Introduction

It's been some time since we last looked into the mousing world. If I recall correctly, we were previously toying around with the Logitech mice. Not too many products (I refuse to refer to the Nostromo as a mouse) have trickled out since then, as the mousing scene doesn't advance as fast as other segments of the market, like video cards. One of the big factors of this is cost and need; people simply aren't going to pay $400 for a new mouse, after all - it does nothing for frame rates in Quake III. Many people tend to tack on just about any mouse to their computer. I would even go so far as to say it makes no sense to get a $40 mouse for most people. Take my parents for instance, they probably couldn't tell the difference between a serial mouse and the Razer Boomslang. Same thing goes for monitors, no sense in getting a monitor that can do 1600x1200 at 85 Hz, when the user is going to kick back at 800x600 with an ungodly low 60 Hz refresh rate. But when mice come out at a sufficiently low price point, the populace tends to get what looks cool, and might possibly consider how it performs and what features they want. And after all, what better way to drive home that "I have a better toy than thou" sentiment than by having a blinking doodad for a mouse.

The Rat Pack

Rat butts

Finally

Last year essentially marked the first time optical mice could feasibly be used for gaming, albeit for a small segment of players. The main problem used to be with quick twitch movements. Most sensitivity settings did not get rid of the tracking issues these mice had when moved quickly. This is one of the main reason many people enjoyed the Razer Boomslang (even if it had a wacky shape); this mouse was the king of mice with balls. Sporting a 2000 DPI resolution, the level of control was unprecedented. Optical mice stood no chance at all, most had a resolutions that barely hit 500 DPI. Combine that with sampling rate problems and you had a mixture for disaster. With that said, the new mice coming out now from the big boys offer quite a few enhancements.

Rat faces

Old school

Specifically, the new toys we got in the office this time around are the two offerings from Microsoft and the best that Logitech has to offer. On the Microsoft side we have the Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 and the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer. Coming in on the solo trip from Logitech is the MouseMan Dual Optical, with enough sensors to take on not one but two regular optical mice at the same time.