If you suffer from cold hands, then this heated mouse review is one you simply don't want to miss, because I've struggled with cold hands all my life, and my body runs cold all the time. I get along with summer really well, but not winter.

So when I moved from freelancing into a traditional office environment and wouldn't have a heater stashed under my desk anymore, I knew I needed a solution for keeping warm. The first thing I checked out were gloves heated by USB connection to my computer. (Had to buy them from China, as the ones sold domestically don't look good, at least for a guy to wear.)

While warm, the gloves weren't easy to put on or take off, and the heat was uncomfortable on the back of my hand. They also got in the way of typing and frankly looked funny with all the wires.

So I continued my search, looking for something less conspicuous. There are USB heated shawls and slippers, but these just won't do in the workplace. And for health reasons, I recommend against sitting on something that radiates heat for a long period of time.

Finally I found this heated mouse, which again heats up once plugged into a USB port. So this is an important point: you need an available USB port, and the mouse is wired. People have gotten used to wireless mouses, but we haven't yet made wireless electricity available for consumer products like this, and the heat would eat up batteries quickly. So you need to be ok with a wired connection if you want to use this mouse.

The mouse itself is pretty average. My main objection is that its center wheel doesn't spin smoothly, but has "notches" in the turning process. I understand this is a style of wheel, but I like the free spinning type, or those that can switch between the styles. Otherwise, expect normal mouse functionality.

The heat controls are pretty close to the mouse itself, and some have said that they wish the controls were closer to the USB port so you don't have to look at the controls. This would be fine if the USB port were always accessible so you could change the heat. But for many, the USB port is under a desk and hard to reach. So in fact, I believe it's positioned where it needs to be.

As for the heat ... it is fantastic. You can turn it to high, low, or off (which I do when I leave the office for the day). On high, it's like holding a slightly insulated cup of coffee -- in my opinion, about as hot as you'd like it to be. Those who get less cold would appreciate the low setting. Depending on just how cold you get, the heat might actually struggle to keep up against the cold on your hand; but I find that overall it does the job I would expect, and I highly recommend it for those trying to keep warm at the computer.

Of course drinking something hot like tea or coffee may be the best way to warm up the body from the inside. But keeping your hand on something warm while you work sure helps out, and the price point makes it an easy decision to buy.

Buy the heated mouse on Amazon.