Buying a new old stock Magic Mouse with preinstalled AA batteries. Corrosion?

[thingstoponder]

Hey all. I want to buy a sealed Magic Mouse 1 which has AA batteries installed. Obviously an original Magic Mouse is gonna be anywhere from 5-10 years old. My question is, will it arrive with corroded batteries and be ruined? We’ve all experienced this with a remote or something, but I’m not sure if it will happen with a new product with new batteries that his been sitting unpowered in the box.

Thanks!

 

[0128672]

Hey all. I want to buy a sealed Magic Mouse 1 which has AA batteries installed. Obviously an original Magic Mouse is gonna be anywhere from 5-10 years old. My question is, will it arrive with corroded batteries and be ruined? We’ve all experienced this with a remote or something, but I’m not sure if it will happen with a new product with new batteries that his been sitting unpowered in the box.

Thanks!

That sounds really odd that AA batteries would already be installed in a sealed product. I've never seen that. They usually are packaged separately to avoid damaging the device. Are you buying it from a reputable seller who has a good return policy?

 

[DeltaMac]

Actual "new old stock", never opened, never used?
As far as I can recall, AA batteries would not come installed in the mouse, and would be separately wrapped.

But, not really a hard issue.... Buy the mouse. Open the box. Inspect batteries. They should have a month/year for the suggested life of the battery in storage. If older than today's date, dispose of those batteries, and install new ones.
If I am incorrect, and the AA batteries come installed, then inspect the battery connectors, replace the batteries that came with the mouse..
If the batteries do come installed, and there's corrosion, then after more than 5 years, the mouse is likely useless to you, but then, a Magic Mouse is not that great of a prize to discover, is it? I have nearly a dozen Macs, and one Magic Mouse, which I use once or twice a year, usually for some kind of bluetooth checks (I pop the batteries out whenever I put it back in the box. I have no idea when it will "come out" next)

 

[thingstoponder]

That sounds really odd that AA batteries would already be installed in a sealed product. I've never seen that. They usually are packaged separately to avoid damaging the device. Are you buying it from a reputable seller who has a good return policy?

I watched a few YouTube unboxing videos of these older accessories and they all came with the batteries in. I was hoping they wouldn’t.

Actual "new old stock", never opened, never used?
As far as I can recall, AA batteries would not come installed in the mouse, and would be separately wrapped.

But, not really a hard issue.... Buy the mouse. Open the box. Inspect batteries. They should have a month/year for the suggested life of the battery in storage. If older than today's date, dispose of those batteries, and install new ones.
If I am incorrect, and the AA batteries come installed, then inspect the battery connectors, replace the batteries that came with the mouse..
If the batteries do come installed, and there's corrosion, then after more than 5 years, the mouse is likely useless to you, but then, a Magic Mouse is not that great of a prize to discover, is it? I have nearly a dozen Macs, and one Magic Mouse, which I use once or twice a year, usually for some kind of bluetooth checks (I pop the batteries out whenever I put it back in the box. I have no idea when it will "come out" next)

Yeah. Sealed. I’m not worried about the batteries being useless, I assume they will. But I am worried about them making the mouse dead. I was about to buy one and then thought about the batteries and figured I’d ask. I’m not an expert on battery corrosion and all that. Whether old batteries always corrode, whether batteries corroding kills devices, etc.

 

[DeltaMac]

You don't have to be an "expert on battery corrosion" to see that liquid-y goo that comes from leaking batteries. It'll take you less than 10 seconds to decide "It looks clean, all good", or "ugh, what a gooey mess!"
But, if never powered up, I would not expect a messy mouse. You'll have to look for yourself.