Home > Consumer Reviews > Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer ( M03-00001 )

Think about the following before buying...

If you read all the nice reviews here about this mouse, you'll find that most of them have some sort of issue with the mouse:
- The battery life is short (recharging cradle would be nice).
- The mouse makes noise.
- Return from power-saving mode is sluggish.

To me the last item makes the mouse nearly unusable. Often, I'll be reading an article and try to scroll after a few seconds, but the mouse will not do anything for more than a second. Additionally, the mouse senses if you have your hand "in place" before powering up, so if you ever move the mouse with just a finger or two (sure, it's not often, but it happens), it will not work because it doesn't power up.

UPDATED INFO (2001/11/25):
I've been in contact with Microsoft support. The customer service representative was very thorough in trying to remedy the delay in powering up. However, the final answer I get is, "Upon further research I have in-fact found what you are experiencing is a feature of the Wireless Explorer. This is by design to extend the battery life."

One person's feature is another's bug.

I purchased the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer several weeks ago, and it is my first foray into the world of cordless mouses. It's a very nice looking and comfortable (for right-handed people, at least) product. It appears to have very effective power saving technology judging by the way the optical sensor acts, although the real test will be how the batteries hold up in the coming months. The red glow of the sensor is mostly concealed and so is not distracting when using it in the dark (unlike some Logitech models).

The unit's five buttons and flexible software for configuring them add significantly to the usability of your system - no longer do you need to use awkward key combinations for common operations (e.g. cutting and pasting).

However, the cordless technology exhibits some significant, intrinsic flaws.

The most obvious is the weight of the unit (mostly due to the batteries). On most surfaces, the weight of the mouse creates a great deal of friction between itself and the surface - it simply doesn't "glide" like other mouses. I've found this very fatiguing. On some surfaces (e.g. 3M Precise Mousing Surface), it has a tendency to 'stick' as well, making it even worse.

Compared to my USB mouses (both ball and optical types), the movement of the cursor isn't as smooth - it feels like an old PS/2 mouse in this regard. This is because of the relatively low sample rate when compared to a corded USB mouse. But perhaps the most significant pitfall is the poor response time and resultant lack of precision. This can be illustrated by moving the mouse a tiny bit, and seeing that the cursor on the screen doesn't move at all. Doesn't sound very significant, until you start trying to work with very small movements of sliders (e.g. a volume slider), precisely selecting an area in an image, or simply aiming quickly and accurately in a 3D shooter game.

Unfortunately, the weight and precision problems have conspired to make this mouse unsuitable for general use on my PC. Actually, that's stating it unemotionally - not being able to adjust a slider or select an area of the screen with precision, or aim accurately in my favourite fast action games, is extremely frustrating. The higher your screen resolution, the worse this problem will be.

Because of these issues, I've gone back to using my corded Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse as my primary mouse (though I still long for the extra buttons of the IntelliMouse Explorer). Thankfully, one of the main reasons I purchased the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer was to use it as a "remote control" when playing DVDs on my TV using the PC's DVD drive. It serves that purpose well. However, if it weren't for its alternate use, I probably would've returned this mouse.

It seemed like a fairly nice idea. Wireless. No tethers. Optical precision. Sounds cool. And I figured that even though it was wireless, the batteries would last about as long as other wireless peripherals (like a wireless keyboard) that I have.

Of course in retrospect I should have realized that even if stowed in a dark desk drawer, the mouse would be constantly chattering to its base station.

In short, battery usage is MUCH too high for users who have their PCs on 24-hours a day. On brand new high quality alkalines, I get 4-6 days before the batteries are drained. With rechargeables, I get about 10 hours.

Suspecting at first that I might simply have a defective unit, I got a replacement unit. Same problem. Identical statistics.

As for precision... the mouse is decent, if a bit sluggish. It goes into sleep mode occasionally (though apparently not reliably enough to conserve the batteries!) and thus you get occasional jerks in motion when it doesn't respond for a few seconds while waking up.

The ergonomics feel quite comfortable to my hand. Scroll wheel motion is smooth. I like the extra 2 side buttons, especially for browsing.

All in all, I suspect that the wired version of this mouse is quite good. Most of the problems I've encountered can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to the wireless functionality (i.e. jerky motion, sluggishness, inconvenience of frequent battery replacement).

But the problems of wirelessness seriously detract from the usefulness of this mouse. I strongly disrecommend its use for those with always-on PCs. And even for those not in that category, I would recommend you try your best not to be lured in by the "wireless" gadgetry. Remember that you still have a "wire" plugging into the machine for the base station, so this isn't a space saver. Unless you absolutely, positively HAVE TO have the wireless feature (for instance if you're sitting 50 feet away from the computer and using the mouse on your lap), then do yourself a BIG favor and avoid wireless mice. It isn't just the Microsoft wireless mice that suffer from these problems. I've tried 'em all and none are much better.

I've owned 2 wireless mice from Logitech. I loved them so much that I would never go to a wired mouse again! The only problem was cleaning the ball and rollers. So I looked at getting an optical mouse.

I chose Microsoft over Logitech because of its shape. It was the closest to the Cordless Mouseman Pro I've had for a long time.

After installing it there was some tweaking I had to do such as customizing the speed and buttons - no big thing. BUT the cursor jerks and pauses if I move the mouse too fast AND it's hard to aim the cursor in situations where I need pinpoint precision such as graphics design and word processing.

The problem might be my screen size, 1152 X 864. If I change to 800 x 600 it seems to be more precise though it will still pause and jerk, but not as much. I've changed surfaces and I can see a little improvement.

The buttons feel sloppy, but they don't feel like they're gonna fall off. They do have a more positive "click" which I like. The scroll wheel has a more positive feel than my Logitech, which is great.

I gave it 3 stars because of it's physical design and wireless freedom. I left out the other stars because of the jerks and pauses and its less precise than my Logitech. If I don't get used to it in a month I'm going back to the Logitech.

Back in the youth of the optical mouse technology, Microsoft broke into the frontier with it's own line of sans-ball mice. While their first generation of optical mice seemed revolutionary, this incarnation is not the mouse it could have been.

The positives: This mouse was built for the hand. I've never used a more comfortable mouse. The curves and shape fit neatly into the right hand (sorry lefties!). Also, the buttons are well placed and the wheel rolls very nicely.

The software that is included is fairly convinent. Whether you're using a Windows machine or a Mac, the included software keeps track of how much juice is left in the mouse's batteries and lets you know when they need to be replaced. Pretty spiffy.

The negatives: If you're using a mouse pad, this mouse commands a light hand. Putting a tad too much pressure on the unit can make it stick slightly to a regular mouse pad, which results in a jittery mouse movement. It's best to use the mouse on a very smooth desktop if possible.

Getting the mouse to click on what you want can be a pain as well. The mouse does not sport hi-res tracking, so moving the cursor over smaller screen objects is commonly hit-and-miss.

Also, the mouse tends to sleep between movements to conserve battery power. Moving the mouse will wake it back up, however it results in a delayed reaction. In some cases, this can become so bad that it makes the computer seem like it's running slow. My Mac G4 felt like it was stalling like crazy until I replaced the Wireless Explorer with a Logitech that had a cord. After that everything was back to normal.

Overall: If you really hate cords, have a smooth computer desk, don't mind a low-res tracking and enjoy a comfortable feel, then this mouse is for you. However, if you want a mouse that doesn't stall, doesn't need batteries and doesn't have trouble hitting its targets, then go somewhere else.

Other recommendations: Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse, Logitech MouseMan Dual Optical Sensor.