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Mac Forum / Applications / Mac Applications / May 2007Good high precision gaming mouse for OSX and 8.6?
What I want is smooth precise movement, scroll wheel, a couple extra buttons and it must work ok under 8.6 and OSX using USB Overdrive (I don't need or want the company's own drivers). I really like my old Microsoft five button Intellimouse Optical mice, but they're just not as precise as I'd like. What's decent gear nowadays? TIA, Jamie Kahn Genet  SignatureIf you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. Hei Jamie In my opinion with all the claims you put up, there is only one that can fullfil these. And this is the Kensington ExpertMouse Pro trackball. BUT to use all the features you need to use the Kensington MouseWorks for both OS 8.6-9.x and OS X. The ExpertMouse has a normal 4-button architecture with scrollwheel and 6x 'DirectLaunch' buttons. All buttons are fulle programmable. You don't need to use USB Overdrive on OS 8.6 - just plug it in and install Mouseworks.... The Mouseworks software is very good and fully reliable, if you disable the 'Mouse' controlpanel from OS 8.6. You can also setup the adjustments to be so fine tuned that no other mouse or trackball can put up with it. www.kensington.com The next-best alternative could be a Logitech Mouseman Wheel 4-button + wheel and trackball. It is usable with USB Overdrive as well as the Logitech Mouseware on OS 8.6. On OS X it reacts like a normal 2-button wheelmouse without any extra software, but is fully programmable with the Mouseware software package. www.logitech.com In comparison with the ExpertMouse, the MouseMan Wheel isn't quite as precise using the wheel as the ExpertMouse. - I'd rate the MouseMan to be 90% towards 100% for the ExpertMouse, - And rated towards the IntelliMouse I'd say the MouseMan is 160% and the ExpertMouse 170% - IntelliMouse equal to 100%. I've been using the Kensington TurboMouse and ExpertMouse now for 13 years right since the TurboMouse 2 2-button trackball and always liked these high precision mice/trackballs. And now I've also bought a MouseMan Wheel, 'cause the Kensington trackballs are very expensive here. Price in US is around $119USd for the ExpertMouse - here in Denmark just around $219USd, - where the Logitech MouseMan Wheel is only apprx. $69USd (according to money exchange rates) OK, there is of course also MacAlly's mice and trackballs. I only know something about their normal mice. They are very reliable and the newer ones with optical control are very precise, but I find them a bit too slow. Most of them are running native under OS X in all functions as well as under OS 8.6, but I find the MacAlly a bit too slight in construction, - fx. are the springs in the buttons very thin, which weakens these too fast with heavy use. - The best of the MacAlly mice is the classic MacAlly 2-button wheelmouse, but it isn't very precise in scrolling using the wheel, but solid as a rock in use throughout the years, - but for gaming? - absolutely no. www.macally.com Hope you can use my experiences, - I'm a heavy mouse user.:-) cheers, Erik Richard > What I want is smooth precise movement, scroll wheel, a couple extra > buttons and it must work ok under 8.6 and OSX using USB Overdrive (I > don't need or want the company's own drivers). I really like my old > Microsoft five button Intellimouse Optical mice, but they're just not as > precise as I'd like. What's decent gear nowadays? Signature~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rgds. Grüße, Mvh. Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC <mac-man_NOSP@M_stofanet.dk> <http://www.nisus.com> NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Textprocessing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Hei Jamie > > In my opinion with all the claims you put up, there is only one that can > fullfil these. And this is the Kensington ExpertMouse Pro trackball. [snip] Mmmm.... I dunno. I've never used a trackball for extended periods before. I always felt too clumsy with them and plugged a mouse in instead. But you certainly paint a glowing picture of these models. If you've not convinced me, I'm sure you've motivated others to try them :-) > In my opinion with all the claims you put up, there is only one that can > fullfil these. And this is the Kensington ExpertMouse Pro trackball. are you using the latest ExpertMouse trackball? does it use ball bears, wheels, or non-moving points of contact? after reading this thread i ended up trying out a microsoft Trackball Explorer, which ive read many positive reviews about as well (off the ExpertMouse amazon.com reviews). previously ive used a logitech thumb- trackball for many months (i know those bother some people, but i didnt mind it because it allowed my wrist to lay flat, like a normal mouse, rather than requiring "propping up" like some of the larger trackball units). i like the trackball explorer's low profile, allowing for a flatter wrist. in my first day of use, i see the same problem that i had w/ the logitech -- in order to get good ground-covering rolls, i set the sensitivity to medium or high. but that makes the point very *jumpy* at small movements. then i lowered it, but further hampering precision is the ball's rolling resistance -- it seems to stick every-so- slightly when attempting very small movements.. then it will unstick and jump. it doesnt appear like its defective or anything..it feels like its inherant to the nature of the device. since i do pixel-specific work, i find i need to keep both a mouse and a trackball. anyone have thoughts, suggestions, etc? sm >> In my opinion with all the claims you put up, there is only one that can >> fullfil these. And this is the Kensington ExpertMouse Pro trackball. [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > sm Have you had any experience with the Kensington Turbo Mouse and MouseWorks sw? I used one with OS 8.x on my first computer, a 9500/132, and I use one now on my G4 Sawtooth hotrod :) These are ADB units, but I connect to the G4 using a short ADB to USB cable, which is plugged into my keyboard (Macally iKey, with a USB port on either side). I've always been delighted with these trackballs, and will never again go to a traditional mouse. Best wishes, Eric ================================================================ Hogwasher: You don't have to sacrifice friendliness for power http://www.asar.com/cgi-bin/product.pl?58/hogwasher.html ================================================================ >> In my opinion with all the claims you put up, there is only one that can >> fullfil these. And this is the Kensington ExpertMouse Pro trackball. > > are you using the latest ExpertMouse trackball? does it use ball > bears, wheels, or non-moving points of contact? Mine is now two and a half years old. It has two rollers and a third non-active roller for equaling out movements. With the more than 2,5" ball in combination with the adjustments in the WouseWorks software, it has a very smooth movement in all directions. - Though I really miss the features for axis and chording like in the MouseWorks 5.7 for OS 9.x the software for OS X is rather usable... > after reading this thread i ended up trying out a microsoft Trackball > Explorer, which ive read many positive reviews about as well (off the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > mouse, rather than requiring "propping up" like some of the larger > trackball units). I've heard much good about the MS trackball, but I haven't tried it myself. I mentioned in a post that I also have two Logitechs - the old Wheelman with the thumb trackball and the new Mouseman Wheel with the ball placed on the upper side like on the ExpertMouse. In a way I also like the 'thumb ball', but I find it too sensitive because of the small size, and the adjustments in Mouseware isn't too good - not even for the MouseMan's 1,5" ball... > i like the trackball explorer's low profile, allowing for a flatter > wrist. Indeed, and for people like me that have a persistant synovial sheath in my wrists a trackball is a MUST... - Here I've set the speed and movement to act 'slow' on slow movement and 'fast' on a faster movement with the ball. This means that I can move the cursor and arrow from the left edge to the right edge by just moving the trackball apprx. 2-3 cm, so the strain - or maybe better - weight on the wrists is as small as possible.... > in my first day of use, i see the same problem that i had w/ the > logitech -- in order to get good ground-covering rolls, i set the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > and jump. it doesnt appear like its defective or anything..it feels > like its inherant to the nature of the device. Yes, that's also my experiences with trackballs with small balls i.e. balls smaller than 1,2"Ø (3 cm), which means that the bigger balls, the better and more accurate movement using the ball. > since i do pixel-specific work, i find i need to keep both a mouse and > a trackball. Fx. pixel to pixel editing in a graphics. - Here the combination of using a trackball and the ZoomView features in the system preferences settings you can enlarge a specific part and click on a single pixel... - I use the ZoomView all the time, since I'm visually impaired with only apprx. 2-3% of sight left. - OK, with a big enlargement, you always will get a bit of flickering - 'jumping', but the faster graphics card, the less flickering while moving cursor and arrow. - This means that a graphics card with more than 128mb of VRAM will reduce the jumping effects to a minimum while using enlargement. With no enlargement, there isn't any flickering or jumping effects already with graphic cards with 64mb and more. - This on my Acer AL2416Ws 24" widescreen monitor! Cheers, Erik Richard Signature~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rgds. Grüße, Mvh. Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC <mac-man_NOSP@M_stofanet.dk> <http://www.nisus.com> NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Textprocessing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > What I want is smooth precise movement, scroll wheel, a couple extra > buttons and it must work ok under 8.6 and OSX using USB Overdrive (I > don't need or want the company's own drivers). I really like my old > Microsoft five button Intellimouse Optical mice, but they're just not as > precise as I'd like. What's decent gear nowadays? I do first-person shooter gaming with a Logitech Wheel Mouse - a much older version of this mouse: <http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2142,CONTENTID=11769> Works great for fast-paced accurate gaming. Signature(If you send an email to this address, please notify me ahead of time so I can watch for it among the sea of SPAM that gets filtered out daily.) JR > What I want is smooth precise movement, scroll wheel, a couple extra > buttons and it must work ok under 8.6 and OSX using USB Overdrive (I > don't need or want the company's own drivers). I really like my old > Microsoft five button Intellimouse Optical mice, but they're just not as > precise as I'd like. What's decent gear nowadays? Like you, I was an Intellimouse user, until they changed the shape of the mouse. Now, I'm a big fan of the Logitech MX1000 Laser mouse. It works really well w/ USB Overdrive and has 8 buttons and the wheel. (Three of the buttons are wheel left/right and wheel-click, so it's not as complex sounding as you'd imagine). It has a nice shape and weight, and is completely customizable through USB-O. It has really accurate tracking, but the downside (to all three of the ones I've purchased) is that the little rubber "feet" on the bottom of the mouse are just stickers. Once the feet fall off, it doesn't track as smoothly as I'd like it to. I've had two or three out of 12 fall off in the two years I've been using the mouse. It tracks really well on every surface I've used it on, but it goes really squirrelly if a piece of hair or fuzz gets lodged in the "eye-socket" on the bottom of the mouse. Once you remove the obstruction, it works really well. I've never had to maintain anything else on them, and the rechargeable battery meter on the top of the mouse is a great touch. Each full battery charge lasts about a week. Avoid installing Logitech's software. The last time I tried it, it wasn't as flexible as USB-O and had an annoying interface. The feature I miss most w/ Logitech's software is that it doesn't allow you to set per-preference key bindings. I have no idea if it'll work in OS 8.6. > It has a nice shape and weight, and is completely customizable through > USB-O. It has really accurate tracking, but the downside (to all three > of the ones I've purchased) is that the little rubber "feet" on the > bottom of the mouse are just stickers. Once the feet fall off, it > doesn't track as smoothly as I'd like it to. I've had two or three out > of 12 fall off in the two years I've been using the mouse. I haven't purchased from these guys (yet), but they sell replacement mouse feet: <http://www.slicksurf.com/index.htm> SignatureIf you send me an email, let me know so that i can watch for it amongst the sea of SPAM. JR >> It has a nice shape and weight, and is completely customizable through >> USB-O. It has really accurate tracking, but the downside (to all [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > <http://www.slicksurf.com/index.htm> Ooh! Tempting! Thanks a bunch! >>> It has a nice shape and weight, and is completely customizable through >>> USB-O. It has really accurate tracking, but the downside (to all three [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >> > Ooh! Tempting! Thanks a bunch! If you buy from them, report your experience back here. I'll do the same. : ) SignatureIf you send me an email, let me know so that i can watch for it amongst the sea of SPAM. JR -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com >>>> It has a nice shape and weight, and is completely customizable >>>> through USB-O. It has really accurate tracking, but the downside [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > If you buy from them, report your experience back here. I'll do the > same. : ) I'm a little skeptical, tbh. The loss of the feet isn't as annoying as it sounds, so I'm not properly motivated, heh. >>>>> It has a nice shape and weight, and is completely customizable through >>>>> USB-O. It has really accurate tracking, but the downside (to all three [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > I'm a little skeptical, tbh. The loss of the feet isn't as annoying as > it sounds, so I'm not properly motivated, heh. I wish the MightyMouse had better "feet" on the bottom. Something that would glide more smoothly than this. My Logitech mouse skates effortlessly across the surface and is virtually noise-free. In contrast, the MightyMouse doesn't glide as easily and makes a scraping sound as I move it. SignatureJR -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com > I wish the MightyMouse had better "feet" on the bottom. Something that > would glide more smoothly than this. My Logitech mouse skates > effortlessly across the surface and is virtually noise-free. In > contrast, the MightyMouse doesn't glide as easily and makes a scraping > sound as I move it. No, no, NO! It's NOT the feet that are the problem. You forgot to apply the desktop lubricant -- LINT. Obviously you are dusting your desk way too often because once you build up a good layer of high-grade lint on the four slight protrusions on the bottom of the Mighty Mouse, it glides effortlessly. Furthermore, the protrusions are designed so that the lint will actually embed itself into the plastic, reducing future lubrication needs. ;) --Fred User-Agent: Unison/1.7.7 >> I wish the MightyMouse had better "feet" on the bottom. Something that >> would glide more smoothly than this. My Logitech mouse skates [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > the lint will actually embed itself into the plastic, reducing future > lubrication needs. ;) LOL... Now wait a minute - I see no protrusions on the bottom of *my* MightyMouse. Mine looks like this: <http://paulstamatiou.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/btmightymouse2.jpg> Though I think if there *were* protrusions, it would make applying mouse feet a whole lot easier! : D SignatureJR > Now wait a minute - I see no protrusions on the bottom of *my* > MightyMouse. Mine looks like this: > > <http://paulstamatiou.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/btmightymouse2.jpg> Mine looks almost like this one, except that mine is not BlueTooth. In any event 'protrusions' is perhaps an overstatement. Bumps about 1/4 mm tall, starting at each corner where the plastic starts to bend and continuing for about 16 mm. In fact, the only way that I know they are there is that they are self-lubricating, i.e. they pick up dust from my desktop and then make the MightMouse slide easier. > Though I think if there *were* protrusions, it would make applying > mouse feet a whole lot easier! : D Subtlety, Grasshopper. Steve is all about subtlety. ;) On May 7, 5:29 pm, Jolly Roger <jollyro...@R.E.M.O.V.E.pobox.com> wrote: > I wish the MightyMouse had better "feet" on the bottom. Something that > would glide more smoothly than this. My Logitech mouse skates as a new MM user, ive noticed this too. my m$ intellimouse (forget which ver) slides w/ noticeably less effort. the MM has me grasping my wrist from fatigue. im going to try a trackball, so i ordered the no-longer-manufactured m $ trackball explorer: http://tinyurl.com/2mfm9m sm > On May 7, 5:29 pm, Jolly Roger <jollyro...@R.E.M.O.V.E.pobox.com> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > http://tinyurl.com/2mfm9m fwiw, I used to use the Intellimouse Explorer Trackball when my wrists would bother me (I still have it -- it's a great mouse). Having switched to Logitech mice, I find I don't need the trackball anymore. > fwiw, I used to use the Intellimouse Explorer Trackball when my wrists > would bother me (I still have it -- it's a great mouse). Having > switched to Logitech mice, I find I don't need the trackball anymore. good to hear. have you seen what they go for on ebay these days? $100-140! so many good reviews, cant figure out why m$ isnt making them anymore... mines comin from canada. sm >> fwiw, I used to use the Intellimouse Explorer Trackball when my wrists >> would bother me (I still have it -- it's a great mouse). Having [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > $100-140! so many good reviews, cant figure out why m$ isnt making > them anymore... mines comin from canada. Holy crap. They weren't that much new, iirc :O > > What I want is smooth precise movement, scroll wheel, a couple extra > > buttons and it must work ok under 8.6 and OSX using USB Overdrive (I [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Like you, I was an Intellimouse user, until they changed the shape of > the mouse. Now, I'm a big fan of the Logitech MX1000 Laser mouse. [snip very helpful information :-) ] Cheers for that info, I'll try and locate an MX1000 in town this afternoon and try it out. Thanks, Jamie Kahn Genet > > > What I want is smooth precise movement, scroll wheel, a couple extra > > > buttons and it must work ok under 8.6 and OSX using USB Overdrive (I [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Thanks, > Jamie Kahn Genet Well I've had trouble locating a laser mouse that has the buttons I like and that will work under 8.6 with USB Overdrive, so I caved and bought a MS Habu (essentially a re-branded Razer Copperhead, only much cheaper) for my OSX gaming Mac. I'm still on the lookout for a decent Laser mouse under 8.6. The Habu weirdly will move the mouse pointer, but clicks of the buttons do nothing under 8.6 :-( Works fine under OSX though. If anyone knows of a mouse driver that works with the Habu under 8.6 please let me know. I'd love to buy another one. It really is a lovely mouse. Weighted just right, comfy shape, beautiful button response :-) Regards, Jamie Kahn Genet SignatureIf you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. |
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