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Top Mice Compared
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."
I've been trying to figure out what the best Bluetooth mouse on the market is. Any recommendations or opinions?
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.
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
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 $30 on newegg there is no reason to not at least achieve that level of performance.
All this talk of the mice, but what of 'high-performance' mousepads? I recently upgraded from a regular wooden desk to a 20$ 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.
Considering the complaints about their software, does anyone else fint it interesting that their hardware usually does remarkable well in reviews?
I guess this is the advantage of not having a monopoly.
Well, as a heavy duty console user myself, I'd damn well like to see something less half arsed than the right thumbstick for aiming. No, the touch screen on the DS isn't it either. I said _less_ half arsed.
Been talking with a gamer co-worker some months ago, and we came up with "well, why the heck doesn't anyone use a trackball?"
Just think about it. Replace the right thumbstick with a trackball, and you suddenly have a device that can actually work as well as a mouse for either FPS or RTS. (The weakest uses of a gamepad at the moment.) Or close enough. I had co-workers which were good at Half Life multi-player with a trackball, so it can't be too bad.
And it seems to me like it _can't_ be that me and said co-worker are the only smart people on Earth. Surely others had the same idea by now. So WTH is preventing Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo from making a controller like that? Did someone already patent a gamepad with a trackball, or?
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Only a problem if you sit there like a lump and never move your arm or anything else.
Even during the marathon 18+ hour gaming sessions I move around. Yeah, if I sat in exactly the same position for that long I'd probably have nerve damage in my arm, neck, ass, whatever. So I don't.
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
I think what's preventing them from coming up with something like a trackball is that, although it would be great for RTS and FPS games, it would suck royally for just about everything else. They need to have one controller that can work for every game produced. Mind you, if they offered something for $30 (price of regular controller), I think i would highly consider getting it. It would make FPS games so much more fun to play. As it is now, I can't stand FPS games on consoles, and refuse to buy them.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
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 flash games where the efficiency of using one's mouse became apparant. I would like to share some personal findings on efficncy of a mouse.
First and fore most, I would like to discuss about the scroll wheel. The scroll wheel is a good idea. However, it isn't in the right place. For human beings, our thumb and index finger are much much more efficient and accurate than our middle finger. So it made absolutly no sense to put the scroll wheel in the middle of the mouse. Since the index finger is occupied by the left button, it makes sense to use a person's thumb for scroll wheeling. In stead of aquire motor skills with your middle finger. Further more, what's with scroll wheels and tilt wheels anyhow? wouldn't it be easier just to use a trackball system for scrolling? think about it, how natural a person will feel with a scrolling ball controlled by the thumb!
In the world of mouse, bigger isn't better! big mice are bulky, makes a person's hand bump into other items on the desk; and not only slow down pointing process, but dimishes accuracy as well. Now I am not saying small is better, but size of the mouse should be proportionally smaller to a person's hand by 30%.
Simple and elegant is better! even though when a mouse offers 10 programmable buttons, I found myself hardly ever use them. This is because of several reasons:
1. Additional driver software causes the computer to lag. This is mostly due to inefficient software packages that eats ton of processing time and memory just to listen and opt an extra button.
2. Most software package don't take advantage from those extra buttons, and they certainly don't act uniformly toward the function selection.
3. Buttons interfere with regular mouse functions (especially logitech mice where there's tiny buttons near the scroll wheel. It's easy to push them by accident and screw things up)
4. Somes those extra buttons just outright don't work.
5. Special functions are not supported over a KVM
In most cases, mice is about inflated price and step by step technology improvement. and in most cases, designer mice gets sold without much consideration of the users. This trend should stop and the mice world needs another revolution to correct the current trend of things.
I could never quite like logitech's thumb trackballs-- they're too small, and my thumb just isn't that dextrous.
I fell in love with the CH trackball ( http://www.computerpartner.no/ch_tracballpro.htm ) back in the pre-optical days, and more recently, kensington's offerings. It's about tennis ball sized, and you can use any part of your hand to roll it, and it also has a little bit of momentum that's nice on long movements.
I asked my aunt, who's a hand surgeon, about "ergonomic" input devices, and she told me that the opposite is true. The best thing to do is to move around a lot, so that you don't stiffly stick to one position; she said that a variety of motions is less likely to cause RSI. In her opinion, old-fashioned typewriters were better than modern keyboards because they forced users to lift their hands to return the carriage, roll paper, etc.
I think I'll be building a keyboard hack where every switch is different. =)
Actually, I've done a lot of researching looking for a good left-handed mouse and I have not been able to find a single one that meets my needs. I am stuck using a nuetral mouse. From what I have seen, all mice made today are either made specifically to fit a right handed user, or made to work with both right-handed users and left-handed users. These duel handed mice are not very comfortable and do not have the additional buttons us gamers need. In some cases they will include extra buttons, but the buttons will be positions for best use on a right-handed person. So a left-handed person would have trouble using side buttons. I would really like to see a true left-handed mouse that have a little more than just 2 standard buttons. Here is what I would like: Shaped to fit a left-handed person only. Buttons positions for best user by a left-handed person. wireless optical or laser with good dpi and great response. At least 5 buttons pluss scroll wheel. If anybody knows of a mouse out there that fits this descriptions, please let me know!
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.
I wanted to know the actual stats of the sensors used but couldn't find a site with technical info. So I made one.
If you have a mouse not listed, I'd appreciate info and/or pictures.
Also, if you use a Logitech mouse and/or keyboard that uses the SetPoint driver, unlock loads of features with my UberOptions mod for SetPoint.
-Richard
-Richard L. Owens
For example, I had a cheap cloth-topped mousepad that worked great with my Intellimouse, but the MX 1000 was extremely imprecise on it. The MX 1000 works best on surfaces that are a little bit shiny with a little bit of irregular surface roughness, like textured plastic or some wood surfaces. Cloth mousepads probably will not work well, because they are not reflective at all and the weave of the cloth has a repeating pattern. Some bare desk tops work great as a mousing surface for the MX 1000, but some don't. If you have one that doesn't, get one of those cheap mousepads with a surface of clear textured plastic and a picture underneath.
In short, don't buy the MX 1000 because Logitech says it will work on more surfaces than a normal mouse (it works on *different* surfaces, but not *more* surfaces). Also don't buy it if you value a very light mouse; due to the battery this mouse is a lot heavier than wired optical mice. For that reason alone I almost went back to my Intellimouse. Instead, buy it because you want a wireless mouse with an *extremely* long-lasting internal rechargable battery, and a very low latency wireless connection (I'm very sensitive to mouse latency and can't stand to use some wireless mice, and even some wired ones, but the MX 1000 is just fine).
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As someone who's used both a MX1000 and MX510 extensively in gaming, including sniping in Counter-Strike or whatever as you state, I can assure you there's no latency or problems with the MX1000 as far as gaming goes. Try it before you slam it. You call people who use a product you've never even tried stupid? Based on what, wild ass assumptions? That's not very logical. Every review of the MX1000 out there states they're great for gaming. And they are. I use a cheap mouse at work; there's a world of difference in ergonomics, precision, and tracking between the MX1000 and it. Latency isn't a factor. Period.