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Input Devices

Top Mice Compared 474

Posted by CmdrTaco from the clicky-clicky dept.
Johnny writes "Unfortunately mice are one of the most overlooked computer peripherals, while in reality should be one of the first places where your hard earned cash should be invested in. TechSpot has posted a round-up of some of the best mice currently available in the market: Logitech's MX1000 and MX518, Razer's Viper and Diamondback, and from Microsoft, the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer and the Optical Mouse by S+ARCK."
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Top Mice Compared More

Top Mice Compared

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  • Perific Dual Mouse (Score:5, Informative)

    by richie2000 ( 159732 ) <rickard.olsson@gmail.com> on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:23AM (#12632821) Homepage Journal
    When I recently started feeling a tingling smarting pain in my right arm, I got a Perific Dual Mouse [perific.com] and after the first week I not only have gotten used to it, I'm also almost symptom-free. I tend to change between using it as a regular mouse and setting it on end and using it as a trackball. Sometimes, I use it with the pistol-grip but rarely use the two-handed grip. It's a bit smaller than the Logitechs I'm normally used to, but it's pretty easy to switch between them. If you have any kind of RSI condition or even if you're afraid of getting it, I'd strongly recommend looking into the Perific mouse.

    • Re:Perific Dual Mouse (Score:4, Informative)

      by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:34AM (#12632905)
      I find that switching up your routine is enough to reduce the stress. It doesn't really matter what you switch to. I use trackballs whenever possible. At home I use my left hand, and at work I use my right hand. switching it up on weekends and after work allows one of my arms to rest a bit.

      • Re:Perific Dual Mouse (Score:4, Funny)

        by Analogy Man ( 601298 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:40AM (#12632945)
        At home I use my left hand, and at work I use my right hand. switching it up on weekends and after work allows one of my arms to rest a bit.

        I needed to remind myself that this thread was about input peripherals for computers. Using your left hand is like having a new girlfriend?

      • Exactly, and the neat thing with the Perific is that it invites that, you can hold it almost any way you like. As a regular mouse, one-hand pistol-grip, two-handed in the air, rest it against the desk and use the trackball, whatever - it's even got two programmable buttons in the back so you can hold your left hand around it. It's insane. Only downside is the wireless range is't nearly as good as my Logitechs' and I've got a really 'dirty' RF environment here (lots of monitors, WiFi, Bluetooth, GSM, DECT an
      • In my case, as a PCB designer, I'm pretty much forced to keep my hand over the mouse 8+ hours a day and clicking continuously. I had the RSI thing happen to me, and I've found the cure: get one of those hand-spring squeeze grip thingies for exercise. Every 15 minutes, do a bunch of squeezes. Get a good, hard one. Even if it hurts at first, this is the only way to cure the problem of incomplete movements, which is the cause of RSI in my case.

    • Re:Perific Dual Mouse (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MichaelSmith ( 789609 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:42AM (#12632962) Homepage Journal
      If you have any kind of RSI condition or even if you're afraid of getting it...

      Years ago when I developed very bad RSI I changed my mouse over to my left hand. The buttons on the right side of the keyboard always get hammered harder than the left (delete and enter) and the high static loads associated with the mouse were killing my right hand.

      A left handed configuration is more balanced. And I can now select objects (icons, selected text) with my left hand and action them (enter, backspace) with my right. Because of this my hands don't have to move as much between keyboard and mouse, which is easier on them as well

      And how can you train yourself to use a left handed mouse you may ask?

      1. Change the mouse over
      2. Open your favorite search engine
      3. Search for something which you would look at regardless how difficult it is to use the mouse (no suggestions, its up to you)
      4. Keep going for about three hours
      • And how can you train yourself to use a left handed mouse you may ask?
        For me just being born as left handed worked pretty well.
        • For me just being born as left handed worked pretty well.

          Fair point, though I know many left handed people who use a right handed mouse. Probably due to peer pressure, or not knowing that it is possible to change.

          Other people move the mouse over but never remap the keys.

          In FVWM on my system:

          AddToFunc StartFunction "I" Exec xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1 4 5"

  • Best Investments (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:24AM (#12632827)
    Mice, Keyboards, and Monitors.

    Sure, you can deal with your computer being a little slow, but skimp on the above and you can wreck your wrests, posture, and eyes.
    • You forgot one thing, the chair [hermanmiller.com].

      Get one and your back will love you for it.
    • why oh why do we still use mice keyboards & monitors?

      I'm looking at the gyromouse (can be lifted free from the desk) as an absolute comprimise. I can't even run two independent mice at once? I can't even run two independent keyboards at once? (why you ask? macros for one)

      I don't care how good they make the "mouse" or the "keyboard" they are next to obsolete in my eyes. The manufacturers just haven't caught up with the present. Are we all still cynical because of movies like lawnmower man? Yes we *sho
    • I've never understood the range of prices in mice. Should I really believe the most expencive optical mouse cost $5 more to make and distribute than the cheapest mouse? With the microsoft mouse it seems like they get larger and more sculpted as the price zooms higher but I can't believe the price would be any different. If you want to say well there's a lot of research in those sculpted mice shapes then I say, well okay but it would cost no extra to make all the mice that way.

      the profit margin on these

      • Re:Prices Differ; profit margin is huge.. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Trevahaha ( 874501 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @12:47PM (#12635843)
        I actually had a lecture from a guy who designs mice for Microsoft. It's true, when they design these, they have to make sure not to include certain features in their lower-end mice, as so they can have something to put in their higher-end to keep the price up. Even if it's something as minor as the groove for your finger -- it's considered a "higher end feature." It's not about the cost to make, it's about what people are willing to spend. BTW, it was a really interesting lecture -- showing the process that each design goes through and seeing the different stages of prototyping.

  • Trackball is where it's at (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JPelorat ( 5320 ) * on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:27AM (#12632844)
    With a gel wrist pad, your arm only moves when you want it to, and there's no RSI or other nerve damage.

    And you can use it on any surface, since it doesn't move.

    I've been using trackballs for about 10 years now, can't stand regular mice anymore.

    Logitech seems to make the best ones. Their Trackman series is my favorite.

    • Re:Trackball is where it's at (Score:5, Insightful)

      by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:32AM (#12632889)
      Your sig makes a lot of sense in this argument. I never really did understand why mice won out over trackballs. Trackballs are highly superior in just about every way. I've been using mine for about 2 years. Since my hand is always in one place, it's more likely that it's in the right place. Also, I like the fact that you don't have to worry about how it acts on different surfaces, or on desks with very little surface area.
      • It's a personal thing. I don't like trackballs. I never need to move my mouse more than a couple of inches even when I'm going clear across the screen. Some people prefer the finger movement required of the trackball, and others prefer the arm/hand movement needed by mice.
      • Mice won because Trackballs suck. :)
      • It's psychological - people (including me) like having a movement in the real world correspond exactly to what happens on screen. When I move the mouse to the left side of the desk, I know the pointer will be on the left side of the screen.

        I don't use a trackball for the same reason I don't use a joystick - I need an absolute correspondence between movement in the real and virtual world.

        I also believe that a trackball requires more dextrous hands. Dragging with a trackball, for instance, requires you to h
    • There was a time when I used a trackball at work. Once you're used to it, its quite easy to use, but I could never do as well in fps games with a trackball as I could with a mouse. So my home machine always had a mouse.

      As long as my desk is set up right I never have any ergonomic issues with my mouse, so in the end, the trackball stopped getting used.
    • At my secondary school, connected to a bunch of crumbling Acorn Archimedes computers were some rather cool trackballs. Enormous things (a fair bit taller than the keyboard and deeper too) with giant balls about 5cm diameter. (Fnar.)

      The angular momentum involved meant you could flick the ball with your fingers and have the mouse pointer spin right across the screen, at which point you'd put your fingers back on to it to stop. This came complete with a rumbling noise akin to a higher-pitched Raiders of the L [wikipedia.org]
    • What you've said was true in the past, but today's better conventional mouse designs from Microsoft and Logitech has pretty much eliminated most of the advantages of trackballs.

      I myself use a Logitech MX500 mouse pointer, one that fits your right hand very comfortably and has very accurate and fast mouse pointer movements. It's pretty easy to adjust the mouse pointer software so you don't need a huge amount of desk space for the mouse pointer to work normally.

  • Trackballs (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:29AM (#12632863)
    I've been using a trackball for a couple years now. I enjoy it much more than a regular mouse. Its not only perfect when desk space is at a premium, but also in reducing RSI. When your are can remain in one position, its less likely that it will get into an uncomfortable/unnatural position which could cause injury. I also find it more accurate than a mouse, or at least as accurate. I find that they don't need to be cleaned as often, because they aren't rolling around on a dirty surface. Unless you don't wash your hands. Also, it's nice to be able to click without having to worry about moving the pointer.
    • Agreed. I've personally been using logitech trackballs for a long time - well before the marble series (only the "thumb" versions). They're just much better than mice overall. I had originally switched because of frustration over mice: always running at the end of the mouse pad, then lifting the mouse only to put it down again on it's wire, repeatedly ended up falling on the floor, ... Now I also appreciate the lesser desk space it uses, faster speed/productivity and higher precision for most tasks (everyth

  • Maybe... (Score:2, Funny)

    by kukickface ( 675936 )
    They would sell more mice if they didn't name them after poisonous serpents. What? Are they trying to scare the other mice away?

  • Integrated pointing stick-keyboard not reviewed? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Senor_Programmer ( 876714 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:32AM (#12632895)
    I hate mice and would much prefer a good quality keyboard with pointing stick like the IBM notebooks. Preferably something matching layout of my notebook keyboard, and comfortable for lap or desktop use.

    Is a periperal like his marketed? Pointer?
  • I always had problems with mice skipping when I moved them too fast. Then I bought the MX510. As I am concerned it is pointless for me to get a higher resolution mouse and now that they are $30 on newegg there is no reason to not at least achieve that level of performance.
    • As a user of a MX500, I do agree that the MX5xx series of mouse pointers are excellent units. Sturdily built and with up to five buttons that can be re-assigned in terms of functionality, they are probably one of the most popular Logitech "wired" mouse pointers.

      By the way, unless you play certain high-end games, the MX500 is more than sufficient for most users.

      I like to use "wired" pointers because you avoid the problem have making sure you have sufficient battery power on the wireless mouse and also avoi

  • Mousepads? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by timtwobuck ( 833954 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:34AM (#12632908)
    All this talk of the mice, but what of 'high-performance' mousepads? I recently upgraded from a regular wooden desk to a 20$ job, I can't remember the name of the company, something 1080, but the mouse just glides across it. I personally think this was an excellent upgrade to make, not only for gaming, but overall computing pleasure...I'm even contemplating purchasing a second for my work machine...

    I have a MS natural keyboard and a 5 button optical intellimouse.

  • First & Second.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Himring ( 646324 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:36AM (#12632919) Homepage Journal
    Unfortunately mice are one of the most overlooked computer peripherals, while in reality should be one of the first places where your hard earned cash should be invested in.

    It is the first place my right hand goes when I set down at the computer. Shortly afterwards, the left hand ... oh forget it. I started to be perverted, but I feel like breaking precedent today....

  • Spoken Like a Good Twitch Gamer (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rAiNsT0rm ( 877553 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:36AM (#12632920) Homepage
    "while in reality should be one of the first places where your hard earned cash should be invested in"

    OK, sure because mouse resolution and "mousing surfaces" are what most people really care about. I've been a system builder for better than 10 years and while a good mouse is important, good can easily be a $6.00 optical mouse made by Mitsumi. The first place to spend my cash? I think not. While twitch gamers get so hyped up on mice and surfaces its almost retarded, and regular users just want a mouse that works doesn't cripple them and responds well. Personally I still use my trusty iFeel Optical Mouseman by Logitech, probably about 7 years old with no issues or problems... cost? $12.99

    • Actually not even like a gamer (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Moraelin ( 679338 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @09:03AM (#12633115) Journal
      E.g., if you read the very first page of the review, about the MX1000: "As with optical mice, if you don?t make use of it for several seconds, the battery indicator turns off and the mouse goes into power saving mode."

      Now I am a hardcore twitch-gamer, and let me tell you that those power saving delays are what gets you killed in multi-player. You end up doing weird stuff like slightly waving the scope around when you wait for a target as a sniper, because otherwise you have that brief wake-up delay when you do need the mouse.

      I had an MX500 and went and bought an MX300 with a cord instead.

      Basically my take is that it's a mouse that isn't really good for either. For twitch gaming I _really_ want a corded one, for someone who just browses the web, as you've said, a $6 mouse works just as well. So who are the target demographic that absolutely needed it?

      The SFV (Stupid Fashion Victims). The people who buy for the buzzwords and the hype. OOOH, IT'S LASER!

      As someone who actually spent a lot of time studying physics, lemme tell you what you probably already knew or suspected: there is nothing magical about laser light in a mouse.

      Yes, you can use the coherent light wonderfully for other purposes. But an optical mouse works more or less like a camera: it compares consecutive snapshots and determines the movement from the difference. Increasing the resolution or the number of snapshots per second, yeah, that'll make it a better mouse. Putting a laser diode instead of a regular LED in it, however, won't do jack.

      Logitech's problem is: the keyboards and mice business isn't a great place to be in. You won't make a big fortune by selling el-cheapo $6 mice. So they just need some buzzword to allow them to sell a $50 one instead. That's all.

      And if you put up enough hype, there'll be enough SFVs that believe it. And enough sites who aren't even as much review sites, but prom queens: they just print whatever is currently popular and brings page views. They catter to stroking the ego of those who already knew which buzzword they really want to buy. If enough SFVs fall for a buzzword, those sites will dutifully print an article telling them how good it really is, and how pleased they can be with that purchase.
    • There's plenty of people who don't care at all if the mouse doesn't respond well.
      I've had mice where i would have to pick a mouse up and move it back to the top of the mousepad and drag it down repeatedly to make it move halfway across the screen. (the older ones with the mouse ball).
      All i would get when asking the user if they didn't find that annoying was a 'what is the problem here exactly?' look.

  • Logitech MX series (Score:2, Informative)

    by Hrodvitnir ( 101283 )
    I bought a Logitech MX-700 a few years ago and it's probably the best mouse I've ever had. The only complaint I have is that it tends to "jitter" when sitting in certain spots on my mousepad. I haven't tested a new pad, yet, but if I were looking for a new mouse right now, I can tell you I'd head straight for that MX-1000.
  • Top mouse eaten by Topcat. Film at 11.
  • I bought the MS wireless mouse a few months ago. I could not get used to the lack of tactile feedback on mouse scrollwheel. This makes it next to useless in games, where flicking it back and forth the wrong amount would give you the handknife instead of the rocket launcher. In other apps, the consequences aren't quite as bad, but I still want to be able to consistently advance pages by "3 clicks", or consistent zoom from 100% to 50%, etc.

    This mouse lives in a drawer now. Maybe I'll drag it out someday
    • The ability to get tactile feedback on the scroll wheel is why I like my Logitech MX500 mouse. :-)

      The MX500 has a "hefty" feel compared to the smaller Wheel Mouse Optical, but you can't beat the ability to re-assign up to five extra buttons for special functionality. Besides, very few people need the higher DPI resolution of the MX510 and MX518 models, so the MX500 is an excellent choice. Indeed, you can even get the MX500 at the online Apple Store, which means the MX500 has fans even on the Macintosh side
  • I was thinking of getting an MX1000 to replace my MX600 (came in a duo package with a keyboard).. anyone know if its worth the upgrade? And for that matter, any idea if my keyboard will work with the 1000's RF reciever?

  • I can vouch for the MX1000 (Score:3, Informative)

    by Nursie ( 632944 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:45AM (#12632983)
    I like optical mice because they don't get full of fluff. The problem I did have with them is that they don't like shiny desk surfaces. So I got the Logitech MX1000.

    On a polished pine desk it never misses a twitch. It's very sensitive so I can minimize my wrist movement and maintain precision, and I get to say i have a laser mouse. The battery lasted a week away on business (using the mouse all day) without needing charging or even dipping below two bars out of three. It's just a shame it's an IR laser and you can't see it.....

    Very much worth the price tag.
  • first places where your hard earned cash should be invested in

    Fine, if you like one mouse more than another that's lovely.

    But unless you have actual medical evidence that one mouse is better than another, I'll stick with my el cheapo free-with-the-machine mouse and not buy something expensive just because you think it's important.
  • I always use the Logitech Trackman [logitech.com]. I even purchased one for work. Since I am on a PC all day, these have saved my wrists. My wrist used to get sore for days when I was using a normal mouse full time. Since I switched to the trackman, I haven't had any soreness since.

    The Trackman fits your hand like a glove, and your thumb sits right on the ball and is super easy to use. My only gripe is that I wish it had another button or 2. That would make it much nicer for gaming. I use this for WoW, and it is
    • I've been using the Microsoft Trackball Optical [amazon.co.uk] for a while now. I have to say that the extra two buttons really do help out a lot. I use them for cut and paste. Nice to provide unix style cut and paste in a windows environment.
      • Thanks, that might be just what I am looking for. It has almost the same profile as my Logitech one so it should fit my hand well. The extra 2 buttons are huge for gaming. I might check that one out.
    • I have one of these as well, its very responsive too, if it had 2 other buttons it would kill in FPS games. ;) I love the trackman.

  • MX1000 (Score:3, Informative)

    by fyrie ( 604735 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:49AM (#12633009)
    I've got the MX1000. I more-or-less agree with what the review says about it except for two things: 1. An additional con should be that the recharch station is also the receiver, so you have to have that honkin thing sitting out in the open (relatively). 2. I find this statement at the end laughable - "Best Precision and Responsiveness: Logitech MX 1000". THIS MOUSE IS 800 DPI FOLKS! If you do precise graphics editing and/or you are a fairly skilled twitch gamer, this mouse is not for you. The mouse does work fine for mere mortal gamers like myself though.

  • Top Mice (Score:3, Funny)

    by tjwhaynes ( 114792 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:52AM (#12633036)
    The two mice scuttled impatiently around in their glass transports. Finally they composed themselves, and Benji moved forward to address Arthur.

    "Now, Earth creature," he said, "the situation we have in effect is this. We have, as you know, been more or less running your planet for the last ten million years in order to find this wretched thing called the Ultimate Question."

    "Why?" said Arthur, sharply.

    "No - we already thought of that one," said Frankie interrupting, "but it doesn't fit the answer. Why? - Forty-Two ... you see, it doesn't work.

    Ooops. Sorry. Should have RTFA. Wrong Top Mice. I'll go away now.

    Cheers,
    Toby Haynes

  • Right handed reviewer bias (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rdc_uk ( 792215 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:52AM (#12633038)
    Anybody else notice that the reviewer never tested ANY of the mice with a left-handed user?

    All those "its ergonomic" Pro points would have been reversed, and suddenly the 2 Razers and the Starck thing would be the more ergonomic mice.
  • I've tried a few, and IMHO lowest profile is best. My fav is the mouse that HP used to ship with their servers; it tapered almost to the desk in the back and was pretty low. Unfortunately I haven't seen anything currently on the shelves that matches it.

    Currently I use the cheap Logitechs. I had a couple of Microsoft Intellimouse and bigger Logitech mice, but I dumped them and replaced them with $15 Logitech models.

    The mice I find the least comfortable to use are the bulbous ones with lots of buttons (l

  • My MX1000 "review" (Score:3, Informative)

    by eddy ( 18759 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @08:59AM (#12633086) Homepage Journal

    I use a MX1000 and I'm happy with it for the most part. The battery life is very very good (though I do find it irritating that some reviewers assume the indicator scale is linear. I don't know if it is -- haven't bothered tracking it in detail -- but early reviewers went like "battery time is very good, X hours and only one indicator LED down" -- like that says anything).

    Anyhow, the only problem I have is that due to being an "early adopter" I got a base reciever station with an irritating "skip bug" which oddly enough manifests only when using USB, not when using USB->PS2.. So I'm running on the PS/2 adapter (included) with no loss in precision.

    The other thing is that you really don't want Logitechs intrusive GiantMouseWare software and drivers under Windows. Best thing is to track down mwadvanced_enu.exe on their homepage and change the acceleration curve to "OS implementation" and "tracking optimization" to "precision". This gives perfect smooth motion. Very nice.

    I used several MS IntelliMouse Optical before, but they seemed to always break down in exactly the same way after a year or two. MX1000 are just as good "feelingwise", no problem with it being cordless at all.

    I should also mention that I'm a leftie and tend to switch between using the mouse in my left and right hand. I have no problem using the MX1000 in my left hand at all. Sure ,the "groove" for the thumb won't be in the right place, but the mouse actually fit pretty good anyhow.

  • I've got a bunch of Logitech mice, the early MS Bluetooth mouse and some cheap junk, but the best mice by far are my two Razer Diamondbacks. If I can help it, I'll never by a mouse from anyone other than Razer ever again.
  • Anyone else suffers from the mouse corn/callus at the bottom right/left of the palm?

    Switching to a trackball helped, but the callus built up over years of using a standard movable mouse just keeps on growing and growing...

  • Unfortunately mice are one of the most overlooked computer peripherals, while in reality should be one of the first places where your hard earned cash should be invested in.

    I would rank them like this:
    Monitor
    Mouse/Keyboard (It's hard to say which of these is more important.)

    I spent $900 on a 21" Professional Series Viewsonic P815(Review. [gamepc.com] Pic. [pcpress.co.yu]) about five years ago and haven't regretted it for a second since. I'm still using the same monitor. I've been very protective of it and managed to keep the sc

  • Am I the only one who dislikes the roller-type three-butten rodents and is having trouble finding normal three-butten ones these days?

    • In bargain bins, in discount stores etc. Just next to 2-button mice. They are considered "a notch above the cheapest of the cheapest" and you find them among those, e.g. $3 chineese mice. It will be hard to find a new high-end 3-button mouse though. You can look for used ones though.
    • I second that!

      IMHO arrow keys are fine for scrolling documents around (works particularly well when you mouse with the left hand, and the right hand handles the arrow keys). A scrollwheel adds nothing useful, it only complicates things. Epecially in unix/X where the middle button is used a lot, it's annoying that it has a different feel from the other buttons.

      I think the current state of mice is due to the misconception that mousing and GUIs are universally easier and more powerful than keyboard/text i

  • is A4tech. Two rollers, five buttons. Because I have five digits on my hand.
  • Can anybody recommend a left handed trackball?

  • I'm very left handed, and it annoys me that all the high end mice are right hand only. I'm sure there are left handed gamers out there (I'm not one of them).

    I used a Logitech First WheelMouse for probably 5 years. Once the Mouseware drivers allowed me to assign "copy" to clicking the wheel, I never looked back.

    A few months ago I decided my mouse was getting tired, and started looking around online. I decided to go optical, and having used a wireless optical mouse not long before, opted against that bec

  • in reality should be one of the first places where your hard earned cash should be invested in.
    Come on. You will get more bang for your buck investing the time in learning to use the command line so you don't even need the mouse the first place.

  • mouse designers lack common sense. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    from tiny buttons to large marble balls that kids can take out and smash on the ground, modern day mouse/trackball designers are absolutly stupid when it comes to common sense and logical thinking. more buttons on a mouse doesn't really improve performance, nor does futuristic looking designs where noone can make heads and tails of where the buttons are.

    I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how much more efficient the traveler size mouse over the convensional size mouse after I started to play some f
  • Am I the only one who feel that "ergonomic" mouses plainly suck? They seem to be designed for someone who holds their entire hand over the mouse and moves the arm in order to move the mouse.

    Me, on the other hand, only touch the mouse with the tips of my fingers, and keep the rest of my hand fairly still. If the mouse is "ergonomic" I tend to bump my hand into its overgrown hump at the top.

    A mouse should be low and most importantly: light. That way I can easily move the cursor across the screen withou

  • When my body started to develop symptoms of RSI I got myself a Wacom tablet, an A6 one. They're fairly expensive compared to a cheap mouse, but in my opinion they're worth every penny. It takes a good couple of days to fully adjust to it but once you're hooked you can't imagine working with a mouse anymore. It's much faster, plus the natural grip of a pen is much more confortable. Every once in a while I'm forced to use a mouse and even after 30 minutes I'll start to feel my arm again. So no mice for me any
  • I purchased a Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 a while ago and it's completely unusable. I switched back to my several year old first generation Logitech optical mouse and it's way better.

    The MS mouse is awful because the wheel has no tactile feel to the roll. This is annoying in most apps and impossible to deal with in games. What's worse, the lack of tactile feel means that when you try to push the wheel button, any tiny amount of roll of the wheel will cancel out the button click. Combine th
  • I've never been a fan of wireless mice, they always seem to not quite work right, they have heavy batteries and they tend to be optical which is great if things work properly, but a lot of times they don't (I'm not talking about anything huge and constant here, I'm talking "Damnit, the vertex point just jumped halfway across the screen for no apparent reason").

    Now, the mice that come with some Wacom tablets I do like. I like how they're lightweight, good for left-handed as well as right-handed users (I'm le

  • Gaming sets the bar (Score:3, Insightful)

    by c0d3h4x0r ( 604141 ) on Wednesday May 25, 2005 @02:02PM (#12636729) Homepage Journal
    As per most other hardware advancements, gaming has really defined the quality bar by being the most demanding application.

    I was recently given a Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 and a Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 4.0 to compare. They are basically the same mouse but one is wireless and one is corded. I tried both with Unreal Tournament 2003, and there's still of course a huge difference between corded and wireless. The wireless mouse is laggy and significantly less responsive than the corded one. It's so bad that it makes FPS games basically unplayable.

    No wireless mouse will ever be able to match the responsiveness and precision of a corded mouse, so the simple fact that this "review" ranks a wireless mouse as the top choice just shows how worthless this review actually is. Even if 90% of your mouse usage is on standard desktop/GUI activities, and you only rarely fire up a game to play, you will still be far better off with a good corded mouse.

    Furthermore, durability and drivers are two issues largely overlooked by this review. If you go to the Logitech support forums you can find tons of users who have problems with the MX510 and MX518's buttons failing. It appears to be a design defect. And you can find tons of frustrated MX518 users who are suffering from major bugs in the SetPoint drivers or who are unable to get drivers for their platform (the MX518 drivers are only available for WinXP). By comparison, the Microsoft IntelliPoint software isn't very feature-rich for gaming purposes, but it's totally stable and is available for nearly every Microsoft mouse on every windows version.

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