Having recently lost a mouse in an unfortunate traveling incident, I was in the market for a replacement.(My former mouse was a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical. It suffered major optical damage due to compression of the shell in a case of "oops-I-packed-too-much-junk-in-my-laptop-bag-and-crushed-it" disease. Surviving relatives include an Intellimouse Explorer Mouse and Natural Keyboard Elite, members of the Microsoft family. Bill Gates, the head of the Microsoft family, was unavailable for comment.)

With the untimely demise of my mouse, I decided to focus on several requirements for my next one:

- Optical technology
- Price
- Solid construction
- Price
- At least three buttons
- Price
- Scroll wheel
- Price
- Comfort/Usability
- And, you guessed it - Price

With these factors in mind, I came across the IBM Optical Navigator. I was immediately impressed by the shape and decided to give it a try. Best of all, it was on sale for $24.99, with an additional $10.00 mail-in rebate, bringing the total to a mere $14.99 (plus tax on the original purchase price).

Construction:
Being an optical mouse, there is no rubber ball underneath, and it performs flawlessly. The optical sensors recognize the positioning and it works perfectly. The IBM Optical Navigator is shaped to fit the right hand and has a nice curve to it. I found it to be a perfect fit, enabling me to keep my wrist straight and comfortable, lessening the possibility of carpal tunnel syndrome. It's solidly constructed, with a blue plastic top and kind of a "rubberized" left side where your thumb rests. I found this gives me a good grip on the mouse without requiring me to really "hold" it. Basically, it molds to my hand and moves exactly as I want it to without a lot of slipping around.

The scroll wheel on top of the mouse is somewhat transparent, and lights up with a blue glow when powered up. It looks nice and is a welcome change over the many red LED lighted mice out there. I guess it makes sense that Big Blue (IBM) decided to have a blue LED installed inside.

Buttons:
There are two buttons on top, with a scroll wheel in the middle. The wheel can also be pushed down, enabling it to act as a third button. There is also a long, thin "button-bar" on the left side of the mouse where your thumb rests. It's small enough to keep from becoming intrusive, but large enough to use easily. Sometimes I find myself accidentally clicking the side buttons on the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer, but I don't seem to have this problem with the IBM Optical Navigator. What difference does this make? Well, as a good example, I accidentally hit the left button on my Microsoft mouse while writing this review, causing Internet Explorer to go back one page. The result - everything I had written disappeared and I had to begin this review all over again.

Software/Setup:
The software for the IBM Optical Navigator mouse is very similar to the software Microsoft uses for it's line of optical mice. However, I highly recommend removing the Microsoft software if you have it installed prior to installing the IBM mouse & software. I made the mistake of leaving it on my system, and the two programs basically merged together, giving it kind of a multiple personality disorder. Although the mouse functioned, the Microsoft part of the software seemed to control which hardware could be selected. Apparently only Microsoft hardware exists in the world of Microsoft mouse software. Since the physical design of the IBM mouse is slightly different from all Microsoft designs, this becomes an issue in configuring buttons. Uninstalling the software, then reinstalling only the IBM software seems to resolve all of the issues.

Once installed properly, the software provides the traditional set of capabilities, such as customizing buttons, click speeds, and the scrolling function of the wheel. Also, it provides a tool for setting up custom mouse configurations by application, which can be handy for power users. Overall, it's fair software, but nothing exceptional. It also seems to act a little "buggy" at times, which is typically resolved by shutting down the program and restarting it. Anyone familiar with other mouse programs will find similar functionality, although slightly less reliability than some.

The actual mouse hardware I purchased has a USB connection, with an adapter for a PS2 port. I connected my to the USB port directly and found that my computer immediately found the device and configured it correctly with the included software. Setup was quick, easy, and painless.

Overall:
The IBM Optical Navigator is a solid, reliable mouse with fair software (could use some improvement). It's very comfortable and easy to use. I think it's an excellent value at $30, but even better when you can find it on sale or with a rebate as I did. I highly recommend this product, although I would recommend it more if the software was a little better.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 14.99