Tell me about your (computer) mouse

I have a Logitech MX 610. I’m heavily attached to it, as it was as equal a step in mousing evolution as was the scroll wheel. It has a total of twelve programmable buttons. Though Logitech’s most recent software disabled a couple buttons, uberOptions — a great hack for anyone with a Logitech mouse/keyboard — restored functionality. I do extensive amounts of writing and editing, so I take advantage of some of the programmable keystroke ability to run macros and other program-specific commands. These shift depending on the program with focus (e.g., the same button does different things in Firefox, Word, and everything else).

Right now, I have most of my programs set as following:
[ol]
[li]Left button: same[/li][li]Right button: same[/li][li]Middle button: same[/li][li]Left scrollwheel tilt: save[/li][li]Right scrollwheel tilt: open document/run macro/format cells/etc[/li][li]Volume up[/li][li]Volume down[/li][li]Mute[/li][li]Forward thumb: copy[/li][li]Back thumb: paste[/li][li]Extra (top) button 1: Find[/li][li]Extra (top) button 2: App Flip/paste special/other macro, depending on the program.[/li][/ol]

Games are mapped all over the place (e.g., interact, flashlight on/off, jump, search).

Alas, after a few years of service it’s on the fritz. Though it’s still covered under warranty, Logitech wants to send me an “upgraded” 620 — but it only has nine buttons! I’m having something of an apoplectic fit over the loss of functionality.

Anyone else use there mouse for more than simple clicking? Anyone have a good 12-button (or more!) mouse to recommend?

My Mouse: I bought if for $20. When it breaks I’ll buy another one for $20.

Was it hard to get used to? I’d be lost with out the scroll wheel! I have a cordless Microsoft laser mouse.

A scroll wheel is just about my only must have for a mouse. And that it’s optical. If I had a nickel for every time I cleaned out the schmutz off the roller ball of a mouse, I could afford a fully functional neural-net-Stephen-Hawking-style-blink pointer by now.

I bought my optical mouse for under £5. If it breaks… I’ll probably just take my old ps/2 with roller ball out of the drawer and use that again.

You do know you can still buy this, right? Amazonhas it for about $34.

I have the Logitech G5 the moment. I prefer corded mice. I switched to this from the MX518 a few years ago because I wanted the tilt wheel for side scrolling. I’m glad I made the change - I like the side scrolling. I tried the G9 too, but really disliked the shape of that mouse. I like the ergonomic shape of the G5 and the MX518.

Binding setup is pretty basic for everyday use. I use the setpoint to change the layout for games. Being able to bind keypresses has made a difference.

Not hard at all, but it came on a bit slowly (i.e., I added things a few at a time). The default configuration had volume up/down/mute, and those are a simple extension of the index finger. Like I said, everything is remappable so if you’re not in an office-like environment maybe control over sound isn’t that important.

The two side buttons were set for forward/back in web browsing, but were completely superfluous with mouse gestures. They’re a slight move of the thumb upwards, easy to reach but they never get hit accidentally. The volume control was nice, but nothing super special. As soon as I re-mapped these two to copy/paste, everything changed. Like I said, I work in Word a lot, so this was a major shift — and effortless to get used to.

The two top buttons were originally set for e-mail and IM pop-up, both of which I thought were silly uses (for me). I don’t use IM, and Outlook is already on the taskbar. But when I changed one to Find, that’s when I realized I could go to town.

The final major move was putting the Save command on the tilt-wheel. Save save save! Even with autosave turned to 1 minute increments, there have been losses. Not anymore. Just a slight twitch of the finger and it’s done. Then I went looking for mouse/keyboard interactions and came up with the rest of the configurations. There’s almost no pasting-unformatted-text that wasn’t first copied with the mouse, so this is a very comfortable time-saver.

The macros and other things really come into play too, but I can’t imagine using ctrl-c/p/f etc. anymore. (Actually, I can, since I frequently go mouse-less on a touchpad, but that doesn’t fit the narrative too well so pretend I didn’t mention it.) I hate working on projects on other computers — it’s so natural to use a mouse for so much. If you’d fight to keep your scroll wheel, you know what I’m talking about.

Fortunately, even if Logitech doesn’t figure something out I just saw that the 610s are still available at Amazon — and for only $34, (ETA: Thanks Morgyn, sorry I didn’t see your post when I was writing!) which is about what I paid originally. (Note to Jack: we’re not talking a super-expensive mouse, but now that I’m used to it, it would be worth it. So says the addict.)
ETA: Merneith, what’s the advantage/preference for the corded mouse? PITA USB receivers?

I can’t answer for Merneith, but I’ve always found that cordless mice and keyboards will drop out randomly. It drives me crazy.

I used to have a cordless mouse and keyboard, but they introduced a minute amount of lag/delay which made online gaming a pain. Occasionally they’d disconnect and would have to be reconnected. Then I realized my keyboard never leaves its tray and my mouse never leaves its pad, so cordless was pointless.

I bought a new mouse and keyboard for my new PC, and I never realized how much of a hassle it had become to try and find corded mice and keyboards… Either way, I settled with this and this. I enjoy them both, despite the keyboard having a weird issue with my new computer that makes booting up slow due to a BIOS issue.

Mice are the unholy creations of Cthulhu. Give me a trackball. A nice simple Kensington Orbit. For FPS gaming, I used to use the combo of the Orbit and a joystick, and was lethal.

As for cordless devices, the infra-red ones are a real pain; go for the Bluetooth / 2.4 GHz ones.

I don’t use a mouse. I use a Wacom pen tablet. Intuos3 6x9. I love it.

I bought the cheapest Logitech I could find.

I have a wireless Logitech SomethingOrOther. Got the standard five buttons:

[ul]
[li]Right click[/li][li]Left click[/li][li]Scroll wheel[/li][li]Back[/li][li]Forward[/li][/ul]

Takes a pair of AA batteries which are supposed to make it last forever but either I use it too much or they lied about how much use I’m supposed to get out of it.

Microsoft Sidewinder. It’s weighted nicely. Choosable DPI, yadda yadda. I have the thumb button set to middle click, and the lower thumb button runs macros. It’s really nicely fiting to my hand, and the metal scroll wheel spins with authority. Very good for gaming.

I have a Logitech MX Revolution cordless mouse. I don’t use all of the programmable buttons, because I can’t think of anything that I could really speed up by using them. However, I really like the dual-mode scroll wheel, and the placement of the backwards / forwards buttons. I also like the shape of the mouse.My one complain is: it picks up cat hair. I have to clean the sensor at least one a month.

Which one? I’m staring at three on my desk now - an Logitech MX400 laser mouse attached to one pc which I’m not using much at the moment, another Logitech (G3) (my wife’s old gaming mouse) that I use on my laptop dock for work, and a low-end Microsoft 3 optical scroll mouse attached to the new pc I’m using a lot lately. That’s not counting the trackpad I have on the wireless keyboard I’m typing on now.

I like the MX400 for regular use - it has a slight rightward lean to it that makes it somewhat more ergonomic than the other mice. Plus, big ups for the side scrolling, and programmable back and forward buttons - I have the back button set to double-click, and the forward button set to one-click toggle drag. In fact, I bought one for my cube at the office, which says something because I use the mouse all day when I’m working.

Right now my mice are all tangles in a rat’s nest of cables (pun intended) at the back of my desk because I’ve added them as needed and never wanted to bother rerouting all the cables. Funnily enough, when I wind up with an unplugged mouse floating around (because of upgrades, bundle purchases, etc.) I usually wind up building a new system at the same time. I have a computer problem like some folks have a drinking problem.

However, I do have a master plan. I just got a USB multi-pc switch and a hub, so’s I can use my new MSFT 4000 ergonomic keyboard plus the MX400, for all four of my home pc’s (the two pc’s I mentioned, my laptop dock, and a home server which is at the moment headless). This will make my desk so much less cluttered, and I’ll wind up with two free mice again, which means it’ll be time to build another couple systems. :smiley:

I have a Microsoft brand mouse. It has a left and a right button. And a scroll wheel. It is optical too. And it has a cord.

I’m intrigued by the 12-button mouse however.

Had a really good one. Busted it. Now I’m using my crappy laptop mouse.

I had a mouse with multiple buttons, but it was too easy to accidentally press them. And I could never come up with enough things that I needed to do to justify it. I’ll stick with my 2-button scrollwheel laser USB mouse. (Although I miss being able to pick it up and scoot the mouse ball on the bottom. You got to vary things up a bit, sometimes.)

BTW, macros you use while writing: why would you want macros on your mouse when you use your keyboard for writing? (And I’ve even found that extra buttons on them aren’t that convenient. Maybe volume control and mute is about all I’d need.)