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.
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