Mousie Shmousie

[Opsa]

Since all my previous computers have been used ones, this is the first time I've had a mouse carp out on me before the whole thing went down. I just bought a little wireless mouse and I'm trying to get used to it. I like the lack of cord, but it seems to right and left click, something my Mac mouse didn't do.

It makes me wonder what kind of mouses (mice?) other people prefer.

[Aggie]

I love the ones with the extra buttons on the side (for the thumb and pinkie).  You can assign various functions to these buttons, but my favorite is to set them up for copy and paste.  Good for pasting links while foruming and for all sorts of office duties.

I like to use a cordless mouse on my home computer, because I use it for watching DVDs and the like (allows you to adjust things while sitting away from the unit).  I don't notice a big difference for deskwork.

[Griffin NoName]

I tried a cordless for a while, loved it. But the batteries kept needing recharging and I got so fed up with that, I gave it up.

I don't use a Mac Opsa; on Windows one needs the left and right clicks.

[pieces o nine]

I learned with a mac, but have used a pc  *a lot*  since then.

I can keep straight the command key versus control key switching, but can never stop trying to right- or left-click the mac mouse.   

Also, I like an optical mouse over the old school trackball kind, hands down.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I like big mice (my hands are somewhat big), so far Kensington makes some big ones so I have two of those, on wired for my home desktop, and one wireless for my laptop. Both have the buttons on the side Aggie mentions.

[ivor]

I prefer white mice with ketchup...

I like the Dell Travel Mouse.  Not the greatest in the world but they work and I can get 'em for $10 a piece...

[Swatopluk]

My mice need to be at least standard size.
With the mini mouse that came with my laptop my lower arm and wrist is in pain in less than an hour.

[Opsa]

Mine's a Gigaware optical notebook mouse I got at Radio Shack. It is small, but not a huje problem, since I have small hands, but it would probably be irritating for those wid da big mitts. It has a scrolly thing I'm not used to. I have to turn it off after sessions to save the battery, but it has a sleep function as well.

I haven't seen the pinky function thing. That sounds cool!

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Wireless optical. Microsoft's brand and I think I pair $25 for it. Never had to replace the battery in the two-ish years I've had it and it lets me do my mousing ON THE WALL. Which I totally love. It has a scroll wheel on it, but I'm used to and love that.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

It's trackballs for me.

I had purchased 3 Microsoft thumb-operated ones several years ago, and alas, the last one finally wore out-- and M$ quit making these.

So my current is a wireless trackball from Logitec-- the ball is a wee bit smaller than my old M$ one, which is not as good, but other than that, it just works.  Battery life is adequate.

[pieces o nine]

Bob, you might be interested in a trick an old co-worker used with the trackballs on his mac:  he got a novelty eyeball from a local novelty shop which was fortuitously the same diameter. It worked just fine and was always good for a smile.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Bob, you might be interested in a trick an old co-worker used with the trackballs on his mac:  he got a novelty eyeball from a local novelty shop which was fortuitously the same diameter. It worked just fine and was always good for a smile.

LOL!  I like that-- I may have to do something like that, thanks.

[Griffin NoName]

My mouse wore out. Pressing the left click button to select or highlight stuff got harder and harder, til it just stopped working. I've had it about two years I think. I've just had to by a new one.

How long should a decent mouse last?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Depends on what brand, how it works, etc.

Even within brands, the microswitch on some die quickly whereas others last and last.   If that bothers you, you might look for a mouse with a capacitive touch button instead of a clickable microswitch (as with most mice).

A quick google brings up the Micro$oft touch mouse, which has no buttons, but a touch-pad on top of the ball-less mouse base.  It's supposed to be multi-touch too, but I don't know what that means... 



I've always gone with either micro$oft or logitec brands, and they just last and last-- usually what fails is the cord... and my latest is cordless a logitec trackball.  I use my right-thumb to move the cursor, but my wrist moves not at all (much lower fatigue).  The motions to move my thumb are far less than what would move the whole mouse about the desk.

[The Meromorph]

I've used a lot of different meeses over the years.
Wouldn't ever use a ball mouse again.
There's not much difference in performance between modern optical and laser mice.
I strongly prefer wireless mice (computer is often a little distant from the keyboard and wires get snagged/tangled).
Microsoft hardware used to be good and now is appallingly bad.
Battery life is poor on almost all EXCEPT Logitech.
Logitech has the best selection of sizes, the best battery life (I've had over a year on each set of batteries in multiple Logitech mice), the best control software (drivers, user interface etc.). Logitech's only let-down is that software installation takes up to 20 minutes, but you only do that 'once'.

I favor 5 button mice, but with the extra three buttons on the mouse wheel (click,left and right), which I set to 'Page  Down', 'Back', and 'Forward'.