Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer Platinum

Gamers review:

It would only get 1/5, why? Well after having the previous Intellimouse explorer with version 4 of the Intellimouse software it is quite obvious that this mouse has taken a massive step backwards in usability.

Ok, it is very precise, but there are other precise mice out there. Ah but it has 5 buttons and left right scrolling I hear you say! Well that would be all very good if you could actually use them in game due to software limitations (see my comments on the bundled software below).

Its Achilles heel however is the new scroll wheel. It now moves completely smoothly, no notches allowing a single nudge up or down. So now you can not use the scroll wheel to change weapons during a game, well actually you can, but if you have the sensitivity up too high for scrolling then which weapon you change to is rather a hit and miss affair.

So after taking in all considerations you merely have a sensitive 3 button mouse, for which the price is somewhat over the top and I would recommend one of the Logitech MX series for any serious gamers, the Logitech MX 700 Cordless Optical Mouse being an obvious alternative to this product.

Windows application review:

For this it gets 4/5, unfortunately it does not get 5/5 because the software is somewhat lacking.

There is nothing wrong with the hardware itself, the mouse feels good in the hand and is very responsive. The 2 standard ‘finger’ buttons have a slightly softer feel in the click than most micro-switch type buttons, and the ‘thumb’ buttons have been mounted at a slightly different angle making it different form the previous mouse but nothing that you don’t get used to.

So onto the scroll wheel. I really, really like the new smooth up/down scrolling action of the wheel. The software allows you to set the sensitivity exactly to your own taste (mine is fast) and the analogue feel to the scrolling (as opposed to notches) allows you to navigate quickly and easily from top to bottom of a document with great ease with just one push of the wheel. In other mice I have not found a setting that allows you to define accelerated scrolling (the quicker initial scroll movement the faster the page moves).

The button action of this wheel is a little poor however, it’s not bad, it is just not very positive and feels a little plasticky and stiff in its click action that has not loosened up with continuous use.

The sideways scrolling is far clunkier and gives much less configuration. No smooth movement here, the screen jumps in steps left and right in all but the fastest setting. It would appear that even in the fastest setting this only just about makes the left/right scrolling about the correct speed and I would prefer the range to be extended as I still find it too slow to go left and right. Additionally if Microsoft could improve the smoothness of the scroll this would be a great improvement.

Well the above review would normally provide a 5/5 from me but again (as for games use) the software nocks it down a point (would be 2 if it did not have the new scroll wheel) so onto the software review:

Software comments:

The new software that comes with the mouse (and is required in order to use left right scrolling) lacks 2 features of the previous software (Intellipoint 4.0) that made the mouse a gem to use.

Firstly it lacks the ability to define different button set-ups for different applications which is useful if you wish to set-up button 5 for say rocket launcher in one game and say grenade in another, or in windows, have it set-up for a Particular brush selection in a paint program and say forward and back in your web browser.

The second feature the software lacks is the ability to specify a keystroke for use as a button. I often had button 4 set-up to close application (Alt-F4), but as you can no longer set keystrokes I can no longer do this and have to make do with the default ‘close’ which for most applications closes the open document rather than close the application. In games however I set-up the buttons to specific weapons selections, and combined with above paragraph this leads to a very poor rating for games.

In Summary, look elsewhere for a games mouse, and only get this mouse if you *must* have sideways scrolling, but it would not be worth upgrading from the previous Intellimouse explorer because of the drop in features.

If Microsoft released a patch to the software to provide the functionality they already had in the previous version then I would give it an extra point for both games and windows reviews and I would give yet another point to the games review if they allowed scroll speed setting binding to specific applications. That way I could set the scroll speed down for games so that I could accurately swap weapons.

One last thing to note is the battery life has been increased to last twice as long as before, unfortunately I have only had the mouse a month so I can’t report on this.

Next to the guy who gave this a bad review due to delivery problems. Well thats not a review of the item is it, its a review of amazon's service, so id reccomend ignoring that one.

Right on to the review. The mouse is very well made, feels sturdy and extremely comfortable in the hand. At first i found the side buttons a little hard to press, but that was as i wasnt holding it right. Its best to let your middle and index fingers lie in the scooped out bit making sure your hand is well forward on it, then its just perfect all buttons are easy to reach and use.

The sides of the mouse are made of a black plastic that actually feels soft to the touch, in a way. Its like a matte or buffed plastic that doesnt feel as harsh as normal plastics can.

However the scroll wheel did take some getting used to. Im used to a wheel with notches or stages in its rotation, this one rotates freely. At first you might find yourself scrolling past things, but if you use the supplied software to set up the mouse as you like it you'll soon find its no problem at all. Also the tilt scrolling is excellent, especially in large excel spreadsheets or for images that dont fit the screen you can just scroll sideways with ease. My only complaint is that you cant scroll sideways and up or down at the same time.

The range on the mouse is fantastic, in my setup i have the reciever behind my monitor out of the way. In the instructions it says to place it in an area free of obstacles etc, but even behind my monitor (which you would think would mess up the radio signal) i get full signal strength about 3m away, although i cant see the monitor from there!

All in all this is an excellent mouse, highly reccomended to anyone. But as always see if you can try before you buy, go to a local PC shop and see if they have it. Some people prefer the feel of the Logitech mice, however I dont and im 110% happy with this one.

All the buttons are hot keys for Windows/Office programs and cannot be amended to be used for games compatibility.

It claims to have a long lasting battery, is comfortable (for right handers) and works well with office programs, but so do lots of other mouses.

If you want a mouse for games, I would say look elsewhere.