new damn mouse

[low_delta]

My old Gateway mouse is no longer usable. Something's making the buttons very difficult to depress, so I went to Best Buy to pick up a new one. The one with the best combination of features and price was Microsoft, but I bought it anyway. What a pain. I'd like to say it's just that I'm not used to the new mouse, but on my various computers I have three different styles, and I never have this problem. It's just totally unsuited for my style, I guess.

It's tapered towards the front, so my fingers slide towards the front, rather than gripping it in the middle. This not only makes it difficult to slide it forwards, but it causes me to rest my palm on the back of it. Less control. With my fingers on the front, when I pick it up, the back stays down, and the laser is at the back. The reason I pick it up is to jump the cursor across the screen, so this maneuver is out. Since the laser is at the back, and not in the middle, when I turn the mouse, the cursor moves in a strange way - yes, I turn my mouse sometimes, for finer control. The scroll wheel has no detents, so I can't rest my middle finger on it, or it scrolls unexpectedly. It's also a little tough to depress, so when I depress it to open a new tab on my browser, it scrolls first.

Comments

[i.livejournal.com]

track ball all the way, man

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I need something I can wrap my hand around. About fifteen years ago, my dad had a trackball that was a good 1-1/2" inches in diameter, but if you can find those anymore, they probably don't have the buttons or scroll wheel.

[i.livejournal.com]

i use a logitech trackman. the ball isn't that big, but ergonomically it's perfect for me.

unsolicited advice

[marswalker.livejournal.com]

MS mices - the wireless ones - are ok, but not my fav. I've had a few wireless. I like the Logitec line, I have a wireless kit - kbd and mx-laser mouse, and I have a second logitec lasermouse for the work laptop for travel.
I also have a MS wireless mouse for the work docking station.

Problems/observations:
problem - the logitec travel mouse, though it works great, can turn on in the bag and use batteries. It's seems to like alkaline rather than ni-cd or nimh.

MS mouse seems to last a long time on batteries, but again doesn't seem to like rechargeables.

MX-wireless mouse and several other logitec mices have built-in rechargibles, a charging station, and a battery level indication, there are several different models with different shapes, a single charge lasts weeks.
The mx-wireless keyboard uses 4AA's, does decent with NiMH (over a month w/o switching it off), and goes much longer on premium alkalines.

The logitec wireless mx-laser is more expensive than the ms-mouse, but I find it more comfortable and a better mouse in many ways

Re: unsolicited advice

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I thought that our Logitech travel mouse turned itself off after a period of no use, but it eats batteries so fast, that I suspect that's not the case.

Interesting about the rechargeables. When I had the plan of using a wireless, I was going to go with rechargeable. I suppose that's still better than throwing dead batteries away.

Best Buy normally has a shelf with a bunch of mouses out so you can try them, but yesterday, for some reason, they only had three out.

Re: unsolicited advice

[marswalker.livejournal.com]

I think the logitec travel mice "go to sleep" but if you wiggle them they wake back up. If you hold down the power button they'll usually go off, but I've got to where I just remove the battery when it goes in the travel bag.

Frys usually also has a bunch of mice out to try, I was going to suggest them.

Re: unsolicited advice

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Never heard of Fry's. Best Buy is just about it around here. No more Circuit City. Radio Shack, maybe. Target?

Re: unsolicited advice

[marswalker.livejournal.com]

Fry's is like what Radio Shack wanted to grow up to be in the 1950s. They're about the size of a wal-mart.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I love my Logitech wireless laser mouse.
:)
I got it on sale at Best Buy last summer and it was cheaper that way than the Microsoft.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I liked Logitech better, but they were the most expensive wireless mouse, and they didn't have a wired mouse, which is what I wanted.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

When I got a new computer at work, I got a new wheel mouse, and I felt so silly having a problem with such a small thing, but it was crapily made. You had to keep nudging it, b/c the styluses inside of it didn't pick up fine movement. It hurt my fingers a little bit.

Anyway, the whole thing infuriated me - I feel like they purposefully made a crappy mouse in order to get me to buy another one.

After complaining to mda about it, he got me a Logitech wireless mouse for my work machine. I also have one at home. In fact, all of our mice at home are Logitechs.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I would have preferred the Logitech, but they didn't make a wired mouse, and I was going for inexpensive.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just realized I wrote that wrong: I have lasered mice, but they're wired in. You are totally right about price - those things cost over $30.

$$$

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

The wireless mice were $30, $40 and $50. The wired ones were $20 and $25.