Digital Home Thoughts: Low-Battery Warnings: Ignore 'Em

I have this theory that when someone tells you that you should do something, you should stop and consider their motives for doing so. Do they have your best interests at heart, or are they simply a person providing a service that makes them money? For instance, if your dentist tells you that you should come in for cleanings three times a year (instead of once or twice), I think it's healthy to question whether or not that's really required.

Healthy questioning is a trait that that many of us sometimes lack, myself included. A small instance of this occurs with the wireless mouse and keyboards I use. Whenever the software tells me that the batteries are critically low, I replace them. I don't wait to have problems with it, I just do what the software tells me to do. With my Logitech Wave keyboard and mouse (a really nice product by the way, the best I've used), I started seeing the low-battery warning about six weeks ago. Normally I'd replace them right away, but I decided to see how long the mouse would continue to be usable.

Imagine my surprise when, six weeks later, the mouse is still working fine. To be fair, three of those weeks I was away and not using the mouse, but three weeks of extra use out of the same pair of AA batteries is impressive. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm going to keep ignoring this low battery warning since it's obviously more than a little over-sensitive. I suppose it might be rather inconvenient if the mouse stops working while I'm playing City of Heroes, but I'll take that risk. ;-)