RadTech BT500 Rechargeable Bluetooth Mouse

reviewed by Eddie Hargreaves

RadTech's original BT500 Bluetooth mouse was the best wireless mouse for mobile Mac users and the newest model improves on that excellence by adding battery recharging capability.

The main problem with wireless mice, Bluetooth models in particular, is battery life. At best you could get a few weeks worth of life out of a pair of batteries, and at worst you could get a few days worth. The new Rechargeable Bluetooth Mini Mouse from RadTech helps alleviate that pain by including a USB cable that you can connect to your Mac to both power and recharge the two included AAA NiMH batteries. The scroll wheel will illuminate red while the batteries are charging and turn green when they are fully charged.

A quick recap of the features that the BT500 has retained from before: Weighing only 64 grams and measuring only 85.2mm long, it's extremely small and light. There are two main buttons and a scroll wheel. The right button is automatically configured as control-click and the scroll wheel will work without configuration.

The scroll wheel can also be used as a third button, but is limited to only the Exposé and Dashboard features of Panther and Tiger, respectively, unless you install RadTech's Bluetooth HID Driver and RadMouse System Preferences pane. The problem with RadMouse is that it's still in beta format. The Read Me notes that "This software is provided 'As-is'" and that "Currently there is no formal User Guide or supporting documentation." Beta software is hardly uncommon today, but drivers are typically not the kind of unsupported software you want to be using.

Originally available in white, to match Apple's consumer hardware, the BT500 now has a silver appearance, matching the pro laptops. There is also an extra gloss coating that helps solve the problem of picking up grime from being handled constantly. And in the thanks-for-not-making-me-cut-myself department, although it's in a blister package, it isn't fully sealed and there's a simple snap-open top and bottom hinge.

Anyone that's used rechargeable batteries knows that they don't hold a full charge indefinitely, and after a number of cycles they will still wear down to only a few hours of activity. The initial life of the included Ni-MH batteries was a mere 1-1/2 working days while a pair of regular AAA batteries lasted a week. I would wager that a pair of brand-name Ni-MH batteries purchased from a retail store would fare much better.

But the recharge feature is an added bonus (and $5 added cost) to an already stellar wireless mouse that is easy to setup, gives great performance, and provides necessary functionality for mobile Mac users.