Mouse Buttons

They die. It's simple a that. They are hard to press first - keypresses does not registered or they double click on single press. That is followed by total malfunction soon after. Defectivity rate positively correlates with the frequency of usage. In my case left mouse button, mouse freeze and F2 keys, which I use often, had to be replaced on multiple occasions. I lost track on how many times I did so.

It is worth noting I'm not the only one experiencing the same. Multiple people complained about the mouse buttons. An example can be seen here: KeyMouse forum: Small buttons problem. The KeyMouse company is trying to fix it. As far as I am aware, they changed the switches two times. The last update video (Dec. 2019) mentions the last iteration on them.

Palm pain

I suspect the small mouse switches of being the main cause of my palm pain I had while using the KeyMouse. The main reason being my right palm pain was "cured" once I proceed to click with my left hand only as the left half had working switches at the time.

Scroll-Wheels

died on me twice so far, one on each side. Long story short: They send scrolling signals in the opposite direction also. Your screen jumps and you scroll nowhere.

Rubber coating:

It smells and it wears off.

The top housing of the Keymouse Alpha is made from white plastic (unless asked them to do it otherwise) which is covered with rubbery layer. I'm not sure if it is made the same way since the latest version showed in The last update video looks different. There is no way of knowing as KeyMouse company does not disclose updates.

Here I feel obliged to mention those two: One- I'm very sensitive to smells. Two- I do come in touch with various devices with rubber coatings like laptops, headphones or gamepads on daily basis and have no issue with those whatsoever.

Examples of people having problems with that coating could be also found on Keymouse forum. Here is one.

Eventually I have ordered black KeyMouse Alpha shells without the rubber coating. The rubber coating is there for a reason. Which brings us to the next topic.

Friction:

Maybe I should say "Two frictions".

First is the friction between the mouse and mouse pad. I will call it here "mouse feet friction". The less of mouse pad friction the less force you need to move your device.

The second one I did not notice until having KeyMouse Alpha. It is friction between your hand and mouse. I will call it here "hand friction".

Why is it important? Let me explain.

Compared to any mouse I ever used it is much harder to move KeyMouse Alpha. Now I'm comparing the force required to move it when pushing from side without any weight resting on it. Even big mice like Razer Naga are much easier to move around.

Keymouse Alpha is moved by arms while palms are resting on the devices. To be exact: One moves forearm if elbows are resting on table. One moves whole arm with the device if they are not. The more of arm weight is resting on the device, the greater the mouse feet friction is and the harder it is to move it. Without the smelly rubber coating and with the need of increased force to move KeyMouse Alpha I got to learn a thing about my self: Sometimes, especially (but not only) in winter my hands are dry or at least dryer. When they are it is noticeably harder to move KeyMouse Alpha without my hands slipping from it. That can be solved by applying Nivea lotion on my hands.

Finding the way to reduce the mouse pad friction I have tried multiple Mouse pads. The hard top mouse pads turned out to have the least friction from them all. I also have installed 3rd party special ceramic mouse feet. Those are now standard to every newer version of Keymouse Alpha.

Forearm pain

Now I'm not exacly sure how I got rid of that one. Think the remedy was combination of decreased friction, frequent stretching and few visits of masseur.

Shoulder pain

I was using Keymouse Alpha without my elbows resting on any surface for many months. I'm guessing 7. During the Corona isolation times I have developed serious pain in my right shoulder. Magic, friction reducing, combination of hardtop mouse pad and ceramic mouse feet did not help. Disabling the right mouse and moving mouse cursor with my left hand only provided the sweet relief. But I'm not fond of moving entire keyboard when I want to move mouse cursor.

A note on all the pain and discomfort

Keycaps

are custom made for KeyMouse. KeyMouse have keys closer together than your "normal" keyboard and standard keys not fit on Keyboard unless modified. They are made of some white plastic which is painted black. On black paint might be printed legends ( there's an option without them ). On the top of Keyswitch is a clear coat of something. The top layer peals/ wear off very quickly.

Programability

It is awesome in general. But: Macros are NOT stored on the device. They are stored in the KeyMouse software installed on your computer.

Keyboard shortcuts

Not all of them work. An example in Windows is Windows key + number. That let's you switch really quickly between applications. For more than one window of application open mentioned shortcut does not work.

Impossible Keysequences

One example: Holding blue layer and pressing D key and F key send only what is on blue layer under the D key. The workaround is to press blue layer, press D, release D, then press F.

Keyboard disconnects in wireless mode

Even when device is connected with cable and the battery is in KeyMouse Alpha it stop responding. Workaround is to flip the devices, turn them off and on again.

Serious lag when in wireless mode

This happens from time to time at random intervals.

Cursor goes wild in wireless mode

After some random time of inactivity. Cursor picks direction at random and just runs. A Restart of the device is needed.

A note on wireless mode

It is unusable for me. The situation is better when connected via cable and it is best when you remove batteries from the devices as some of the wireless problems persist if you do not do so.