Marco.org

After a few more days of use, this mouse is even worse than I originally thought:

• It sometimes loses reception for a split-second and the pointer takes a massive jump across the screen.
• Middle-click (clicking by pushing the wheel straight down) does work, but it’s so unreliable that I assumed it didn’t do anything. You have to push down very hard, and it has to be perfectly straight down. It’s such an effort and so unreliable that it defeats the purpose of having that convenience middle-click (in my case, most frequently used to open a link in a new tab).
• The mushy scroll wheel actually changes its friction level throughout the day, depending on how much it has been used, which direction it’s being mushed, and whether there’s any slight tilt applied.
• The side Back/Forward buttons are located so far away from the thumb that they’re useless, but I frequently hit the Back button unintentionally while moving my hand from the keyboard to the mouse.

It’s still very new to me, but I’m not seeing the ergonomic benefit. Its immense size requires me to exert more effort just to move it and keep it stable enough to achieve high precision. I can’t find a good mouse speed — achieving high enough precision requires me to slow it down so much that I have to pick it up and scoot it back more often. And I still miss targets, so I spend more time using the mouse because I have to move the pointer slowly and for longer durations.

All of this results in more mouse movement, so even if it’s at a great hand-angle for ergonomics, the other factors outweigh this benefit.

I love the wireless keyboard: a wireless Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 (you have to be kidding me with these product names, Microsoft). But that’s the only reason to get the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000. Skip this terrible mouse.

(My MX Revolutions are on their way.)