Does anyone use a smooth scroll wheel on their mouse with SL?

I have a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical, and while it's a nice workhorse, the clicky scroll wheel is beginning to bother me. I can see how it'd have an advantage in some experiences like weapons selection in a shooting game, but when zooming in and out with it natively, as SL supports, the clickiness is irritating because it's not a smooth motion.

I've been looking at other mice (including some Microsoft ones that DO have smooth wheels).

Does anyone here use a smooth scroll wheel on your mouse? What's it like with SL? Any recommendations for mice? It's going to be hard for me to find a replacement for this one, but I'm getting increasingly curious.

Thanxies vewy much in advance!

Apple mighty mouse is awfully nice *grins*

I've heard good things about that mouse, Lady, altho the shape isn't quite my thing and I'm on a PC. I'm not sure what the cross-platform compatibility is like. Thanx for the mention!

My M$ optical mouse got so old and tired the clicks no longer register and the wheel wobbles in its mount... Buys new one ... new one fails after one day of use. Takes it back to store for replacement ... replacement fails after one day of use ... Back with old one (which just about still works) until I can find a good alternative to M$ latest cheapness. As I'm on a Mac it might be time to try out that Mighty mouse

Moral ... I don't recommend M$ mice any longer, they used to make good reliable heavy duty mice, but the new range doesn't cut the mustard.

Oh and to the point, I don't think I'd like a smooth mouse, I like to feel the clicks to tell me how many lines I've scrolled in my text editor/browser etc. When the clicks no longer registered on my old mouse it started to feel uncomfortable which is why I thought I needed a new one. I think LL could help the wheel zooming effect by interpolating instead of jumping the zoom factor.

Not if you really use two mouse buttons it isn't.

Logitech mice are pretty good, if the Microsoft mice aren't doing it for you. They're more "clicky", though, so I still prefer the basic Microsoft optical for a wheel mouse.

I have this MS mouse with a smooth scrolly wheel:
http://www.microsoft.com
It works fine. The tracking is a noticeable improvement over the older opticals. But I have to agree with Laukosargas Svarog, I don't like the smooth scrolling. I miss the soft clicks of my old optical. After a few weeks though, I'm used to it.

I thought Mighty mouse had the equivalent of 4 buttons ?
According to the sales blurb anyway. Is there a problem setting them up to emulate right clicks ?


If you own a Mac beware if you install the Logitech drivers that come on the CD with the mouse. Logitech mice work well with the Apple drivers. Every time I've installed a Logitech driver on any of my Macs it's caused kernel panics when they wake from sleep. ( Easy to diagnose as the crash reporter shows the name "Logitech" in about 10 places )

I love the clicks. They make me feel squiggly inside.

Hi Torley. I used to use a MS Intelimouse Optical, but after a few years it started actng funky, not tracking properly. About a year or so ago, I switched to a Logitech MX-510 Gaming Mouse, and I love it. The sample rate is so high on this mouse that as soon as I started using it, SL instantly felt about a thousand times more responsive. As for zooming, if you move the wheel slowly, it does jump from setting to setting, but it's never felt choppy to me. If you move it at "normal" speed, the zooming is quite fluid, dispite the fact that the wheel is actually more clicky than the MS one was.

Outside of SL, the 8 buttons are pretty handy for all sorts of game functions and software shortcuts, and its super high sample rate makes it awesome for Photoshop. Moving the pointer one pixel at a time is really easy. For painting, I use my tablet primarily, of course, but this mouse actually does a fair job of it as well since it's so sensitive. Also, I find it's much more comfortable in the hand than the MS one was, which is becoming more and more important as my wrists coninue to detariorate (and if you're not there yet, you will be).

Anyway, I realize this isn't exactly what you were asing for since the wheel does click, but I thought I should at least throw it into your decision pool since it's hands down the best mouse I've ever used.

Thanxies for the info and opinions guys... Chosen you know how much I LURVE tangents and connexions, so it's totally appreciated! I've only put my hand on a MX510 in a store, never used one in action, but I'll be taking a closer look now. Thankee!

Mice are from the devil, invented to cripple people who use computers. I haven't used a mouse on a regular basis since the 1990's. Trackballs are the way of light and happiness. Sliding a mouse around is the equivelent of hand cranking a car. It is time to rise from the premordial slime and evolve. The Logitec cordless trackball is da bomb baby.

My mate and I each have a Logitech MX500, my scroll wheel clicks (I like it!) and her's doesn't. The difference isn't design however. A friend of ours removed the little bit that causes the click for her, and now she scrolls smooooth. If you're going to buy a new mouse anyway, you could try looking for that part and removing it yourself to have a backup smooth scroller.

I couldn't find anyone explaining how it's done through Google, but I might be able to get my friend to explain it. Me, I stay out of electronic things... and we've yet to have a large fire start!

Interesting, Amber. I just took mine apart (the 500 and 510 are mechanically identical; the 510 just processes much faster), and what makes it click is nothing more than a little stiff metal wire, positioned so it hits the scalloped interior of the mouse wheel. Remove the wire, and no more clicking.

The electronic action remains the same either way though. You can't hear or physically feel the clicks anymore, but they still happen. The wheel is still a digital device that moves from setting to setting. Removing the click mechanism doesn't turn it into an analog wheel. In other words, the functionality doesn't change, just the mechanical feel.

Still, I could see this as useful information for those who don't like the sound or the feel of the clicks.

Torley, I don't think that scroll wheels that you're referring to as "smooth" are really as smooth as you think. I'm pretty sure that the way scroll wheels work is that there are just two added buttons, "up" and "down", and every time you move the wheel a "tick", you're clicking one of those buttons. Even smooth-feeling scroll wheels still have a click, or still translate the movement into discrete clicks. As far as I know, all scroll wheels have the same resolution.

Hehehe I lurve the opinions here, this is great background to set the tone for further mousing adventures!

Ahhh Lex, thanx... yeah... I've never actually used one for myself (yet), but that makes sense how it's stepped and not a smooth gradient. Hrmmm.

One day I'll have to turn this theory into a practical experiment.