I've gone Optical! (Microsoft Optical Mouse Blue)

Member Name: richard_richard

Product:	Microsoft Optical Mouse Blue
Date:	22/04/04 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Responsiveness, Low maintenance

Disadvantages: None, unless you don't like red!

The other day, I decided that I would like to try an optical mouse. I had heard a lot about how these were very handy as they didn?t have a mouse ball so you could use them on any surface.

This Optical mouse I purchased from our computer hardware supplier we use at work, for the reasonable price of £19.99.


Specs
The mouse comes in a rather fetching red colour and will plug either directly into the standard mouse port, or into a USB connection if you have one on your computer.

The button layout is pretty much the Microsoft standard one. You have a left and right mouse button and in the centre a scroll wheel. All buttons feel positive and robust when clicking on them.

This mouse uses optical technology. This means that there is no mouse ball inside; rather the movement of the mouse is calculated using a light source. This is what Microsoft call ?Intellieye? technology. They claim this light source makes 4000 scans per second in order to produce a highly accurate on screen interpretation of your physical mouse movements.

Apart from this optical technology, all other features of the mouse are standard. It is the regular shape you come to expect from Microsoft mice, fitting snugly in the hand. The cord is a decent length, which should mean there a no major snag ups when using it on your desk!


In Use
After connecting the mouse to the computer and booting the machine up, the mouse is ready to go. I experienced no problems getting this mouse to work with my operating system although I?ve now moved to Windows 2000 which picks up most new hardware pretty well. I can?t tell you whether there are compatibility problems when using the older systems such as Windows NT/98/95, I?m afraid!

The first thing that strikes you is that the light sensor on the bottom of the mouse looks very cool! It sends out a red beam of light and it is rather bright if you shine it into your eye! Oh yes, I don?t recommend
that you stare at it for too long as it can be rather painful! Ouch!

When operating the mouse you start to appreciate the optical technology. I don?t know whether it is just me but I find that this optical mouse operates in a much smoother way than the mice with the ball in them. The mouse glides better, and without the ball it doesn?t feel so clunky when moving around.

For a test I took the mouse off the mouse mat and tried using it on the desk itself. It seemed to operate in a similar way without any problems in the tracking. It must be true when they say you can use it on different surfaces! I would imagine it is probably wiser to still use a mouse mat though as it will probably be more dirt free than the desk!

The big advantage I have found with this optical mouse is in the maintenance side of things. Being in an IT Support role I have had lots of calls in the past from people moaning that their mouse wasn?t working properly. When I have investigated I?ve found that the problem is a build up of dirt and gunk inside the mouse, on the rollers which the mouse ball connects to. With an optical mouse you don?t have these rollers as there is no mouse ball, and as the mouse is a completely sealed unit, theoretically there is no way that dirt and dust can get inside. It should make the complaints I?ve mentioned above a thing of the past, which I don?t mind about at all!

I would imagine that the only maintenance that this mouse will need is to wipe the light sensor over with a cloth just to keep it dirt free, for maximum brightness.

As for reliability, I?ve only been using this mouse for a couple weeks so can?t comment on how long it will last as I?ve never used one with optical technology before! The unit though feels pretty well put together (as with most of the MS mouse products) so I?m hoping that it will give me trouble free use for a good while!


Conclusion
I would recommend this mouse to anybody wishin
g to purchase a replacement mouse for their computer. I think that the optical technology improves the responsiveness of the unit and there are no more worries about having to take the thing apart and give it a good clean out of all the gunk!

I can?t really see any disadvantages with this mouse, and as long as it operates reliably I can see myself using it for a long time!

Thanks for reading!

Summary: