Give my Mighty Mouse a mighty douse of mousepad lovin'

August 1, 2007 12:14 PM

What mousepad would you use with a Mighty Mouse?

Sparing me all hatred and burnination for the Mighty Mouse, what mousepad(s) would you recommend for it? I've got a flat topped IKEA Galant desk, and since it's wood with a stained/painted finish, I don't want to just use the desk surface.

posted by chrisfromthelc to Computers & Internet (15 answers total)

Is it the optical USB Mighty Mouse, or the "laser" bluetooth Mighty Mouse?
posted by vkxmai at 12:15 PM on August 1, 2007

Response by poster: The newest Bluetooth version, so, I guess the "laser".

I'm wondering if that means I can get a frickin' shark with a frickin' Mighty Mouse on its head.
posted by chrisfromthelc at 12:22 PM on August 1, 2007

If you're just interested in keeping your desk scuff-free, you could do as little as getting a square of clear contact paper or similar, and sticking it down in your designated mousing area.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 12:30 PM on August 1, 2007

I like the 2nd Edition Icemat mousepads. Frosted glass for mousing goodness.

Icemat 2nd Edition
posted by Justinian at 12:30 PM on August 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

You could use just the desk surface. The mighty mouse's contact surfaces are Teflon and they won't scuff your desk. Failing that, any mouse pad would do. I'd look for a smaller one that had a tacky surface on the back so it wouldn't slip around, and a smooth surface on the top to minimize friction. No need to make your wrist do calisthenics with an optical mouse.

For future reference: When the mini-trackball gums up, you can clean it by pressing down on the ball REALLY HARD and rolling it a couple dozen rotations in each of the 4 cardinal directions. Some gunk will come out.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:42 PM on August 1, 2007

Response by poster: Contact paper isn't a good choice for me, as I need to be able to clear it off quickly.
posted by chrisfromthelc at 12:47 PM on August 1, 2007

You can use any mouse pad, as long as it's not too soft. I use this one.

As an alternative to a separate mouse pad, you could use a desk pad as a mousing surface - as well as a surface for writing etc.
posted by iviken at 1:37 PM on August 1, 2007

iviken's desk pad solution is fantastic - it's what I use and it's ideal. For many years before getting that I would use large single-color plastic placemats to cover a large mousing area - I've always hated little mousepads which are too constraining.

Right-click weirdness aside, though, the Mighty Mouse is pretty great BTW.
posted by mikel at 2:16 PM on August 1, 2007

I use a piece of blue construction paper that's taped to my wooden desk for my mighty mouse. It works fine, though I'm probably going to have to replace it soon because it's getting ratty in the front.
posted by interrobang at 2:19 PM on August 1, 2007

Response by poster: Since I keep one hand on my keyboard (Cmd+Click?), the right clicking won't bother me much, if any. But yeah, I'm thinking a large plastic mat would serve better, because I have the same issue at work with not enough mousing real estate.
posted by chrisfromthelc at 2:25 PM on August 1, 2007

I have my Mighty Mouse set up to right click*, and it works fine. As does the freebie mousepad I got as some promtion in the mail.

I don't know why people hate these devices so much. I like horizontal scrolling and bringing up the dashboard with a single center click. I wouldn't use it to play Halo, but then, I don't play Halo.

*Finder -- Apple Menu -- System Prefs -- Keyboard & Mouse -- set right side to secondary commands.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:28 PM on August 1, 2007

That IKEA pad sends my Mighty Mouse crazy. I don't use a mouse pad because of that. It *does* mark the table top, though, mostly from click-dragging.
posted by bonaldi at 5:10 PM on August 1, 2007

About the only things I can get optical mice to consistently fail on are polished one-color surfaces, like white melamine desktops. One of the best mousing surfaces is my leg when I'm wearing blue jeans. A cheap rubber-cushioned mousepad with a fabric surface is an adequate approximation and the ergonomics are better.

Some surfaces set the Apple optical mouse and Mighty Mouse off, including one particular company giveaway mousepad that gets handed around my office. It's got a shiny, hard plastic top.

A sheet of copier paper will always work if you tape the corners down.
posted by ardgedee at 5:45 PM on August 1, 2007

My son uses a slab of Lucite that came from a dead flat screen, it has thousands of tiny holes(pixels) in a grid and lights up from the laser in the mouse, it is the coolest mouse pad.
posted by hortense at 7:23 PM on August 1, 2007

The bluetooth Mighty Mouse works on pretty much any surface; we use ours directly on the varnished pine tabletop, but it works equally well on the sofa fabric, on the carpet, on a leg (bare or clothed), on a book, on a CD cover... so basically you should be OK using pretty much anything that's even remotely flat! :)
posted by Chunder at 1:47 AM on August 2, 2007