Just got my SmartNav and I'm enjoying using it, just hope my neck is going to hold!
It is still far from a 'mouse experience' and anything but pixel perfection and I have to move my head so much!
My unit is clipped over my laptop screen and these are the settings I found works best for me. I dont seem to be able to tune it better.
Dot between my eyes
Cursor Position - Absolute
Speed - Max on both Ver and Hor (linked)
Motion - Max Smoother 120
I use keyboard shortcuts to click
These are some particular problems I have.
The cursor seems to "swim" slowly around even if I am sitting completely still particularly towards the left of the screen
I find it hard to move the cursor smoothly and it is more of a click fast enough while passing the icon etc. affair.
It also seem that cursor keeps 'sticking' to the sides.
Any help will really be appreciated.
Thanks, Johann
I have a few pointers for you that hopefully you can try with your SmartNAV unit.
You should not need to move your head so much; by customizing the different features the SmartNAV can easily deliver a smooth and pixel precise mouse experience. There can be a small learning curve though. The biggest thing to remember is that it is key to remain relaxed and comfortable, do not tense up and try to control the cursor, just let your small natural head movements do the work for you.
Everyone who has gone through and tried my hints listed below has been able to eliminate any and all neck pain.
For starters I would decrease the smoothing and speed. Start with the speed near the middle (I have my setting at 12) and turn the smoothing down toward the middle as well. Having both set to the extreme is not usually necessary. As you get more comfortable with the device you can increase the settings, but it helps to start slow. You may also want to try decreasing your screen resolution while you are getting used to the device.
For the 'swimming'... check the tracking tab in the SmartNAV software, is anything showing up beyond the green dot? If there is, you can use the light filtering option to remove any artifacts.
Try adjusting your Windows Mouse settings, these settings matter and you can increase your precision by turning on Mouse Acceleration, or Increase Your Pointer Accuracy, whatever it may be called in your version of Windows. Also try turning up the speed in there, about 3/4 way and then lowering our speed setting, that can help on some systems. This is recommended for more advanced users because if too much acceleration is applied it may cause the unit to 'swim' around as well.
I would use the unit with a hat, with the dot placed on the end of the brim. This will increase precision by a factor of 2X. Hopefully you don't mind wearing a hat.
I use Key Activated mode with Key Release Clicking. This is the most convenient way of using the system, according to me anyway. If you assign the Move key to your CapsLock then you can simply press this key to engage your mouse control and let up over the item you want to select, press down again and you can double click, drag as well. This setting, along with other useful hotkeys like 'pause' and 'precision' are located in the Behavior tab of the SmartNAV software.
Finally, play with the Gravity feature, I think it rocks, but you do have to set it up for your own tastes. Gravity is a feature you have with the SmartNAV software and should be tried out. Try just having it turned on for the Control Boxes, those are the Close Minimize and maximize ones, the hard to hit little ones. Once you get comfortable with this, you can add more buttons in.
The SmartNAV can work completely hands free and has helped many people. Please go through my hints and I am sure you will be satisfied.
Cheers, Kevin
That was some great advice. My SmartNav is skill is already 200% better!
I reckon you should include that post in the manual.
Cheers, Johann
I agree with Johann that including them in the manual would be a great addition.
Carol