Customer Reviews

Microsoft Standard Wireless Optical Mouse 1000 -Black

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is an update to my November 2004 review of this product:

After 19 months of use, the mouse was showing some signs of wear. While it still worked very well, it looked to me like the 4 pads on the underside of the mouse (where it contacts the desk surface) were beginning to wear and the mouse wasn't sliding quiet as buttery-smoothe as it did originally. I could have lived with this for a LONG time, but since these mice are so cheap (a little over $20), I decided to replace it. I replaced it with the SAME identical model because it is still a perfect mouse and I can't imagine anything I'd like better.

I don't really get the negative reviews for this mouse. It has worked flawlessly and has just the right functions and touch/feel for me.

(BTW, I was kinda lazy and tried to just substitute the new mouse for the old mouse, without replacing the receiver. That did not work; apparently the mouse is matched to its receiver. No problem ... it took an additional 5 minutes to crawl under the desk and unplug the old receiver from the USB port and plug in the new one.)

Here is my original review from Nov 2004:

I just received and installed this mouse. So, my rating does not reflect any experience with long-term use or durability.

My old Dell-branded Intellimouse was wearing out, so I bought a new Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 (an optical mouse). It worked fine but I hated the feel of the wheel button. I am addicted to using the wheel button as a double click. The feel of the wheel button was very heavy, requiring a very heavy press, and so basically ruined its functionality as a double click button.

I set it aside and bought a new MS Standard Wireless Optical Mouse. Beware, the Control Panel Mouse setup lists 85 million different models of Microsoft mouse, but not this one. Indeed none of the drivers would work fully. I had to download a driver (Intellimouse 5.2) from the MS website, before I could fully configure this MS Standard Wireless Optical Mouse.

I really didn't want a USB connector (the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer came with an adaptor that allowed the USB connector to plug into the regular PS/2 mouse port on the back of the computer. I tried the adaptor on the new mouse but it didn't seem to work.) However, it works fine off of my USB hub and I guess I can live with whatever problems that may present. I may hang on to my old wire-connected mouse in case I need it for backup.

Also, this is your basic two-button+wheel mouse. It does not have the fancy extra side buttons of the Intellimouse Explorer and others 2.0. But I was not really interested in those anyway.

The new Standard Wireless Optical Mouse has a really nice light feel, better than any mouse I've owned. It performs smoothly and flawlessley and fits my somewhat-smaller-than-average hand very well.

They are dirt cheap and work beautifully. So go for it.

As sold, the scroll wheel on this mouse has a cheesy feel to it and scrolling often takes two or three rolling clicks before the screen responds.

Dismantling it, I discovered that the wheel has an inner hub with raised cams. A stationary arm lubed with white grease intersects this hub, creating the "clicky" sensation upon moving the wheel. I snipped off the arm, reassembled the mouse, and now the wheel moves as smooth as my grandpa on Ex-Lax. What's more, it fixed the problem of the screen not responding to wheel movement, which apparently was a design flaw related to the arm/cammed hub/clicky design.

This fix doesn't address the stepped scrolling seen on the screen, however, but it is much more usable.

I find it amusing that MS touts the smooth scrolling of their more expensive mice, when the jagged movement is caused by factory-installed parts that appear to be specifically designed to degrade the operation of the mouse.

I recently purchased this mouse and I am very happy with it. It's comfortable, accurate, well-made and attractive. Why did I wait so long to go wireless?!?! I operate the mouse within about a foot of the transmitter and it works extremely well! I read some reviews here that said this mouse doesn't work well from a distance but I tried it myself and it seemed to function properly. Maybe there were other factors such as interference that caused problems for other owners?

Overall, this mouse is a good "band for the buck" product, however I would take into the consideration how far you are going to operate the mouse from the transmitter.

This mouse has the best ergonomic feel of any mouse. The buttons have just the right amount of flex and rebound. On the negative side, the mouse optics sometimes fails to follow the desk surface or the mouse surface. It acts strange and tempermental - something it will work better on the wood desk, and sometimes better on the soft mouse pad. I have cleaned the optic lens underneath but that did not help. On the plus side, this mouse is much better than any of the Logitech mice.

The mouse is pretty normal, and inexpensive. The mouse is small for my XL hand size. I didn't like the remote receiver configuration, should have gotten one for a laptop. I totally didn't like the intermittent wheel operation. At first I thought it was my system or the internet. Then I read some reviews here. I took the mouse apart and cleaned the optical device (with the bottom of my t-shirt) and it is working fine now.

Great mouse at a great price. No software needed - I still run Win98SE and it loaded the driver with no problem. Good response, and good looking too!

Too many crybabies in these reviews... I just received mine, put the batteries in, plugged in the receiver. Then, as the manual says, I had to push one button on the receiver and one on the mouse bottom to have them talk to each other. And that's it. Good scrolling and clicking, no wire, and no more cleaning. I'm happy with it. If you were thinking of a wireless optical mouse for about twenty bucks, by all means, go ahead.

I really like having a cordless mouse and this one performs very well. I have had no problems with it at all. I hated always fighting with the cord on my old mouse so this is a real treat. I would recommend this product.

Two problems prompted a return of this mouse.
1. very short connection proximity: the advert says it will connect up to 300 feet away. I found the mouse would not respond if it was further than 24 inches from the receiver essentially making it a "wired" mouse.
2. scroll wheel functionality: a very bumpy, irregular response which completely fails after a few short clicks. I could depress the scroll wheel to engage the up-down screen wipe but couldn't train myself to substitute this action for good scroll wheel accuracy in moving up and down a web page.

After numerous attempts to reconnect the mouse for better response, no luck, back in the box it goes.

The mouse does respond on 1 AA battery. Impressive. I installed 2 to try to improve distance response. No help. No software comes with it for customization but you can get most anything done with Window's Control Panel mouse control.

Maybe I got a bad one, but my batteries need to be changed monthly. I use the mouse at work, so it gets used 8 hours per day. Other coworkers also have wireless mice (different brands and models) and mine has the absolute worst battery life.