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What goes around comes around again in the fashion and mouse world. Look at Xerox's 1981 so-called Star mouse next to a nifty laptop mouse carrying its brand these days. Happy twenty-five year anniversary.

The two mouses are fairly similar in size. Both are optical. I imagine Xerox did not design the contemporary metallic colored USB critter. Xerox merely had its brand screened onto it. Perhaps they did conceive a few custom touches.

The bottom is a black oblong with two round gliders on the cord end and a single curved glider bar on the wrist end. The label gives hardly any clues.

Model: Optical Mouse.

Made in China.

Notice the shiny medallion which visually and tactilely enhances the cord retractor, the same as on the top side. Nice touch.

I love its tapered shape and the rubber type grips on the sides for the thumb and finger. I use this little mouse exclusively on my laptop. It is large enough to snuggle into my palm without my losing grip of it but it weighs almost nothing.

So here are the three blind mice all in a row that I've featured so far in this series of minis. These are contemporary miniatures. But a few curious tiny critters from bygone days will come out of hiding soon.

Left to right: Xerox Mini Mouse | Packard Bell & Disney Pock mini mouse | Mini Optical Mouse

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1. Mark Says:
   February 27th, 2006 at 7:19 pm

   Obviously somebody can't spell P*U*C*K.

   Mark at Luckenbach, or should that be Luckenpuck?

2. Mark Says:
   February 27th, 2006 at 7:45 pm

   Or perhaps they can't spell D*U*C*K either.

   Mark M

This little round mouse makes the iMac puck mouse look big. I think the first round mouse was the DEC mouse, a dozen years earlier than Apple's infamous iMac mouse. [Unless you count the DePraz round mouse.] This mini is about 2-3/8″ across. It looks even smaller because much of that bulk is its clear plastic housing. A nod to the ApplePro mouse.

The thin black cord is long enough to reach my desktop box. But as much as I adore this very little mouse, I find it too small even for me to use. I bet it would be ideal for a small child's hand. Not to mention its child appeal. Its two buttons look a bit like beady black eyes, with the blue scroll wheel in between, nose-like. The familiar three-circle mouse head completes the Minnie Mouse evocation. Remember Jack Hawley's 3-circle logo of the 1980s?

Its label says THRUSTMASTER Mini Mouse Disney. It is an optical mouse with a USB connector.

There's actually no blue cast—that's an artifact of indoor light and a digital camera. It's bottom shows off the four gliders and label in crisp black and white. With the clear top over brushed metallic silver on the flip side it looks very contemporary. It's probably plastic through and through.

Very cute, indeed. But what does POCK mean?

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Friends Kyle and Don gave me a tiny optical mouse. Hardly bigger than a man's thumb, it is surprisingly usable for a laptop, but don't expect it to reach very far. The 27″ long retractable cord would not reach far enough for me to use it for my desktop configurations.

The length helps for holding it, although I can't rest fingers on both buttons at a time because it's so narrow, but I am able to use both buttons and the scroll. The critter alone without its coil retractor and USB plug is 3/8"W x 3"L.

For those of us who are gadget challenged, this illustration is the entire operating contents of the manual sheet. Pull from both ends of the skinny cord, not like a vacuum cleaner cord retractor.
Although the manufacturer's name appears nowhere, the PDF "manual" [one sheet with not much more than the cord expansion illustration] is identical to another recent mini mouse by Targus [see March 9th entry]. The cord retractors are identical construction. If it looks like a Targus and acts like a Targus it must be a Targus.

Compare this mini with a new HP wireless mouse that came with my new computer. Two extremes. The HP mouse is too big for me. It's for sale if anyone wants it.
For completeness, here's the back of the mini.

Not much info on the label, just its name and that it's made in China. I found it online on many sites which sell it monogrammed for advertising. There I found the model name, PL-2515, but I can't find a manufacturer name. I used to be able to find FCC IDs which let me search for more info.

Thanks for the handy feather light toy.

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