Rating: 
Summary: Piece of Junk
Review: I don't know how this one made it to market. I really don't feel too bitter as I got it as a "freebie" from a Microsoft Tech Briefing. I was sorely disappointed when I unplugged old mouse and tried the Intellimouse Explorer. Immediately I had problems, from jitters to just plain bad pointer accuracy, especially for more precise movements. Another problem, this mouse is BIG! If your hands are the size of a Viking warrior, it probably does fine for you, but if you have normal hands, this thing will feel like an oversized bar of soap. The buttons are fine, if a bit sensitive, and the wheel rotation clicks felt sloppy and the number of increments on the screen didn't match always, it seemed you needed to do an extra 1/2 no matter how you set the # of lines per wheel move. The red light on the back may be cute but gets plain annoying after awhile. I was tempted to open it up and snip out the LED. After only about 3 weeks of use the mouse decided to die. It still lights up, but just doesn't work any more. A friend's Intellimouse did exactly the same thing....lights up but doesn't work.
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Rating: 
Summary: Great idea, but not well executed
Review: I've seen the other reviews, and fully expected to have an excellent experience w/ the optical mouse, but within 10 minutes I knew I had made a mistake.I like to have a minimum of mouse movement, so I turn the sensitivity of my mouse up high. I'm used to having 2 inches of side to side mouse movement make the pointer cross my 19" 1280x768 screen. Hooking up the optical mouse, I found it very similar to my analog mouse - at first. But then I noticed that the pointer, while moving fine on strict horizontal or vertical motions, seemed to stutter on diagonal motions. Trying to move the pointer on a 45 degree angle across the screen, I could see the pointer shuddering slightly, but not making any real progress. Moving it faster would then make the pointer jump way beyond where I intended it to go. At this point I don't know if it was my mouse settings, the pad I was using (tried several), or the optical mouse itself, but I got very frustrated not being able to control it as precisely as I had before, so I returned it. I'm now the proud owner of 2 (2!) Logitech optical mice and love them...
Rating: 
Summary: stands to the test of time.
Review: Microsoft is known for forcefeeding buggy software to the public, but with their hardware division, they actually have to work hard and come up with innovative new ideas. I've used Intellimouse Explorer happily for years (the earlier one, which this edition further improves upon) and I've found having forward and back buttons on the mouse for IE is a indispensible time saver.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for Gaming and IT
Review: I have really enjoyed owning this mouse. It's one of the best investments i have made to my PC... It works very very well and i am completely pleased at having it. I use it for two things, Gaming and IT work. My girlfriend loves using it for internet exploring. The best part about this mouse is not the optical ability but the extra buttons. All the buttons are programable for a wide range of actions. For Gamers this means you can program two more frequently used actions right into the mouse. I use it in Quake3 for zooming and useing items. It comes in handy in Decent games for boost and brakes. It can program all the F keys, tab, backspace, space, CTRL, Enter... and many more, just not letters or numbers.... The only thing that would make it better would be to have it work like the Saitek Cyborg3D Gold where you can actually program command lines... For ITtechs the programmable buttons work great and work well for doing something like Enter and Escape (probably the two most used buttons for an ITtech, well at least for me). And when setting up many PC's on a desk space the size of a monitor base, the optical feature is what really makes a difference. It will work off the side of the monitor, jeans... It also [works with] papers all over [a] desk an have a problem with the mouse not wanting to work, and in a slightly less than clean environment dust can takes it toll on a highly used mouse. What i also really liked was the USB/PS2 converter to convert the USB mouse into the PS2... or use the USB end and have another mouse in the PS2. For general home use it works great. I have a throw blanket laying draped over my PC table at home, i have found something like this to be the best surface and most comfortable surface for this mouse. I tried using it on a conventional mouse pad, like the one i got with [another] mouse, but the conventional mouse pads don't work that well with opticals, some not at all. I have seen pads made special for optical mice, kinda looks like the track ball surface on [another brand] optical track ball, but they were blue. The thing is also Mac compatible,... I would highly recommend this one. I own 4 of these and have recommended them to doctors (as i work in health services) friends, family. I couldn't believe when i saw Amazon.com selling the 3 button IntelliMouse (white) for [$$] and the great price this 4 button mouse is at. I got three of mine for [$$] a piece and then the other was at a discounted price from [other company] They are great and if you are a gamer and use a mouse then this would be the thing to get, and as an ITtech i have found it to be wonderful. Highly recommend for powerusers or people who work with mouse-high use programs.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent product - highly recommended
Review: Having a career in technology, I can say without a doubt that this mouse is one of the best technology purchases I have made. The plastics used are of the highest quality (it's really a delight to the touch), skipping is minimal, and the sensitivity is suitable even for extensive graphics work - you can't find a better optical mouse on the market today. Being so happy with this one, I even purchased the wireless version but still prefer the B75.
Rating:
Summary: silver glove...
Review: Using this mouse just makes the work fly by. The new shape, and size have been designed well. There is a very smooth transition between the OS(Win XP Pro) and the mouse. Unlike Logitech which seems to have "issues" with the scroll wheel in some apps (JBuilder 6, C++ Builder 3 and higher) this mouse just has no software issues what so ever(I wonder why...) Is there skipping? Yes. But it has been improved a great deal. The current Logitech has a better design when it comes to that. Two sensors are better then one. Oh well. The extra buttons are a little to high for my taste but they do work. I also like the default for Explorer access. Do you work with a mouse most of the day? If so then get this mouse and enjoy life.
Rating:
Summary: Ouch, it pinches
Review: I've owned a MS Intellimouse Pro for years at home and work and the one at work finally died. I tried the new Intellimouse Explorer Optical as a replacement and it has a really bad tendancy to pinch the ball of my hand. The problem is that for small movements "down" I just tug the mouse backwards with my fingers leaving my palm on the table. The back of the mouse slops so sharply and has such a shapr edge that it pulls my palm under its back edge and pinches. I had the same problem with an IBM ergo mouse and all the other brands with this "sharp edge" back end. On the plus side, the optics worked perfectly. I had no problems with jumping, locks, or accuracy I've seen in some reviews. The IBM mouse's software installed (Win NT 4.0 for all mice) with the "speed" adjustment disabled and I never got it working. This MS mouse had no such problems. Overall, I can't use this mouse because of its shape, eventhough I like its optics, and am moving on to a Logitech Mouseman Dual for my next test.
Rating:
Summary: This is by far the best mouse available
Review: This mouse is very comfortable to use and will provide you with excellent performance. Besides the standard left and right mouse buttons, the scroll wheel doubles as a third mouse button. This enables you to use software such as Maya which requires a three button mouse. Along with these three buttons are two more on the side which I use as forward and back buttons in Internet Explorer. All of the buttons are programmable, making it very versitile. A bonus is that it works with PC's and Mac's.
Rating:
Summary: The perfect mouse!
Review: The optical mouse is the best invention since...well...since the computer mouse! I think there is nothing more annoying than dust in the trackball and a mouse that starts jumping and going in strange direction...or not going at all! The optical mouse totally solves that problem. You can use it on any surface and you don't need a mouse pad! Lay on the floor, sit at the table -- no dragging a mouse pad along. However, the one surprise problem is that it doesn't work on glass. After I realized this, it makes total sense, but it just didn't occur to me at first. So on my glass desk I actually do have to use a mouse pad. But on my laptop this thing travels with me everywhere!
Rating:
Summary: Good Feel, easy motion and nice tracking
Review: A solid mouse that works well on all surfaces. The scroll wheel has a nice level of resistence to it. The mouse has a solid feel in your hand, and conforms nicely to your hand (for righties only I assume). The mouse also contains two extra buttons near the thumb, that are useful for moving back and forward within a browser. It took some getting used to, but now I find myself looking for those buttons on all my mice.
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