Mice

[Brian Ellis]

Does anyone else have the same problems as I do with wireless optical mice (LED and Laser)?

I have tried Logitech. Genius, Typhoon and Microsoft and I can never seem to make them last more than a few months on any of 3 different computers (I've a carton full of dead mice ). And, yes, I do change or charge the batteries, as appropriate, and I do reset the wireless connection, all to no avail.

Today, using a Microsoft Standard one on a USB port, I was doing something when, all of a sudden it lost the left button and, at the same time, the keyboard. I rebooted and the keyboard came back, but the button didn't. I unplugged it and replaced it with a PS/2 Intellimouse with a long tail and a single ball and everything came back to normal - or at least as normal as that prehistoric mouse allows. I re-plugged in the USB one and reset the wireless connection. I then found that the left button does, in fact, work, but there is a ~1 sec delay between pressing it and something happening, which makes it pretty useless. The centre and right buttons, the wheel and positioning are all normal.

[az]

I've only had three mice (Microsoft, Microsoft, Logitech) in the last nine years of computing. Only the last one was an optical mouse, and it has lasted me... hmm... a few years now. The two before that were only discarded because I wanted something new, not because they stopped working.

None of mine were cordless, though. I don't see what the benefit of that would be.

(My keyboards also all lasted for a long time, surviving at least one spilled drink each. I fully expect my current Cherry G80-3000 with real gold-contact switches to last ten years - if I can still plug it in then.)

I also don't treat my hardware very well, so that can't be the reason. That reminds me, my keyboard needs to be cleaned. I don't even want to know how much chow is in there.

[JTD]

I'm still using my Logitech cordless desktop (includes both keyboard and optical mouse) which i bought over 2 years ago. The batteries in the mouse hasn't even been changed, though they do seem run out of power quicker now than when i boguht the mouse. I haven't had any problems with either keyboard or mouse (i have even used them at LAN parties with other users also using cordless keyboards and mice).

[Jessterw]

The first wireless mouse I've had is the MS one I'm currently using. Had it for about 8 months now and so far so good. Only had to change the batteries once (or maybe twice) since I got it as well and I'm on the computer far more than I'd like.

[Technoid]

Use a cable one

[Mehen]

Use a cable one

Me too, and I don't plan on switching anytime soon.

[Dr Mordrid]

Use a cable one

No problems with el-cheapo Dynex optical wired here. They 'fit' my hand and have been reliable. Can't ask for more.

[Nowhere]

Couldn't that be the case of simpler things beeing more reliable?

My cheap Logitech optical mouse was through every imaginable abuse electronic device can be without causing structural damage to it (well ok, there's slight one ) and it works perfectly...

[Gurm]

I've gone through only 3 mice in the last 12 years. My current mouse is a Logitech Mouseman Wheel (Optical) - the big honkin' ergonomic one with the thumb button.



I've had that for at least 6 years, maybe more. Before that it was a Microsoft Intellimouse pro:



I only gave up that one because my cats chewed the cable. I eventually fixed it (it's still my spare!), but I had already bought the Logitech.

And before that a standard Intellimouse since 1994.

If this one dies, I don't know what I'll get. In my mind my mouse needs to be a certain weight, and a lot of the newer ones are SUPER light, nowhere near chunky enough to offer me precision...

[Jessterw]

My biggest problem with finding a good mouse is that the ones that are arched high enough aren't otherwise comfortable to my hand. MS mice tend to fall in-between and so they've always been a good compromise. Owned an Intellimouse or other MS optical since they introduced them.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Go with a classic.

[Brian Ellis]

OK, thanks everyone.

Summarised, the advice would seem to be that a mouse with a tail may be better than one without one. I love the freedom and precision of wireless, so the debate should perhaps be reliability v. freedom of movement (especially valuable with fine CAD work). There is sometimes nothing more annoying than to take one's hand off the mouse and the cable whipping it a mm or two away from where I left it.

Historically, in DOS days, I used an optical Mouse Sytems mouse; you may remember them, those with an aluminium mat anodised into a fine tartan-like pattern. Ergonomics hardly came into them; they were fairly rectangular, but they were great for CAD work. With the advent of Windows 95, they never were able to make the transition and they dropped into oblivion. I was forced to retrograde to mice with balls (but no penis) and I really HATED them - and still do. Then one day, Microsoft introduced the new style optical mice and I was so over the moon that I bought three of them for $79 each, if I remember correctly. I was as happy as a sandboy with them - for about a year. First one, then a second then the third gave up the ghost, all because of the same stupid design fault: the connecting wires broke where the cable was forced into a 90° bend where it entered the mouse. This could have been largely avoided by a rubber sleeve grommet to take the strain of the flexion, but a better cable grip would have been better. In a fit of pique, I said bye-bye to Microsoft and bought two Logitech beasties, the Wireless Optical MouseMan. I immediately felt liberated from the cable and was happy with the performance, even though it had fewer buttons than the MS optical and the thumb button was badly placed, where no thumb on a normally constituted human hand was ever meant to go. After a year or so, one stopped working altogether. The other still works, but the movements are at half resolution: I use it on my data server, where its poor performance is not a particular problem. I bought a Genius optical wireless which gave up the ghost within a month and I got a money refund. Then came two Typhoon wireless laser mice. One lasted ~6 months: I just chucked it as I had bought it by mail order. The other still works and I have it on my video computer (incidentally, I see no difference in the performance of a laser over an optical). Earlier this year, I was short of a mouse, so plonked for the cheapest I could find, the Microsoft Standard Wireless Optical and this is the one that is now defunct.

As for the difference between mice with balls and those with eyes, I plonk only for those with eyes. I have three blind mice (monorchid) in my junk box; they all work but I HATE them. No question that I revert to their primeval sliminess if I can avoid it.

Rabbie Burns was certainly on the ball when he wrote:

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft a-gley.

Not to mention Horace, who wrote

nascetur ridiculus mus. (a silly little mouse will be born.)

[az]

Optical vs. Ball is just no debate. It's optical (or laser, nowadays) - but I really don't even notice the cable on my mouse and it stays put wherever I leave it. When I take my hand off it, the cursor doesn't even move a pixel. The reason is I leave the cable running in a direct line from the mouse to the far end of my desk (and there leave enough space for the cable to just hang down, don't clamp it between desk and wall!), and leave a wide enough path of free space there that nothing restricts mouse cable movement horizontally. Higher quality mice also have much more flexible cables than wireless ones - cheap cable mice can indeed be awful.

The only criterion when choosing the mouse for me is comfort - shape, weight, location and feel of buttons. I am quite picky, I don't like most newer mice, and those I do like are usually the expensive ones

[Mehen]

My family owns 4 MX510's, everyone loves em.

If I get anything else it will be a Logitech G5 (laser) - I've seen them on sale as low as 40 CAD, but I haven't been able to justify buying it yet because my current one is doing so good.

[KvHagedorn]

I've gone through only 3 mice in the last 12 years. My current mouse is a Logitech Mouseman Wheel (Optical) - the big honkin' ergonomic one with the thumb button.



I've had that for at least 6 years, maybe more. Before that it was a Microsoft Intellimouse pro:



I only gave up that one because my cats chewed the cable. I eventually fixed it (it's still my spare!), but I had already bought the Logitech.

And before that a standard Intellimouse since 1994.

If this one dies, I don't know what I'll get. In my mind my mouse needs to be a certain weight, and a lot of the newer ones are SUPER light, nowhere near chunky enough to offer me precision...

Still using the Intellimouse Pro myself.