Home > Consumer Reviews > Microsoft Cordless Wheel Mouse (PS2)

This product is totally inadequate. The advertised range is 5 feet, the manual says 3.3 feet maximum; I'm getting up to 10 inches with new batteries! I called support and they said maybe I should move it away from electrical devices (like my computer). Duh!

Also, it offers no USB connection which means that the pointer jumps around in 1 millimeter increments. This doesn't seem too bad on paper, but after you start missing about 20% of your clicks you'll see it differently.

As you can see from positive reviews, people love wireless mice because the freedom of movement and lack of clutter. Complaints are usually due to poor reception. FCC regulations dictate that ALL RF (radio frequency) devices MUST accept RF interference, so as a result, many people mistakenly blame the consumer RF devices (cordless phones, mice, etc) for poor performance. It is important to keep this and all RF devices away from common home/office RF emitters (monitors, computer fans, and flourescent lights). This done, you'll have no problems. It may seem counter-intuitive as to keep the receiver far away from your PC and monitor as you may be tempted to keep it close to the mouse, but you should be more concerned about proximity to interference sources. Keeping the receiver away from the monitor and PC, I have been able to get good reception up to 9 feet away (which is as far as I can possibly put the receiver with its 5 ft cord). To compare this and other features of the Cordless Wheel Mouse to the new Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer, the IntelliMouse Explorer only will range 5 ft in the same location. The resolution is comparible, despite the IntelliMouse's optical sensor, most likely due to the radio bottleneck. Speaking of optical, this is the one key benefit of the IntelliMouse over the Cordless Wheel Mouse as it does not get dirty and skip like the ball on the Wheel Mouse and it operates on ANY surface except glass and mirror (jeans, papers, desk surface, etc). The other key differentiator is the ergonomic shape of the IntelliMouse along with two extra buttons, although these make it a lefty whereas the Cordless Wheel Mouse fits both hands. The last difference, is that the IntelliMouse has a USB connecter, making it hot-pluggable as well as compatible with Mac. Also, it can change channels on the fly using a button on the mouse without adjusting the receiver as you must on the Cordless Mouse. Furthermore, each Intellimouse has a unique code, preventing the receiver from "listening" to other mice. These two mice even worked side by side on the same channel. You can retrain the IntelliMouse receiver to listen to another mouse if you happen to need to use another one with it. Using the latest IntelliPoint 4.0 software, both mice can take advantage of increased precision and wheel acceleration. Bottom line: the Cordless Wheel Mouse is cheaper, lighter, longer range, and supports both hands whereas the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer has optical ease, ergonomic design, 2 extra buttons, and USB plug and play support.

Great mouse. I like mine at home so much that I bought one for my office with my own money. The only downsides are that it is a little large at first, now I do not notice. Second, it uses triple aaa batteries quickly. I replace mine every 10 weeks. I still really like it.

Maybe only god or Bill can tell you how long them batteries last in this mouse. You can't turn off the mouse whether or not you're using it. The driver that comes with it doesn't allow the prompt to move across the edges of the screen. Let's say I'm not entirely comfy with it.

I just recently (within the past week) installed my new cordless mouse. I can't really comment on how quickly this model does or does not go through batteries (haven't had it long enough) but the cordless receiver seems to be working really well and it's great to have eliminated a cord draping over my desk. My only complaint- and it's a minor one at that- is that the mouse is not so much heavy as it is kind of big and lacks the little curve on the left side for your thumb; it may very well be that the new shape will take some getting used to but it does occasionally feel a little odd.