EZ Commander – Trackball PC Remote & Presenter

5 Responses to “ EZ Commander – Trackball PC Remote & Presenter ”

1. Kathryn Decker
   January 7, 2010 at 1:11 pm

   I got this product because I wanted a remote control for my computer. We have switched over to using a computer in place of a television both for DVD’s and for TV shows through network websites, hulu, and netflix online. The biggest difficulty was with not having a remote control. This product seemed like it would be a great fit. It is hand-held and looks like a remote with remote functions, yet it is a mouse. Unfortunately it didn’t work terribly well. The trackball in particular was difficult to use with precision and most of the other additional features weren’t compatible with windows media center (as far as pause, play, etc.), instead the mouse was required to click on the on-screen controls. Part of why the mouse was so iffy was because the receiver unit that is actually plugged in to the computer wasn’t stable and if the mouse wasn’t pointing directly at the front of the receiver it didn’t want to work. If they come out with a blue-tooth version I’m sure it will work much smoother.

   We have since purchased a wireless blue-tooth keyboard and mouse, and this is has worked much smoother. I still wish my Commander was as consistent as my blue-tooth wireless optical mouse. If it was, I would pick the Commander over the mouse.
   Rating: 3 / 5
2. Robert Savickas
   January 7, 2010 at 3:38 pm

   If you do a lot of presentations and need a laser pointer that also has remote control for your computer DON’T BUY this item. Useless for presentations, unless you tend to stand in one place, facing your computer all the time with no objects interfering between you and the computer. I move around the conference/class room when presenting, and often face my audience and stand with back to my computer and the screen. If you do this, then this EZ Commander will not be able to communicate with your computer, and you can’t flip slides or do anything. And, the worst part is: you can’t return it to the seller, so the item becomes dead weight, sunk money. This item is good for people who sit in a couch and watch movies on their computer, that’s the only purpose this item can serve; for me it’s useless.
   Rating: 1 / 5
3. Gregory V. DeSalva
   January 7, 2010 at 3:55 pm

   This is a great PC Remote. The Trackball works well. It would be nice to have some programmable buttons though. It’s also very sensitive. When I put my computer to “sleep”, if I move the remote it wakes the computer.

   I was able to get my Harmony One remote to learn some of the commands from EZ Commander. I think the company should upload the commands to Logitech Harmony for people that want their universal remotes to handle the PC.

   Greg
   Rating: 4 / 5
4. K. Deen
   January 7, 2010 at 5:00 pm

   I’ve never had a remote for my PC and this was the first one I ever tried. The trakerball was the deciding factor for me. This remote did not work with some program I tried. I think it was Video LAN (VLC). Now, by not work I mean the media mode did not work correctly but in PC mode you can still do everything just as you would if you were sitting at the PC. Especially as you can use the trackerball to complete all mouse operations. I think it works perfectly and I am very satisfied.

   I do have two complaints though. When the remote is set to media mode the shift and ctrl keys don’t work as they normally would. But this is fixed by just putting the remote in PC mode.
   
   The other thing is that I leave my computers on while I go to sleep and let my monitors sleep while I do. If the remote in on the bed and I move the trackerball is so sensitive that it wake up my monitors. That gets annoying.
   
   But all in all it’s great!

   Update:
   
   It’s been over a year and I still love the remote. I’m even on the same batteries. The trackerball, however, has degraded immensely in performance. I have not tried to open to clean it because it seems to be a bit difficult. It has very limited functionality but I don’t need much when watching movies. If I could easily open and clean it then it would be perfect.
   Rating: 4 / 5
5. Gene Littlejohn
   January 7, 2010 at 5:27 pm

   I love this thing, I have a PC on 2 TV’s and I actually bought a 2nd one of these. There are mouse functions and keyboard keys. So if you have hot keys set up for players, it will work great without even messing with the software. It does not have a system volume function, however I found a freeware program that lets you set hot keys for it. It is called 3rvx. Any version works with XP, but you need the latest version of 3rvx (2.5) to work with Vista or 7. I’ve been doing PC on TV with a remote for over 5 years now and this is the best PC remote I’ve seen.

   I’ve seen a few negative reviews for this. It’s funny that the person always seems to have some strange expectations about what it does, and is then disappointed. Ok. Look at the remote. Think about this for just a second using common sense. Now, do you REALLY think this is going to be a practical solution for entering text? Of course not, that’s utterly ridiculous. The guy just states that you COULD do that….. and yea you could, but that doesn’t mean you should. I’m not sure why anyone would want to try.

   What this thing appears to be for, is using media on a PC, connected to your TV from the comfort of your favorite piece of living room furniture. I use the computer on the TV to view pictures, videos of various types and listen to music. It also controls my surround sound. This remote does all that perfectly. I have even used it in place of a mouse for installing or upgrading software. I do of course have a keyboard connected for maintenance though.

   So in closing, if you are looking for a great PC remote, this is what you want to buy.
   
   Rating: 5 / 5