I have a Mastermouse MM530 by Cooler Master at the moment, bought on the basis of its “sturdy” build, but the mouse wheel has been playing up for a while now, occasionally scrolling down when I’m in fact scrolling up.
I’m not even looking for a gaming mouse, just a decent mouse with a clickable scroll wheel. More buttons is nice, but not needed. Any tips?
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Sadly mice aren’t really a BIFL item given their frequent use and how switches have a lifespan before wearing out. You can surely get many many years out of one, though!
I’ve found the Logitech g502 to be my favorite overall mouse, so much so that I bought one to keep at work. The scroll wheel mode on Logi mice is lovely for precision work (clicky) or fast and smooth; a feature I missed greatly when I tried other mice. My first one started dying after 5 years but that was used for regular gaming sessions on the daily.
Don’t be afraid of the extra buttons on gaming mice, either. You can always just not use them but I’ve found the buttons on top incredibly useful as an undo/redo pair and makes working in anything so much nicer.
That being said, the best mouse is the one you find comfortable. Build quality is kinda the same amongst most brands. If you can work with circuits, repair is easy for any mouse. Optical switches and scroll wheels are cool but will need more stringent cleaning (my Corsair M65 had issues regularly because of cat hair somehow sneaking in).
Even if they were able to last that long, I wouldn’t recommend that someone try to buy it – or any other PC component – for life. Technology advances.
In 1984, if you had a Mac, your mouse probably interfaced via the Mac’s dedicated mouse port. That became obsolete a couple models down the line, replaced by Apple Desktop Bus.
If you had a DOS PC, you probably had a (checks) RS-232 port. That was replaced by the PS/2 port.
Then both got replaced by USB.
Now, USB-A plugs are on the way out, being replaced by USB-C.
I know that at least ADB was not – as USB is – designed to be electrically safe to unplug and plug in while the computer was active. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same were true of other ports as well.
A Mac mouse would have one button, a PC mouse probably two. There would be no scroll wheel. Mice have since acquired a scroll wheel, and that scroll wheel has become clickable (and sometimes tiltable). My current mouse has five buttons, includes a forward and back button; that’s not universal but also isn’t uncommon today.
They used a mechanical ball and electro-optical encoders. These could gum up with hand oil and dead skin and such and would need to be cleaned. Now most mice use a CCD to detect motion, and the current ones are a lot better then the early ones, which would occasionally “twitch” around a bit.
I don’t know the polling rate back then, but until relatively recently, mice weren’t polled at rates capable of keeping up with many current monitors (which have gotten into 144 Hz and higher – I have a 165 Hz display, and there are 240 Hz monitors out). Both would have had a considerably lower polling rate than the thousand-plus Hz that current mice can typically report their position.
Resolution is also much higher.
And some people – I’m not in this camp myself – really want wireless mice. That wasn’t available until recently, and only really standardized in the form of Bluetooth pretty recently.
Point is, even if one could get mouse switches that would last a lifetime, one probably doesn’t want to do so. The technology isn’t mature enough for things to be holding in place, for a mouse made even relatively-recently to be technically comparable to current mice.
And some people – I’m not in this camp myself – really want wireless mice. That wasn’t available until recently,
I had a wireless mouse in 2004…
Even if they were able to last that long, I wouldn’t recommend that someone try to buy it – or any other PC component – for life. Technology advances.
Well, okay, yes. I dunno, I didn’t mean “buy it for life” that literally, I suppose. I want something that doesn’t break easily, or is repairable.
You can always just not use them but I’ve found the buttons on top incredibly useful as an undo/redo pair and makes working in anything so much nicer.
The “two extra” buttons seem to have been mostly used for “forward/back”.
I use a tiling window manager in Linux these days, so I don’t drag windows, but back when I was using a non-tiling window manager last, I set up one mouse button to be “drag window” in my window manager, so that one could just grab a window anywhere rather than on the title bar to move it. That was definitely convenient, and I’d bet that there’s a way to accomplish that in other windowing environments as well.
I’ve heard good things about ploopy.
The real BIFL part about these is that the externals are 3d-printed with open-source files, so if they ever wear out you can easily print new components, and the trackballs are standard snooker balls, also easily replaceable. They’re great.
That’s an incredible name.
Very cool! Not easily available here in Europe, though… Or at least some very steep import costs. Bit too much for me, at least.
Shame, this is the suggestion I’m most enthused by.
but the mouse wheel has been playing up for a while now, occasionally scrolling down when I’m in fact scrolling up.
Are you able to open it up and clean the parts around the scroll wheel? You’d be surprised how much crap accumulates there!
If you are looking, Logitech now offers replacement parts for some of their mice through ifixit: https://www.ifixit.com/News/75363/genuine-parts-for-logitech-mice-coming-to-ifixit
I’ve got the MX Anywhere 3 as my general use mouse. It works well, but I do wish it had AA batteries, instead of an internal one. I hadn’t considered repairability when I got it, but it’s nice to know that I can get replacement parts, and a replacement battery, should I need it.
Are you able to open it up and clean the parts around the scroll wheel? You’d be surprised how much crap accumulates there!
I can, and I have! Maybe I should try a little bit harder, though. I used some contact cleaner spray and that did seem to help for a little while, but now the problem is starting to come back.
Logitech MX518 is still going from like 2007, so like 17 years ago. Pretty good.
Logitech MX Master is the best available to my knowledge. Anecdotally, I have a 2 (~5 yr old) and a 3, both fairly bulletproof. It ain’t a model M, but as mice go…
Personally I put peripherals under the between you and the ground rule (tires, beds, shoes etc), getting a good one pays off long term.
That one’s been mentioned a couple times here, I’ll have to check it out! A wired mouse has always appealed to me less—my setup doesn’t really need it and it’s just one more thing that could break. But maybe there’s a wired version?
Ducky Feather. Ambidextrous, all settings onboard, no software. If you know a bit of soldering, switches and wheel easily replaceable.
This looks interesting, and affordable! Thanks, I’ll have to check out some reviews.
There are mice with hot-swap switches (no soldering needed when replacing), but the mice themselves are very expensive. See ASUS ROG mice
I myself have been thinking about moving away from mice at all - https://0x2f.pl/posts/keyboard-and-pointing-device-combo/ - but didn’t really up with switching away for now
I myself have been thinking about moving away from mice at all - https://0x2f.pl/posts/keyboard-and-pointing-device-combo/ - but didn’t really up with switching away for now
I do play games sometimes though, not sure if such a combined thing would work out for me…
I’ll have a look at that ROG mouse, thanks!
Logitech G305 that’s still going after buying it about 5 years ago. But as others have said it’s not gonna be BIFL.
Some tips though:
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Cables. Avoid them. They’re the first thing to break on most of these because the copper wires snap from bending. If you’re worried about latency then get one with a 2.4Ghz wireless mode, which will have similar latency to a wire. Side note, replaceable wires can work here i spose!
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Batteries. Wireless mice will of course need a battery, but ones which take AA or AAA are best since you won’t be out of pocket if the battery dies and you can’t find replacements.
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Rubber. Avoid. It’ll likely break down from your hand oils before the mouse does, leaving you with a sticky mouse which wont be fun to use.
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Holes. Avoid. Sure it makes the mouse “lightweight” but it’ll also be harder to avoid dust and other grime getting into sensitive parts.
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I use the SpeedLink Prime-Z DW for 12 years now. I’ve added a mouse bungee when my cable broke (I slaughtered it together) and I’ve got…. Way too much play time.
It’s not for everyone but a Logitech MX ergo is a rock solid choice (ball mouse) since you don’t move the mouse around it doesn’t get nearly as abused and woren down. I have one I’ve used for 3 years now and it was second hand when I got it so god knows how old it is and it still looks in perfect condition.
Mmm… Yes, I know of the existence of those. Not sure if I’m quite at the point where I want to relearn using a mouse. I’ll keep it in mind, though!
I had the same initial feeling about it when i got handed the mouse randomly one day. I was like uhg I don’t really want to relearn how to mouse, but I’ll give it a go because why not. I was struggling a bit at first, but I was surprised at how easy i caught on to it. Within and hour I didn’t think much about how to use it anymore and within a week I didnt eaven reach for my normal mouse next to it anymore because it was just more comfortable to use the ball mouse. My girlfriend was the same when she borrowed or one day to play some Sims from the couch. It’s especially good for that because you don’t need any surface for it to work. It works anywhere. She just started using it with no training and now keeps asking for borrowing it. I can only recommend it. The Logitech is the best options tho. I’m not sure about the quality of other brands.
That does sound good… I may have to try it after all. Depends on how expensive it is, too, I suppose. How does scrolling work on it? That’s the reason for my current annoyance, after all.
The MX ergo has a normal scroll wheel and back/forward buttons like a normal mouse. The scroll wheel is responsive and present to use. Not free rolling like some other Logitech mice but I don’t like that feature too much anyway. It has normal small bumps for each unit of scroll.
I just retired my Logitech mx518 at work that Ive been using for almost 20 years. It still works but lacks features. I switched to the MX Master and now own a second it’s so good. I operate multiple devices so the quick switch function is a game changer, not to mention the magnetic infinite scroll and horizontal scroll.
At home my gaming mouse is a 502 but I miss the features of the MX Master now.
