They're pretty good providing you have a suitable mouse mat. They don't respond too well to rapid movements though, they skip about a bit. I changed back to an ordinary mouse due to better control in games. In their favour is the lightness of touch and zero maintenance.

You don't need a mouse mat with an optical mouse.
They'll run on any surface pretty much.
I use mine straight on my desk, no worries.
Definitely a good purchase Richard, I'd highly reccomend getting one.

I use the MS Intellimouse Exploreer model. No trouble at all with it, and I've not encountered any of the problems Fuzzy logic has had.

Ball-mice are very hard to get anymore. Optical is almost all that's in the stores now a days.

Is the Intellimouse the one with the funky buttons on the side of it? I had one of those once. It was okay.. but now i stick with the standard no frills opti scroll mouse.

EEEEK.. then I agree with you on that one. Intellimouse bad... for fragfesting..

I love my Logitech cordless optical  mouse. 2 years without a problem, moves around as fast as I want. It has one of those creepy thumb buttons, that I have setup to open the startmenu, and the scroll wheel can be programed to do numerous things on click.

personally I like the wireless MarbleMan+ thumb/trackball for a mouse.

I think that there is a starter version Intuos tablet for $99.00 which is
not that much of an investment depending on how much graphics you do or
plan to do in the future? I think they might be found at a lower price with
some web searching? not sure though...

Fuzzy pointed out the one hang up I have with my MS wireless OptiMouse. When you
move to fast the cursor has to play catch up and it is not always true tracking
so you end up having to use Undo and then do it again. Though it might just be mine
doing that, not sure on that either...?

good luck with you eventual choice

oh, some of the Commercial Magazines have Online edition and they do reviews, you might
also want to look around for some of those before a final choice?

Thanks, I appreciate your input, Richard

I am not now, nor have I ever been a fan of almost anything Micro$oft, but I have to admit, I love the M$ Optical mouse for most things, and I wouldn't be without my M$ Optical trackball plus for graphics. I have tried several Logitech optical mice out of sheer perversity and regretted every one I bought after a day or two. And the prices on optical input items seem to be coming down quite a bit now that the technology is a little more mature.

optical mouse................................10x better than a ball mouse in every way, unfortunatley my wirless optical eats up batteries as fast as a regular mouse eats cheese

You should look into getting a rechargeable model. expensive, but worth it.

I have a Microsoft Optical wheel mouse and I use USB connection. NEVER had any problems and I play ALOT of command and conquer. I got in off ebay for 5 bucks and it was in its original package, unused and brand spankin new.

I'm with IR and Koasati.......Logitech optical.........one of the best buys i have ever made

unfortunatley my wirless optical eats up batteries as fast as a regular mouse eats cheese

yeah? My bro bought a newer microsoft wireless optical mouse and it needs new batteries per 2 months or 3.

Older models eats more batteries.

Do the people who use wireless keyboards and mice like to go a few feet away from their monitor from time to time? I have never found a reason to go wireless since my computer, monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse are all together at my desk. I have never had a desire to pick up my keyboard and mouse and control my PC from accross the room.



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