Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer - mouse

This is a good mouse to use. I had it for 1 year and one month. Then the side buttons that are used by default as forward and back, started giving in. My curious mind led me to open the mouse, and as a result I managed to destroy it :-(. Nevertheless I found some design fault that could be helpful for other users.

To begin with let me say that performancewise, the only complaints were the fact that it drained batteries quite fast, but with 3 sets of NiCd that I have, that was no problem. Also the fact that for some strange reason when I used my laptop to view DVDs on my television, there was some interference with the tv, and the range of the mouse was reduced to a few centimetres. That was tested on two different Sony TV's so it might just be them. There was no problem with crt monitors.

Another minor complaint was the fact that although you buy a wireless mouse, if it is used with a notebook you still need to carry around the rather bulky tranceiver. In the case of the latest version(bluetooth) that is rectified.

Now let me explain the design fault I mentioned earlier. As I play games sometimes I get rather excited, and in some cases I press the buttons harder than I should, although not too hard(I think). Well as it is, the two side buttons have their mini switches on a small circuit board that is connected to the main circuit board by only 3 pins soldered to the main plate. In my case I pressed too hard I suppose and that made them break the connection. In my attempt to fix it(and yes, I know, it was a stupid thing to do), I managed to destroy the main circuit board. I suppose that there could be some support behind the small circuit board that could have prevented this from happening.

As a verdict: I don't regret buying this mouse. As a matter of fact, my next mouse was the later version of the same mouse with the bluetooth connection. The mouse feels perfect in my hand, and I wouldn't change it for anything. I do have big hands so that might be the reason. Therefore besides the weird tv interference in my view it is a perfect mouse. I wish I had more rodents like that in my house.
PS it looks GREAT!