A few were upset that a review of this mouse popped up on another site before our own. Well, many of our reviews are not the very first of any particular product. This is usually due to the fact that we spend a significant amount of time with the product. We do this not only to test it, but to ensure that our initial results do not change as a bit more time is spent using the product. That being said, I have spent the last few weeks with this mouse and have compared it to quite a few of the others. Then I spent quite a bit of time in a "non-testing mode." This consisted of casual use and playing games without any particular attention to the mouse. There really is no better way to test a mouse's performance other than sheer perception. That being said, your results may very slightly, but overall significant defects would be identified via this testing method.

For my first trial, I fired up Solitaire. This game is one of skill, strategy and speed. The key is being able to quickly grab and place your cards not only correctly, but strategically. One thing that can cause some headaches is a lack of accuracy on the pick up and delivery of said cards. Most noobs don't understand the need for an accurate mouse in this classic game. The IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 was a sheer joy to work with. Every card was picked up on the first pass and strategically dropped in one fluid motion. A thing of beauty really, but let's move on.

The IME 3.0 became a very popular mouse in gaming, but it was specifically favored by those who played games in the FPS genre. It is only fit that our first test take place in the game that made it famous: Counter-Strike. The rest of the tests took place in a couple of higher-end games such as Counter-Strike: Source, Battlefield 2, Quake 4, and Red Orchestra. After many hours of testing and retesting everything from flicks to 360s, I found that it was near impossible to throw this mouse outside its means of tracking. The flicks were accurate and quick, and rotation was tracked well. My testing was done on a Steelpad 5L, Qck+, and a fUnc Archetype 1030. Again, this mouse performed beautifully on all three surfaces. Now, to clarify what I mean when I say beautifully, I mean that I did not notice any mouse lag, accuracy drops, or mis-tracking throughout the hours upon hours I spent gaming with this mouse. For those of you who are concerned about the DPI and the sensitivity, you can rest assured that is is exactly the same. No official statement on the DPI was issued by Microsoft on the updated version. However, my tests show the exact same physical distance is required to move from one point to another on the screen. This leads me to believe that the DPI is 400 just as the original was.