Customer Reviews

Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer is without a doubt the best mouse you can buy, until it starts acting up, which every one of them seems to do. I've owned two of them, and each has started malfunctioning after about a year and a half, which is after the warranty is up. Both had the same problem -- the buttons (or the switches underneath them) start becoming intermittent. Every button will lose its' accuracy: the forward and backward buttons will start moving multiple pages, the LMB will make it nearly impossible to click-and-drag or highlight-and-copy text, and the RMB will make it very frustrating to try to simply pop up the RMB box and keep it there. This also causes additional annoying (and potentially dangerous) side effects, such as accidentally closing multiple windows when trying to just close the top one. My mouse wheel is also now totally useless, since if i push it down (as a center mouse button) it sticks in and won't come back out unless I pry it up with a screwdriver. Granted, I use the mouse for several hours almost every day, so it does take quite a beating. Spending $50 on one of these mice is something I will reluctantly not do again, since Microsoft decided to use cheap pushbutton switches that oxidize and act up. If they hadn't, they just may have created the perfect mouse.

First of all...

They fixed the scroll wheel!!!!!!!!!!!
The newest revision of the IME 3.0 has fixed the scroll wheel problem people were reporting.

This is great news.


Pros
1.2mm lift off distance on every surface
Perfect comfort and shape
5 buttons
Works perfectly at 400dpi

Cons (of course)
Only 400 dpi...desktop resolutions are like, 1920x1200, and anything less than 1600 dpi feels sluggishly slow on a desktop. 400 dpi is awesome for games...but come on, can't be helped though.
Only 5 buttons...gaming mice these days like to have at least 7 fully programmable buttons, 5 is standard though. Not many games need 7, I have ten PC FPS and RTS games...and I only use 7 mouse buttons in Gears of War.

Other Thoughts And Comparisons
Many people get a Razer DeathAdder or MX518 because they want an Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 with high DPI, that can switch to low DPI.
Unfortunatly what happens is that those mice, in their low DPI modes, do not perform the same as the IME 3.0, they don't track as well, they force straight lines, and in general are not as accurate.

If you want a faster mouse, or more buttons...
Microsoft Habu is the way to go.

It's the only mouse that has the Intellimouse shape, and the build quality behind it to make it good enough to compare.

Cons on the Habu though...
Need a hard pad to make it track good.
2.4 mm lift off on most hard pads. 1.2mm is the perfect lift off, and you can pretty much only get it with the Intellimouse Explorer 3.0

Please buy this mouse if you're hardcore into gaming.
Use it seperate from your high DPI mouse, use this mouse for gaming, and the other mouse for desktop use.
Unless you're used to 400 dpi desktop mice...then you win all over.

They fixed the scroll wheel problem.
This mouse is a legend.
Original unopened go for over $200 on eBay.

SteelSeries limited editions go for over $100 on eBay.

Don't pass this up, it's getting rare again.

After shopping for a new mouse for online Gaming,I found that the new ones
no longer have detents in there scrolling wheels which I needed for changing weapons and customizable buttions are to hard to press rapidly. This mouse is hard wired to my PC which means lighter,no batteries,solid signal and never has to be reset like the wireless ones.Optical means no mouse ball to collect lint and screw up your movement. This mouse feels good in your hand, very well built and programming ability of 5 customizable buttions is far superior then other ones which always have
limitations in what you can do. This is the best gaming mouse ever made and cheaper than all the rest on this site. The people designing mice and the stores selling mice today clearly do not have gamers in mind,Frankly with all the products on the shelf,why couldnt they make one with us in mind. I wish micosoft would keep this one on the shelf because they had a good thing going

Well the reviews were accurate, I should have not taken a chance on this one. It simply wasn't designed well enough. The scroll wheel is very loud, and provides too much resistance. The buttons are all pressed too easily for my taste and the side buttons need to be pressed in really far for them to click.

The design of this mouse is there but the basic engineering of it seemed like noone ever tested it. I think that I'm going to return this one and get the equivalent logitech mx400 although that doesn't seem perfect either.

What's the deal with all these new mouses, they can't even do the simple stuff well anymore.

The original Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 was a great mouse I used it for 4 years. The old one deserves without doubt 5 stars. This is a 2nd edition manufactured to much lower standards. The mouse wheel is very loude inprecise and hard to turn. The "back" button on the side gives no feedback you never know when you pressed it. Sometimes it does not respond at all.

I returned this mouse and got the Logitech MX 518, also a older designe but manufactured today to the same high quality as years ago.

[First Impressions]

I was excited when they were bringing back my favorite mouse ever! This is nearly the same mouse as the old 3.0. But with a new color and stiffer/noisier detents on the scroll wheel. The actual color is different from what you see in the promo pic. It's actually dark metallic gray, not black as in promo photo. So it's a bit misleading if you wanted a black mouse to match your current computer parts.

[Good Stuff]

What I like is it has extremely soft and easy to press buttons [all 5!]. Probably the softest of any mouse out there--and this makes it feel highly responsive to your clicking. It has nice ergonomic shape and a cool looking red light on mouse's end.

The surface of the mouse is slightly textured [non-glossy], which is great because it prevents finger/hand moisture and gunk from building up on the buttons. The slightly textured surface reduces surface contact with your skin and therefore allows more skin ventilation. This is one small detail I wish more mouse makers pay attention to.

[Bad Stuff]

What I don't like are the new detents on the scroll wheel, which are too stiff and noisy! It makes scrolling feel less smooth and adds more resistance. Soft/quiet detents in the old 3.0 was better. So the new stiffer detents are inconsistent with the soft buttons on the rest of the mouse. Microsoft is better off leaving the detents unchanged from the original 3.0!

I bought 2 of this mouse at the same time. I had to return one for replacement because it wouldn't track well on my semi-smooth surface [Wacome Intuous 3 tablet drawing surface]. So this mouse might be prone to tracking quality inconsistencies depending on what you get.

Another bad thing is this mouse is a bit heavier than my Logitech MX 510 mouse--which is of similar size and function. Everyone prefers a light weight mouse.

I bought one of these last year to replace the MS Intellimouse Explorer that I had been using since the year 2000. As is well-known, the new MS Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 has a much clunkier scrollwheel (that got a little smoother after a few months), but was not as nice as the one on the original. The new mouse is also felt smaller in my hands (not as good). After only 9 1/2 months the mouse developed the problem of frequently interpreting a single click as a double click. This is ridiculously frustrating. The mouse is supposed to have a 5 year warrantee but, perhaps not surprisingly, Microsoft doesn't appear to want to make it easy to use it. For instance, warranty information did not even come in or appear on the box/package. I decided to just give up on the Microsoft mouse. I just purchased a Logitech G5 (even though I am not a gamer) and it seems pretty nice. It too is a little small, but it seems to work well so far. I would NOT recommend the MS Intellimouse Explorer 3.0.

When this mouse first came out a few years ago, myself and my friends all used it, we're avid gamers and it quite simply is the best for gaming, it feels perfect in your hand.

It's light, the scroll wheel is precise and it's cheaper than those overpriced laser mice which I've owned (don't listen to the non-gamers reviewing this mouse as they were not the intended target for the re-release of this mouse). I got rid of my logitech G5 and got the IE3.0 instead.

If you are hesitating to get this mouse, DON'T. I just hope they don't stop selling it.

Pros:

- The mouse tracks beautifully. It made a noticeable difference in a number of FPS games, just with better aiming alone.

- The clicks are solid and responsive. Click the left button 50 times in a row, then the right button 30 times in a row--it just doesn't matter, you will always get 50 clicks and 30 clicks. This mouse can take it. It will do what you want it to do.

- Programmable buttons on the side of the mouse, right where claw-grip users can hit them with their right thumb.

- True plug n' play. Windows 7 knew exactly what this mouse was when I plugged it into a USB port. No added software needed.

Cons:

- The mouse feels flimsier and more "plasticey" than the older Microsoft optical mouse model that it replaced. The older model was incredibly well-made and lasted nearly 10 years. In contrast, I've had this new one for less than a year and it's already showing signs of wear, particularly on the rubber molding on the sides. It will last a few years more at best, and then I'll have to replace my mouse yet again.

This is the 2nd Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 that I've owned where the left mouse button has stopped working. The first one lasted me about 5 years before breaking. The 2nd one only lasted 30 days!

Based on other articles I've found, it seems the most common problem is that the cord coming out of the front of the mouse gets bent and the connections inside break, causing intermittent left mouse button problems. If this common problem didn't exist, I would recommend this mouse over anything else. Unfortunately, all the ergonomic design and precision in the world is worthless when your mouse stops working!