Faultless (Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer)

Member Name: Deus_Ex_Machina

Product:	Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Date:	02/07/03 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks great, Super reliable and well made, customizable 5 buttons (great for games and anything really)

Disadvantages: Right handed, Doesnt like high contrast mousemats

Normally I am one to joke about Microsoft, and their faulty operating systems etc?. I cannot in any way fault this product, it is an excellent mouse in every way. It is extremely comfortable, reliable, stylish and works brilliantly. I bought the mouse for £18 at a computer fair, as my old one (a £3 ball mouse) was annoying me so much. I wanted an optical mouse, but not a cordless, as they require batteries, and that is one more thing that I don?t want to worry about. I got it home, with the installation disc and USB-Serial port connector, but no box (this is how I saved £22 off of the list price). I plugged it in, turned on the computer and as soon as I got into windows it asked for the disc. It all installed perfectly. This then led me through an excellent animated tutorial on how the mouse worked, and instructions on how to assign certain commands to each of its 5 buttons.

The buttons are fully compatible with each key on the keyboard and combinations of them, i.e. you could make it do Ctrl + Alt + Del as one of the buttons if you really wanted. I have it set up for games (one side button is r (reload) and the other is Enter (open doors)). The buttons are very easy to set up, and quickly changeable. You can also set it up to react to different speeds of wheel scrolling and movement acceleration, as well as getting it to go in a straight line for each individual person. This exercise is done by moving a small picture of a car up the screen in order to calibrate it. As you can probably tell, it is all very simple to use and allows the least computer literate of users to access its most advanced functions. However, it is still a mouse, and £40 seems a bit much doesn?t it? Well, it is not just a mouse, it is a super mouse! I have had it for a year and a half now and it has worked perfectly. The scroller never fails or jumps, and the mouse never refuses to go in one direction ? the plague of all ball mice. It also has the 5 buttons and the extremely ergonomic
(although admittedly right-handed) shaped shell. The rubber grip on the sides in a steely grey finishes the look, and oozes quality. So too does the little red light at the back to tell you that it is on.

I only have one complaint, and that is that it has trouble using mousemats with highly and suddenly contrasting blocks of colour, i.e. a checker-pattern. This is due to the optical tracking system, but on the plus side, you can use it on your trouserleg in a train, or on a wall! Overall, an excellent mouse, reliable, solid and well worth the money.

Summary: