Genius Intros Wireless Mouse Without a Battery

News
By Douglas Perry
published

Genius announced a new wireless mouse that uses a gold-capacitor instead of a batter to hold an electrical charge.

You still need to charge the mouse, but the design enables the DX-Eco model to be fully charged within three minutes. The downside: you will have to recharge the mouse every day.

For about $40, you get an otherwise common mouse that works via a 2.4 GHz connection and a distance of up to 45 feet between the sender and receiver. The manufacturer says that the DX-Eco works on surfaces such as dusted glass, marble, carpet, sofa, delivers a resolution of 800 or 1600 dpi and integrates seven buttons. The mouse works with Windows XP/Vista/7 as well as Mac OS X 10.4 and higher.

Genius says that the gold-capacitor can be recharged up to 100,000 times.

Douglas Perry
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46 Comments Comment from the forums
  • I don't see a practical reason for using a capacitor and the high price when the mouse will be dead long before the cap dies from cycling. I've had my Logitech K800 and M305 mouse for over a year. The k800 using the original batteries will still last about 4-5 days between charges with heavy usage and backlight on. The mouse uses disposable AA and I have to change one about every 20 days (could get a rechargeable battery, but new batteries are still cheap and reliable).

    How about high quality products with lower energy usage, that'll make me happy. Batteries tend to be the most reliable part of most gadgets these days, sigh. I'd rather have a $40 mouse thats tough with a replaceable battery of the user's choice. When my k800's rech. AAs die I'll just get a new set and enjoy for another few years.
    Reply
  • lumberjack86
    shuffman37I don't see a practical reason for using a capacitor and the high price when the mouse will be dead long before the cap dies from cycling. .
    The global destruction caused by the production of batteries is becoming quite bad. While gold mining can be somewhat as bad, the consequences of batteries over time is significantly worse. 40$ for a mouse isn't a high price for what you are getting out of it and the money you save by not having to use batteries. Your argument against this seems to be that you are too lazy to charge it every day so you dismiss it as being expensive, low quality, and unreliable which i find ridiculous.
    Reply
  • LuckyDucky7
    Make it a gaming-grade mouse and I'm in.

    Capacitors may suck to have to recharge; sure, you have to put the mouse on its dock at the end of the day- but you do that with a battery-powered mouse anyways!
    With a capacitor, 3 minutes gets you, say, 6 hours of use.
    With rechargeable batteries, 3 minutes gets you 2 minutes of use (better mice unfortunately use propietary batteries).

    Plus, you don't have to buy replacement packs when those rechargeable batteries die, and the mouse pays for itself if you're talking alkaline batteries.

    Even if you're too lazy or forget to charge the mouse 3 minutes is about the time it takes for you to put the mouse on the cradle, hit the power switch, and by the time your desktop is useable so is your mouse.

    This is a beautiful idea.
    Reply
  • tlmck
    What we need is the wireless power we were promised. In this case the mouse would get it's power wirelessly from the USB dongle, while simultaneously sending it's signal back to the adapter.

    GET ON IT MIT!!!
    Reply
  • Even if you're too lazy or forget to charge the mouse 3 minutes is about the time it takes for you to put the mouse on the cradle, hit the power switch, and by the time your desktop is useable so is your mouse.
    If you have a SSD you'd be waiting another 2 minutes and 30 seconds for the mouse to charge...
    Reply
  • nikorr
    Good laptop mouse....
    Reply
  • whitecrowro
    for 40 bucks one gets a processor
    Reply
  • You could actually use the scroll wheel to charge the mouse. All you would need is a really tiny rechargeable battery to have the mouse ready all the time. Using the scroll wheel during normal surfing will maintain this start-up battery and charge the capacitor. If for some reason you use the scroll wheel below charge requirement, then you'll have to use the cradle. Still, the scrollwheel could be easily engineered to generate enough charge even if not used very often.

    In retrospective, the good old trackball mouse could be easily made into a self-charging device by putting charge generators into the internal ball rollers.
    Reply
  • therabiddeer
    Sounds pretty good to me if it is as good as it sounds. Pretty cheap too. I like the idea mostly because the main thing that stops me from bothering with wireless mice these days is the added weight from the battery. Take out that huge mass of weight and it might be useable.
    Reply
  • azathoth
    I've always used wired mice because I got tired of my wireless mice dying during the middle of a gaming session, and constantly replacing disposable batteries which cost on average $1 each.

    This mouse seems perfect for me aswell as others like me, people who want a wireless mouse without the hassle of carrying a desk full of AAA's, or having a backup rechargeable/wired mouse.

    Lets say they define a "day" of usage as six hours, that means with the proclaimed charge time of just three minutes one can easily recharge it while they go to the washroom or to get a quick drink/snack.

    Whilst it is technically not a gaming mouse, this is a personal preference but I can NOT stand mice with a large amount of hotkey/macro buttons on the sides. I will certainly look into this mouse when it becomes available.
    Reply