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Tuesday 9 December 2003

Microsoft's new mice reviewed [lurks]

I've got one of the new new Microsoft wireless mouse, the Intellimouse 2.0 job. I'll keep this sort because there's not vast amounts to say. At work, the wireless receiver complained of low signal quality despite being less than a foot away. No such problem at home. It hated being on a Dabs mouse mat with a black bit in the middle. Works fine on the table.
Then there's the wheel. Well, the tilt stuff is utter bollocks. It's quite hard to tilt, you have to push it a long way. It's just plain uncomfortable to move your wheel finger that far from side to side. It's a gimmick and completely useless. The surprise is the smooth mouse wheel action is pretty cool. So is the software change so you move it faster and it scrolls faster. That's quite nice actually.
Mouse movement is a bit naff, don't know why. Have to ramp the speed right up to match a logitech and it's inaccurate. Use mouse acceleration is now called enhance mouse pointer precision or something, even though that's clearly got nothing to do with it.
The worst thing of all is that it sticks. It's got all this mondo clever power saving stuff right. So it shuts off when you don't move it. The trouble is, it shuts off and then the wheel doesn't work. You need to move the mouse to wake it up then the wheel starts working. And when it sticks, you have to wiggle it a bit to get it to wake up.
Ergonomically it's good but the title wheel is a useless gimmick and the mouse movement is stuffed and the stickyness is a serious issue and there's some evidence the wireless reception is iffy too. This is no way a gamers mouse, do not buy one.
This is getting unplugged and replaced with the logitech. Even at work I'll use a ball mouse over this and that has to tell you something.

10 comments:

  1. Shame that, it did sound kind of cool, but I have been stroking my logitec sideways in a kind of clitorically stimulating fashion and it isn't the most comfortable motion. In short, I'm sceptical too! Logitech rock, who was it just bought the super shit hot fanny magnet logitech? It was Cav wasn't it? Speak up you fucker, is it good?

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  2. I think that the wireless stuff is a problem. Half the issue with the new MS mice is all the power saving stuff. I'd rather have a rechargable unit in a docking station. You need a receiver on your table anyway so I don't buy microsoft's assertion that it's so much better not having a charging cradle.
    Has anyone used one of the ninja Logitech wireless mice? Any good for games? Right now, I'm just not that fussed about wireless full stop. I need my mouse to work properly first, wireless is a distant secondary consideration.

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  3. That power saving does seem like a bad idea, especially with the mouse wheel not waking it up. The mx700 is very nice, took a while to get used to the weight of the thing, but I'm very happy with it.
    The mouseware software is prety shite though, all it seemed to do was break the middle mouse button in every app and game, so that was quickly removed. The only thing it seems to do is make the app switching button work (whats wrong with alt-tan anyway?) and stick a battery life indicator in the control panel.
    Also, not sure if I'm going mad, lifting the mouse off the surface and moving it doesn't cause the pointer to move at all, which is quite nice. I've always had to either tilt or lift my old intellimouse (and wheelmouse) a lot higher before it stopped tracking.
    Did I mention it's black and silver and looks leet?

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  4. I've been using an MX700 logitech wireless for gaming stuff, and it rocks. Never been that impressed with cordless stuff before - they always seemed to add that little bit of extra latency to movement which could screw you in something like Quake3 or CS. The MX700 is the business though - the tracking is excellent on it and it's just as responsive as a corded mouse.
    It also does indeed look leet, it keeps its charge for about two days of use (minimum), and it's extremely comfortable to use. Very chuffed with it. And no more screaming because you just snagged the mouse cable on the edge of the scanner and ruined the perfect shot on a tango halfway across the map....

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  5. The MX700 uses Logitech's RF system which does 125Hz updates, the same as USB. So yeah, it should be the same. If you were going to have a cordless, it's clearly the one to own. The thing is, I've got the older Logitech dual optical and I prefer its look, shape and lack of superfluous buttons. The cable doesn't bother me either. I'd probably go the wired MX 500 if there were any reason to upgraded.

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  6. I love the old duel optical too, but they don't sell em any more sadly. I'd love another one :(

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  7. If you were buying another one, I reckon the MX500 would be fine wouldn't it?Update 7/12/2003: Actually it's not fine. I've got an MX 500 and while the resolution seems to be much better than a wired Logitech dual optical, it's kind of jerky like it's not updating at 125Hz (which I thought they did) and in games it's often just kind of started lagging too. Weird. I've got the MX500 receiver under my table on the PC so that might be it... I guess the range is a bunch less than the bluetooth stuff but I found the same kind of thing with that.Does anyone use wireless mice for games?

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  8. Logitech USB Mouseman with the blue light for me. The cable is annoying, natch - one day I'll go Logitech wireless!

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  9. Well this is my point. I've used the new MS mice, the MX700 and the MX900 (bluetooth) and I reckon they're all a bit arse. So I've got this wireless thing just for the logitech keyboard which isn't really that good either. It's just a tad smaller than the MS keyboard...

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  10. Never had 'laggy mouse' problems, but then I've need been playing fps's for a good while now.
    Anyway, I've finally got bf1942 with DC installed now. So I'll update with how it feels aqfter soon play.

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