Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer

First of all, what would possess me to get such a mouse? It was on sale at Staples for only $15, straight up without any rebates. Can't pass up an optical WL for that price. Microsoft doesn't always come out with the best mice, but at the very least, they're decent. Had it been more than $40, it would've been a no go. It's not so much this mouse isn't worth $40, it's moreso I don't need one bad enough to pay that amount. I would've been happy sticking with my basic optical mouse at the office.

I've indicated that wireless mouse technology as a good thing, but that's only so if it isn't at the expense of battery life nor cursor response accuracy. I've heard of WL mice that were inferior in those regards, but much of those talks were during the period when WL mice were taking off. However, I've also heard that modern WL mice have made strides and nice progress since then. As far as this mouse goes, I only use this mouse at the office, so I don't know how well it works for gaming. Probably not as well since it's heavier than what I'm used to and some of the buttons don't have the same response/layout from other mice I've used, but this is speculatory. You should be taking breaks every hour or so of gaming (or when your wrist/hand starts to hurt), but a lighter mouse is still good to have. Side by side pickup comparison of this mouse and a basic Logitech 3 button mouse optical mouse reveals that the latter is noticeably lighter. Since gaming typically requires more control/precision, I can't test that out with the work stuff I do. I have a Logitech mx510 at my home PC for productivity and gaming. As for the battery, it would've been nice if this came with rechargeable batteries and a receiver that doubled as a docking charger station, but so far, the 2 included AA batteries, Energizer alkaline batteries I might add and not some cheap generic brand have lasted 1.5 months so far (minus weekends). Not bad since I hear some WL mice's batteries lasted as short as 2 weeks (they might have only used AAA batteries tho)

On the plus side, at work, I have 2 monitors, keboards, and mice on the same desk. Going cordless may not have made a difference for other PC desktop setups I had before, but having all that extra stuff on my desk makes the cordless really appreciated. The fact the receiver has such a wide range (even over 90 degrees to the right) is also very nice. As for the layout of the buttons and mouse itself, it's certainly somewhat different, but something I can still work with. The side 2 thumb buttons are slightly raised. I would have preferred them to be lower, same as my mx510 at home, but I can adjust to this. Would also prefer if the wheel didn't have a "no click buffer zone" (contrary examples here: http://www.logitech.com/lang/images/0/3451.jpg and the basic Logitech 3 button optical mice that comes with Dell systems) around it but again this is minor. The clicking on the wheel is also stiff. On some webpages, you need to click and hold to focus on that page. While using winamp, pressing down the wheel while scrolling also requires this initial hold for it to work via hold and scroll. I can't quite prove it, but i could swear that in some spots, clicking and click+holding the the wheel button are 2 different things.

Side tilting is one of the other main features of this mouse, and I find it to be a good, but not as useful as it could've been. The great thing about vertical scrolling is you can control the speed. Go fast, turn the wheel quickly, go slow, turn it slow. The side tilting isn't analog, it's just on-or-off. Shouldn't concern most of us, as the majority of scrolling done on PC is vertical. If you want to scroll left or right for short strides, say half a screen or perhaps up to a screen's worth of display (e.g. code, text files, Windows Explorer), then it's great. Eliminates the need to access the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom which is just exactly what these extra scroling features are supposed to do. For LONG side to side scrolling, say 60+ excel columns, poorly width formatted webpages, or simply VERY wide text/code without wrap around, then you're better off just using the autoscroll method (click down on the wheel and then move the cursor around). You can sometimes overshoot info using this in Excel or to find info at an exact location so in this subcase, it'll be better to suck it up and go with the horizontal scroll bar. Speaking of which, this mouse also comes with software to remap keys. Good thing too. I'm used to the autoscroll cursor coming up when you wheel click on other optical mice, but this mouse's default action for the wheel click is to switch apps. Personally, I would leave quick switch of tasks/apps to any leftover buttons on a mouse.

In summation, I feel that while this mouse wouldn't be ideal for gaming, it makes a great 'work' mouse... unless you play games at work. Just be sure to find it on the cheap side. With laser mice kicking in, even these mice with quite a feature set are to take price drops.