Optical mouse

[uno]

I have just got rid of my wireless mouse as it did not work very good. Instead I bought an optical mouse. The problem with it is that the pointer on the screen jumps suddenly to another position at the other corner of the screen. When I put a white paper on my mouse-pad it works fine. It seems that the mouse cannot accept different colours/pattern on the mouse-pad. Is this correct? Or is it something wrong with the mouse?

[waheed]

IMHO, depends on the mouse. Cheaper models will do what you explained. Quality mouses do not have these problems as far am im aware.

Or should I have said quality mice instead of mouses

[Poppa_Meth]

I've seen this happen as well, especially with Dell's optical mice, which are cheap logitecs I believe. Regardless it only seems to happen with USB mice from what I've seen. I can hook the same mouse up via a P/S2 connection and have no issue with it.

[redwudz]

I bought some blue mouse pads and my optical mice just refuse to accept that color. The pointers jump all over the screen. Other colors or patterns seem to work with no problem. Even a newspaper page worked better.

[ROF]

Optical mice require a surface with some texture in order to operate properly. The jumping is caused by a large (by it's standard) area where no texture is detected. Laser optical mice are better equipped to handle this, but still suffer from it.

To conserve non-rechargeable battery life of cordless optical mice, Place your mouse on a plain white sheet of paper.

[vitualis]

As above. You can buy special "optical" mouse pads which have some "texture" for the optical unit to keep track of.

Or, buy a laser mouse...

Regards.

[Poppa_Meth]

My mother uses a blue mousepad and her optical loves it. Go figure.

[TooLFooL]

we have some cheap 'new' dell's at work that do the same exact thing. all mice are on cheap fake-woodgrain desks.

[ROF]

The woodgrain should help in the tracking of the mouse but it might be insufficient depending on the mouse.

[TooLFooL]

thats what i thought too?

[Poppa_Meth]

I had my Dell mouse on a woodgrain surface and it had issues. Switched to a very cheap logitich optical on the same surface (and it's near identical to the Dell mouse) and it works fine. A relative also has the Dell mouse with jumping issues.

[adam]

Wait, the color can actually play a role or is it just the texture? Only recently my optical began sticking. I ditched the mouse pad and just use the desk surface and it works much better. I didn't even consider the color of the pad, its mostly blue.

[Poppa_Meth]

I would think it can. Different colors reflect light back differently.

[Supreme2k]

I think that some of you have racist mice.

[ROF]

Solid Dark Colors tend to cause misreading of an optical sensor. There are still quite a few DVD Burners that do not like black burning surface CDs for this reason.

Strangely enough the newer laser optical mice do not suffer from this.

[waheed]

Solid Dark Colors tend to cause misreading of an optical sensor.

Strange. Im using a Optical mouse on my desk which is pitch black, no problems with mine. I guess its because I may have a higher quality mouse.

[vitualis]

The laser mice work on mirrors and glass tables. They are much better at picking up surface detail compared to traditional optical.

Regards.

[Poppa_Meth]

I would think dark colors reflect less light back so they reflect a weaker signal back, unless it's a somewhat shiny surface which may reflect back more than a flat dark surface. Complicated possiblities.

[ROF]

There are all kinds of possibilities. Your results may vary depending on the mouse. I have a flat black non-reflective desk surface which sometimes doubles as a mousepad if my pad gets buried under paperwork. I also have a higher quality optical mouse so maybe that has something to do with it but I suspect it's just the way the surface is. It's a flat non-shiny black surface but when you look at it through a magnifying glass you can see little ridges and that it has a texture similiar to fingerprints throughout it's surface.

[waheed]

I also have a higher quality optical mouse so maybe that has something to do with it but I suspect it's just the way the surface is. It's a flat non-shiny black surface but when you look at it through a magnifying glass you can see little ridges and that it has a texture similiar to fingerprints throughout it's surface.

I have EXACTLY the same type desk surface you just described, and also a quality mouse (Logitech MX900 Bluetooth). My mouse actually works on any surface ive tried so far, even my bed.

[d_unbeliever]

make me think twice in buying optical mouse since im planning to buy a new mouse for my shooting pc games...i need to be accurate with my weapon shooting and sniping...thanks for the tips

[redwudz]

With me, I got tired of cleaning mouse balls. (Strange statement, I agree ). That's the main reason I got away from mechanical mice.
I buy the cheap optical mice now, (Mouses? ) so I guess I deserve some problems.

I got rid of my blue mouse pad, so I can't test it to see if the color was really the problem.
It would seem a highly reflective surface would cause tracking problems with a optical mouse. Mouse pad color shouldn't.

Here's a simple info page on optical mice. Not really a lot of info, though.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question631.htm

[ROF]

For gaming I recommend using a mousepad with an image that has different shades of color. Any image will do. Avoid using solid color mousepads. I'd rather use a cheapo optical than a ball mouse any day. If you can find a cheap laser optical you will notice the difference and may need to adjust the sensitivity to your gaming desire.

[waheed]

For gaming, wired mouse is the best option as opposed to wireless. Wireless will work too, but you'll get better accuracy with a wired mouse.

[ROF]

Bluetooth wireless is the best option for gaming. Although if you keep a direct line of sight between an RF sensor and your mouse you can pretty much enjoy the same accuracy as a wired option.

[d_unbeliever]

i got tired of cleaning balls too, especially with that of my mouse...that's why im buying optical. and sometimes i got so carried away with my games that my the ball in my mouse pop out and roll to the floor...and my character got killed of course

[vitualis]

Popular opinion will suggest that the best gaming mice are laser and wired.

Regards.

[jollyjohn]

G'day
I never used a mouse pad before, but when I started using a wired optical mouse, the silly bugger did not worked on the white shiny surface of my desk. So I cut the covers of an old folder, dark grey, mate finish, and that's what I use since.
John