Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse: early impressions

Circuit City has a $30 rebate going on now for the Sidewinder
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Microsoft-Sidewinder-Gaming-Mouse-88222...7080/se

My explorer3 main button is going out (had it replaced free once before) so
I ordered this one online for immediate instore pickup, a nice option.

This mouse is really big, wide and long. Also, it's ease of use is probably
related to the ergonomics of your present desk+chair setup. Presently I'm
using an old chair that sits below the level of the table, with my elbow
hanging down and wrist rotated to the right as shown here:
http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010221resizedvz5.jpg
In this position the thumb buttons are unreachable and useless.

I think the mouse was designed assuming your elbow is flung out to the right
and well-supported by a chair arm and above the desk surface, more like in
this picture
http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010224resizedfr1.jpg
maybe rotated even more to the left and not at rightangles to the monitor.
The more elbow support and rotation, the better.

Even with some chair adjustment, I still wish the thumb buttons were
positioned farther back, as they are a reach. My only other substantive
complaint so far is the wheel; it's metal, and the knurled ridges are not
prominent enough, so that your finger tends to slip unless you apply
pressure. Also I'm not happy with the documentation. I expected an
illustrated walkthrough of the mice features, with step-by-step how-tos for
recording macros and such. Instead there's an RTFM flippancy in incredibly
tiny print referencing the help pages. Lame.

Otherwise there's not much to say, I tried it in Bioshock and the old game
Descent2 (with D2X) and it did fine in both (XP). The dpi adjustment
buttons seem to work. Now to shop for a chair and desk

rms

"rms" <rsquires RemoveThis @REMOVEflashMOO.net> wrote in message
news:wjz9j.23$El5.19@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net...
> Circuit City has a $30 rebate going on now for the Sidewinder
> http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Microsoft-Sidewinder-Gaming-Mouse-88222...7080/se
>
> My explorer3 main button is going out (had it replaced free once before)
> so I ordered this one online for immediate instore pickup, a nice option.
>
> This mouse is really big, wide and long. Also, it's ease of use is
> probably related to the ergonomics of your present desk+chair setup.
> Presently I'm using an old chair that sits below the level of the table,
> with my elbow hanging down and wrist rotated to the right as shown here:
> http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010221resizedvz5.jpg
> In this position the thumb buttons are unreachable and useless.
>
> I think the mouse was designed assuming your elbow is flung out to the
> right and well-supported by a chair arm and above the desk surface, more
> like in this picture
> http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010224resizedfr1.jpg
> maybe rotated even more to the left and not at rightangles to the monitor.
> The more elbow support and rotation, the better.
>

I picked this mouse up at CC a few weeks ago when it was $50 with no rebate.
I'd been using a wireless Explorer 2.0 for almost two years. I really love
the way the 2.0 fit my hand, but I was sick of the lack of any tactile
feedback from the scroll wheel, and I always had problems in FPS games
trying to flip thought my weapons. So I decided to go back to a corded
mouse.
It did take me a couple of days to get used to the way the mouse feels, the
way the right and left buttons slope down took some getting use to, but I
really like the metal wheel, mine is really easy to move, so maybe yours
will break in after some use. I've never had a high end mouse before so I'm
really liking the DPI that this thing has, plus it slides better then any
mouse I've ever tried. That's always been my biggest gripe about mouse feet,
there're always so small. Not on this beast, there's 5 large glide pads that
work great. It also comes with two extra sets, but the ones that are on the
mouse, are the ones I like the best. I was also confused about the lack of a
manual. For this price I expected a manual that explained anything. I still
don't have a clue how to use the "micro button" As for the two side buttons,
these are what I like the best about this mouse. For me there right where I
need them and they come in very handy when playing games. My old mouse had
two side buttons also but they where a lot smaller and harder to click when
in the heat of battle.
I found that using the 5g weight gives the mouse just the right amount of
heft.
JLC