Mouses: What are the really (dis)advantages of optical Mices?

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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advantage:

1) no dirty balls
2) no mousepad needed
3) cool glowing effects
4) works quite well in games (at least the ones I play)
5) braggin' rights

disadvantage:

1) slightly more expensive
2) some say that they don't work well in games
3) cost
4) could cause eye damage if you look at the pretty red laser too long?
 

toph99

Diamond Member
Aug 25, 2000
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if you're a fan of fast games like UT, stay away from them. they can't track fast movements, and you have to lift it higher when you hit the end of the mouse pad or else it will move as you reposition, thus gettin you fragged. and depending on the kind you get, if you have small hands they can be quite unwieldly(sp?)
 

Maverick2002

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2000
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advantage: NONE (the only technical thing is the ball getting dirty, but my intellimouse NEVER needed cleaning, and ive had it for about 3 years now)
disadvantage: PRICE (all i can think of, + what the previous guy said)
:) :) :) :)
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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FWIW I use the Logitech Mouseman Optical. The neon blue emblem is definitely some eye candy. Sharkeeper, you knew I was joking....eh?
 

KarsinTheHutt

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2000
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I beg to differ on Toph99's fast tracking criticism. My MS Intellimouse Optical tracks extremely well, and its the older 1500 scans/sec model.

One thing though - ditch the mousepad if you have an optical mouse. I found that my dell pad caused the cursor to skip. (Currently using mouse on homogenous white desk surface).
 

Gogga

Member
Feb 6, 2000
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Hi,

If you like to play FPS games, I would stay away from Optical Mice. I found it impossible to play UT with an Logitech optical wheelmouse. The mouse tracking is really weird. For small movements it is okay, but when you have to circle or move quickly you suddenly find that you turned way too much, which doesnt happen with normal mice.

For windows it is really cool, because it tracks so fast! It is also a welcome change not to have to clean the damn thing! ;) I think that optical mice still have to develope a bit for it really to become mainstream. A lower price would also be welcome.

BTW, that Logitech mice is cool if you need a light in the middle of the night! Those LED's really light up the sky! :D

Regards,
Gogga
 

Paladinexe

Senior member
Jul 18, 2000
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Not sure how UT differs form Team Fortress. I play a lot of TF and have used conventional ball mice and optical mice. The opticals I use are the $29.95 Intellieye. I have not noticed any problem with rapid turning and fragging. I have noticed they stay &quot;on aim&quot; better when lifting and rotating as the led does not shift the cursor as much as the ball does. When lifting with a ball mouse the ball tends to stay on the mat and therefore 'rolls' the rollers and shifts the cursor/crosshair. I use a slightly elevated sensitivity so that I don't use as much physical movement. Also I use the Logitech driver to adjust acceleration and refresh rate. I do plan to buy UT soon.
 

Shudder

Platinum Member
May 5, 2000
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People that complain about Optical mice I feel are not using them correctly.

If you hit the edge of your mousepad, your sensitivity is WAY too low. The only reason I need a pad is so my wrist doesn't press too hard on the desk. If mouse pads were 4x4 inches I could probably never hit the edge of it. And yes, using it plainly on the desk is great too.

How do you people play FPS games? My mouse never leaves the surface. Are you the types of people who jerk your hands all over when you play driving games too?
Lay off the coffee man :D

&quot;For small movements it is okay, but when you have to circle or move quickly you suddenly find that you turned way too much, which doesnt happen with normal mice&quot;

That's not true at all. The thing I have always hated about mice is the damn &quot;ACCELERATION&quot; option. It's a POS as far as I'm concerned. If I want to move the mouse faster, I'll move my hand faster. The reason at &quot;normal/small&quot; movements you don't notice it is because it's not accelerating that much. Move it faster and acceleration really kicks in and throws the movement way off.

THe best way I believe is to turn acceleration OFF. If it's too slow, bump the speed up 2 notches or so. With accel on the mouse moves too damn slow at slow speeds and too damn fast when you move it fast. With accel off, you can regulate your speed much better and a LOT more consistently.

I can move my mouse from one end to the other with about 2&quot; of movement. Completely smooth and predictable no matter how fast I move the mouse. A 360 in UT is 2&quot; of movement if it takes me 10 seconds to do it or I do it in .001 seconds. Turn accel off, bump up sensitivity and enjoy optical micin' goodness.

 

Noriaki

Lifer
Jun 3, 2000
13,640
1
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The only major disadvtange I've noticed is that if you have a habit of lifting the mouse it messes up the tracking.

Some people say that if you move to quickly it messes up the tracking...i find it difficult to believe that they can move fast enough to confuse images that are 1/1500th of a second apart. Even if you could move the mouse a full foot (12 inchs) in 1/10th of a second (very unlikely) that's still 12.5 images/inch or a measly 0.08 inches between images. And that's with the older eye, the new ones have 1.3333 times as many images/second. I may be wrong, but in my experience the optical mouse has no fast movement problems. The problem comes if you lift it.

The major cause of lifting is hitting the edge of the mousepad, DON'T USE A DAMN MOUSE PAD THEN :D

Edit: Oh and a side note, I didn't really know I lifted the mouse until using the Optical, then I discovered that I do and it took me a day or two to stop, once I did it was fine.

I find that it tracks great as long as you can kick the lifting habit if you do it.

I stole my room mate's optical mouse for aobut a week whlie he was gone, I used it without a mouse pad and I loved it. I'm feeling the need to buy one myself.

The shape may bother you, but between MS and Logitech there are 5 shapes/sizes available, I'm sure you can find one you like.

That leaves slightly increased price as a disadvantage as well.

Advantages:
Better accuracy &amp; Smoother movement
No cleaning, while this isn't a major issue, it's nice.
Cool blue glowing logitech emblem (on the one I wnat at least)



Overall I'm resisting the urge to replace my MouseMan Wheel with the Optical version, I don't really think it's worth it, but if it breaks my next mouse will be optical.