MS Sculpt Comfort Bluetooth Mouse

[TimothyB]

I just picked this up and will be testing it later today on a Early 2013 15" rMBP with Mountain Lion

Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse (H3S-00003)

For wireless, this one is bluetooth, comes with no receiver, and is around the size of a normal mouse. Despite being larger, it's not that tall, so it should easily slip into a laptop bag as easy as any other portable mouse.

What I HOPE to experience from this mouse:

• Windows like cursor feel using Microsoft's IntelliPoint driver software.
• If the software doesn't let you customize buttons, I hope USB Overdrive can work along side MS's acceleration curve (By disabling USB Overdrives speed and acceleration options).
• Hope it's not too heavy by using light weight Energizer Lithium AA batteries.
• A cursor that is fluid and accurate for graphics with no lag or jumps, especially for dense interfaces found in 3D software.

For the past 3 years I've been using an old Microsoft Optical USB mouse on a Mac at work. Found it in the office when I couldn't take the OSX's acceleration curve. It always felt too slow and then too fast, nothing in between. Installing MS's drivers and turning down OSX mouse speed, then upping the speed in IntelliPoint did the trick. Felt like a PC, plus no lag feeling.

Before with the Mac software. I had no problem jumping across the screen with a quick flick (on a 30" display), but then the final move to a button, I'd aways come up short. It's like the acceleration curve is too sharp, on or off. It felt like I'd never get there because it was like almost no acceleration for precise moves, so I end up having to move it much further than expected. If I moved faster to compensate, I'd end up too far due to the acceleration finally kicking in. Adjust the speed to be higher so I can get around precise movements only made long distance moves unwieldy.


MS Sculpt Comfort Wheel:
At the store, I tested the wheel. It doesn't roll smooth like a free wheel, has bumps, but a bit smaller and refined, giving it a more solid feel. Only side effect of that, required a little more effort to roll.

The wheel also has tilt left and right clicks, which were effortless to do thanks to the rubber material, finishing with a nice sharp click. You don't have to lift your finder and push it from the sides like other mice. A MS Wireless 4000 mouse sitting next to it required more effort for title wheel clicks, which to me would make it not cumbersome to use. Hope to program them to move left and right between desktops. Middle click felt good enough.

I was testing a Logitech Anywhere MX mouse. It's wheel does both, free and clicks. Sadly, free can create some nice smooth internet scroll, it's too sensitive. Scroll down and then lifting your finger might cause it to scroll back up some, or it would be way to crazy in some 3D software for zooming. Clicking it to switch to bumps, that helps, but feels and sounds terrible at times.

MS Sculpt Comfort Side Button:
This mouse has a giant blue button. It also is touch sensitive from up and down swipes. I've read the se up and down gestures don't work on Mac, but I'm not sure about the physical click function. I plan to check if USB Overdrive will recognize the up and down gestures.

MS Sculpt Comfort Shape:
Initial impression, good size, but a bit flat. The groove/impression for your thumb to rest is nice, but unless you hold it just right, you might not like the sharp angle where the grove endes. The blue button feels a little far as it's in front of your thumb, not above like smaller back and forward buttons in the past.

Anyone else have any experience with this mouse? I'll report how things work once I install it later today.

 

[McKenzie74]

What I HOPE to experience from this mouse:

• Windows like cursor feel using Microsoft's IntelliPoint driver software.
• If the software doesn't let you customize buttons, I hope USB Overdrive can work along side MS's acceleration curve (By disabling USB Overdrives speed and acceleration options).
• Hope it's not too heavy by using light weight Energizer Lithium AA batteries.
• A cursor that is fluid and accurate for graphics with no lag or jumps, especially for dense interfaces found in 3D software.

I'd like to know your thoughts with this mouse since I'm one of those experiencing the same feelings about sluggish cursor movement on a mac.
Intellipoint and mavericks compatibility, usb overdrive behaviour, everything you can describe. Thank you

 

[TimothyB]

I'd like to know your thoughts with this mouse since I'm one of those experiencing the same feelings about sluggish cursor movement on a mac.
Intellipoint and mavericks compatibility, usb overdrive behaviour, everything you can describe. Thank you

I also tried the MS Mobile Mouse 4000 and the Logitech MX Anywhere Mouse.

For starts, here's the setup I've settled with:

• Mouse: MS Mobile Mouse 4000
• Software: SmoothMouse & USB Overdrive (No Intellipoint)

MS Mobile Mouse 4000:

COMFORT - This mouse is incredibly comfortable. My hand's natural resting position just about wraps around it perfectly, not too small or too big. The shape is mostly round, so there's no annoying sharp edges. The sides are are a smooth textured rubber for a good grip, while top is a matte finish (Not the glossy kind that can get sweaty)

BUTTONS - It has one side button, which I've set for back. It's position so you never bump into it and doesn't take too much of a reach to push it. The wheel
moves 4 ways and a center click. It seems to be easy to use. Love using left and right tilt to move between desktops, middle click for mission control. The wheel rolls smooth. I don't particularly like that type of wheel, but luckily it's not overly sensitive like Logitech free wheels. Left and Right buttons have a good feel to them and click sound, with the right click just slightly different sounding.

ACCURACY - This comes with an RF adapter, as small as you can get. With no major obstructions between the units, I don't think I've even noticed this thing hiccup once for a wireless mouse. Very responsive and smooth movement. The RF adapter can be stored in the bottom of the mouse.

WEIGHT - This one is a winner for weight, which was a big problem with these mid-sized mouse that like to use AA instead of AAA. The weight just made it even harder to adapter to the sluggish mouse cursor. What makes this one stand out for weight, it uses only 1 AA battery, plus it's better grip helps too. The other two mice I tried use 2 AA batteries. I'm using a Ultimate Lithium Energizer, which is much lighter than standard batteries. To combat the weight still, make sure your mouse pad doesn't cause too much resistance.

SOFTWARE: I've combined SmoothMouse and USB Overdrive. SmoothMouse for the cursor feel, and USB Overdrive for customizing the buttons. I installed SmoothMouse first, then Overdrive. I couldn't get the feel I wanted from Overdrive no matter the combination of speed and acceleration.

SmoothMouse is very simple. Check enable for mice, choose Windows Like Feel, and then I kept sensitivity at notch 6, about one less from the middle. This will make the OSX Mouse speed move to the lowest notch.

With USB Overdrive, be sure to uncheck its speed and accelerate controls so it doesn't interfere with SmoothMouse. I set the left button for back, wheel tilt for changing desktops, wheel click for mission control, and wheel for scroll with accelerated (though, it won't be smooth like the wheel)

Now it feels more responsive and incredibly useful. Very easy to get use to.


QUICK MS Sculpt Comfort Review:

Design is not bad, but kind of flat, angled, and thumb rest seems to do more harm than good with a sharp edge on the bottom. This mouse is bluetooth, so no adapter needed, but compared to the RF mice, this one wasn't as smooth. I'd do a quick test by moving the mouse in quick stepping pattern, like going down stairs. Each jump on this mouse was kind of well, jumpy, not smooth. While with the RF mice, it remained smooth, as you could see the cursor more.

So this was already disappointing. Often when you need to select a button, you get close with the cursor, then you often quickly move the cursor too it, so this bluetooth didn't feel as responsive for quick short moves.

Then you will find all the cool features of this mouse are not there. Its highlight is a fancy touch side button. It has a standard click, but also up and down swipe gestures. The problem, Intellipoint software is outdated and basic. It only lists up to OSX 10.7, way before this most existed. I can't recall, but I don't think I could even get the side click to work with the software, let alone the gestures. USB Overdrive makes up for most the shortcomings, but it can't see the up and down swipes. Oddly, the mouse will process the swipes and let you know it worked with a quick vibration. I also couldn't find a sweet spot with Intellipoint cursor speed like I've done at work using an old MS USB Optical. Could be this mouse is more sensitive, heavier, or/and bluetooth response.

Though, the swipe gestures might not be completely useless. While editing another button in USB Overdrive, if I performed a swipe while setting up a custom command, oddly, the mouse filled in a command. Can't recall, command + control + tab, something like that. So it could be possible to use another program that monitors keyboard inputs and perform an action/macro when you do the swipe.

Also, the mouse has a glossy on top, so after some use you can heavy a clammy hand or sweaty palms. The wheel spin is nice, smaller notches for a semi-smooth feel, and each notch caused the scroll to move smoothly between lines, not an instant jump. But that action was lost once USB Overdrive was installed. Left and right clicks didn't feel as good as other mice. Tilt wheel controls and middle wheel click were easy to use.

Weighty, with two AA batteries, it was heavy enough to be hard to adjust too if you are coming from a light weight cord mouse.

RECAP: Not 100% compatible features that would of made it stand out, forcing you to use USB Overdrive to recover or customize certain features, glossy surface, heavy, could be more comfortable, bluetooth doesn't seem as good as RF tech (but requires no adapter)


QUICK Logitech Anywhere MX:

This mouse isn't too bad, has a wedge design that's not as sleek and round as the MS 4000, but felt well built. Two side buttons for back and forward. Left and Right clicks felt good, with a tiny sharp click sound. Their wheel switches between smooth and notched.

With Logitech software, smooth scrolling was very nice, but sometimes too sensitive to bump, causing the window to move back up a bit when done. Then that scrolling caused havoc with zoom in my 3D software. Unfortunately, switching to notched feel always feel off compared to a regular mouse, plus noisier. If you want to use USB Overdrive for cursor controls and costomize, say goodbye to that smooth scrolling, creating a more awkward experience with this wheel. Tilt controls on the wheel are usable. Since the wheel has no middle click, there's a top button behind the wheel so it can be used for say, mission control.

The top is glossy, which again could lead to a clammy or sweaty palm, and many pointed this out compared to when it was a matte finish for years. Mouse is heavy, again, 2 AA batteries. Uses a micro RF transmitter. Accuracy was pretty good. Though, if I put it on glass, it gets a little spastic, even if I switch back to a mouse pad until I turn it on and off. The on switch is very cool, a giant finger sized springed loaded panel that slides. When you slide it to off, if also covers and protects the tracking sensor.

RECAP: Not bad overall, better software support than MS's Sculpt without resorting to third party software, can use all the features, troublesome wheel that's too sensitive in free spin mode, or a bit funky in click mode, can't beat the comfort and weight of the MS 4000.

ENDING COMMENTS

I didn't get to try the SmoothMouse & USB Overdrive combo on all mice. Each mice had slightly different sensitivities, so you never know what setting you'll need or if you can hit that sweet spot. Weight was also an issue, making things feel more sluggish and harder to control. With the MS 4000's lighter weight combined with SmoothMouse, it seemed to be the winning combination. Plus it's the most affordable mouse, comfortable, clean looking, and best wireless response so far.

 

[McKenzie74]

You've been so kind, thank you very much. I'll try the mobile mouse 4000

 

[TimothyB]

You've been so kind, thank you very much. I'll try the mobile mouse 4000

Good luck, let me know how it works out for you. It might not be perfect, but that mouse and software makes it close enough to easily adapt to. Maybe an old optical wired MS mouse could be perfect, but that's not ideal for travel. So I wanted one mouse that can work for home and on the go, insuring the cursor always feels the same.

 

[Sunoo]

So you actually got USB Overdrive to see the blue button when you click it? I can't figure out how to get it to register that. it sees every other button and the scroll wheel, but when I push the blue button, it does nothing.

 

[benjaminhoong]

I'm preparing to get a new bluetooth mouse for my rMBP and I'm between the Sculpt Comfort and the Logitech M557.

Overall from what I've seen I like the look of the Microsoft one better but Logitech has it's customization software.

For those who have the mouse, can you explain what the swipes do? I tried it a bit in the store and on Safari, the swipes do not do anything, but strangely when I swipe up on a photo in iPhoto, it invokes a delete command.

Do any other apps do this? Or are there any improvements to Intellipoint or USB overdrive thus far?

 

[Sunoo]

I was able to remap the buttons and swipes in ControllerMate. The blue swipe space on the left works as a keyboard and sends the following keystrokes:

Click: Windows key
Swipe Up: Windows key + Left Control + Delete (Backspace)
Swipe Down: Windows key + Left Control + Tab

Using ControllerMate, I was able to disable the original functions and remap them.

 

[benjaminhoong]

I was able to remap the buttons and swipes in ControllerMate. The blue swipe space on the left works as a keyboard and sends the following keystrokes:

Click: Windows key
Swipe Up: Windows key + Left Control + Delete (Backspace)
Swipe Down: Windows key + Left Control + Tab

Using ControllerMate, I was able to disable the original functions and remap them.

Thank you so much! My mouse just came and was wondering how to remap it...

 

[Noldat]

Could somebody guide me on how to actually remap this mouse using controller mate. I opened the application up and was overwhelmed.

Thanks

 

[Sunoo]

Could somebody guide me on how to actually remap this mouse using controller mate. I opened the application up and was overwhelmed.

Thanks

I'll see if I can export how I did it, or take some screenshots or something, later. It's not too hard once you get the hang of it.

 

[Archiemoses]

I'll see if I can export how I did it, or take some screenshots or something, later. It's not too hard once you get the hang of it.

Here's to wondering if you can lend a hand?

Just using the controllermate trial, and the interface doesn't even match the docs. It's easy enough to see which buttons are driving which events, and you can assign a Custom Name, but there is nowhere to assign a custom action or remap?

https://i.imgur.com/yRPMntX.png

Don't want to pay before figuring it out.

Cheers.

 

[Sunoo]

I attempted to export all my settings from ControllerMate. I believe these should import cleanly, let me know if you have any trouble.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/849440/Microsoft Sculpt Comfort ControllerMate Settings.zip

 

[Archiemoses]

You sir, are a steely eyed missile man.

Thanks a bundle.

 

[Kenzo Kabuto]

I was able to remap the buttons and swipes in ControllerMate. The blue swipe space on the left works as a keyboard and sends the following keystrokes:

Click: Windows key
Swipe Up: Windows key + Left Control + Delete (Backspace)
Swipe Down: Windows key + Left Control + Tab

Using ControllerMate, I was able to disable the original functions and remap them.

could you explain how did you do?
I'm afraid controllermate is a little too messy for me