Testing

Testing a mouse like this unfortunately cannot be quantified in simple terms of things like gaming performance like you might see from a normal gaming mouse overview and that is because the usage of this mouse is much more complex than just entering a battleground to blow things up or navigating your favorite RTS it is much more focused toward a specific focus and even some cool ways I came up with to use it.

Presentations

I setup a mach presentation with my office computer to see how theoretically the Neon would help with presenting a multi slide PowerPoint presentation including links which could be clicked and even taking notes and I compared it to a standard wireless desktop mouse from Logitech.

First off using it in standard mouse function the two models were about the same as they were just operating as mice but thats pretty much where the similarities end as that was the limit of the standard desktop mouse.

next up I moved to a standing position as many who are giving a presentation will do and well a wireless mouse means you are now either leaning over a mousing surface or worse using your clothing as a mouse pad to navigate. Meanwhile with the press of the bottom mounted air mouse button I found that I could navigate a screen with ease and no need to bring the unit to my body and I could keep my arms extended and looking professional through a full presentation as needed.

The Laser pointer came in handy as I can point out key areas without having to reach for a laser pointer or even carry one with me or even worse find one thats  missing in the presentation room.

also the pointer button allowed quick marking on a powerpoint if adjustments were noted or needed for future review.

If I had  one complaint during presentation activity I would say that it was the responsiveness of the unit in air mode as it feels like moving is a bit slow but this could also be for the fact that most of my PC work is done around 3200DPI so I am used to a much faster pointer and that took a few minutes to get used to as a hand movement when you first try it will likely undershoot where you are trying to go.

Home usage

I would say that the presentation testing was very interesting and impressive but house usage was just as impressive since I have a HTPC setup which I can stream all of my movies from my home storage. with the Air mouse function I have now effectively replace my wireless mouse I used previously as this one tends to have better range but also the air mouse function means im not using my leg as a mouse pad and can easily navigate the XBMC menu to play videos.

Our Final Thoughts

Gigabyte has come up with a very interesting and useful solution for all of those professional business users and honestly one I am surprised I had not seen before. Now yes I will admit maybe if I searched long and hard for something maybe we could find a competitor to this but in reality I have not seen one and this one really is a cool solution.

Home usage was very nice as now after using this I dont think I would ever go back to a standard wireless mouse for my HTPC or any TV connected system.

The laser pointer adds a cool usage aspect as now its all integrated into a single device which means less to carry or lose.

Overall since I dont really have another unit I can think of to compete with this comparing pricing is a bit tough not to mention the functionality and extra parts you wont need to have I think puts it in a nice value range where its not necessarily cheap but its not overly expensive either.

If you are an IT director looking to spruce up and improve productivity and workflow for presentations the Aivia Neon is a sure hit, if you have a HTPC and like me was previously using a wireless mouse please give it a shit it really is a cool unit and very useful! If you are a gamer, well this is not for you and you should probably keep looking.