[arjay24]

Tip: Use a white sheet of paper as the "pad". This makes for the easiest flow of light and makes for longer mouse battery life. Using a non white surface requires more current as some is absorbed by the non white surface.

[JohnWill]

Interesting thought, I'll have to give that a try. It truthfully never occurred to me, but it makes sense...

[Tapeuup]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

Interesting thought, I'll have to give that a try. It truthfully never occurred to me, but it makes sense...

Who said you can't teach an O'l dog new tricks!

[JohnWill]

Arf!

[ChuckE]

It is not going to save THAT much power, if it does at all.
If you hold up a sheet of white paper and place your mouse (I will assume optical mouse - even though you only mentioned cordless) so that you can see the LED light glow through. As your mouse moves across that white page you may notice, as I had, that the LED glows brighter at the time of motion.

(BTW, I have a Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse, and yes, it is optical. I also have a Logitech V270 Bluetooth Optical mouse, which behaves, LED-wise, exactly the same.)

The optical reader senses mouse motion and, during those times, it makes the LED brighter ... irregardless of the color of the surface it is sliding over. When I used a large white and dark checkered pattern surface, instead of an all white surface, I did not detect the LED functioning any differently. When the mouse was at rest, the LED went into a low brightness state (probably to save power). Nearly immediately upon moving the mouse the LED goes to its bright condition, and most likely then using more power. It would be unlikely that the manufacturers would invest in any slight light/dark energy conserving circuitry when the large step between no-motion dimness, and the in-motion brightness, is so great.

Not to say that it could not be done, but just how much of a savings could there possibly be, anyway? A real world, real situation, test could possibly show that the batteries of cordless mice might last a bit longer - or maybe less. But my mice (my MS mouse is about 2 years old, and my Logitech Bluetooth one is only about a year old) have only needed to have new batteries once - and that was my MS one, about 4 months ago. I am not about to go through a year long trial, twice (per each mouse) to see if a couple more days, either with or without a white surface, can be squeezed from a set of batteries.

One of the reasons I have wireless, optical mice is for the convenience of running my mouse over whatever surface is handy. When I am using my laptop (the one with the Bluetooth) that may be the arm of my chair, the airplane tray, the leg of my pants, or even the flat surface at the front edge of the computer's surface. I couldn't care less if that surface is white or not. And I would suggest that you do not also.

But, that's my opinion. Your milage may vary.

[Noyb]

FWIW ... I'm using a White Polyester wedding dress material.

http://forums.techguy.org/do-yoursel...mouse-pad.html

[JohnWill]

Well Chuck, my pants leg doesn't work all that good in an informal test.

[ChuckE]

Originally Posted by Noyb

White Polyester wedding dress

and I'm sure it looks good on you!

[ChuckE]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

my pants leg doesn't work all that good in an informal test.

Try using formal pants.

[NetGuru()]

Very handy tip for me (im not a mouse pad seller).

I have very little space on my computer table. Using a sheet of paper makes it possible to move my keyboard to positions that would not be possible with a normal mouse pad, because those are too thick and the keyboard would not be stable. With the sheet of paper it is just perfect, much better than a piece of cloth... Better if it does realy save some bateries...