Microsoft M03-00090 Wireless Optical Mouse 5000 High Definition with Tilt Wheel Platinum Mac/Win PS2/USB English

Note: this is the same hardware as the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 which has been around for several years. I've had one of these for four years or so and have been very happy with it. Just recently the scroll wheel has developed a little resistance and the whole mouse has gotten a little "mucky" from so many years of use that I bought a Wireless Optical Mouse 5000 to replace it. As I said, the hardware is exactly the same, Microsoft model 1007.

Reading some of the reviews of this item made me laugh and reminded me that you always need to take customer product reviews with a grain or two of salt. (I'm sure this comes as no surprise.) Some users absolutely hated the very things that I really like. Okay, here are my observations:

1. It's pretty big. I'm an adult male and I guess I have fairly large hands. Ergonomically, it's the most comfortable mouse I've found. The side buttons are right above my thumb, the wheel is under the pad of my index finger and the left-right buttons are large. The body of the mouse is basically shaped like my right hand (Note to lefties: although MS says it's for either hand, due to it's curved shape and direction, I don't see how a lefty would be comfortable; also the thumb buttons would be useless). I tried to find a Logitech option but all of their many, many mouse models are small-ish. They make one mouse that is roughly the same shape (I think it's the MX600 laser) but it's smaller than the Microsoft mouse so that I have to keep my hand tensed over it, which gets uncomfortable. If I rest my palm on the body of the Logitech my finger tips are way beyond the buttons. With this MS mouse, I can rest my hand on it and not have to move my fingers/thumb around to find the buttons.

2. A bit heavier than most. Some people like really light-weight mice but I find if a mouse is too light, I can't rest my hand on it because the slightest flinch causes the cursor to go flying. This one is just heavy enough so that I have to consciously move it.

3. Scroll wheel is wide, textured, and doesn't "ratchet." It turns very smoothly and has just enough resistance so that the page you're viewing doesn't go flying by.

4. Programmable buttons give a lot of choices. I don't like the "magnify" function, so I have the thumb buttons programmed to page forward, page back. The scroll wheel button is a little awkward to depress, just like some others have observed, so I don't use it.

5. Pretty responsive for wireless. Just as LCD monitors don't have quite the same clarity as CRTs, wireless mice don't have quite the instantaneous response of wired mice. This is not to say there's any noticeable lag, just that it's maybe a fraction of a second slow. Still, from what I've seen and read, even some very costly laser mice have the same issue, and some of the wireless ones I've used are much worse. They are jumpy and erratic and often freeze-up. This one has never frozen on me and has rarely been erratic.

I just plugged this mouse in yesterday, so I don't have a long history with it, but my first impressions are these:

Pros -- ergonomic; programmable buttons; neat magnifier feature which will come in handy when editing photos; tilt scroll for horizontal scrolling; easy software installation; both USB and PS/2 connections.

Cons -- scroll lock (center button) is very hard to depress. I can't imagine why they designed it that way. Conversely, the two thumb buttons are a little squishy. My all-time favorite mouse was a Logitech which IMHO had perfect button feel.

Neither pros nor cons: the center scroll has no ratchet stops, for lack of a better term. It spins freely. It reminds me of my first scroll mouse from Radio Shack. I personally prefer a ratchet-type wheel, but I'll get used to this. Another reviewer observed that the colors in the photo are inaccurate. This is true. The lower body of the mouse is matte black and the center, upper region is bright silver. No biggy, though.

I went on a three day mouse hunting safari a week ago with the lofty goal of finding the perfect mouse. I read many reviews and traveled around to numerous stores in my quest. I think I'll have to wait awhile longer for the perfect mouse because I don't believe it's been manufactured yet. However, I'm glad I chose the Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000. I find this mouse to be very smooth and comfortable with prolonged use. Most important of all to me is that the pointer hasn't skipped erratically or hung once. I didn't think I would like or need the included magnifying action but I've used it several times and now I really like it. I have had no screen saver issues with this mouse. I was having allot of screen saver problems with my Logitech mouse which I'll mention next.

My Logitech MX1000 was probably the most comfortable and solid feeling mouse I've ever used but it's pointer was constantly getting stuck and acting erratically. I was also having constant screen saver issues with the computer screen turning itself on and off. I also got tired of it's scratchy wheel action. In my opinion the Logitech software is sub par to what I'm now experiencing with Microsoft's. I use two computers and one monitor via a KVM switch. The MX1000 never did work correctly for me when using the hot switchable KVM switch. I was constantly loosing my mouse pointer and would have to switch back and forth to get it back again. The rechargeable battery was excellent however.

The Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000 is a really nice mouse at what seems to me a fair price.

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