This one surprised us.

We’ve spent the last month reviewing all sorts of mice: big mice, small mice, weird mice, but mostly expensive mice. And lo and behold, we’re having some fun with one of the cheapest of the bunch.

The Razer Salmosa mouse is not a decked out super gaming mouse. In fact, a lot of gamers are going to be turned off by it. It has two buttons plus a wheel/wheel button — which almost makes it seem like a normal mouse.

Then we get under the hood and find out that things aren’t nearly as they seem. Below the mouse are the two switches to control precision and response time. We preferred the default 800 dpi and 125 khz resolution/response but you can switch up to 1800 dpi and 1000 khz when you’re gaming and need the extra juice.

Speaking of games, the mouse does perform admirably in most game settings where you don’t need 10 buttons. The biggest boost for the mouse is that it’s accurate. Whether you’re editing a photo, shooting a guy in the head, or just browsing your email, you move your hand, and the cursor goes where you want it.

The Teflon non-stick feet also made sure the mouse performed as well on a desk or counter top as it would on one of Razer’s super mousing surfaces.

Even the wheel, a little fatter than usual, seemed to know where I wanted the page to scroll.

Lastly, the two buttons the mouse does have are comfortable and responsive.

The only complaint is that the matte surface of the mouse doesn’t respond well to oily hands, raising concerns of sweaty gamers’ hands ruining the look of the product.

Because we know gamers sweat.

The Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 is another foray into laser tracking technology that is probably going to take a back seat to Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology.

It’s probably good that they’ll be leaving this one behind, because it’s not one of Microsoft’s better mouses.

The problem is not so much with the laser tracking — that works fine for the most part, especially on a mousepad. It’s just not a well designed mouse. The buttons don’t press in quick succession unless your fingers are just in the right spot, a disaster in games.

We also experienced problems with the cursor freezing up at random times, and we even had a problem syncing the mouse up to its receiver on one of our laptops.

The thumb button was also a problem. We found ourselves clicking it by accident a lot when we were doing regular left clicks. That, alone, turned us off the mouse.

It does come with a replaceable rechargeable AAA battery and a dock to charge it, so that’s a plus. The AAA battery life is great too.

Really though, as you can certainly see from Blast’s “Holy Mouses” coverage of like a dozen mice this fall, there are lots of good choices out there in the input device world. Just not this one.

I may finally have found a replacement for my Dell optical mouse. I’ve been shipped two dozen mouses over the last couple years, and I always go back to my old wired Dell default special.

Why? Simplicity, comfort, easy button pressing, and good pointer tracking for when I need to do a photo cutout or some kind of funky design on the cover of Blast.

With the review units of new Microsoft BlueTrack mouses, they include a brick — a real block of construction material that has granite on one side and shiny metal on the other. This is designed to show that the BlueTrack can move on nearly any surface, including wood, shag carpet, kitchen counters, and metal. It still won’t work on glass or mirrors, so don’t throw out all your photo mousepads just yet.

The mouse is fat but not over-sized. It fits my hand comfortably. It comes with a dock, but they should have made it a USB dock. The last thing we need is another AC adapter somewhere.

The Explorer tracks extremely well across a high-resolution screen. It’s comfortable metal wheel scrolls nicely down the page with just the right amount of resistance and precision.

It also installs quickly. I later installed the actual drivers from the CD, but you can just plug in the miniature adapter and you’re instantly ready to mouse around. It works on XP, Vista, and Mac.

I stuck with the default mouse for so long because it was a good fit. Most keyboards are roughly the same, but the mouse is something special for the user, and you really have to form a bond with your pointing device. Heck, we’re all going to get debilitating wrist injuries by the time we’re 40 anyway, so we might as well like the mouse.

Stealth Electronics/Wow-Pen claims you will instantly notice the difference between an ordinary mouse and their new Joy Ergonomic Mouse — like writing with a pen or a hearty handshake.

It looks like a sex toy for your hand.

“Ergonomic style allows your arm to extend from the side of the body, which is natural to our posture. It places no stress on the wrist, by allowing your hand to rest along the bottom of your palm, or a thumbs-up position,” the company said in a statement recently.

“The JOY mouse allows your arm and wrist to rest naturally on its side, rather than twisting your hand and wrist over to be ‘palms down,’ as with a traditional mouse. By allowing the wrist and arm to function in a natural position, you alleviate carpal tunnel strain, reduce fatigue, and increase productivity.”

The Joy Mouse is $39.99. Get some online or the old fashioned way, by calling 770-591-1441.