Time to uograde my old mouse? Optical? Cordless?

B

Ben

Precision of the most basic optical mouse on a good surface is going to be
far beyond what you can tell, unless you run your mouse speed at the lowest
setting with a 1600x1200+ display. Response - yes, I can see some of that
in the MX700, which I may have to move twice to wake up the screen saver.
I'm used to it and don't mind. Long fast motion is no worse than with a ball
in a real environment.
Click to expand...

Im in the process of changing mice/keyboard and also looking for 30 sets
of both to supply to our laptop users.

I just bought:-

logitech cordless desktop lx501
logitech cordless desktop ex110

Im using the lx at home with a desktop and the ex at work with a laptop
on a riser.

The lx is the higher quality product, keyboard construction is noticably
cheaper in the ex and also with the ex I am noticing the lag mentioned
which has been apparant more today as I was creating a report in access
that needed much small tweaking.

I havent noticed any lag with the lx.

Both sets have a slightly changed layout - the group of keys for
home/end has been changed and im trying to get used to that and also the
lx has round buttons for the F keys and the escape key ... weird.

The ex mouse is smaller and more standard - the lx mouse has no lag, is
larger and also has extra buttons and a right left click to the wheel as
well as usual button click - havent loaded up the software to test those
out yet.
 
J

Jaimie Vandenbergh

Yes, optical and cordless is good. Nowadays, NiMH (nickel metal
hydride) rechargeable batteries are the way to go. You can get the
batteries and charger at your local megastore. I recommend Duracell,
the last Energizer charger I bought was defective confirmed by someone
else's experience with the same charger.
Click to expand...

What capacity do Duracell NiMHs get up to now? I'm using 2300mAh
Energizers.

Cheers - Jaimie
 
R

Rob Morley

As long as you are not (like me) left handed...
Click to expand...
True. They do make ambidextrous finger-operated trackballs, I bought a
couple of different sorts to try them but never really spent any time
getting used to them so I wouldn't like to say if they're as good once
you get used to them.
 
R

Rob Morley

John Doe said:
For some righthanders, it might not be as easy to use either. For
some of us, moving the mouse with our hand/arm and clicking is
easier than moving a ball with our thumb and clicking. Drawing a
dotted/dashed line is a good test of that.
Click to expand...
That's what graphics pads are for.
 
K

kony

But it will work on glossy paper or even laminated paper unlike the LEDs
Click to expand...


Is your desk made of glossy paper? What would that matter?

It's a bit beside the point, buying a laser mouse then
trying to use it on a poor surface. It will not do as well
as a LED mouse on a good surface. In short, mouse pads
exist for a reason, they are a large part of tracking
results.
 
K

kony

I am using an old style mouse with cable and rollerball.

I would like to upgrade it because it the rollerball gets clogged up
with dirt. And the mousewheel too picks up dust which then gets into
the internal workings and makes the scrolling action jerky.

However, in the past I have heard various complaints about more
modern mice which have put me off. I have heard that some fancier
mice are ...

lacking in precision for cursor placement
Click to expand...

Relative to what? Not relative to a balled mouse.

slow to start responding
Click to expand...

MS made some that stayed asleep longer to preserve battery
life. That's cordless of course, do you "need" cordless?
It is a trade-off, a decent cordless mouse needs be larger
and heavier, which is fine if you palm the whole thing but
sub-optimal if you use your fingers only to control it.

do not properly follow a long fast movement
etc
Click to expand...


Depends a lot on the generation of mouse. 400DPI sensor
mice didn't do as well as 800DPI, and there must be some
new logic in later 800DPI sensors as they did even better,
though it might've just been a larger sampling (pixel count)
window.

QUESTION 1: If I get an OPTICAL mouse then what sorts of performance
drawbacks or advantages might it have compared to my own mouse?
Click to expand...


It'll work better. It won't suffer from dirt buildup as
much. I'm not going to try to convince you to buy one, but
who are you kidding, did you feel the entire world had been
mistaken when everyone and their brother claimed, and chose,
opticals for their superiority?


QUESTION 2: What about the performance a mouse that is both CORDLESS
and OPTICAL? Does the radio link restrict the bandwidth of data
transfer from mouse to PC and therefore restrict the performance?
Click to expand...

The performance issue is more one of latency, a very slight
lag. If you are not very critical of your mouse movements,
which you must not be to still be using a balled mouse, it
shouldn't be much of a factor so long as you choose a
current generation mid or higher end, major brand such as MS
or Logitech.

What sort of life do the batteries have?
Click to expand...

Depends on the mouse, some may go a day and others several
months. rechargeables also lose capacity over time so don't
ask about someone's "new" mouse, ask about one they've used
for 18 months or longer. Then again, if you buy a new mouse
every couple years you dont' have to consider the lower-end
of the battery capacity curve. I would get one with a
recharing cradle though, unless you need it for traveling
and would rather just use alkalines for the convenience of
not having to take a charger along.
 
T

Tony Houghton

In <[email protected]>,
Robbie McFerren said:
As the subject suggest this is off topic, but I want to show that
sometimes a true mouse (or trackball for trackball fans) is the best.
Click to expand...

Did you mean "isn't the best"?
There is this Puzzle or Maze game in Knoppix (starts with an E)
Enigma?

and it
works best with a Trackpad. I would never play any other game on a
trackpad (one that matters anyway).
Click to expand...

I found exactly the same thing with Labyrinth in the Windows XP Plus
pack. Normally I don't like trackpads; I even prefer the little nipple
thing on my laptop.

I haven't tried Neverball (multi-platform marble maze type game, well
worth a look) with a trackpad. I suspect I'd prefer sticking with a real
mouse; it's more hectic than Labyrinth.
 
J

John Doe

Jaimie Vandenbergh said:
What capacity do Duracell NiMHs get up to now? I'm using 2300mAh
Energizers.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure, probably no more than 2300 on store shelves. I have
many different capacities in AA and AAA. I guess AAA's are mostly
750 mAh. I saw some Kodak camera AAA batteries that are 800 mAh not
(worth much IMO).

For what it's worth. You might notice that rechargeables included
with a charger are typically smaller capacity. And even the same
brand rechargeables can be different capacities from one package to
another. The capacities changed quickly after they were first
released.


Here's the other guy who replied about having the same problem with
the now obsolete Energizer CH30MN charger.

Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Message-ID: <10tu48ugetc4567 corp.supernews.com>

It charged AAs fine, but the Energizer CH30MN would not start
charging AAA batteries without a very frustrating struggle inserting
and removing them over and over again. Getting rid of that thing for
a functional (Duracell) charger was a relief.
 
S

[ste parker]

Jeff said:
I bought a wireless mouse and keyboard and returned it 48 hours later.
It suffered intermittent connections and was a complete pain. They may
well be better now (this was a couple of years ago) but I'd need some
convincing still.
Click to expand...

I've used a wireless MS Intellimouse Explorer for a couple of years now
with no issues whatsoever, and it's been used between a variety of
machines. As for the original battery life question, I think I've
changed the batteries two or three times since I bought it.
 
D

Darklight

Take a look at this: http://www.fentek-ind.com/logitech.htm
i have been using a trackman for over two years with no problems
what so ever. It's comfortable and precise. But it's not for every
body i have watched people us my pc and they had problems using it
when i see that i look on in amazement.
 
K

kony

What capacity do Duracell NiMHs get up to now? I'm using 2300mAh
Energizers.

Cheers - Jaimie
Click to expand...


Energizers are Sanyo cells, on average they are better than
Duracell. I have both, 2300mAH Duracell and
Energizer-Sanyos.

The Duracells are often less expensive though, their
"DC-1500B8N" 8 pack of 2300mAH cells was about $14 on
buy.com last time I bought some. One thing worth mentioning
about the Duracells is they reused the same package part #
(DC-1500B8N) in the past when they had lower mAH cells
inside. Some vendors still list the lower mAH figures, like
1800 or 2100 mAH even though they have the 2300mAH cells
inside the current product. Thus, the main issue is whether
it's a current product or old stock- in general it's always
best to buy batteries from a high volume vendor so the odds
are best that you get the freshest cells possible, or even
better when the manufacturing date is specified but that is
rare.
 
J

John Doe

kony said:
Energizers are Sanyo cells, on average they are better than
Duracell.
Click to expand...

If you mean internally, electrically/chemically... who says?

Some of my Energizer AAA have cracked and broken off wrapping near
the positive terminal.
I have both, 2300mAH Duracell and Energizer-Sanyos.

The Duracells are often less expensive though, their
"DC-1500B8N" 8 pack of 2300mAH cells was about $14 on
buy.com last time I bought some. One thing worth mentioning
about the Duracells is they reused the same package part #
(DC-1500B8N) in the past when they had lower mAH cells
inside. Some vendors still list the lower mAH figures, like
1800 or 2100 mAH even though they have the 2300mAH cells
inside the current product. Thus, the main issue is whether
it's a current product or old stock-
Click to expand...

I guess you are talking about shopping online.

Locally, with good eyesight for very small print, you can see
through the clear plastic packaging, the actual capacity is printed
on the battery.
 
K

kony

kony <spam spam.com> wrote:

If you mean internally, electrically/chemically... who says?
Click to expand...

I mean, Sanyo makes the cells, they're sold as Sanyos,
Panasonic, Energizer, and probably other brands. It is
fairly common knowledge to anyone who knows a little about
batteries.
Some of my Energizer AAA have cracked and broken off wrapping near
the positive terminal.
Click to expand...

I would suspect they're either counterfeit, or are not being
charged properly. I suppose it's possible there was a bad
batch, and if so it only stands to reason that all in the
same pack, even the same shipments to a give retailer or
region might have a defect but many people use them fine,
myself included.

To have them do that it seems most likely the charger is not
working correctly and supplies too much current at the end
of the charge cycle.

I guess you are talking about shopping online.
Click to expand...

For the Duracells, yes I bought them online. Shouldn't
matter, but I have bought the Energizers locally too.

Locally, with good eyesight for very small print, you can see
through the clear plastic packaging, the actual capacity is printed
on the battery.
Click to expand...

Yes, but often it is cheaper to buy online if you have other
items coming from same place so shipping doesn't mean such a
cost overhead.
 
J

Jon D

The MX700 and MX1000 are wireless, with no intermittency at all.
They use RF, and each has a charging+radio base station to pop
it in every night or two. The older has a pair of AA NiMHs that
last several days,
Click to expand...

Several days is quite poor.
the newer has some builtin battery that lasts
at least three days.
Click to expand...

The newer one's three days is rather poor too!
 
B

Buurp

It'll work better. It won't suffer from dirt buildup as
much. I'm not going to try to convince you to buy one, but
who are you kidding, did you feel the entire world had been
mistaken when everyone and their brother claimed, and chose,
opticals for their superiority?
Click to expand...


When Betamax came out, everyone went and got one.
 
K

kony

Several days is quite poor.


The newer one's three days is rather poor too!
Click to expand...

Poor relative to what?

If they optimized it to go into a sleep mode sooner, and/or
one that flashes the LED/other-illuminator less then it is a
useability issue for many users.

They (Logitech) now has a series that gets much better
runtime from a pair of AA cells. I have one, it's crap.
Mediaplay mouse, it's nice to have the buttons for the
special features but compared to my MX700 and MX300, it
tracks horribly and is very picky about the mousing surface.

It also weighs about twice as much. IMO, any runtime beyond
3 days is a bad design if the mouse has a recharge cradle.
Better to use smaller and lighter batteries instead. That's
not at all good for laptop users wanting portability, but
there are laptop mice specifically for this use.
 
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