Most accessory kits for notebook users are designed purely for international travellers, containing foreign power plugs and phone jacks. The Notebook Road Warrior Kit, on the other hand, is for everyone, offering a core set of everyday compact cables, a miniature mouse and a portable reading lamp.

There are four cables, each built into one of Zip-Linq's trademark retractable gadgets: a 75cm USB 1.1 extension, a 75cm USB-to-mini-USB cable, a 130cm CAT5 Ethernet networking cable, and a 130cm RJ11 phone/modem cable. A sprung mechanism inside each keyfob-sized gadget lets you extend its cable as required, and a second tug causes it to be wound back inside automatically.

The cables are quite thin, which probably means they lack the shielding and strength of conventional cabling. That said, they are too short to need much in the way of shielding, and they do rest limply on the desk instead of snaking up and down and flopping onto your keyboard like thick cables that have been stored folded up in a notebook case.

Durability is another matter. The retractable mechanisms seem to work well, although only time will tell if they last. Every house-proud user knows that the retractable power cord is the first thing to break on a vacuum cleaner. Still, we tested them quite roughly but could not get them to snag or fail. They are not indestructible, of course: they will not survive being yanked like a Bullworker.

Also included is a compact mouse designed to weigh almost nothing and, being less than 3cm thick, it slips easily into a notebook bag. It's a three-button optical mouse complete with scroll wheel, and connects using the retractable USB-to-mini-USB cable. For such a little thing, it gives good action and has a nice, soft click feel. We plugged it straight into a Windows XP notebook and an Apple PowerBook, and can confirm that it works straight away without drivers. The equivalent notebook mouse from Logitech costs around £20 to £25.

Rounding off the kit is a USB-powered notebook light. The stand is malleable yet sturdy, but the LED lamp does not give much illumination as it drains your battery away. These notebook lights are always a disappointment, inevitably sounding better in the adverts than they really are. Well-made though this particular example is, it's still a throwaway item in our opinion.

Of course, the idea of investing in cable accessories seems daft in this increasingly wireless age. But for the time-being, plugging physically into a local DHCP office network, armed with nothing but a Zip-Linq cable, is much quicker and more convenient than hunting down IT support staff to help you configure the settings and encryption phrase on your 802.11 PC Card. Similarly, it's often easier to hook peripherals directly to a notebook via USB than relying upon the security nightmare and flakey inconsistencies of a BlueTooth connection.

Note too that some digital camera manufacturers support the 5-pin mini USB standard, so you may be able to use the USB-to-mini-USB cable for downloading pictures as well as for connecting the supplied mouse. We can confirm that it works perfectly with the HP PhotoSmart 850, for example.

The main limitation of the kit is the modest length of the cables. The phone/modem cable, especially, is probably too short at 130cm to comfortably reach the phone socket on a hotel skirting board or office floor. Also be warned that this particular cable is fitted with US-standard male phone jacks on either end, so you will still need a US-to-UK phone adapter (not included in the kit) when travelling within Britain.

Although the kit is not cheap, we think it's good value even if you never use the notebook light. It cuts down the bulk and weight of your notebook bag considerably, and all the devices are well-built, high-quality items, including the mouse.

Notebook users can at last ditch that sack of jangling, knotted cables and replace it with a clutch of retractable gadgets that are small enough to slip into a shirt pocket. The cables are not very long, but if you can't go completely wireless yet, this is the next best thing.