Portable mice are designed to be compact and easy to transport with a laptop, they allow users to more accuracy and ease of use than touch pads. Portable mice are often wireless as well to allow use in a wider array of environments. Logitech’s V450 Nano is designed for on-the-go users who want a reliable mouse for their laptops or desktops.

Layout and Design

The Nano is designed to fit ergonomically in either hand of the user and features a two button design with a scroll wheel. The mouse comes with two AA batteries, a docking station for its USB receiver, and the USB wireless receiver itself.

The receiver itself is tiny, no larger than a thumbnail, and the dock it comes with is an extension cable to desktop users can more easily get at the receiver which would otherwise be difficult to get at on the rear of a desktop. The receiver is designed to be small enough that laptop users can plug it in and leave it in when moving from place to place. Some previous designs featured large receivers that had to be detached before changing locations. While the tiny receiver is a good point for the mouse, it is also a problem. The reciever can be somewhat difficult to remove and could be easily lost or broken.

Two other good design features are the inclusion of a battery indicator and a power switch. Some previous mobile wireless mouse designs required uses to clip the USB dongle back onto the mouse to turn it off, during transport this could become unclipped, causing the mouse to activate and waste precious battery time.

The front and back of the package

Front Shot		Back Shot

Use and Testing

Testing the mouse for surface sensitivity revealed that it will work reliably on a large variety of surfaces with little loss of sensitivity including wood, ceramic tile, fabric, leather, and metal. The surface it performed most poorly on was fabric, but it was still within acceptable levels.

The range on the wireless receiver is roughly thirty feet, after twenty there is a slight lag between moving the mouse and the corresponding action on the computer, but it’s nothing that would horribly impair use.

Battery life is advertised to be twelve months and considering the ability to turn the mouse off when it’s not in use and not have to worry about it accidently turning on in a laptop carrying case it should probably come fairly close to that. Should the batteries ever come close to running out there is a battery indicator LED on top of the mouse that will give a user fair warning when they are running low.

There is no special software to install that comes in the package, however users may opt to download software from logitech to program the tilt wheel on the mouse. The mouse is simply plug and play, turn it on and plug in the receiver and it is good to go.

Contents of the package, and a comparison of the USB Reciever's Size

Package Contents		USB Size Comparison

Battery Cover on the Mouse and Size of Reciever when in a Laptop

Battery Opening		USB Recieve in Laptop

Conclusion

The V450 Nano is a great mouse for any user that is going to be traveling often. Its long battery life and plug and forget receiver make it ideal for laptop users that change locations often. The dock it comes with seems somewhat unnecessary, unless the desktop it’s attached to has only one user.

In addition at $45 it’s roughly $10 – $20 more expensive than other comparable mice. The USB receiver can also be a bit difficult to remove once it’s set in due to the small size. That being said, it is something travelers should look at purchasing, and customers will definitely get their money’s worth out of it.

Some pros we found:

Pros

- Battery Life of approximately 12 months

- 30 foot Range

- Good detection across multiple surfaces

- On/Off Switch

- USB Receiver Size

Some Cons we found:

Cons

- USB Receiver Size

- Price

Overall: 8.75 out of 10