Originally posted by: beatle
Razers are easily the best ball mice out there IMO, but mine were unreliable as hell. Fortunately both of mine were free. I've since moved to a Logitech mouseman dual optical and it's excellent. FWIW I've hated all generations of MS optical mice.
Originally posted by: AbRASiON
I sincerely recommend the Microsoft Intellimouse Optical (5 button) NON EXPLORER MODEL
the 5 buttons are perfect in shape and location and it's not big and bulky like other explorer models (they suck - totally massive, difficult to game with)I would also recommend the MS Optical non-explorer. I have one and it is great for gaming (I've used it for MOHAA, Q3, and BF1942). Never had any skipping or sluggishness. I've never used an Explorer for gaming, but I got the Optical over the Explorer because it felt lighter and I prefered having side buttons on the left and right instead of both on the same side.
Warning: if you haven't used a mouse with side buttons before, you will accidentally click them about 100 times in the first several days. But after a week, you will love it and will not know how you lived without side buttons.
Originally posted by: Slickone
I used to use the white Logitech Mouseman+ ball mouse which was great because of its shape (the best), but unfortunately they don't make that shape anymore. I wanted an optical mouse so tried the Intellimouse Explorer, but hated it. Too big, shape was bad. Didn't like buttons (too easy to press, side button location and size). I went back to the Logitech for awhile but finally got the Explorer 3.0 when it came out. It's a little smaller, so usable. I still don't like the buttons. I think that using two thumb buttons is much easier than one on each side (ala Intellimouse 5 button non-Explorer). Also w/ the Logitech, sometimes whatever function I'd programmed into the extra buttons (like close program!) would still perform that function inside games, and also preventing me from assigning that button in the game. Haven't tried programming the Explorer yet, since I haven't loaded the Intellipoint software yet (still using XP's default drivers).
My 2 cents.
Originally posted by: everman
Either MX 500/700 or intellimouse 3.0 (or if you don't mind the huge cost, bluetooth mouse might be good). I use an mx 500, best mouse I"ve ever used hands down. What you need to do is go to a store that has the mice you are considering and try them on, nothing beats actually holding it.