For a wireless optical mouse, does a white mouse pad help?

[faye]

Hi, i have a Logitech Comfort Duo setup, Keyboard and mouse.

my friend has the same setup, but he doesn't use mouse pad. I use a piece of A4 paper as a mouse pad.

For every week, he needs to replace the battery. For me, i only changed twice since i bought it, it was a boxing day gift.

His mouse always jumping all around(crazy), but mine don't.

1 thing, everyday when i first move the mouse, it has delay(for 1 sec). after the first move of the mouse, everything back to normal again.
I was thinking it is somekind of energy saving tech, cuz it didn't have any movement overnite.

I was thinking switching to MX500 or MX700, but the thing is i have a shared reciever for the keybaord and mouse. will there be a confict?
or i can use the same reciever on a MX700?

thanks

 

[faye]

i heard that using the non recflective surface can eliminate the crazy cursor movement.

and using a white surface can save the battery life.

 

[MatthewF01]

well yes a non reflective surface obviously helps tracking because light is not being reflected straight back into the sensor confusing and blinding the hell out of it so it cant get a good image


and im not sure a white surface will drain a battery less than anything else. its not like it has to work harder on say a black surface...
its still always gonna use the same amount of power... youll just get different tracking results

 

[bravo261]

my optical movements aren't that good, but not like you're describing. matt is right, the mouse won't work harder or lesser pending on what surface is there. i guess there can be slight technical differences since i ain't no expert by any chance, but its gotta be minimal

the nre receiver for an mx700 shouldn't interfere with the duo you have now. use both for all they care, really, cause they use different frequencies. i got two on my desk, and my wife has one in the adjacent room, and there's no problem

 

[faye]

oh i want to add to that.

when i put the mouse on a white surface(A4 paper), the light will go dimmer, by just looking at the side.

if i put it on a dark surface like my desk, the light seems brighter

of course when u move the mouse, it is brightest.

Now, i wonder what a colorful surface will look like

 

[MatthewF01]

simple characteristics of light can explain the 'brightness'


the light seems dimmer on black because the black is absorbing the light and reflecting very little
the white is highly reflective when it comes to reflecting the light spectrum (im not saying its actually a reflective surface like a mirror though, and will mess with tracking) so it bounces a lot of red light around and you see more of it

 

[filmmaker]

Having a white mouse pad has only caused problems for me.

 

[faye]

Matt, didn't i say a white pad is dim... mer?

 

[faye]

Matt, didn't i say a white pad is dim... mer?

 

[faye]

Matt, didn't i say a white pad is dim...mer?

 

[MatthewF01]

yes you did. by 'light' do you mean if you look at the LED, it looks like its putting out more light?


Maybe its just that it looks brighter juxtaposed against a dark surface...

 

[faye]

wow, triple posts.

hmmm... my concern is a A4 paper surface is not smooth at all.

so i may need a real mouse pad in the future. therefore i am looking for a mouse pad color that will save the battery life, good tracking and so on so on...

 

[MatthewF01]

what type of surface is your desktop?


All you really need if youre looking for something to use your optical mouse on, is something with a nice surface that you can move across easily, and has a distinguishable surface at a small level. Im using a crappy computer cart with some crappy laminate wood print and the mouse works fine, and the surface is just smooth enough to work.


Ive tried using mousepads but I tend to not get the same results. It sort of drags along a little slower because theres less difference in the surface that the sensor picks up on.



you could just get a nice slick printed mousepad, or some like that ratpadz thing, ive never read any reviews so i cant tell you why its good, but a lot of people seem to use it.