has small hands and the mouse is small, so it fits perfectly. after about 2 weeks, this crappy piece of sh1t stopped working. no matter how much we replaced the battery, it didn't work, although its sensitivity was perfect. the precision wheel was comfy and it was black, and my sister likes the color black.
my rating out of 5-
design 4.1
durability 2.5
sensitivity 5
battery life 4
June 30, 2009 1:10 AM
Spider: Receiver died after one week. Pies of junk.
July 9, 2009 1:04 PM
This mouse has been extremely frustrating. I bought the spider laser model, it worked for 1 hour, then stopped picking up signal even though laser lights on both ends were working (and, I tried dozens of times, replacing the batteries, making sure I was following the syncing insructions for connectivity and trying it many different ways). I returned the mouse the same night I bought it, and exchanged it for another (thinking the first mouse had been an anomaly). Infuriatingly so, the replacement worked for 1 week before losing ability to connect.
p.s. the comment above regarding those of us with connectivity problems, which states that we are not following the proper directions and pressing the buttons in correct sequence or timing is infuriating... i'm sure everyone who has posted on here has tried exhaustively to get this travesty of a mouse to connect properly.
July 9, 2009 7:29 PM
I also has the same problem after a couple of weeks - it just froze and I couldn't use it. Then I did what someone mentioned above to "sync" the mouse and USB receivers at the same time. And I pressed then within 1-2 seconds of each other to sync and it seemed to be working fine again!
Thank you : )
July 16, 2009 3:31 PM
Well mine works fine three days into it. Picked it up for 14.99. I think a steal for a wireless laser. Haven't had any issues except linking the mouse. Took about 10 tries to get it linked. after that, no issues. I use it in the office and for gaming. I had put the receiver in a USB extendsion so it sits right in front of the mouse. I'd say it straight for now...i'll see in a few more weeks how it holds up.
July 30, 2009 2:44 AM
Bought the Pantera cordless minimouse. Worked ok for a couple of weeks then noticed connection problems. Shortly the trac wheel became jammed. Upon examination it seems the battery contact came loose and was jamming the wheel. Unable to fix so mouse was junked. Worst $20 I ever spent. Thought SwissGear was standard for quality but guess I was wrong.
August 15, 2009 2:50 PM
I bought SwissGear Spyder mouse today . There was no
CD with drivers in a box , neither can I find it
on a website . User guide told me " Windows will detect
the jack and install required drivers " , but my PC
seems to ignore it , and of course no drivers get
installed - this is total bullshit , don't buy this
garbage
August 21, 2009 3:39 PM
I'm sorry I bought it. Disappointing. No support, nothing, nada. I gather the company thinks it can cut its losses by completely disowning this product. I think I will completely disown this company and never buy another of their products.
September 5, 2009 1:01 PM
Seems like everybody else thinks the same way about these swiss gear mice. They are CRAP! Mine wouldn't open drop down menus, that DAMN blinking light, and they only work properly on a mouse pad. I bought it because it looked cool, but it has to be the worst computer product I have ever spent money on. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!
September 7, 2009 10:00 AM
must sync correctly or will appear dead
September 13, 2009 12:43 PM
The Spyder worked fine for about 2 months, then it stopped working. Replaced the batteries and nothing. The led on the dongle is lit but the mouse doesn't work at all. if you turn off or hit the reset/connect button on the mouse the mouse LED lights for about a second and then nothing. Went to the company website and didn't see the product, searched "Spyder" and "mouse" and found nothing. Would not buy this product again.
September 25, 2009 12:34 PM
I bought a Pantera II awhile ago. Once it's connected (difficult to figure out how I did that though) it's fine. Disconnect it and try to reconnect it is another situation. If I disconnect the mouse (usually because I'm going on a trip) I cannot get it connected again. Unlike my Logitech...which just gets plugged in and goes...I will be replacing this swiss army knifer (stick to the knives) wireless mouse. It is not worth whatever you pay for it!
December 9, 2009 10:38 AM
My mouse was death... I did press the reciber button, then 2 seconds after the mouse conect button.... IT GET BACK!!! It works propperly.
Note: Never notice but there is NO red light on the "laser" led.
I hope this helps somebody!
December 24, 2009 3:35 PM
The Swiss Gear Spyder is by far the worst wireless mouse I've ever purchased. It doesn't work at all for scrolling when used with Vista 64bit Business edition. Also the mouse tracking on-screen not only jumps around but drifts even with new batteries and idle system. I threw it in the trash and will never buy another.
December 26, 2009 8:38 PM
Made one more attempt to use Spyder by substituting the USB Wireless transmitter/receiver with one from another wireless mouse of a different manufacturer and so far Spyder has worked without any problems.
January 10, 2010 5:31 PM
I agree with other assessments.
Looks like a Porsche, drives like a cheap Chevy.