Best optical mouse with long battery life?

[UCLAN]

I currently use a Dell optical mouse that came with my Dell WinXP
media center. Unfortunately the mouse uses up batteries very fast! My
computer is left on 24 hours day, and usually the mouse needs two new
AA batteries every 2 - 3 weeks.

A mouse with rechargeable batteries would be a better solution, but is
there not an optical mouse available that uses regular batteries but
doesn't drain them so fast?

Indeed. I just passed the three year mark with my Logitech MX700
cordless mouse and the NiMH batteries that came with it. I just
place the mouse in its cradle before I sleep at night.

 

[JohnS]

Look at the Micrsoft wireless mice. I have the Intellimouse Exporer for
Bluetooth, and I change the batteries around every 5 months. But if you
keep it overturned or on a dark surface overnight it will constantly seek
for the surface and you will lose a lot of power that way. But generally
the battery life on the recent MS mice is very good.

ss.

ive been using MS mice too and like them. They have stickers on them
claiming much improved battery life from the previous versions.
Unfortunately --- if you were in the US , MS used to make a variety of
styles some in wild colors. They seem to have decided to dicontinue
these and there were incredible sales on these mice for over a year.
They usually were 40 bucks but I got 3 of them ranging from $5-15
each. Now you dont see them on sale anymore. THey just have that one
style probably to reduce costs and its never on sale lower than 30-40
bucks.

 

[Osiris]

2-3 weeks is a reasonable period of time. I mean to
manually change batteries, do you "like" your mouse
otherwise?

You're kidding, aren't you ?
mine last for months ...maybe 4... I dunno... long enough to forget
about when I last changed...

2-3 weeks is totally unacceptable, unless you own Duracell.

Microsoft Standard optical wireless mouse (no type ID on the mouse I
Think), 2 duracell alkaline batteries.

It's a perfect mouse, I use a black mouse pad with a very little bit
of texture, but it works even on white paper.
Slides well too.
two buttons and a wheel.

 

[Osiris]

As an environmentally-conscious type of person, I don't use anything *BUT*
premium-grade rechargeables. Why? Well, batteries contain sulphuric acid

of course.. compared to alkaline, considering life time too, NiMH is
preferable, but of course not entirely innocent, as always.

Sulphuric acid only in lead batteries.

"environmentally-conscious" , yes, maybe, but not very knowledgeable,
if I may say so.

(even the rechargeable ones, I believe - though someone correct me on that if
I'm wrong)

ONLY in rechargable batteries, like the ones for cars and motorcycles
('dry' lead) and the like.

which is a major pollutant, especially if it leaks into waterways
and it's the type of poison that accumulates.

Nobody in his/er right mind would throw a lead battery in a creek.
Sulphuric acid does not accumulate: the lead does, in fatty tissue.

Say a stork eats a fish that
has died of sulphuric acid poisoning. If it eats enough of them it, too,
will die. If a scavenger then eats the stork, it may very well succumb, too.

And it's not just fish in rivers. H2SO4 is a very strong acid (I believe its
pH to be 1 or 2). Imagine what an acid that strong would do to *anything*.
It's also a major contributor to acid rain (the other being carbonic acid).

That is why we recycle them. Not a BIG problem there.

Now, although rechargeable batteries may also contain H2SO4, decent ones will
replace at least 100 non-rechargeables, ergo that's 100 times less H2SO4 in
landfill (okay, I'm aware that facilities exist for the safe disposal of
batteries at most council tips, but you have to take them there yourself and
many people will just put batteries in with the normal rubbish, which then,
probably, will end up on a landfill site somewhere. I actually think councils
should provide 'battery boxes' for old general-purpose batteries which would
then be collected once a month. I think that some councils will pick up - and
dispose of - old car batteries for you (but ours doesn't)).

Any civilized country doeas that already...

Then there's the financial aspect. A pack of 4 AA Duracell batteries (the
bog-standard ones, I'm not talking about the M3 variant) will set you back
about £4, i.e. £1 per battery. Now, I think I paid £10 for a 4-pack of very
decent rechargeables not that long ago. Okay, the initial outlay is 2.5 times
as much, but look at the longer-term picture. By buying the rechargeables,
not only will you be doing the environment a favour, but you'll have saved
yourself £90.

More or less true. But don't buy the NiCd ones (going out of the
market anyway). NiMH is far better.

Now, isn't that something worth thinking about?

Yes: you do it once more.

 

[Osiris]

How a bout leaking ?
If I would use NiMH in a decent low-energy mouse (with 2 Duracells ,
say 4 months), would not most of the energy of the NiMH leak, instead
of be used efficiently ?
If so, efficiency would not be all that good , wouldn't it ?
would it be enough of an argument NOT to use NiMH ?
This is about numbers...

 

[Osiris]

As an environmentally-conscious type of person, I don't use anything *BUT*
premium-grade rechargeables. Why? Well, batteries contain sulphuric acid

alkaline batteries do not contain any acid. On the contrary, I would
say: just Potassium hydroxide: KOH.
Not too friendly either, but ...

 

[Rod Speed]

alkaline batteries do not contain any acid. On the contrary, I would
say: just Potassium hydroxide: KOH.
Not too friendly either, but ...

Its no big deal, just neutralise it and its fine.

 

[Osiris]

(okay, I'm aware that facilities exist for the

Those are car batterys, a different matter entirely.

ALkaline too: we do not dispose of those with normal household garbage
either. And ANY rechargeable...

No big deal with most non rechargable batterys.


Complete waste of time with most disposable batterys.

The zinc-carbon batteries, are indeed no problem, just about
everything else you have recycled.

curious about what you do with them then...
drive them to another council ?

Its completely trivial to dispose of them properly.

"environmental consciousness" cannot do without knowledge.

 

[Osiris]

Its no big deal, just neutralise it and its fine.

do not do this at home ! ;-)

(but I suppose they do it at the "recyclers")

 

[Bloated Porker]

For the archive

The OP asks a simple question, but the cluser Sarah the margolotta
just had to type out her usual pointless waffle:

I had an MX700 once (the first - and, to date, only - wireless rodent I've
ever possessed). The thing is, I suffer badly from CTS and the mouse
without
batteries weighed about 650g. Add the batteries and, well, it was too
heavy
and just a couple of minutes 'mousing' was enough to make me switch back.
I
now have an MX510 and I'm more than satisfied with it (it's Mac-friendly
[1],
too, which the MS rodents aren't - I guess M$ don't want to be seen
becoming
to pally with Apple). "to pally"?
Now, my ideal wireless rodent would have a single, rechargeable,
'button-cell' battery and, like most of the current crop of Logitech
rodents,
recharge itself when placed in its cradle. A button-cell only weighs 5g
at
the most - adding negligible weight to the mouse over all.

[1]Having checked Logitech's site, it appears to be the last one of their
rodents that is. I've checked and the rodents produced in the last couple
of
years are Windows-only <grr>.

You pestered poor daddy to buy you wrong computer, huh Sarah?
You should've stuck with PC. And WTF is CTS? You do make em up don't you.

 

[WindsorFox]

Show me a wireless mouse with no batteries - I just might be interested too!

I saw one at Tiger Direct. The mouse pad plugs in and you have to
use it only on the mouse pad. But I think Mr. Shark was referring to a
wired mouse.

--
I used to have abs. Now, I've just got ab.
One big ol' Ab. - BigSkiff www.titanspot.com

Pyongyang sounds more like the sound effect an ACME catapult makes
as it goes off at precisely the wrong moment for Wile E. Coyote. -
Cadbury Moose

 

[WindsorFox]

I currently use a Dell optical mouse that came with my Dell WinXP
media center. Unfortunately the mouse uses up batteries very fast! My
computer is left on 24 hours day, and usually the mouse needs two new
AA batteries every 2 - 3 weeks.

A mouse with rechargeable batteries would be a better solution, but is
there not an optical mouse available that uses regular batteries but
doesn't drain them so fast?

Thanks for all suggestions.

I have MS wireless Intellimouse Explorer and can't remember the last
time I changed the batteries, I can go a couple of months or so. And
this machine stays on all the time too, but that has no bearing on the
mouses use of the batteries. I have about 20-25 sets of wireless
desktops and the Bluetooth keyboards/mice are nothing but trouble. The
keyboards especially will just stop working for no apparent reason and
then you have to have a wired keyboard to set them back up.

--
I used to have abs. Now, I've just got ab.
One big ol' Ab. - BigSkiff www.titanspot.com

Pyongyang sounds more like the sound effect an ACME catapult makes
as it goes off at precisely the wrong moment for Wile E. Coyote. -
Cadbury Moose

 

[Rod Speed]

Osiris wrote

ALkaline too: we do not dispose of those
with normal household garbage either.

That is getting too anal.

And ANY rechargeable...

Thats overstated too, the small volume of rechargeables
is a trivial problem compared with car batterys.

The zinc-carbon batteries, are indeed no problem,
just about everything else you have recycled.

See above.

curious about what you do with them then...
drive them to another council ?

"environmental consciousness" cannot do without knowledge.

There isnt any point in getting all anal with the very
low volume of rechargeables that do get disposed of.

 

[Rod Speed]

do not do this at home ! ;-)

Completely harmless at home if you know what you are doing.

(but I suppose they do it at the "recyclers")

Bet you'd be shocked at what they do there |-)

 

[UCLAN]

That is getting too anal.

In California, it is now illegal to dispose of alkaline batteries
in household garbage. They must be recycled.

 

[Rod Speed]

In California, it is now illegal to dispose of alkaline batteries
in household garbage. They must be recycled.

Cal has always been off with the fairys.

Literally in the case of SanFran

 

[Osiris]

Completely harmless at home if you know what you are doing.


Bet you'd be shocked at what they do there |-)

It's what they DO NOT do there that shocked me once:
Western countries BUYING storage capacity (= landfill) for dangerous
waste in Eastern European countries or Africa.
Or the other way around: Eastern European countries SELLING that
storage capacity.
One guess as to who got rich ...
But anyway: not an argument to not collect this waste in a decent way
and include the collection/recycling costs in the objects' price, as
we do here for many things, like fridges, tyres , cars etc.

 

[Rod Speed]

Osiris wrote

It's what they DO NOT do there that shocked me once:

Yeah, that's what I meant.

Western countries BUYING storage capacity (= landfill) for
dangerous waste in Eastern European countries or Africa.

Depends on what you call dangerous.

Or the other way around: Eastern European
countries SELLING that storage capacity.
One guess as to who got rich ...

Bet no one got rich.

But anyway: not an argument to not collect this waste in a decent
way and include the collection/recycling costs in the objects' price,
as we do here for many things, like fridges, tyres , cars etc.

Waste of time, the old system worked fine.

That doco on how they recycle ships in India was unforgettable.

 

[kony]

I've used nothing but batteryless optical mice and trackballs for years.
There is no novelty to wear off -- they're just normal mice and
trackballs with optical rather than mechanical sensors.

I think you misunderstood, I meant cordless, batteryless.

Corded work fine, even better than same cordless version.

 

[kony]

You're kidding, aren't you ?

No, it is reasonably long enough that it's no big deal to
swap out a RECHARGEABLE battery.

In other words, what do we care how long each pair lasts
when rechargeable, so long as you don't consider it a PITA
to swap out cells every other day?

mine last for months ...maybe 4... I dunno... long enough to forget
about when I last changed...

yes but they necessarily make tradeoffs to get that longer
life. Sometimes they use a less bright LED, or more
aggressive sleep mode where every time the mouse sits for a
tiny bit of time it has a minor lag when you move it again.

On the logitech mediaplay i mentioned, it has an entirely
different lLED just outside the visible spectrum but
tracking suffers.

2-3 weeks is totally unacceptable, unless you own Duracell.

I would never use Alkalines in any device that can't run
from them for at least 2 years. Too much waste and expense.

That is, except the mouse kept in my laptop bag, that is the
one exception where it has alkalines but it stays turned
off, I could easily get 2 years out of a pair of cells so it
still goes back to my idea about how long I want them to
last.

Microsoft Standard optical wireless mouse (no type ID on the mouse I
Think), 2 duracell alkaline batteries.

I was thinking of good cordless mice, that is a terrible
one.

It's a perfect mouse, I use a black mouse pad with a very little bit
of texture, but it works even on white paper.
Slides well too.
two buttons and a wheel.

It tracks badly, like a 4 year old Logitech I used to have.
Mouse technology is so much better than that today. If I
had one and hadn't a different mouse for my laptop yet I'd
probably reserve it for that use, it's not a horrible mouse,
just nowhere near as good as many current mice.