At a Glance
The Good: Lightweight, comfortable, affordable
The Bad: Squeaky
Design and Operation
At first glance, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 1000, which is an optical mouse , doesn't look like anything special. It has the requisite left and right buttons, a standard scroll wheel (with tactile clicking), and a nano receiver . It operates via 2.4GHz wireless technology, and Microsoft lists its dpi at 1,000. For a $19.95 price, you're getting a good deal for a wireless mouse. It feels extremely lightweight although not especially durable.
Other than the price, the Mobile Mouse 1000 tries to set itself from the competition by its lengthy battery life -- 10 months, according to the company. While I try to review each computer peripheral over a moderate period of time, I obviously didn't use the Mobile Mouse 1000 for 10 months. So we'll have to take Microsoft's word on this. It also has an on/off switch, so you can stretch that juice even further.
Squeak, Squeak, Squeak
What I did notice while using is that the Mobile Mouse 1000 squeaks and scratches. Of course, this will depend on the type of surface you'll be mousing on, but I used it both at my dining room table (slightly textured wood) and at my office desk (smooth wood). Both of these surfaces are common enough, and I could see this nails-on-the-blackboard sound being a real issue. Of course, you can throw down a mousepad and eliminate the problem, but not everyone uses mousepads and few people travel with them.
While the Mobile Mouse 1000 gets points for using a nano receiver, it loses some for not including a placeholder. Although nano receivers are designed to sit flush with the USB port, allowing them to be transported from place to place, it's still difficult to think of a travel mice as truly portable if there's no designated place for the receiver. Those nano receivers are tiny and easily lost, and not everyone likes packing up a laptop with something in its ports.
The Bottom Line
The Wireless Mobile Mouse 1000 is a comfortable, no-frills wireless peripheral with an enviable battery life and a sweet price. But it loses marks for noisy operation and a lack of a receiver placeholder.
UPDATE!
The mouse does in fact have a receiver placeholder -- a very secure one located in the battery compartment of the mouse. I sincerely regret the error.