Mice

Very subjective, of course...

My favorite mouse: the Logitech MX310. Best shape, wired, 5 button mouse with *excellent* precision for gaming and anything else, for only $30. This is not your basic mx300, this is a mix between the streamlined 5xx/7xx and their regular pre-3xx line.

Backup mouse: plain Microsoft Optical Mouse (great sensors even for the low cost models as long as they are recent, beats most). I like the little blue one because it's slightly smaller than the big explorers.

Crap mice: Kensington. Probably just spoiled by their mostly Mac user base that doesn't care about gaming or precision, their mice are actually very nicely designed and their control panel is by far the best and most complete available (also a possible side effect of the Mac side), but the sensors are complete crap. Skips very, very easily, just like original Apple mice.

Most people will probably say Logitech 5xx or 7xx series. They are great mice but the non-symmetrical shape just kills me, and the wireless ones are a bit of a hassle to me because of the whole charging and delay thing.

New Microsoft Explorer mice with the side-to-side wheel movement are overpriced crap in my opinion.

I love my black microsoft optical mouse that has 5 buttons.

If I was to buy a new mouse today, it would most likely be the Logitech MX500 (or the MX510 if I could actually find it anywhere). I'm a gamer, so performance is a plus. I also like the design of the MX500, though depending on your tastes and needs you might think otherwise.

As for wireless mice? Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is about them. Of course, I might think differently if I didn't sit in directly in front of the computer when I'm using it. I don't want to worry about batteries. Plus, the added weight is a turn-off.

I don't have an opinion on those so-called laptop mice since I never used one. However, I'm under the impression that they are just mini-sized mice, which isn't necessarily a good thing unless you really need something a little smaller than a standard mouse. I'll stick with regular-sized mice.

Microsoft tilt-wheel technology sounds quite nifty, though I would actually have to try it out before I pass judgement on it. The lack of notches in the vertical scrolling might be greatly missed when it comes to playing first person shooters. But, like I said, I'd have to try one before I say whether tilt-wheel is the latest and greatest or just a novelty.

Am I the only one here that uses ball mice? I guess I'm still stuck in the 90's. I have a generic type mouse, shaped like the MX300, and it is wonderful. I prefer it over optical.

Favorites:

Logitech MX310
Logitech MX510
Logitech MX700 (wireless)

I am happy with the MX900 now that I have the internal bluetooth up.

What is so good about these Logitech mice that the Microsoft standard optical 5 button mouse doesnt have or do? I feel like I am missing out on something big, now that everyone keeps talking about these Logitech mice. Have I been in the shadows that long, regarding this topic?

I use the Logitech mx500. I have the wireless mx700 also, but don't use it as much anymore.

For my desktop I have the MX700, and for my laptop I have the Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse for Notebooks. Both are awesome.

If you're not familiar with the notebook mouse you can see a picture of it Here.

The Logitech MX510 is great. You can get it at BestBuy.com for around $50 and free shipping.

Nobody has answered the questions which I made in my previous post:

Microsoft mice are pretty good. However, it seems that Logitech caters more toward gamers and enthusiasts while Microsoft focuses more on productivity software (like Microsoft office). For example, Microsoft's big thing right now is the tilt wheel, which isn't useful in games at this time but would work great for spreadsheets and database tables. Logitech seems to emphasize their ultra-high performance optical engines.

Speaking of mice, does anyone know when the blue Logitech MX510s are supposed to be available? Or when the MX510s will be widely available?

i have the red one and the color is really nice

Sockman, take a look at bestbuy.com. Last time I looked they had both red and blue.

I guess some people would say Logitech is for gamers and Microsoft mice are good for office work, but the truth is that they are both equally well suited for both activities.
Logitechs just seem to have nicer shapes and snappier button action that's better suited for gamers. New MS mice have a big wheel with notches that are too soft. Logitech has these things tuned to perfection, with perfect travel distance for the wheel which is just the right size and thickness, and notches that just feel perfect: not too hard, not too soft.

The new side-scrolling wheels from microsoft are just horrible in my opinion. The wheel tends to go side to side when you just want to click the wheel down, and the effect of the side scrolling is not very beneficial, certainly not nearly as useful as the up/down wheel action. Additionally their wheels have no notches (or very, very soft ones) which makes them a nightmare for games. They are also huge, expensive and in my opinion, ugly.

As far as sensor and tracking quality, I feel Logitech trailed behind microsoft for a couple of years, especially with their awful "dual sensor" mice, but with the MX line they have new sensors that are every bit as good as the MS "3.0" mice. I can't objectively whether they truly are better or not, they both feel really good and never skip a beat.

You can use the MS control panel with the Logitech, but not viceversa. Also the Logitechs have a very handy application switch button that MS mice lack. Both MS and Logitech's mouse drivers are *severely* lacking in features, but no one seems to care - except me.

To me, however, the best mouse shape in history was the old MS wheel mouse, the curved one. That thing was heaven for me, I could neevr regain the accuracy I had with those mice... but MS never made a decent optical version of it (first version engine only, very prone to skipping), and the ball versions were very low quality and would start locking up within a month. I actually made a public offer somewhere of $100 for anyone who would retrofit one of these old Mice with a new Intellieye engine, but no one took the offer :P

anyone know of any good bluetooth mice? cause i have internal bluetooth on my laptop and would like to have something to use it with lol. lookin for something gaming quality.Thxs