Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!haven!uvaarpa!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!poirier
From: poirier@dg-rtp.dg.com (Charles Poirier)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Boing mouse
Summary: Try it before buying
Keywords: Boing Optical Mouse Amiga Great
Message-ID: <640@xyzzy.UUCP>
Date: 22 Nov 89 23:40:45 GMT
References: <4028@ur-cc.UUCP> <8911152226.AA07846@sorinc.PacBell.COM>
Sender: usenet@xyzzy.UUCP
Reply-To: poirier@dg-rtp.dg.com (  Poirier local)
Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
Lines: 32

In article <8911152226.AA07846@sorinc.PacBell.COM> magik@sorinc.PacBell.COM (Darrin A. Hyrup) writes:
>In article <4028@ur-cc.UUCP> gest_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Gavin Stark) writes:
>>Does anyone have any opinions on the Boing optical mouse?  I am looking
>>to replace my mouse and this seems like the best one available.
>
>Yes, I've had my Boing! optical mouse now for 7 months or so, and I love it!

I can't speak to the Boing! mouse in particular.  The Mouse Systems optical
mouse I use at work has one minor misfeature: when you have to lift it to
reposition yourself on the pad, the cursor moves a bit before losing
optical contact with the pad.  Thus, while doing a prolonged one-direction
roll, you are fighting the mouse's tendency to backslide on every mouse lift.
I personally prefer the crisp separation-from-pad of a roller mouse.

Perhaps someone with a Boing! mouse could comment on whether it too exhibits
this effect?

>It is indeed a bit pricy however, but if you look at how often you have to
>clean the bloody mouse, and how often it fails/breaks down vs. the Boing!
>mouse's 25 year MTBF (mean time between failures) it's worth it in the long
>run.

I'm not sure I buy that 25 year figure.  Seems to me you'd have to test a
*whole lot* of mice in the (roughly) one year Boing!s have been available,
to be able to extrapolate a valid MTBF of 25.  Besides, of all the mouse
failures I've personally heard of, the only ones not fixed by cleaning the
rollers have been (a) the switches wearing out, and (b) the cable wearing
out.  Are these components THAT much better in the Boing! mouse?  Perhaps
the 25 years applies only to the pickup and encoding electronics.  The roller
units' shaft encoders seem to be very reliable.

	Cheers,
	Charles Poirier