RadTech has pulled out all the stops when it comes to the BT600. Its offers everything anyone could want in a Bluetooth mouse. We’re talking 5 buttons, all functional in OS X, unlike many other Bluetooth mice… An on/off button to help conserve battery power and to keep the mouse from waking the laptop up while traveling… No Bluetooth dongle required… Rechargeable through a USB cable… Its almost as if the list never ends. These features are what initially led me to the BT600 while searching for a BlueTooth mouse.
Before purchasing the BT600 I was a little skeptical. I didn’t think that a mouse from a company that I had never heard of could produce a product with these features that would not only work, but work well. After receiving the mouse it wasn’t long before my skepticism was washed away.
The mouse comes in a well made package without that impossible to cut/tear plastic stuff, which is nice. Included in the box was a small instruction sheet about how to pair the mouse with the Bluetooth on a Mac and PC, two AA sized NiMH batteries, a short USB cable for charging, and the mouse. I was surprised to find that there was no driver CD. The BT600 paired quickly with OS X without a hiccup. I quickly found that a driver is not needed for the BT600 to work with OS X. However, if you want to customize the functionality of the 5 buttons you’ll want to download RadTech’s RadMouse driver for OS X.
The 800dpi sensor is no slouch. I found the mouse to responsive and accurate. While doing precise selections with the lasso tool in Photoshop I had no problems. The mouse also works great with World Of Warcraft which is good, because I was having a hell of a time trying to play with the trackpad before.
I’m pretty impressed with the power consumption of the BT600. I was half expecting to half to charge the mouse every night, or at least every few days. This is the reason its taken me so long to write this review. I’ve been trying to gauge how long the batteries will last. So far I’ve logged 12+ hours on the mouse and have yet to have to charge the BT600. The only time I’ve gotten to use the neat charge by USB feature was the first day I got the mouse. While the mouse was plugged in and charging I was taking the mouse for a test drive! I really loved being able to charge on the fly and use the mouse at the same time. This is probably one of my favorite features of the mouse.
When researching the BT600 I was a bit worried about the on/off button located on the top of the mouse. I thought that I may accidentally turn the mouse off while using it. But, after purposely trying to do so I was unable to succeed. The button needs to be pushed down quite a bit to power off the mouse and it is simply not possible to do so with your palm. I had also read a few comments online about how the buttons of the mouse felt cheap. This is not the case. The right/left buttons and the scroll wheel click and feel exactly as my Logitech MX500 does. The back/forward buttons located on the side near my thumb are a little stiffer than what I’m used to. Its not a big deal and I’m sure that as I use the mouse more they will loosen up a bit.
Something I found odd while using the mouse was the default functions of the forward/back buttons. The button I was expecting to be the back button was the forward button and vise versa. Swapping the functionality was a quick fix in the System Preferences via the RadMouse software.
I only have one gripe about the mouse and I’ve already adapted so its not an issue. Its a bit tough to explain, but when you lift the mouse off the mouse pad it keeps tracking slightly. This only happens if you keep the mouse very close to the surface of the mouse pad. By lifting the mouse a little higher than normal I’ve been able to completely eliminate the rogue movement.
I’m thoroughly happy with my RadTech BT600 Bluetooth mouse. It not only has a bucket load of features, but all of them work exceptionally well. I’d recommend this product to anyone who’s in the market for a Bluetooth mouse. Hell, I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a mouse period, its that cool :)
The RadTech BT600 Bluetooth mouse can be purchased here if you are interested.
Share This Article With Your Friends!
I had the same mouse issues that you had, and I recently bought this mouse and I am in love.
One of the feet fell off, and I hope that they will replace it soon, but the mouse rocks.
If you contact RadTech they should send you some new feet for your mouse. Since RadTech is a small company each of their customers is really important to them. If any problems arise they want to make things right.
This guy had a problem with the feet on his RadTech BT600 and they sent him a new set. Good luck :)
I am having an odd tracking issue with this mouse.
it appears to be very sporatic during tracking.
i guess i may need to spend a bit more time in the settings though.
Did you install the RadMouse driver? I had one day that it tracked funny for me for about a half hour. Then things seemed to work fine again. That may have been before I installed the RadMouse driver though, I don’t remember. I’d say give that a shot and see if it clears up.
i have installed the software, but things are acting very funny.
i am going to give it another shot…
thanks, I didnt see this post before, questions are now answered.
I have this mouse also. I like the feel and movement. One issue that I have had is grime buildup on the mouse where my thumb and fingers go. I sent Radtech am e-mail on this issue and asked how to clean it, but got no response in the last two weeks.
i had the same cleaning issue with the mouse because it is textured.
i use Monster Cleaner on nearly everything computer that I have.
I also use a microfiber cloth. It works well for all of that.
It is $20 and comes with the cloth. Worth every penny. Give it a shot.
I like using those little alcohol wipes. The ones that look like the wet naps you get when you eat ribs at a restaurant. They work well on LCD screens and the grime that builds up on keyboards. I’d imagine that they would work fairly well on the RadTech BT600’s textured surface as well. I’ll have to give it a try when my mouse starts to get some build up.
I wish you had written this review earlier. I bought a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse when I bought my laptop back in November of last year. Although I love the style, love the looks, love the battery life (I use it almost everyday and I’m still using the batteries that Apple supplied with it, no need to change them!). It does have some drawbacks, though. The right click button isn’t always clickable (it kind of disables itself sometimes) and the scroll ball is an awesome thing to have when surfing the Internet, but it’s not really good when using Photoshop, for example (it tends to roll when you move the mouse… something you don’t want it doing in Photoshop!). Other than that, it’s really good, everybody loves how it looks, always coming up to me at college just to say “Wow, that’s one nice mouse!”… but still… I sometimes connect my old Dell’s black USB mouse to the computer when working in Photoshop (and that’s a lot of times!).
Hope you’re enjoying it.
My trusty RadTech BT600 is still running strong :)
If your MM ever takes kicks the bucket look into this mouse, it’s really nice!
I am looking at this mouse myself (my 2+ year-old MX1000 laser mouse is dying)… Does anyone know if Steermouse is compatible w/ the BT600? I ask b/c I only purchased Steermouse a month ago ($20), and would feel bad wasting that money….I love Steermouse’s features…
Joe,
I looked around for a bit and couldn’t find anything that says that SteerMouse will or won’t work with the RadTech BT600 mouse. But I did check out the config options that SteerMouse provides and from what I can tell RadTech’s free mouse driver RadMouse seems to offer about the same features. If SteerMouse doesn’t end up working with the BT600 then you’ll be out your $20, but you’ll still be able to use most of what SteerMouse provides via RadMouse.
Here are some screenshots of the RadMouse preferences that I took. There are more screenshots on the RadMouse page which show more in depth features than the pics below.
Jeff, did you resolve the weird tracking issue? I’m experiencing similar thing. A delay of sort. Seems to be a communication issue. I’ve tried pretty much all of the troubleshooting instruction on radtech’s website for osx except for disabling it from the network port config(I use BT to connect to the net via my cellphone in emergencies.) I’ll still have to see how it behaves now that I’ve done all of the instructions.
John, I’ve heard that sometimes if you are using a lot of wireless stuff they can interfere with each other. For example, if you’ve got a wireless phone in your house, you use wifi, connect to your cell phone with Bluetooth, and use a Bluetooth mouse, things can act funny sometimes. If you don’t use WiFi try turning your Airport off and see if that helps. Maybe Jeff found a workaround to his communication issue and he can help you out a bit more.
I noticed on RadTech’s website that the mouse goes to sleep after about 2 to 3 minutes. Is there a way to disable that with the RadMouse software? If not, how big of an issue is it with connectivity? Does it take a while to re-connect to the Mac?
I’m considering this mouse as an option compared to the Wireless Mighty Mouse.
Thanks in advance for your help!!
~Nate
Also, from the comments I noticed that the mouse is textured. Is the texture at all annoying? I know most mice have a smooth shell on the outside, so I was curious as to whether or not that design feature was uncomfortable.
Again, thanks for your replies; I appreciate it!
~Nate
hmmm… i am still having a funky tracking issue, but i love the mouse. in this situation, i am confused because i love the mouse, but the issue is troubesome.
the texturing does not cause an issue at all.
Yeah, 2.4Ghz spectrum is definitely overloaded for consumers these days. My apartment is especially bad. at any given time, I can detect at *least* 20 wireless networks from my living room all contending for bandwidth, and pretty much all frequencies are being used.
After the troubleshooting routine I did yesterday, the mouse has been working fine *mostly.* At times, especially when the cpu load on the computer is high, I see the mouse lagging, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s the computer and not the mouse. This is the only bluetooth mouse I have access to, so my next testing would be to hunt around for my usb-bt adapter and try it on another computer.
that does not appear to be my issue.
Nate,
I’ve really never noticed my mouse going to sleep while I was using it. But if I get up and leave your desk for a bit the mouse will go to sleep, which is a nice power saving feature. It takes less than 4-5 seconds for the mouse to reconnect. As far as the texturing on the mouse surface goes its not bothersome at all. The only thing that you’ll have to deal with is cleaning any gunk that builds up in the nooks. I found that an old toothbrush works fairly well.
John,
Its a bummer that the FCC doesn’t give consumer electronics any more frequencies to use. When I lived in the city I also had a ton of WiFi networks in my area. If you’re Mac is a notebook you could always head to a park or something to try to limit the interference for testing. If not then I think that your idea of testing it with a usb Bluetooth dongle would be your next best bet.
Thanks guys for your replies! I appreciate it!
~Nate
Anytime! Glad that your problems are *mostly* worked out. Do you happen to have a link to the trouble shooting steps that you took? It might be useful in case anyone else has similar problems.
I just followed the one on Radtech’s site: http://www.radtech.us/Products/BT600.aspx
I would probably focus on #9 and #17.
So my laser wireless keyboard died which, since the mouse was part of the “wireless desktop” package, gives me an excuse to look into find a better mouse and bluetooth is a requirement. From what I have seen here, I think the BT6000 is what I want. I have two questions though.
The most annoying thing about the MS wireless mouse I had was that sometimes I would click (as many as 5 times) and it wouldn’t do anything. Have you seen any problems like that with the BT?
Do you have any good recommendations for bluetooth keyboard?
thanks
My BT600 doesn’t ignore mouse clicks at all. You may have read a few of the comments above where John and Jeff were having a bit of strange tracking issues, but John mostly got his problem worked out. I’m not sure about Jeff though. I’ve yet to experienced that with my mouse yet. If you are looking for a Bluetooth keyboard I’ve heard good things about Apple’s Wireless Bluetooth keyboard.
Thanks,
another question. Does waking up/tuning on the BT600 wake up your computer? With my old wireless mouse I had to spin the scroll wheel because it sent signals only occasionally while in sleep mode.
I have the apple keyboard that came with my computer, I actually dont like the form factor which a factor in wanting to get something else, and preferably something bluetooth. :)
As long as you have the setting enabled to allow Bluetooth devices to wake up your computer the BT600 will. The setting is located here…
System Preferences > BlueTooth > Settings > 3rd check box down
I don’t have any recommendations for a non Apple BlueTooth keyboard as I don’t have one myself. I would however recommend going to a Fry’s, BestBuy, or CompuUSA and checking out a few different keybaords. I know that Fry’s usually has a bunch on display that you can get comfortable with. After you’ve found a few you like head home and try to look up some reviews. Most BlueTooth keyboards/mice should work ok with OS X, but its always best to read about users experiences. Good Luck!
Just a quick update: my mouse has been working much more reliably since the troubleshooting steps I’ve followed. There still are few occasions where there seems to be a communication problem, but it is rare and no longer as annoying as it once was. Jeff, if you haven’t tried those steps yet, I recommend you give it a try!
Thanks for the update John. I’m glad that those troubleshooting steps worked for you. If anyone else is having problems with their BT600 make sure you follow John’s lead and go through the troubleshooting steps on the BT600 product page.
i am trying the troubleshooting steps as listed above and i will let you guys know how i make out. currently though i am have a funky weird internet issue that i cannot figure out at all.
Hey guys,
I recently bought the Radtech BT600 mouse and really like it. However, one thing has really been bothering me. Sometimes, the mouse either just hangs or the pointer keeps on moving even after I have stopped moving the mouse. This happens quite frequently especially when hovering over links etc. I am currently using it with my Macbook Pro and really want it to work as I found this to be a good alternative to the Mighty mouse since I am also running Windows through Parallels for school purposes. I gave all the troubleshooting steps at the Radtech site a shot as well. But the problem is still there. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks..
I know I’m a little late to the game here but wanted to chime in… I’ve had the BT600 for a little over a year now. It had been working fine until I rearranged my desk and move my Powerbook a little further away from the mouse. Now it’s acting a bit strange. Much like what’s been mentioned already. The mouse cursor will go into a slow motion and continue to move after the physical mouse has stopped. At the time this happens the mouse is very unresponsive and hard to control. Then after about 5-10 seconds the mouse will function normally.
I’ve been in touch with RadTech tech support, which I have to say have been very accommodating. They sent my one replacement mouse which did the same thing and now a second replacement which is not any better. So don’t know what to say at this time. The problem occurs only if the mouse is more than a keyboards length away from the Powerbook. I’ve even moved to a different location in the house and have taken the Powerbook to work to rule out interference.
I’m thinking about trying the BT Mighty Mouse to rule out any other issue because I’m kind of stumped at this point especially since the mouse works fine when it’s next to the Powerbook…
I’m starting to see a bit of pattern. While the whole suite of troubleshooting fixed the problem for a little while, it all came right back.
I’m thinking it may have to do with it’s recharge function. Here is what I’m seeing:
* Mouse starts to run low on battery and starts being flaky.
* I turn off the mouse, plug in the power cable, wait for the lights to stop blinking, then turn it back on. I’ve often found that if I just plug in the cable mid-use w/o turning it off, the flakiness persists. So if I do the whole off/cable/wait/on routine, the mouse works properly.
* Once the battery is “fully charged” and the light turns green, the flakiness comes back.
* I turn off the mouse, unplug the cable, turn it back on, and it works fine again.
In that aspect, I’m starting to feel that battery does not charge fully by the mouse. One time, the battery level was so low that the mouse kept disconnecting every 10-15 seconds. And when I charged it using the mouse, it took no more than 2 hours to charge. And as I use it on daily basis, I see the need to plug in the cable more frequently. Even on my external smart battery charger, the batteries get fairly warm even on a slow charge and it takes longer than 2 hours to fully discharge and recharge a 2000mAh NiMH AA. I’ll have to test it out again, but I remember (this is just a feeling. nothing timed.) that a freshly charged battery from the external charger lasted a lot longer in the mouse than one “fully charged” by the mouse.
I probably should contact RadTech directly.
As for Scott’s report. I’ve read on Apple’s forum that Macbook’s BT range is really short. I don’t know if this is the case for your Powerbook. But it isn’t what’s troubling me, as most of the time, I use the mouse right next to my MBP.
John brings up a great point that I forgot to mention. RadTech tech support asked me to first try and charge the batteries/mouse with my iPod wall charger. He said that the USB charge does not always charge the batteries to 100%.
I did that but it still did not correct the problem. I’m going to give RadTech a call back to see what they say. I’ll post here…
What we need is a way to check the capacity of a rechargeable AA battery. And I’m not talking about the old duracell strip, although at this point, that may be better than nothing. Do a full charge not using the mouse charging, and then do a full charge with the mouse and see how much of a difference there is.
Sorry Nick, for using this page almost as a forum, but a quick check to everyone. The little paper that came with the mouse seems to indicate that the mousewheel is supposed to blink when it’s low on battery. I haven’t seen this on my mouse yet. Does that happen with any of you?
I definitely agree with the fact that the Radtech customer support is Awesome and they are very helpful and responsive. However, the problems I mentioned above were bothering me way too much for me to carry on with this particular mouse. And so, I returned it and bought the Logitech VX Revolution. I have been extremely happy with this mouse and would recommend any notebook users to have a look at it. However, for Macs the Logitech software is not very stable and so I would recommend you trying out this third party software called SteerMouse for configuring Bluetooth and USB mice….it works like a charm!!