Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 - Slate
by Microsoft
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 - Slate
Customer Review: Very unreliable, doesn't work on many surfaces, drops signal constantly
Summary: 1 Stars
This mouse has two huge quality issues which makes it useless. The first issue is in its tracking. This mouse will only track at all on certain surface types. It's totally dead on my original mousepad and various other surfaces I tried at first. I have a cheap dell mouse for comparison, and it has never had this problem in 3 years.
Even after finding a mousepad it would actually work on, it still stutters by dropping out intermittently. This is not a signal issue but the fact that optical mice need to track the texture of the mousepad and Microsoft clearly put a very low quality low resolution laser into this device to cut costs. As an engineer the easiest way to demonstrate this is to have a piece of paper with both words and white space - running the mouse over the paper you'll see the on-screen cursor move whenever you glide over words but immediately stop when you glide across white space. Well, the problem with this mouse is it won't work at all on a lot of surfaces, that even the cheapest free Dell mouse will happily register.
I finally found a textured mousepad it would even work on, and thought I fixed the problem. But as I said, periodically it would drop a signal. This was most noticeable because of the second serious flaw in design. When the mouse loses a signal, it essentially stops sending any signal - and that includes mouse clicks! Again, this can be demonstrated with a piece of paper with words and white space - any mouse click during white space will not register because of this bizarre engineering flaw. So if it happens to be unhappy and stutter because of the mousepad texture, it will also ignore the mouseclick I just issued. So I end up having to repeatedly issue mouse clicks just to get one to register.
The problem is I ended up finding textured surfaces that this mousepad would work on, but they can't be used as mousepads (ex. a colorful DVD case, fine wood grained furnature, my jeans, etc..). So I'm sure this mouse will work for somebody who lucks out, but frankly I have 3 mousepads and none of them will work correctly with this.
Bottom line, I pretty much have to return this product because it's useless on any surface I have. The free Dell optical mouse works perfectly, but I wanted to switch to wireless.
Customer Review: Suitable Notebook Mouse for Big Hands, Long Fingers
Summary: 4 Stars
Within just 10-15 minutes of comparing the Logitech V450 with a Microsoft 3000, I noticed that the 3000 simply feels more natural, more substantial, and more supportive in my large paw than the V450. (The V450, however, feels like it's heavier and thus a smoother tool to use, probably due to taking 2 AA batteries vs. the 3000's 1 AA battery.)
Here might be some reasons why the 3000 fits better to me:
- The front (button) half and the rear (supposedly palm rest) half of the 3000's top surfaces slope at a greater degree than the V450's.
- The tallest point of the 3000 probably is shorter than the V450's, but is situated more towards the buttons than the V450.
- The 3000 appears oh-so-slightly taller than the V450 along the front edge, above the buttons.
- The side rubber grip surfaces also feel better with the 3000.
This combination of very subtle physical dimension differences somehow seems to give the 3000 an edge over the V450 for big hand / long finger support. I have more places and ways, in more hand positions, to adequately "rest" my 4th and 5th fingers with the 3000 vs. the V450. Also, wheel scrolling with the V450 feels crippling-- which can't be good, since that's my clue that prolonged usage may result in lovely things like CTS and what-not. Strangely still, the V450 is the longer mouse, with a taller 'peak' and a longer button surfaces.
Although the Logitech V450 gives me more of a kick, because of the laser precision tracking (mouse movements feel more organic than the 3000-- and I could probably make good use of it on glossy Starbucks tables), of the battery metering, the weightiness, the cool, slick USB micro-receiver (*half* the size of the 3000's ugly one!) that slips surreptitiously into the slick, black underside of the V450, and that the V450 actually comes with 2 AA batteries!, and its superior fit and finish over the 3000 (the fit and feel of the 3000 seems it was injection-molded out of some sub-par industrial-strength manufacturing process), I must *very reluctantly* go with the 3000, even though I'm not the biggest MSFT Hardware fan.
So, there you have it, You Big-Hand Notebook User.
Customer Review: Great Mouse
Summary: 4 Stars
I am not going to write a book here, just going to share my experiences with this product.
First of all, I purchased this mouse because of my disdain for the touchpad on my laptop. I wanted a wireless mouse, and after reading the reviews, settled on this one. And I have not been disappointed.
Installation is plug and play. Very simple. It took me a while to figure out where to put the battery in the mouse, but I did not read the book, and once I figured it out, it was very easy. In my experience the battery lasts at least a month. I have had this for four months and replaced the battery three times. In my opinion this is pretty good, considering you can plug the receiver into the mouse to shut off the mouse (turning off the battery), which is something I have not done. I cannot speculate too much, but one double A (AA) battery will run the mouse for a month. To me, that is pretty efficient.
I have had no problems with the receiver. It plugs into a normal USB port, and so long as you aren't trying to use the mouse from across the room, it should work fine. I have had no problems.
The only problem (and hence the 4 stars for not being perfect) is that the third button, the scroll button, is too sensitive. It may be my rough touch, but occasionally when I scroll, it decides to use the scroll button as the third button and use the "super scroll" (I do not know what it is called, but you probably know). Time makes it more comfortable, and that is my only real problem with this product.
Other issues to note: I have accidentally sent this mouse on a couple hard trips to the ground (flight of stairs) and there has been no effect on its performance. I do not know if durability is mentioned in the description, but I have been rough with it, and have had no problems.
Aside from that, the size may put off some users. I have had no problems with "mini" size (in fact I can no longer stand larger mice). It fits well in hand, and I have no problems manipulating it.
Overall, I think this is a very good product, durable and practical, a must have for users who hate the "touchpad." (Sorry for the book).
Customer Review: My Favorite Mouse of All
Summary: 4 Stars
In my years of using a mouse, which goes back to the mid-80's, I can safely say that I have owned no less than 20 and have used no less than 40, of which two-thirds have been unique, this is my favorite.
Although possessing long fingers and reading that a larger mouse would be more comfortable, this has not proven to be the case. I have always preferred the smaller mice. This smaller mouse fits my hand perfectly and has never felt awkward. I can not think of a time that I have even noticed the mouse; which is how it should be. I did not race to jump on the wireless mouse when they hit the market since I never felt a tail to be a nuisance. But now that I have a tailless mouse I'm hooked.
I have used some of the recent mice with additional buttons and found them to be awkward and left me prone to errors that took longer to undo than any time saved by correctly using them. I am happy that this mouse has retained its simplicity of 2 buttons and a scroll wheel/button.
I've been using this mouse on my laptop both in its mobile and docking station setups for 7 months and have only replace the battery once. The weight of the battery is not noticeable to me but the use of a better Teflon type material for the coaster feet is warranted.
My one gripe about this mouse is the faulty design of the micro-switch that is supposed to disable the unit when the transmitter is placed into the bottom. This feature only works if I press it in very hard. If I pick up the mouse the transmitter will slip out a bit and the LED will turn on again. When traveling I have to wrap a rubber band around it to keep it in place. This is why I did not give the unit a perfect score of 5. Microsoft has been in the mouse business long enough to not overlook such a design flaw. Mass-produced items like this cannot be designed with such fine tolerances. Most probably work just fine. Mine just happened to be the one out of a hundred that doesn't.
Microsoft has an almost perfect product here and needs to avoid improving anything but the above switch problem. Even the color scheme is hard to beat.
Customer Review: Potentially a very nice mouse, but...
Summary: 3 Stars
Well, I'm no expert on computer mouse, but I have a fair experience on many variety of mouse from Mac Plus' square-one to trackballs, and now I have this notebook wireless mouse. Typically, my concern is the shape of the mouse because I have relatively small hands. And as for the size, this one fits my hand like a grove. Thus, it may be tad small for folks with larger hands, though.
Overall, construction is solid. There's no cheap feeling to the mouse and all the mechanics worked fine out of the box. Wireless reception is pretty good. I even tried putting my computer under my desk and it worked pretty well. And you can put the wireless antenna on the belly of the mouse when it is not used (and it is only way to turn the mouse off... ). Also, since it has only one AA battery inside instead of two find in many of other wireless mouse, it is lighter (not as light as wired ones, though). Since other people mentioned about how good this mouse is, so, I won't expand this section in here.
But besides all the good stuff, I'm not using this mouse any longer. The reason is its touchy behavior. First of all, there were problem with jumping cursor. When I tried to click on a link, it jumps and click on the other. I consulted Microsoft website and installed new IntelliMouse software. The problem is kind of fixed. Now it does not jump as much as before, but cursor still does not move as I intend to. It overshoots or undershoots by several pixels. I thought I may get used to it, but no, even after almost three month of use, I just cannot figure out how or why I miss the intended target! I tried it on three different computer (on desktop, laptop, and even Mac), tried various mouse settings, and the results were the same. Thing is, if I use other mice I own, I do not experience the problem. Also, by default, the cursor moves fast. If you use a touchpad on your laptop which tends to move cursor slower, you may need to change setting when you are not using the mouse or vise versa. All these touchiness could be affiliated only with the unit I own, but I thought it is worth mention to the others.