Review: Contour Design MiniPRO 2
A mouse with a perfect fit for small hands (December 1st, 2005)
The Good
- Feels great in the hand. Works with or without the software. Comes with its own case. Hardy, not easily broken.
The Bad
- Software is a separate application instead of a preference pane.
As a devoted laptop user, I find the trackpad ungainly to use and a great way to cramp my small hands. While the Mighty Mouse from Apple is a fun tool, it is just too big to carry around, as are other third-party mice. There are two products on the market that I highly recommend for small-handed traveling mice users: Contour Design’s MiniPRO 2 and the MacAlly OptiMicro. This review covers the MiniPRO 2.
The MiniPRO 2 is a rubberized 800 DPI mouse, that comes in steel gray (Titanium) and white (Snow). Even though the mouse is tiny (3 1/2" by 1 7/8"), the buttons are big enough to accommodate large hands too. The MiniPro2 looks like a two-button mouse, but packs a lot of punch, because it is capable of 4-button operation. The key is Contour’s Lift & Click technology. When you lift or tilt the mouse two more buttons are available to program for your needs, assuming you’ve installed the control software; otherwise it’s a normal 2-button mouse.
Control Software
The software, Contour Mouse Control Panel (version 1.3) is available for download from Contour’s web site. It is an application, unlike Apple’s Mighty Mouse’s controls, which are installed as a System Preference Pane. I prefer a preference pane to an application. A simple one-screen interface allows you to customize the buttons, plus control the speed of movement. The speed choices range from 10 to 100. I found over 60 uncontrollable, yet under 60 was like pushing a wood block around. You can also choose scroll action for one of the buttons and set it to how many lines you want to scroll at a time; that’s a nice feature. By default, the large button acts like a Command-Tab in OS X, which scrolls through the open application list. The software works with a number of Contour Design’s mice.
Contour Mouse Control Panel Application Interface
