Amazing! I've never used one of these things, but I just plugged the remote unit into the USB port and it worked like a charm. I can now wander around the room while showing PowerPoint presentations, and the built-in laser pointer is a big plus.It has four buttons: One for forward, one for reverse, one to blank the screen, and one is for the laser. It fits well in your hand, and one of the nicest features is the fact that the USB plug stores in the hand unit and turns it off so you can't accidently drain the battery -great design.
Very intuative. Very cool. Can't believe I've gone this long without one of these things.
1. Size. This is compact, which makes it better for travelling.
2. The USB receiver stores in the pointer -and when it's inside, it turns off the control so that battery lasts longer. Nice.
3. The USB receiver has indicator lights to show you when the battery needs replacing, whether the receiver and control are communicating with each other, and whether the receiver is plugged in correctly.
4. The battery cover is screwed in. This is a bit of a hassle when it comes to changing the battery, but I have dropped my other controls repeatedly, and often the cover pops open, spilling the batteries. I prefer this design as you don't have to change batteries very often, whereas you have to handle a control very often.
5. Most importantly, this control is for PRESENTATIONS. Most of the other controls have made the foolish decision to try and add mouse-like behaviour to the remote as well, which is a terrible idea. It means that you can accidentally put yourself in the wrong mode in the middle of a presentation. In the case of the Targus control, it also means that you click on the left button to move forward one slide, and the right button to go back, which is moronic. This control covers the basic things you want to be able to do: move forward and backwards in the slide pack, and use a laser pointer.
6. The buttons have a nice, firm "click" feel, so you don't accidentally bounce forward 5 slides. The Targus is particularly bad for that accidental multiple-slide forward problem.
I agree with another poster that it would nice if had a couple of other presentation functions built in (say, going to the beginning, Esc, and Alt-Tab), but I haven't found a control at this price that didn't double as a mouse with any of those functions, either.
Buy Kensington 33062 Wireless Presentation Remote Control with Laser Pointer (PC/Mac) Now
This remote is extremely easy to use. It has four buttons, forward, back, laser, and blank the screen. The laser is bright enough, reception is excellent, and no setup is required on a PC, apple, or Fedora linux machine. My one complaint is that the remote sends the signals pageup and pagedown to move through slides. If your presentation program uses these keys then this remote will work for you. Otherwise it won't. My own experience is that it works for PowerPoint, Acrobat, and Keynote, but not Impress(OpenOffice) or Preview.Yeah, they claim this thing works with MS Powerpoint. But what they do not tell you is that it only works with PART of Powerpoint. It only works in Slide Mode. It does NOT work in Presentation View mode. Of course, most of my presentations are run in Presentation View mode.SO the remote is useless. And they have no fix for it. They cannot even document that this is the case.
I am going to look for something else. Maybe the Microsoft Remote.
***UPDATE***
It's true, this presenter has problems with PowerPoint's Presenter View because in that mode PgUp and PgDown keys are used to scroll the notes. However, here's a neat trick I discovered that makes it work again:
Start the presentation in Presenter View
Pres "B" on your keyboard to show a blank screen
Click the mouse (anywhere in the blank screen) once to resume the presentation and then AGAIN to advance to the next slide
Magically, from this point on the presenter buttons work flawlessly.
Want Kensington 33062 Wireless Presentation Remote Control with Laser Pointer (PC/Mac) Discount?
As a professional speaker, I have tried just about every remote presentation device out there and I have to say this is the best one I have ever used. The design is comfortable for any size hand, the self storing usb is convenient and foolproof and the built in laser pointer is wonderful. The blackout key for the screen is great for crossing in front of your projector as well. With a ten dollar rebate, the $39 price on this is simply unbeatable.
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