The Suspect: Microsoft’s latest addition to their Intellimouse line, the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer. This mouse, as the name would hint, is wireless; and following in the Explorer tradition, it is optical, with 5 mouse buttons and an ergonomic shape.

The box includes:

• The Wireless Explorer Mouse
• The USB receiver unit
• 2 AA Energizer batteries
• A product manual
• Intellipoint 4.0 Software CD

Installation is very straight forward. You turn off the PC, plug the receiver into a free USB port, and start the computer up. If it is an XP equipped system, it will auto detect it as an HID compliant hardware device. You then install the Intellipoint 4.0 software, customize some buttons if you wish, and are ready to fly. I did not test this on any Windows 2000 Professional machines, but I assume it would go just as smoothly, afterall, this is all Microsoft.




The Wireless Explorer has drastically changed in shape from it’s wired predecessors. It is now much taller, and has a big indent for your thumb. I found this to be even more comfortable and it helped me keep a grip on the mouse in fast paced FPS games. It lacks the signature LED in the back; it has now been replaced with a chrome Intellieye logo. The left and right mouse buttons are slightly narrower and offer a much more solid click, one with more mass, and much more definite sounding.




Over the past few weeks with this mouse, It has not had any problems with losing connections or wigging out. It has none of the jumpyness experienced in the Explorer 1.0, and as far as I can tell the optical technology seems almost exactly the same as the Explorer 3.0, only the Wireless blinks to conserve power when idle. In gaming, I figured I would find less responsive movements and delayed buttons; fortunately I found the opposite to be true. The movements were exact and without lag. It would be my recommendation to purchase some Rechargeable Nickel-Metal-Hydride batteries, because as I was writing this review, the Alkaline batteries dies, after 2 weeks and 4 days of usage, and over a year or two, that could get expensive.


PROS

• Better Ergonomics
• Wireless!
• Thumb Support

CONS

• Weight; it is heavy, not bad, but weighs more than you would think would be appropriate
• Batteries can become expensive over time
• The new shape may not fit people with small hands very well
• At an MSRP of $75, the price is steep.

This mouse has performed great for me, it has done everything advertised and worked smooth as silk in games. I strongly recommend this mouse for anyone in the market for a new mouse. It is worth the extra cost to have no wires on your desk, I don’t think I will ever go back to wired mice again.