ASUS Fragrance Mouse (MD101) Review — sniffed

ASUS Fragrance Mouse (MD101)

7

The ASUS Fragrance Mouse is a solid choice if you're looking for a compact mouse that also smells really good.

What's Good?

• Interesting fragrance compartment
• Convenient AA battery
• Seamless dual-mode connectivity

What's Not?

• No side buttons
• Too aggressive a hump on the back

There really isn’t much new in the realm of computer mice. Better sensors, more buttons and perhaps fancier lightweight materials. But then we have something like the aptly named ASUS Fragrance Mouse (MD101) here today, which aims to shake up the market by adding a fragrance compartment. The mouse itself isn’t particularly unique, but it makes up for it with its practicality… and its fragrance. Let’s not ever forget about the fragrance with the ASUS Fragrance Mouse.

ASUS Fragrance Mouse — What’s Good?

Interesting fragrance compartment

Many of us probably have some reed diffusers in our homes or on our desks to get us into the mood, but reed diffusers aren’t exactly portable. You can’t get into the mood everywhere, unlike with the ASUS Fragrance Mouse. The aroma stone in the refillable fragrance tank soaks up all the fragrance oils to prevent leaks when you’re bringing it around, while a little port at the rear end — that looks oddly like a Lightning port — lets the scent waft through the air as you’re mousing around. Overall I had the mouse for over a week, and I could still smell the fragrance I loaded it up with, so I think it’s a rather low maintenance way to add some vibes to your workspace.

Convenient AA battery

Speaking of low maintenance, the ASUS Fragrance Mouse relies on a single AA battery for power. There’s no support for charging, obviously, so when finally run low on battery, you can just pop a new one in and get back to work. Now, ASUS claims a year’s worth of battery life, but there’s also a disclaimer on how battery life depends on how you use. Usually, mice last longer when connected via Bluetooth than over 2.4GHz, but I also don’t have two whole years to test how long the battery life lasts in my normal use. And oh, when the battery is running low, the indicator will flash red to let you know in advance before it is entirely flat.

Seamless dual-mode connectivity

The ASUS Fragrance Mouse supports Microsoft Swift Pair, which makes it very easy to connect to your computer via Bluetooth. Just enter the pairing mode by holding down the DPI/PAIR button on the bottom of the mouse, and voila, a popup will appear on your screen asking you to confirm the pairing. While not advertised, the ASUS Fragrance Mouse also supports pairing with Android and iOS devices via Bluetooth. By extension, iPadOS should be supported as well, but I do not have a device to confirm. So, for those of you who like to do work on non-PC devices, the ASUS Fragrance Mouse is a pretty nice smelling option.

ASUS Fragrance Mouse — What’s Not?

No side buttons

I personally use my Cooler Master MM731’s side buttons a lot, and the fact that there aren’t any here on the ASUS Fragrance Mouse does annoy me somewhat. I do believe that this is due to the fact that ASUS wanted to keep the ASUS Fragrance Mouse simple, on top of having an ergonomic sculpted thumb rest, resulted in the mouse not having side buttons. The fingertip grip that the ASUS Fragrance Mouse is designed for also means that it will be difficult to incorporate side buttons that are actually nice to use.

Too aggressive a hump on the back

This is largely a matter of preference, but I do find that the hump on the back of the mouse to be a tad too steep. This might be due to the fact that the fragrance tank takes up vertical space inside the mouse though, and I am sure some of you out there will find this shape comfortable as it is optimized for a fingertip grip. Unfortunately, I am more of a palm gripper, which makes the short and tall design of the ASUS Fragrance Mouse rather uncomfortable for me to use. On the upside, this design makes for a very compact mouse that can very easily slip into a small pocket in a laptop bag.

ASUS Fragrance Mouse (MD101) Specifications

ASUS Fragrance Mouse (MD101) — should you get this?

The ASUS Fragrance Mouse is a solid choice if you’re looking for a compact mouse that also smells really good. As far as I know, this is the only mouse out there with a fragrance compartment. Of course, it also does its job as a mouse pretty well with seamless dual-mode connectivity, convenient AA battery power. The shape is subjective, and while I don’t dig it, I am sure it is perfect for some of you. The only real dealbreaker might be its price: the ASUS Fragrance Mouse retails for RM169. Is the premium over other more affordable mice worth it for the unique fragrance feature? Well, I guess that depends on how much do you find a pleasant-smelling mouse to be worth.