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My Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical mouse is starting to behave erratically after 6 or so years of service and it's time to get a new one. Despite disassembly and cleaning, it's just not working very well anymore.



It has 4 buttons, a click scroll wheel and more importantly, isn't one of those ergo-contour crap deals which is very important because even though I'm right-handed, I use the mouse with my left hand so I can use the arrow and insert/delete/home/end/page up/page down keyboard keys for gaming instead of that ASDW nonsense.

So what can you all recommend as a replacement? Wireless is nice, but not essential. I was in Staples earlier today, but most of the mice on sale were smaller, more portable jobs (about 2/3rds the size of the mouse I have now) for use with laptops. The rest were 3-button mice.

The mouse I have now is perfectly adequate for gaming, so I don't care about special "gaming" mice. I'm only interested in a design that will let me use both right and left hands, and obviously most ergonomic designs are unsuitable.

I've seen that "tilt-wheel" function which I assume replaces the buttons on the sides? If that isn't too gimmicky, please say so. I use all 4 buttons and the click and scroll wheel functions regularly, but if the tilt-wheel will take over the 3 and 4 buttons on the side, that might be alright.

Logitech RX1000

Brilliant laser mouse, left, right, scroll and random other buttons. Usable with both hands. Costs about £10. Bargin.

Razer's mice are mostly ambidextrous, but they can be pricey. If your IntelliMouse has served you well, you could just get another.

Don't Microsoft mice have a lifetime warranty? Try getting a warranty replacement.

I use the mouse with my left hand so I can use the arrow and insert/delete/home/end/page up/page down keyboard keys for gaming instead of that ASDW nonsense.

you're a goddamn freak

If the warranty replacement thing doesn't work out, I'd recommend just getting another optical IntelliMouse, wired or wireless, since it worked well enough for you for six-ish years.

That's the same mouse I use and I think it's just about perfect.

Uraniun235 wrote:

I use the mouse with my left hand so I can use the arrow and insert/delete/home/end/page up/page down keyboard keys for gaming instead of that ASDW nonsense.

you're a goddamn freak

Well then so am I. That's exactly how I play my Quake too.

Oh, and the Logitech MX310 Dalton got me post-Katrina is still serving me quite well. I've made many frags, designed several starships, and snarfed gigs upon gigs of music and porn with it.

Thanks for the suggestions. And I hadn't even thought about the warranty. I'll look into that.

Uraniun235 wrote:

I use the mouse with my left hand so I can use the arrow and insert/delete/home/end/page up/page down keyboard keys for gaming instead of that ASDW nonsense.

you're a goddamn freak

I don't know, I just find it so much easier with my right hand on the arrow keys. I typically bind home to "jump" and end to "crouch" and so forth. The arrows are perfect for front/back and strafe left/right, so why not? ASDW/WASD (whatever the kids call it these days) seems needlessly jumbled. The arrows I can find by touch in the dark.

You know what's even freakier? I'm still using the the same keyboard that I got with my very first computer, a Compaq Presario 978CDTV.

In 1995.

Sure, I have other keyboards, even an illuminated one for my laptop (damn laptop keyboards!), but this old non-ergo keyboard has never let me down and I've never found one better to replace it. And yes, I regularly clean it.



It's seen 5 moves and is on its 4th system. Nary a hiccup!

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Well then so am I. That's exactly how I play my Quake too.

Ah! A fellow seer of The Best Way To Play!

Slight tangent, but still input-device related:

What's your opinion of the ergonomic fixed split keyboards ? Is someone using one and can provide feedback ? As I have to type a lot in the next few months, I'm thinking about buying one.

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Oh, and the Logitech MX310 Dalton got me post-Katrina is still serving me quite well. I've made many frags, designed several starships, and snarfed gigs upon gigs of music and porn with it.

My MX310 has served me well, too.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:If the warranty replacement thing doesn't work out, I'd recommend just getting another optical IntelliMouse, wired or wireless, since it worked well enough for you for six-ish years.

That's the same mouse I use and I think it's just about perfect.

I've got one of them myself, but I bought it a few months ago so the design is just a tiny bit different. It's worked well despite the abuse and for the most part it's one of the more comfortable mice I've worked with considering the price.

They still sell the Intellimouse at Newegg.com.

No other mouse works as well as that gem.

Pezzoni wrote:Logitech RX1000

Brilliant laser mouse, left, right, scroll and random other buttons. Usable with both hands. Costs about £10. Bargin.

I'm upping the ante here and saying the MX1000. Why? Because it's also a laser mouse, except wireless, and it is awesome.

Ein: Glad to see my contribution to your perversion still serves you admirably

CorSec wrote:They still sell the Intellimouse at Newegg.com.

No other mouse works as well as that gem.

Got mine at Office Depot, though this is the model I got.

Dalton wrote:

Pezzoni wrote:Logitech RX1000

Brilliant laser mouse, left, right, scroll and random other buttons. Usable with both hands. Costs about £10. Bargin.

I'm upping the ante here and saying the MX1000. Why? Because it's also a laser mouse, except wireless, and it is awesome.

Ein: Glad to see my contribution to your perversion still serves you admirably

That what I have an I love it. Its great mouse and has the advantage of being wireless and have its own recharging station. It gives me the luxury of being able to put the computer anywhere on the desk and still be able to have the keyboard and mouse in the most conveinent location on the desk.

I'm using a LX7 Cordless Optical Mouse and it has been serving me splendidly. Better then the mice with buttons to the side - no danger of accidentally hitting one.

The only complaint is that it was difficult a bit at first to hit the middle mouse button on the wheel, but after a week or so of usage the problem disappeared.

FSTargetDrone wrote: I don't know, I just find it so much easier with my right hand on the arrow keys. I typically bind home to "jump" and end to "crouch" and so forth. The arrows are perfect for front/back and strafe left/right, so why not? ASDW/WASD (whatever the kids call it these days) seems needlessly jumbled. The arrows I can find by touch in the dark.

Pff. The real pros use ESDF to increase the amount of keys they can access If you're right-handed, you should definitely be using it to control your mouse.

Speaking of keyboards, I think my current keyboard might actually be older than I am.

Exonerate wrote:

FSTargetDrone wrote: I don't know, I just find it so much easier with my right hand on the arrow keys. I typically bind home to "jump" and end to "crouch" and so forth. The arrows are perfect for front/back and strafe left/right, so why not? ASDW/WASD (whatever the kids call it these days) seems needlessly jumbled. The arrows I can find by touch in the dark.

Pff. The real pros use ESDF to increase the amount of keys they can access If you're right-handed, you should definitely be using it to control your mouse.

Speaking of keyboards, I think my current keyboard might actually be older than I am.

I've always used ESDF personally. Using the arrow keys with the mouse just never seemed comfortable.

Raesene wrote:Slight tangent, but still input-device related:

What's your opinion of the ergonomic fixed split keyboards ? Is someone using one and can provide feedback ? As I have to type a lot in the next few months, I'm thinking about buying one.

They're comfortable but even though I've had this keyboard for I think over a year now, I still type faster and more intiutively on a good old fashioned keyboard.

Also, in FPS that use a lot of keys to include the numbers, some stuff gets shoved off to the other side of the keyboard making it a pain in the ass to reach. This is even worse in RTS for finding shortcuts cause on a normal keyboard, with your right hand gripping the mouse and your left hand on the home row, you can still stab across the keyboard and hit something, with only a bit of practice. I almost absolutely HAVE to physically look to do the same on a split keyboard. Also, for whatever reason I always hit the space key with my right thumb on this split keyboard.

I think if you grew up on a normal keyboard you should stick to it, cause otherwise it's brain re-wiring conundrums and bottom line: I type faster on older keyboards.

SPC Brungardt wrote:

Raesene wrote:Slight tangent, but still input-device related:

What's your opinion of the ergonomic fixed split keyboards ? Is someone using one and can provide feedback ? As I have to type a lot in the next few months, I'm thinking about buying one.

They're comfortable but even though I've had this keyboard for I think over a year now, I still type faster and more intiutively on a good old fashioned keyboard.

Also, in FPS that use a lot of keys to include the numbers, some stuff gets shoved off to the other side of the keyboard making it a pain in the ass to reach. This is even worse in RTS for finding shortcuts cause on a normal keyboard, with your right hand gripping the mouse and your left hand on the home row, you can still stab across the keyboard and hit something, with only a bit of practice. I almost absolutely HAVE to physically look to do the same on a split keyboard. Also, for whatever reason I always hit the space key with my right thumb on this split keyboard.

I think if you grew up on a normal keyboard you should stick to it, cause otherwise it's brain re-wiring conundrums and bottom line: I type faster on older keyboards.

The reaching across is a good piece of advice, thank you
I'm not a 10-finger typer, both hands range across the whole keyboard. Maybe I can borrow such a keyboard from a friend to evaluate it before I buy one.

Exonerate wrote:Pff. The real pros use ESDF to increase the amount of keys they can access If you're right-handed, you should definitely be using it to control your mouse.

Perhaps, but I am far too old and set in my immovable ways to change now. I started doing it this way from the very first FPS (DOOM) that I installed on my original machine. It just seemed the natural way to do it with the arrow keys set alone in a little group.

The way I usually do it is: CTRL for slow walk; HOME for jump; END for crouch; SHIFT for prone (if the game supports it); ENTER for activating items; [ and ] for moving through inventory items; \ for activating said items if ENTER can be used to activate switches, doors and the like; DELETE, PAGE DOWN, INSERT and PAGE UP for leaning (if the game doesn't support the 3/4 mouse buttons), activating maps, lights or various other controls, depending on the game. Sometimes I bind 0/INS on the keypad for game maps if I tie up the other stuff over the arrow keys. With games like Thief that allow forward leaning, I use keypad INS for that.

I basically keep the middle finger on my right hand on the up/down arrow keys, and the fingers on either side on the left and right arrow keys, respectively. Thumb on CTRL. This lets me use my right hand index finger on everything from BACKSPACE down to SHIFT.

Left hand's on the mouse, with its wheel for rolling through weapon inventory, click-wheel button for reloads and 3/4 buttons for leaning (if applicable). Left mouse for secondary weapon fire and right for shooting. I'm so used to controlling computer mice/trackballs with my left hand it's actually clumsy for me to use the mouse with my right hand.

I know it probably sounds complicated, but it's worked for the last 12 years, since I seriously started using computers.

Speaking of keyboards, I think my current keyboard might actually be older than I am.

I intend to use mine until the electrical contacts fail or the plastic degrades, whatever comes first.

So what do you do when you want to jump while running forward? Or jump-crouch while running forward (a key move in Half-Life-derived games)?

Uraniun235 wrote:So what do you do when you want to jump while running forward? Or jump-crouch while running forward (a key move in Half-Life-derived games)?

Oh, when the situation warrants, I'll use my ring finger to move forward as I use the middle one to hit HOME to jump, or whatever (and index on SHIFT or ENTER). If there's just a lot of straight running to do I'll use my middle finger for forward/back.

I was just describing a general arrangement of my fingers on the keys. Sorry for the confusion!

I'm sure this all sounds completely ridiculous, but it really does work for me!

Then again I'm still typing with my index fingers after all these years, so I'm just nuts, I guess.

Crazy man. I used to use the arrow keys back in the Doom and Dark Forces days, but when I got Half-Life and started using the mouse for looking around, I found that WASD was far superior for the task.

If you can fork out $60 the Razer Deathadder is a good mouse. It's a gamer's mouse in the lean, wired and sensitive mold that includes other Razers and the G-series. I prefer it over the G5, which I used for a year and a very similar MX518 before it. Other Logitechs, including the new G9, have a Hyperscroll wheel, which is apparently supposed to be useful, but many feature laden mice are heavy.

Bluetooth has its ups and downs. It doesn't need its own receiver and a lot of computers have it built in and has pretty good range, but you can't just plug and play with other computers, so if you want to use your mouse at school or work it gets really messy.

Too bad the Deathadder is right-handed, and TargetDrone uses the mouse in his left hand. I have a Deathadder myself, and I must say there are a few things about it I'm not satisfied with.