Microsoft BlueTrack mouse claims "most advanced tracking" title

If Microsoft is to be believed, the future is blue. The company's new BlueTrack system isn't exactly a full-on revolution in mouse tech, but it's a nice step forward in the world of optical mice, an industry which has rapidly been approaching commodity, and arguably disposable, status.

I've been trying out BlueTrack mice for several weeks now and you can color me impressed.

Here's how the technology works: a BlueTrack mouse is still an infrared mouse like you're probably used to, but it shines a blue light on the mousing surface in addition to the IR beam. Why blue? According to Microsoft, the blue light improves contrast on the mousing surface and increases the amount of light reflected back into the mouse sensor. Since a mouse is basically taking thousands of pictures per second in order to determine its position and figure out where it's been moved to, having better quality photos improves overall accuracy. This and other tweaks to the core technology give BlueTrack a considerable edge over other mice.

In truth, the claims are pretty much right on the money. BlueTrack doesn't miss a beat, and it tracks perfectly on just about any surface, including corduroy pants, an Oriental rug, polished wood, and even polished granite and marble. So many mice tend to have that "wandering" problem where, even when they're sitting still, the cursor starts to move in one direction as the sensor gets confused by something on the surface, but I never saw that problem with the BlueTrack mice at all. The only time I had any tracking issues was on a velvet pillow, which gave it a few hiccups but otherwise still tracked decently. BlueTrack also won't work on glass or mirrors (like any optical mouse).

The hardware comes in two varieties, an Explorer Mini and full-size Explorer version. I primarily used the Mini version and liked it a lot: It feels good in the hand, the tracking is superb as mentioned, and it's wireless, with a reasonably small transceiver. What I didn't like: The two extra buttons near your thumb are far too big and too easy to accidentally click. One button is pre-set as the "back" button for your browser, and after accidentally going back a web page about 100 times, I finally installed the software that comes with the mouse and disabled both buttons completely. Another beef: The mouse is AA powered and isn't rechargeable, and though snapping the transceiver back into the mouse turns it off, there's no power switch to turn the mouse off without first disconnecting the transceiver from your PC. (The full size version is rechargeable, however.) The Mini is also just too big; it's easily the largest "mini" mouse I've ever used and could pass for a standard mouse in most hands.

Overall, I'm reasonably impressed with the whole package and will probably continue using the BlueTrack mice for day to day work. They aren't cheap: $100 for the Explorer and $80 for the Explorer Mini, but if you've been frustrated by poor mouse tracking on weird (or not-so-weird) surfaces, you'll find the performance of these BlueTrack mice is definitely worth the extra cash.