Customer Reviews

Microsoft M03-00045 Wireless Intellimouse Explorer with Tilt Wheel (Platinum)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I purchased the original Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse last July--though I loved the concept and overall feel of the product, it was sadly returned. My biggest complaint at the time was a lag in cursor response that manifested itself when your hand rested on the mouse, with no movement, for several seconds. I found this very annoying when working with a wave file editor program, and reluctantly went back to my corded Intellimouse Explorer.

I saw the new version today, immediately fell in love with the smooth/fluid feel of the scroll wheel, and decided to give cordless technology a second chance. So far, all is well! Cursor response is immediate, indistinguishable from a corded mouse--I've tried repeatedly to duplicate the lag problem experienced with the original wireless Intellimouse, and have been happily unsuccessful so far.

Oddly, another reviewer of this mouse has complained about the lag. I'm puzzled--either that individual has purchased last year's version, or perhaps it still existed in early production runs of the current product. Regardless, I'm extremely happy so far. Freedom from a cord is most welcome, the mouse fits my hand comfortably, and the redesigned scroll wheel is worthy of kudos a second time--no clicking when rotated, just a wonderfully smooth, continuous, and very precise movement. Pushing the wheel to the left or right will now move an oversized page on your monitor to the left or right--a very welcome addition.

The receiving unit is located on the far left of my computer desk, in a small cubicle, with a block of wood separating it from the mouse--which is at least two feet away, on the far right side of the desk. No problems whatsoever, in spite of the distance and the block of wood--the mouse is responding quickly and smoothly.

When returning the original wireless Intellimouse last year, I kept hoping that Microsoft would "get it right" eventually. This time they seem to have a winner!

I'd never owned a wireless mouse before and when my old Microsoft mouse went kaput after accidentally dropping on the floor several times, I decided to go wireless. Wow I'm glad I did!!
This mouse has great fluid motion and feels great in my hand even though like a previous reviewer, I have smaller hands than most adult men. It scrolls wonderfully up and down the page, much smoother than my old mouse. The fact it doesn't have a cord does take some getting used to, because this mouse a lot less restrictive. The sensor for the mouse fits perfectly into either your old PS/2 mouse port or a USB port and the software is very easy to load. The mouse also doesn't require you to sit the sensor right in front of it either, I've got mine sitting on top of my monitor and it works great. In addition, if you've got other wireless devices nearby, the software will alert you to any interference with the mouse, and give you help in fixing the problem. This takes a a little while for a new wireless user to get used to, but once you'll do you'll never want to go back to a mouse with a cord again. A great investment!!

Comfortable stylish design. Very good response. Long battery life. Smooth scrolling wheel. My favourite is the scrolling speed depends on how fast the wheel is scrolled. Battery & Wireless connection statuses. Variety of colours to choose.
One comment as others said, the software does not allow you to set buttons on the mouse to work different features in each individual applications. Hopefully newer software will addressed the problem.

About a month ago I decided I needed a new mouse. At the time i was using a standard optical 2 button, scroll wheel, compaq mouse. After reading many reviews about how great the Logitech MX700 mouse was i bought that... It was very smooth and precise, BUT it was the MOST UNCOFTORABLE mouse I've ever used and my whole arm was sore after a little while of use!!!! I returned it the next day and after reading some reviews tried this mouse, the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer with Tilt Wheel... This is a great mouse and is very precise, but even more important it fits my hand perfect, very comftorable! It's great for games and the battery seems like it will have a long life. The side scrolling thingy isn't used much, but when I have used it it's very easy and useful. The front and back scroll wheel is smooth, its like one long scroll down, no stop at all, which is very hard to use in games, but now I've got it down perfectly just takes time. Just try this mouse out, you won't be dissapointed.

This is the best mouse I've used (and I've used many - ever since getting a special preview of the original one in the 1970's). It is very smooth, both in moving the cursor manually, and with scrolling using the wheel. The main buttons are also more smooth and precise than in earlier products.

A few comments on previous comments:
- You have to install the software, or the mouse will not work properly. This may be worth noting for those with laptops who want keep their touchpad software. With the software installed, I do not get the described lag or any sort of evidence of the mouse not working instantly - even when waking up the computer.
- The customer from Germany appears to have the wrong page, since this mouse has not been available for a year. So he must have the 1.0 version, and thus has not experienced the greater battery life that 2.0 owners have. A wireless mouse like this one with long battery life is better than a rechargeable one, because you have the mouse available 24 hours a day.
- The reviewer from Illinois seems to be holding the mouse too far forward, as the peak should not be under the palm at all. The mouse should be held loosely - this is one of the ergonomic benefits. And I feel that the smooth scroll wheel is a significant improvement over the clicking one - however, it seems clear that some people are very set in their ways.

The mouse seems very suited to use in IE6 browser, and this is probably the majority of my PC use. The scroll wheel seems to naturally work very well in every app I've tried, including the tilt wheel. (Note that I am using this product under Windows XP). The wheel software has the nice feature of working wherever the mouse pointer has focus - a very useful refinement. The new default setting for the wheel button of "switch apps" seems to indeed be the most useful possibility, and thus I don't miss the larger number of button setting possibilities found in previous versions of software.

It's now "hip" to never give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt, and as a result many people continue to use Windows 98 - even though Windows XP has virtually none of the classic problems of earlier Windows - I can run it for weeks without rebooting. Similarly, few people seem to be trying this new mouse product, considering that this page has only 8 reviews, while mediocre B-movies get 200 reviews... well, more fool they.

The mouse I used before I received this the other day was one of the original "corded" intellimouse explorer's from about 5 years ago. As far as comfort factor goes on the "Wireless Intellimouse Explorer" it fits in your hand perfectly and is very comfortable as was the original, but be warned that this is a right handed mouse and lefties will not like it. One area that the mouse falls short of the original is in the 4th & 5th "extra" buttons. On the original intellimouse your thumb rested on the buttons making them very easy to access quickly. On the Wireless intellimouse your thumb rests about an inch or so below the extra buttons and while they are still relatively easy to get to the previous design was much better. The thing that is lacking most on this mouse is the ease of pressing down on the scroll wheel. It is relatively hard to depress and while many users may not use this feature much, if you use Firefox's tabbed browsing feature as much as I do, it can become quite annoying. As far as the wireless signal strength goes, I have yet to have any problems or interference and have not noticed the "lag" that other reviewers have commented on. The mouse responds just as quickly as my previous corded mouse. Overall this is a decent mouse and I would recommend a mouse with the 4th & 5th extra buttons to anyone. Once you get used to using them you can't live without them. And I love the wireless feature; if only they had designed the scroll wheel better this mouse would be perfect.

This mouse is not so ergonomic for left handed users. The two "thumb" buttons are not on the thumb side for lefties and the shape of the mouse is not as comfortable. If you are right-handed the mouse is nice.

This mouse from Microsoft is quite brilliant. The feel and responsiveness is just excellent.

The lag that some people experience probably comes about because of a few reasons. Make sure you get a Lithium Battery. Place the "transmission" base at a reasonable place in terms of line of sight to where you use the mouse. Also, if you have a wireless Phone, and even a wireless Network( at home or elsewhere), check the transmission frequencies. If, for example, you have Linksys 2.4 Gigaherz wireless, you may experience some interference. ALSO, if you have a 2.4 Ghz wireless network, then do NOT have a phone on the 2.4 Ghz Frequency... either get a 900 herz phone, or go for the 5.8 Ghz phone. If you are careful of the frequency overlap, then you can get some great response from the Mouse... and if you like the MS Wireless mouse, and you are getting a DELL pc, do NOT get this MS-Wireless... stay with the DELL wireless Mouse and keyboard because it is superior, feels better, and has a great keyboard ( better than the MS Wirless Keyboard by a country Mile).

After I got my laptop a bit over a year ago, I decided to grab a nice external mouse rather than using the way-too-small and awkwardly positioned touchpad. The first mouse I found that fit my somewhat-large hands was the Intellimouse Explorer, so I bought it and promptly fell in love. The design was extremely comfortable, the two thumb buttons were extremely handy for both Web browsing and gaming, and though I never really used the wheel's tilt capability the smooth flow of the regular scroll felt a lot more natural than the clicking motion of other mice. After almost a year of pretty intense use, the left mouse button started to die on me, occasionally cutting out while dragging or refusing to click, and I thought it was time to look for a new mouse. After trying a couple of Logitech models and returning both, I noticed a sale on the wireless version of the mouse I'd been using for a year and picked one up.

I wasn't disappointed. The Wireless Intellimouse Explorer is nearly identical design-wise to the corded version, except of course for the lack of a cord and the addition of a battery well on the underside. It's one of the most comfortable mice I've ever had in my hand, with excellent positioning of every button and plenty of space for your finger when scrolling. I was worried as a gamer that I might experience some lag or delay with a wireless mouse, but any issues in earlier models have apparently been fixed - response is as sharp as any wired mouse I've used, as is the sensitivity (which I was also worried about). One of the few problems I've experienced is that the weight of the AA batteries in the mouse gives it a bit more heft and inertia than the wired version, but I'm rapidly adapting. It also seems that the mouse can run just fine on only one battery, though it has space for two, without any change in performance, which cuts the weight down to about what I'm used to. The lack of a cord is definately nice, and even though the reciever is rather large it can be stowed nicely out of the way - I've got it hiding behind my computer where I can't even see it. The mouse's range is a good five or six feet and intervening objects don't seem to have any effect on reception; for the sake of experimentation I jammed the reciever in a drawer on the opposite side of my desk from the mouse and all continued to work perfectly. I haven't tested the mouse with other wireless devices in operation nearby; this could be a problem but it's probably not an issue for the vast majority of users.

All in all, this mouse is extremely comfortable (great button placement and ergonomics, especially for larger hands), very useful (the two side buttons and wheel button can be configured for a variety of tasks such as Web browsing), and the wireless connection is quite nice as well. I'd definately reccomend this mouse to any computer user.

Being a gamer, I have always been wary of wireless mice - I mean, you don't want your batteries to start to die during a particularly intensive part of your game (which is always what happens, right?). But when my office mouse was switched to a Cordless Logitech MouseMan Optical, I was impressed with the comfort and performance of it, and decided to give wireless a try at home. I chose this particular mouse because I have been using a version of the Intellimouse for six years, and I have yet to have one that has disappointed me.

The first thing I noticed was that the scroll wheel is incredibly smooth. I'm used to scroll wheels 'clicking' as they scroll, but not this one - and it was so comfortable that now I'm not sure how I lived with the 'clicking' scroll wheels for so long. I've actually gotten comments from anybody who has used my computer that my mouse is amazing - the ergonomic feel, the look, and especially the smoothness of the scroll wheel. Note that some of these comments come from people who are not dedicated computer users like myself.

Having this mouse has enhanced my gaming experience by making it more comfortable. I am not experiencing any loss in percision, and what's more, I don't have to worry about the wires getting tangled with or in the way of anything else on my desk. The ergonomic design, paired with a mousepad with a gel wrist rest are unbeatable, and make my hours and hours on end of gaming much more comfortable.

Granted, the batteries make it a bit heavier than my previous (wired) optical mouse, but I find the weight not to be a factor because the mouse itself is so smooth. I've had it for a little under two months, and have not had to replace the batteries yet, with several hours of gaming a day.