Help finding a mouse

I work with AutoCAD every day, 8 hours a day. My right hand barely ever comes off of the mouse. At the moment, I'm using a Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 and it's nice, but it was also $80 and it's starting to not work right, and just over a year old.

It's bad, I use it so much the top coat is rubbing off of it, and the thumb pad feels more like sand paper.

I just want something comfortable. This mouse has more buttons than I use, some I can't reach if I wanted to use them. Ideally, my mouse needs the obvious 2 buttons, a wheel with a button.. this wheel tilts left and right, but I don't use that feature enough to need it. If I had one extra button, I'd be happy.

I've been looking at the presentation mice, for projectors, being hand held looks pretty cool, but I don't need a laser pointer, and it probably wouldn't be too good for an every day all day mouse.

Any ideas? What do you guys use? I've also had trackballs, and liked them, but they're tiresome at times.

Thanks. :cool

 

Ah.. well i use a Logitec G5 laser mouse for gaming. You could pretty much take your pick at newegg though.

 

Sounds like you could use a Kensington trackball.

http://us.kensington.com/html/1436.html

I have the Slimblade and I do all my work with it. It's very nice. The only down side is the buttons aren't programmable. If you need (and I mean absolutely need) programmable buttons then I'd go with the original Expert Mouse. I just hate the feel of it and the way it's sits up on it's side.

 

Try a razer mouse. I use to have a razer copperhead and that was awesome for gaming and everyday use.
My brother has the razer diamond back and that is good as well.
The razer mice are slim and comfortable and do have a few buttons but they are easy to reach. I know it sounds like I am a razer sales rep but i just really like the razer stuff.

 

Have you looked into joystick mouse or vertical mouse designs? Some shown here.

 

Also the n52te seems to be finding favour with some CAD users. Looks overly complex for your stated preferences though

 

Seems like you really don't need an $80 mouse. Here's a Microsoft mouse for half the price that looks it would quite adequate for you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105187

 

Here are the specs for the one i use and it's really good and fast, it comes in under $40.

http://reviews.tonton.be/ednetlaser/index.html

 

Thanks for all the replies thus far. I've seen the vertical mice in person, and they seem pretty nice. We buy from Staples, and they didn't carry those, so I went with what I have, it was close, fit the whole hand, and in the right price range.

I'm sure I could stray from Staples to get something else, so all suggestions are appreciated.

Those trackballs look nice, The one I had is the cheapest from that page. It was nice, but I found myself using it inefficiently after a while, just to make it more comfortable. Also, I'd spin the ball as fast as I could downward, and watch the mouse arrow on the screen, it was like spinning a hula hoop and throwing it so it would come back to you. The arrow would race to the top of the screen and then shoot even faster to the bottom. It was interesting.

I'd like to try a joy stick, but I don't know if I'd like it forever, if it never stopped working. Maybe I need a few mice hooked up at once, so I can use whatever I'm in the mood for.

That n52te looks pretty intense. I'd like to say I could program each button to do the commands I type all the time, but I don't think I would. I'd like to try one of those out though, might be able to forgo the keyboard altogether.

I was going to try and teach myself the left handed dvorak layout a few years ago, but it made me sick. I redid my spare keyboard and had a key chart hanging on my wall above my monitor so I didn't have to look at the keyboard all the time, but it was such a weird feeling, sick to my stomach is the only way I can explain the frustration level.

The gaming mice, and Bill's look nice. They all look good to me, which is a lot of the problem. I don't know I'm not going to like something until I have it, and I'm sort of stuck working with it until it craps out.

usafveteran, thanks for the link. I like that one, and I think I could find it somewhere that I could put it in my hands as well. Also, thanks for your service to the country. My cousin is a recruiter for the Air Force.

Keep the suggestions coming, I'll keep reading them when I have time.

 

Hey paxton, have you ever thought about a tablet --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet

I used to have one and i loved it, i found it very usable but unfortunately so did my dog so now it is in the big repair shop in the sky.

Q