[CUBE] Alternative mice

Fri Jun 4 13:32:41 PDT 2004

I've been very happy with the Logitech MX-700. 
Upsides:
It's a great mouse. I find it very comfortable and the button
placement is very slick and the buttons have good feedback. The mouse
shell is part smooth plastic, part rubber-ish texture that grips well.
Logitech's mouse drivers are excellent for the Mac. It installs a
preferences panel in System Preferences where you can change various
elements of the mouse. You can map all of the mouse buttons to
keypresses, Scrolling, sound volume, display brightness, Eject CD,
Shutdown, Switch Applications, Launch Application/Document/Folder/URL,
and a variety of mouse-click combinations.
The cordless thing is great - I've got way too much stuff on my desk
to snake a mouse cable around and not have it bind. The range is fine
for my needs, tracking great up to 15' away. Signal/crosstalk
resistance is good as well - I use 3 MX-700s in a close space with 4
computers, a lot of wifi hardware, printers, cordless & cell phones,
and plenty of other RF generating nightmares with no troubles.
I tend to get ~40 hours of solid use before it needs to recharge and
the recharge cycle is pretty fast - 5 minutes will get you 30 or so in
an emergency. The batteries are removable rechargeable AAA batteries,
so when they eventually are unable to keep a charge, you wont have to
replace the whole device (unlike some other high-profile rechargeable
devices).
The tracking itself is pretty good. As long as you're on a relatively
unicolor surface like a painted desk or solid-color mousepad (although
I've had no problems using it on woodgrain desk surfaces). The
tracking starts to get a little glitchy on complex surfaces like
magazine covers or mousepads with freaky patterns on them.
Supposedly the MX-700 series has a much higher resolution than the
average mouse, but I've not really noticed any difference (then again,
I dont do a lot of fine work - mainly text and gaming). It's a bit
heavier than most other mice, but I consider that a plus.

Downsides:
As near as I can tell, you can't assign function keys to the mouse
buttons. Currently, the app switch button functions as the Application
Switcher (Apple-Tab). I'd rather be able to map it to Expose (either
F9 or F11).
In Windows, there is a mouse function for universal scrolling
(typically pressing down on the scroll wheel). This puts the mouse
into a sort of drag-hand mode where moving in any direction will
scroll a window in that direction. This is probably an OS-level
function though, but I'd love to see Logitech implement something like
that in it's drivers.
The mouse has a rather large recharger/base station, so you'll not
avoid desk clutter completely and it is powered, so you'll need to
reserve a spot for a space-hogging adapter on your power strip.

Other mice I've tried (All of these are on Windows except the Logitech
MouseWheel - so I can't vouch for driver support - USB mouse support
is pretty universal though, I'd be very surprised if these didn't
support at least basic functionality under OS-X):
Logitech MouseWheel - too skinny/small.
Logitech iFeel mouse - Great idea, maybe someday they'll get it right.
I did like the extra weight - made it less 'twitchy'
Microsoft Intellimouse - The side Forward/Back buttons were very large
and too soft. I'd end up hitting them by accident just moving the
mouse left or right suddenly (like when gaming). This ended up being a
major issue and I dumped the mouse after 2 months.
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer - They made the side buttons much
stiffer and moved them around, so I didn't press 'em at the wrong
time. Also moved to a textured exterior which felt a little more
solid. It just died last week during a LAN party - something in the
cable shorted and it would only track if you wiggled the cable where
it went into the mouse shell. There's another argument for a cordless
mouse.
(Note - I may have the Intellimouse and Intellimouse Explorer backwards.)

On Fri, 4 Jun 2004 10:51:59 +0200, Stevie <erasmus at t-online.de> wrote:
> 
> >Hey all,
> >
> >Looking for quick Cube compatibility reports on alternative mice --
> >i.e. Kensington, Logitech, etc. Any problems  to report?
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >Erik
> 
> Hi Erik,
> 
> I tried:
> (1) Logitech "Cordless MouseMan Optical"
> (2) Logitech MX 700
> (3) MS Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer
> (4) MS IntelliMouse Optical USB (wired)
> (5) Typhoon Optical Mouse and of course the original Apple mouse (but
> one button is not enough)
> 
> By the time: Best quality ever were Kensington Mice (Thinking Mouse,
> 4 buttons, ADB, unfortunately that's history), I still enjoy it, when
> I'm sitting at one of my ADB-Macs.
> 
> Ad (1) Of course depending on one's hands, to me the "Cordless
> MouseMan Optical" (1) seems to be most comfortable. That's the mouse,
> which falls down at the right site (that means: only for right handed
> persons). It has no "power-station", but works for a good couple of
> days.
> 
> Ad (2) MX-700: Quite comfortable, with power-station, but too heavy
> to work for long time
> 
> Ad (3) Wireless IntelliMouse Expl.: Good to work with, but without
> power-station and has an extremly power-consumption: needs sometimes
> only 3 days to eat battery!
> 
> Ad (4) IntelliMouse Optical-wired: That's the mouse, I'm working
> every day. Although I prefer a mouse without cable, this model is
> very light and has a very good precision. And I must not worry about
> the power...
> 
> Ad (5) Typhoon Optical USB: Lightwight, with power-station, quite
> precise, works with USB Overdrive and it is really cheap
> -----------------------------
> Most important: to save my wrist I've used such a wrist pad
> (Kensington or other, cheaper models) since many years. That makes
> the difference.
> 
> I often thougt about buying a thumb ball or trackball, but didn't till now.
> -----------------------------
> Another idea: Using an ergonomic keyboard is very important too.
> I'm very happy with MS Natural Keyboard Pro (excellent quality,
> actual drivers, OS 9+X), mine is with wire.
> 
> Have a good decision :-)
> stevie
> 
> 
> 
> ----------
> Check out the Cube email list FAQ
> http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/Cube.html
> 
> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <Cube-off at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <Cube-digest at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
> Need help from a real person? Try.  <Cube-request at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
> 
> ----------
> $14.99 Unlimited Nationwide Mac Dialup and Mac Web Hosting from your Mac ISP
> Serious Mac Internet Solutions From NineWire!   http://macinternetaccess.com
> 
>  T3Hub  |  3 Port USB Hub weighs less than an ounce!
> Dr. Bott|   <http://www.drbott.com/prod/T3Hub.html>
> 
>    Cyberian   | Support this list when you buy at Outpost.com!
>    Outpost    | http://www.themacintoshguy.com/outpost.shtml
> 
> ADC Extension | Extend the built in cable of your flat panel by 10 ft.
>   Dr. Bott    |    <http://www.drbott.com/prod/ADCExtension.html>
>