Reviews for Mobee Magic Charger for Apple Magic Mouse

I had my Mobee Charger since it was released (about 6-7 weeks). Initially, it worked great. It would charge without issues and my Magic Mouse stayed connected. At about 4 weeks, I started having issues with the mouse disconnecting. This problem became more frequent until then it would not even charge correctly. I contacted Mobee and they agreed that I had a defective product. They promptly replaced it (kudos to them), and so far it has worked well for the past week or so. Let's hope I just got unlucky and that this replacement will continue to work well.

Some past reviews complained of:
1. Charger not working properly
2. Battery remaining indicator doesn't report properly in OSX
3. Battery fit and finish is awful and inconsistent
4. Charger base dies an early life
5. Battery falls out
6. Mouse bluetooth connectivity randomly fails

Of these 6 major complains I can say this:
1. Charger MUST not be placed on the aluminum base of the iMac or a metallic surface. The system works by using inductive charging. Metallic surfaces will completely render the charger useless. Place it on a wood desk and it will charge the battery fine.
2. Normal alkaline/lithium AA batteries operate at 1.5 volts/battery. NiMH and Ni-Cad rechargeables are designed to work at 1.2 volts / battery. This 0.3 volts difference in the cells explains why the battery % indicator in OSX doesn't report 100% charge b/c of this voltage difference. Apple SHOULD allow users of OSX to select the type of battery that is installed in their input devices so that the battery % indicator is more representative of what is the actual life instead of basing on the assumption that battery cell voltage is always 1.5 volts / battery when in a 100% state.
3. Battery fit and finish in fact is excellent on the unit I purchased. The key is to pay close attention to the install. Place the upper portion of the battery into the mouse first and tip the battery into the mouse and engage the locking tab. Press firmly down on the battery further until you can manually move the locking tab into the fully engaged position. Once locked the slight outward pressure of the battery pack will keep it locked in place. I've banged my mouse around deliberately on my desk to make the battery pack disengage and fall out. So far so good.
4. Can't comment on the charger's life expectancy but it does carry a 1 year warranty through Mobee Technologies and if you purchase it on a credit card then your warranty is doubled to 2 years anyways.
5. Please refer to point 3 and FULLY engage the lock tab on the bottom of the mouse. Don't just press fit it in, press firmly and LOCK the tab in place so it fully catches the edge of the lock tab cutout.
6. Can't say that in the few days I've used the mouse that I've lost connectivity. Some reports have said that the connectivity loss is a direct result of the battery falling out. If point 3 is followed then there should be no reason why the mouse would stop communicating with your computer.

Overall after paying very close attention to the fine details of the charger and battery pack I give it a 4 star rating. Pay particular attention as to how the battery should be installed (tuck upper portion of the battery into mouse FIRST and then firmly lock the tab on the bottom. Last but not least don't place the charger on ANY metal surfaces (esp the foot of the iMac base).

Recommendations to improve this product:
1. Include detailed install instructions so that others can't inadvertently try to drop the battery pack into the mouse without first tucking in the upper edge. Common sense isn't so common for some users.
2. Not related to product - Apple OSX needs to revise their battery reporting schema to allow users to tell OSX what type of batteries their using.
3. Price - This unit isn't cheap. Consider that you can buy the equivalent eneloop batteries for HALF the cost to accomplish the same result is a tough sell for some.
4. HAVE a CLEARLY VISIBLE warning to product users to NOT place the charger on metallic surfaces. It simply doesn't work when sitting on metal or the base of the iMac.
5. Include a passthrough USB cable so that it can still be plugged into a computer BUT allow another USB device cable to be plugged into it.
6. Speed up charging times to about 1 hour vs. 6.

I bought this product 3 mnths ago, for the first 2 months it was charging not bad but after that and till now the batteries are not charging at all.
This product is a fake.

It's sleek and a great idea, but after only a week mine does not charge at all. the light stays red. I tried disconnecting and connecting again, tried changing usb ports, tried connecting directly to wall charger...nothing!

If you're using a Magic Mouse, you really need to invest in this easy and sleek way or recharging your Magic Mouse without replacing batteries. It's that simple. It saves you time and money and it works just as described..

I put off buying this product many times because of the negative reviews. But they are just wrong....

If you have any hand-eye coordination or a passable amount of mechanical ability, the battery insert CAN be installed correctly, and it will not fall out. If you've changed the batteries on your magic mouse, this is simple.

Insert the top portion (near the optical eye) FULLY first. Then insert the bottom portion FULLY, until the slide thing clicks into place. Done.

I got to the point where I couldn't stand having to change the batteries on my magic mouse so often. This is an elegant solution.

Also, my battery percentage seems correct. Not sure if i'm reading something wrong.

Get the product, you won't be sorry.

I would have loved it if it would have worked in the first place!

I ordered the charger and the magic mouse together with my new macbook pro (lion). The mouse alone was working perfectly but as soon as I tried to install the charger's battery in it, nothing was going right.
The battery didin't fit and it took me tools to remove it from the mouse.
The charger's base would stay in "charging status" (red light) for ever and never changed for "fully changed" (green light)
The macbook pro never recognized the mouse after I installed the charger, and even after I'd put back some normal batteries(!)

I had to go to the Genius Bar so they would test it with me, agree that the charger was not working well, tell me to send it back and get my money back.
Luckely, the Apple Store gave me a new mouse to replace the one that had been broken by the charger.. And sending back the product, thus getting my money back, was a piece of cake.

Overall, there are some good and bad comments about the charger so I guess the product is not exactly 100% compatible or complete.. I just hope there's gonna be other brands or versions of this one 'cause I love the idea of a charger for my magic mouse!

I purchased this as a gift. The Mobee backing/battery pack was difficult to install properly, and once installed and charged up, it did not respond with the magic mouse. Additionally, removing the battery pack and backing was impossible. I had to bring the whole mouse into an Apple store where they were able to (thankfully) remove it.

This product is a good idea in theory, but does not fit well into the magic mouse and does not power the mouse properly. Also - once installed, the mouse doesn't actually rest in the cradle properly either.

I returned the product and was very disappointed in this product and wouldn't recommend it.

Worked well when it worked. (give it 5 stars for that) Mine died after 4 months. No customer service number to reach Mobee. Have to send in "work order ticket" via email. Two days later got a response. If I had known what a hassle it would be I would have saved my money for regular batteries.

The problem with the Apple Magic Mouse is that the batteries go weak and then die out in a way that is inconvenient and frustrating. The solution offered by the Mobee Magic Charger offers a lot of promise, but ultimately fell short of even my modest expectations. Everything about the product's concept and design is impressive, but after several weeks of use, the charger's battery can't seem to hold any power. I gave up on it and it is now less functional than a paperweight, sitting on the charging pad. The manufacturer website says this product can power a mouse for six days without charging. I've had it sitting on my charging pad for six days and the battery level remains steady at 11% and green light is still blinking. I've gone back to a wired mouse because when I'm using a computer the last thing I need to pay attention to is whether my mouse is going to work.