Mouse emergency!

[Tarami]

Ok. So I lost my beloved mouse when visiting a LAN party with my nephew. "Get a new one," I hear you say. If only it were that easy...

I have problems with 99% of all modern mice. They're a) fucken huge and b) fucken rocket ships. I want a scroll wheel and three large buttons, top-mounted. Maybe a thumb button. I've owned a Razer, various Microsoft ones, a couple Logitechs and they've all given me the same awful impression of skidding around with a plastic brick. Then 'lo and behold, supernerd Fatal1ty attaches his name to a family of Creative mice, called 1010 and 2020 Laser. Alas, they are no longer in production and total bitches to get hold of. They're in the same vein as ye old Logitech Gaming Mouse (or MouseMan 96, oh lala), and precisely the kind of mice I prefer.

But as mentioned, this asshat lost his.

So the asshat is humbly asking for tips on modern mice that do not resemble airliner cockpits nor can be used to hunt baby seal. I have been looking at a Logitech G9 Laser, but that, too, seems too large for me. I want something small and agile that can be used with a claw grip. Any brand or quality will do, I can always get a reserve.

Many thanks in advance!

[Ookii]

You sir, need to walk into an electronics store.

[Tarami]

I have squeezed plenty of plastic shell recently; that's why I'm asking. This isn't a kind of mouse that turns up in your average store, because they aren't popular among PC users, or anyone for that matter. The 2020 Laser I had recieved so much unwarranted bashing that it was only in production for six months or so.

What I'm hoping to find is probably some cheap or obscure brand that possibly hasn't made it's way across the pond, that just maybe had made a great mouse out of sheer coincidence.

I mean, heck, my first great gaming mouse came bundled with a Compaq Proliant server more than ten years ago.

Anyway. Grateful for any tips.

[Trippy]

Hmm...you are right, Logitech no longer makes smaller mice for the desktop line. However it looks like you can still get something like this from various places:

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G3-Laser-Mouse-931691-0403/dp/B000GP6HQA/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1230073543&sr=1-23

Edit: mouseses

[Baldrake]

Or get it here...

[Goumindong]

So the asshat is humbly asking for tips on modern mice that do not resemble airliner cockpits nor can be used to hunt baby seal. I have been looking at a Logitech G9 Laser, but that, too, seems too large for me. I want something small and agile that can be used with a claw grip. Any brand or quality will do, I can always get a reserve.

Many thanks in advance!

The problem is that you are looking for PC mice and not laptop mice.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3271&cl=us,en

Its small, its agile, the extra buttons don't get in the way if you don't want to use them. 2 Buttons, the scroll wheel does not have a middle mouse button but does have side to side functions. Comes with software that lets you program its seven relatively unobtrusive functions[If you spin the mouse wheel you can sometimes ping the mouse side to side action.

The seven functions are

Mouse 1
Mouse 2
Middle Mouse[The little button behind the mouse wheel, set for mute/unmute by default]
Mouse 3[the first side button in the front, set to back or forward for web browsing]
Mouse 4[the second side button in the front set to back or forward for web browsing]
Wheel Side Left[Scroll left]
Wheel Side Right[Scroll right]

and are very easy to change and customize.

The best feature is that the USB wireless controller is tiny and never gets in the way of anything you do. So if you move your PC you don't have to worry about taking it out. Get some rechargeable AAA batteries and you're good to go.

[schild]

I saw the ugly as fuck Fatality mouse you described at Fry's today for $19.99.

I didn't buy it for you because I'm fucking broke. They had 3 left.

Edit: It was this one:



The 2020.

Here, Amazon: Knock yourself out.

[Tarami]

I should have added "bitches to get hold of here in Sweden/Europe", because the links you've dug up are the same I've found with the result "We're sorry, we cannot make an exception [and ship to Sweden]." One didn't actually exist in any physical form. People tend to be flexible and ship just about anywhere on eBay, but companies apparently less so.

And yeah, it's fucken ugly. But so is my mouse pad (it's one of those wetsuit ones, a clear red with a smiling computer wearing shades printed on it. It's awesome!), monitor and keyboard. To me it's a primarily a tool, not a designer accessory.

Schild, since you do have real deal at hand somehow, would it be possible to arrange something with you shipping it, if I paid you over PayPal in advance? Name your price on top of shipping costs. Otherwise, I think I will go have a look at those US mail forwarding services. I wonder how ridiculously expensive that would be.

Goumindong:
Close, but no cigar. The beauty of the 1010/2020 is that the glossy area on the far right is actually a fourth button, so you have three "real" buttons and one extra on the scroll.

PS.
Yes, I know I'm obsessive about it, but I've found small, light mice that I can maneuvre with my fingers only is also much easier on my wrist, which I've injured in the past.

[Aez]

I haven't tried it but the arc mouse sounds good and certainly looks amazing.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=112

[Ookii]

I think should take a picture of your hands, methinks they might be akin to that of a small boy.

So you live in Sweden?  Just go to Swedish Ebay and Swedish Amazon and buy them, or visit a local brick and mortar and buy them with some of your colorful money.  May I suggest Ikea, their meatballs are also fantastic so I would suggest trying them if you're famished.

[schild]

I think should take a picture of your hands, methinks they might be akin to that of a small boy.

So you live in Sweden?  Just go to Swedish Ebay and Swedish Amazon and buy them, or visit a local brick and mortar and buy them with some of your colorful money.  May I suggest Ikea, their meatballs are also fantastic so I would suggest trying them if you're famished.

What in the fuck does this post even mean?

[Jain Zar]

My favorite mouse would almost be Apple's Mighty Mouse.  Except the Scroll Ball always dies eventually and there is no way to clean the gunk out of it, and for fast action games its way of doing left, right, center, and thumb button clicks isn't all that great.

Its the perfect size, the scroll ball is GLORIOUS while it works and it looks like a giant suppository OF DOOM.

Maybe Apple will like make a version 2.0 that fixes the flaws.

I have a Microsoft wireless on the G5 Mac and its ok and all, but it needed fine tuning to work happily in OSX (one button insisted its goal in life was to use OSX's zoom feature, regardless of what I said it was to do), and the scroll wheel even with left right movement isn't the same as the scroll ball.  And its bigger and clunkier.  (I honestly think I prefer wired to wireless.  If some bigass wired receiver is gonna be sitting right next to the mouse anyhow, what's the flipping point?)

Eventually someone will make the mouse to rule all other meeces. 

[Trippy]

Goumindong:
Close, but no cigar. The beauty of the 1010/2020 is that the glossy area on the far right is actually a fourth button, so you have three "real" buttons and one extra on the scroll.

Hmm...a mouse with an actual middle mouse button, I might have to check it out. My current workaround is to use mice with wheels that tilt so tilting it left or right acts as the middle mouse button instead of having to press down the scroll wheel with ungodly amounts of force, which actually works pretty well except for the fact that Logitech mouse wheels aren't built to be tilted that often so I've had to replace two already because I wore out the tilt mechanism/contact.

[Trippy]

My favorite mouse would almost be Apple's Mighty Mouse.  Except the Scroll Ball always dies eventually and there is no way to clean the gunk out of it, and for fast action games its way of doing left, right, center, and thumb button clicks isn't all that great.

Fuck I hate that fucking scroll ball. It fucking interfers with the middle mouse button function on the mouse (everything "jiggles" when you try to use the middle mouse button in a window that also scrolls). Yet another in a long list of Apple products that are style over substance.

[schild]

I hadn't used a mighty mouse until last week, it is very much the worst mouse I've ever, ever used.

[Phildo]

I enjoy when I try to right-click on my mighty mouse and it left-clicks instead.

[Teleku]

You shut the fuck up Chris Dane Owens.

[Phildo]

 

[Jain Zar]

The thing is the way the MM works.  You want to click right?  Get your index finger off the left spot.  Its a mouse that takes some getting used to.  As I mentioned its pretty bad for action games because we are all used to normal buttons.  For general work use once you have gotten the handle of it, its great.  But for action titles?  UGH.  Its very much a proof of concept as opposed to something that should have been released to the public.  Maybe not XBox 360 levels of flawed, but we still shouldn't have gotten it.

[schild]

The Mighty Mouse is just Apple's normal level of style before function.

I don't know why anyone would expect otherwise from them.

[IainC]

It may be a bit of a departure but I thoroughly recommend one of these. I use nothing else nowadays.

You move the ball with your first and middle fingers, the buttons on the left are done with the thumb as well as the scrollwheel - bottom button is left click, the top button is right click. The scrollwheel doesn't have a tilt function but it does have middle click. The two buttons on the right are programmable.

Downsides are that it is pretty chunky - maybe 8" long and about 4" wide and there is an orientation period to get through.

The upsides are that it's hugely comfortable, you rest your hand on the curved part and your fingers and thumb do all the work. Also it's great for cluttered areas as the footprint is all the mouse space you need.

[Tarami]

Well, that's some interesting mice atleast. Thanks all, I'll keep looking and hoping for Logitech to come to their senses... they've been making near-identical mice for a very long time now. Someone over there HAS to go bonkers soon and just really let themselves go.

IainC,
I've been considering a trackball for work, since it's all desktop applications there, but how well does a modern trackball perform in games? I'm not completely adverse to the idea of having a trackball to game with (atleast slower games), only that I haven't had the best of experiences in the past.

[IainC]

It's pretty good for games. Responsive, fast tracking, you can get a lot of precision with it and cover large screen areas fast. It does take a bit of getting used to though if you've not had one before.

[Engels]

Has anyone tried this Logitech Air mouse? I ask because I'm wondering if it would work as a 'Wii' controller of sorts with a big screen. My instinct is to say that it would not be responsive enough for FPS gaming, but you never know.

Speaking of which, I've been playing a lot of multiplayer FPS, and I can't help but notice that some players are just orders of magnitude more agile than I am in, say, tracking a target over a large angle, not to mention being very precise in their shots when I view them in 'spectator' mode. Is this a factor of my screen's response rate, their better mouse, or are they just that much more practiced? In essense, how much difference does a fast response mouse make in super fast reflex gaming situations?

[Aez]

You shut the fuck up Chris Dane Owens.

hahaha

[Trippy]

I hadn't used a mighty mouse until last week, it is very much the worst mouse I've ever, ever used.

You clearly haven't used Apple's "hockey puck" mouse before then

[Pennilenko]

Has anyone tried this Logitech Air mouse? I ask because I'm wondering if it would work as a 'Wii' controller of sorts with a big screen. My instinct is to say that it would not be responsive enough for FPS gaming, but you never know.

Speaking of which, I've been playing a lot of multiplayer FPS, and I can't help but notice that some players are just orders of magnitude more agile than I am in, say, tracking a target over a large angle, not to mention being very precise in their shots when I view them in 'spectator' mode. Is this a factor of my screen's response rate, their better mouse, or are they just that much more practiced? In essense, how much difference does a fast response mouse make in super fast reflex gaming situations?

The observation you have made in their abilities are a combination of both. Better Mouse/Machines and much more practiced, I know alot of FPS players that only play that genre ever. My logitech G9 is very nice and honestly since I have gotten it my response time has allowed me to keep up with some of the cool kids.

[HaemishM]

I hadn't used a mighty mouse until last week, it is very much the worst mouse I've ever, ever used.

You clearly haven't used Apple's "hockey puck" mouse before then

God, those puck mice are absolute shit. Even on top of Apple's long line of shitty one-button mice, that puck was just crinkled monkey hands bad.

[voodoolily]

I have this one:



(the 1up star)

It totally sucks, but looks good in the geek room, so shrug.

[Big Gulp]

The Mighty Mouse is just Apple's normal level of style before function.

Non-expandable desktop computers that use slower, more expensive laptop parts are style before function?  Take it back!

[Lantyssa]

So you live in Sweden?  Just go to Swedish Ebay and Swedish Amazon and buy them, or visit a local brick and mortar and buy them with some of your colorful money.  May I suggest Ikea, their meatballs are also fantastic so I would suggest trying them if you're famished.

That would be funny if Ikea wasn't Danish.

[Engels]

wait, what?

IKEA was founded in Älmhult, Sweden, in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, when he was 17. The acronym IKEA is incidentally similar to the Greek word οικία [oikia] (home) and to the Finnish word oikea (true, correct, right), but was originally an abbreviation for "Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd" which is the initial letters of his first and last name, the farm where he grew up and the town he lived in.

Originally, IKEA sold pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewelry and nylon stockings or practically anything Kamprad found a need for that he could fill with a product at a reduced price. Furniture was first added to the IKEA product range in 1948 and, in 1955, IKEA began to design its own furniture. The company motto is: "To create a better everyday life for the many people."

At first, Kamprad sold his goods out of his home and by mail order, but eventually a store was opened in the nearby town of Älmhult. It was also the location for the first IKEA "warehouse" store which came to serve as a model for IKEA establishments elsewhere. On 23 March 1963, the first store outside Sweden was opened in Asker, a Norwegian municipality outside Oslo.


[edit] IKEA stores
Main article: List of IKEA stores
The first IKEA store was opened in Sweden in 1958. The first stores outside Sweden were opened in Norway (1963) and Denmark (1969). The 1970s saw the spread of stores to other parts of Europe, with the first store outside Scandinavia opening in Switzerland (1973), followed by Germany (1974). During the same decade, stores were opened in other parts of the world, including Japan (1974), Australia and Hong Kong (1975), Canada (1976) and Singapore (1978). Germany, with 43 stores, is IKEA's biggest market, followed by the United States, with 34. IKEA now has 293 stores in 36 countries. However, the company has thus far not shown much of a presence in the developing countries.[8]

Despite its Swedish roots, IKEA is owned and operated by a complicated array of not-for-profit and for-profit corporations.

The IKEA corporate structure is divided into two main parts: operations and franchising. Most of IKEA's operations, including the management of the majority of its stores, the design and manufacture of its furniture, and purchasing and supply functions are overseen by Ingka Holding, a private, for-profit Dutch company. Of the IKEA stores in 36 countries, 235 are run by the INGKA Holding. The remaining 30 stores are run by franchisees outside of the INGKA Holding.[20]

INGKA Holding is not an independent company, but is wholly owned by the Stichting Ingka Foundation, which Kamprad established in 1982 in the Netherlands as a tax-exempt, not-for-profit foundation. The Ingka Foundation is controlled by a five-member executive committee that is chaired by Kamprad and includes his wife and attorney.[21]

While most IKEA stores operate under the direct purview of Ingka Holding and the Ingka Foundation, the IKEA trademark and concept is owned by an entirely separate Dutch company, Inter IKEA Systems. Every IKEA store, including those run by Ingka Holding, pays a franchise fee of 3% of the revenue to Inter IKEA Systems. The ownership of Inter IKEA Systems is exceedingly complicated and, ultimately, uncertain. Inter IKEA Systems is owned by Inter IKEA Holding, a company registered in Luxembourg. Inter IKEA Holding, in turn, belongs to an identically named company in the Netherlands Antilles that is run by a trust company based in Curaçao. The owners of this trust company are unknown (IKEA refuses to identify them) but are assumed to be members of the Kamprad family.[21]

[Trippy]

So you live in Sweden?  Just go to Swedish Ebay and Swedish Amazon and buy them, or visit a local brick and mortar and buy them with some of your colorful money.  May I suggest Ikea, their meatballs are also fantastic so I would suggest trying them if you're famished.

That would be funny if Ikea wasn't Danish.

Ikea is Swedish. It's owned by a Dutch-registered foundation but the foundation is owned by the Swedish founder's family.

[schild]

I have this one:



(the 1up star)

It totally sucks, but looks good in the geek room, so shrug.

The geek room eh? Then can you tell me what the fuck a 1up star is?

[Ookii]

Just buy a G9 and be done with it.