Wireless Presenter with Cursor Control - AMP06US product reviews

Sometimes, in my line of work, I have to make presentations to clients and suppliers... this means unpacking the laptop and heading off to grud knows where, to sit in a usually dingy office interview room and try to show them how their efforts are being rewarded. Those are the easy ones... sometimes I have to stand in front of a group of 20 or more and put on the whole spiel, bells and whistles included, in a well-lit conference room. That's where this little baby proved itself last week.

While making a presentation to a collected brain-trust of potential suppliers, I found myself needing to get out from behind the podium in order to communicate better. Nothing says "I'm scared and nervous, don't trust me" like being stuffed in a corner behind a huge wooden podium... even if it was an incorrect impression. So I hauled myself out from the shadows, and got in front of them so I could be seen, so my body language could convey more. But of course, the mouse didn't want to co-operate and work in mid-air. So it was time to plug in this little godsend.

"Excuse me folks, but I'm going to enlist your aid in this. We're currently testing this unit for Targus... so I beg your indulgence while I set it up and put it to the acid test here, with you..." Risky, sure, but I had faith... and thankfully it paid off. Simply plugging the receiver into a USB port triggered the auto-setup in Windows, which had no trouble configuring it. A quick syncronisation with the handpiece and we were away.

The controller is quite intuitive, fits easily into your hand and is laid out in a very common-sense way, with the index finger right on the laser-light pointer activation button, trigger-style, the ball of the thumb resting easily on the cursor control stick and the tip easily able to hit the left/right mouse-buttons, and if you pull your thumb down a little, you have easy access to the prev/next page buttons and the multifunction button at the very bottom. Rolling the unit sideways gives your thumb easy access to the on/off switch too. Of course, this is all right-handed operation... but it's equally easy to use left-handed too because of it's symmetrical design.

Covered in a comfortable matt-black non-slip coating, it looks stylish, feels good to hold, and will soon feel like an extension of your hand in much the same way a comfortable mouse does. After about 10 minutes I hardly noticed I was using it, a mere thought and my hand triggered the unit as if it were a piece of my nervous system. Running off a couple of standard alkaline 'AAA' batteries, this would be very easy to deal with in case of a battery failure, since there is no fancy recharging stand required, no power cables to untangle, just pop the cover, slap in a new pair, re-synch it (if necessary) and off you go again, simple and stress-free as that.

Overall, for any member of the salesforce, be they office-based or free-range, any marketing department, bascially anyone who stands up and presents information... one of these should be top of your 'must have' list... you'll never know how you coped without it once you have one. If you aren't sure... ask around... you're bound to know someone who has one, and they'll tell you the same... it's just great. And the laser pointer... well, a high-intensity cherry on the top really, giving you the chance to put the mouse pointer in one place, but point out other locations with ease.