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Slight problem with Magic Mouse... anyone else?

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
I'm finding that clicking and dragging is a tad more difficult on the Magic Mouse. It seems like when I'm clicking to drag, I'm putting too much pressure on the tip of the mouse and since the rails don't go all the way to the front the mouse actually tilts forward.

This causes more friction because you have less of the rails touching the mouse pad and it feels awkward.

This flaw, combined with the fact that the cursor moves too slow and there's no middle click, makes this mouse less usable (to me) than the wired Mighty Mouse.

Anyone else notice the back of the mouse lifting off the mouse pad slightly when clicking and dragging?

How do I remedy this problem?
 
blinkie said:
You can speed up the curser movement in System Prefs.

Can't help you with the rest.
Click to expand...

Even when the tracking settings are turned all the way up, it's still not as fast as my Mighty Mouse on the second-to-last mark.

This isn't a computer problem though because it does the same thing on my MacBook Pro.

For some reason, I just cannot get the same speed as my Mighty Mouse. I even tried downloading Zoom Mouse and that does definitely speed up the fast mouse movements but the slow movements are still too slow in comparison.

I would like to speed up how fast the cursor goes at slower movements.

Basically what I'm saying is that my Mighty Mouse can cover twice the amount of area when I'm going the same speed on my Magic Mouse (regardless of tracking settings).
 
blinkie said:
You can speed up the curser movement in System Prefs.

Can't help you with the rest.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was playing with the 27" iMac at the apple store and turned the cursor speed all the way up, and with moving the mouse about 2 inches, the cursor flew all the way across the screen. I have 21.5"'s speed set to about 2/3 of the max.
 
rusty2192 said:
Yeah, I was playing with the 27" iMac at the apple store and turned the cursor speed all the way up, and with moving the mouse about 2 inches, the cursor flew all the way across the screen. I have 21.5"'s speed set to about 2/3 of the max.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's when moving the mouse fast right? Try moving the mouse slower (like as if you're trying to browse a menu).

Look at this: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10519849

Seems to only be too slow when moving the mouse slow. It's not using the same curve as the Mighty Mouse (which does move a little faster even during slower movements).
 
TheSpaz said:
Yeah, that's when moving the mouse fast right? Try moving the mouse slower (like as if you're trying to browse a menu).

Look at this: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10519849

Seems to only be too slow when moving the mouse slow. It's not using the same curve as the Mighty Mouse (which does move a little faster even during slower movements).
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was when moving the mouse fast. I see what you are saying now.
 
ergdegdeg said:
As mentioned in many similar threads, MouseZoom can solve that problem. It works well, also under Snow Leopard.
Click to expand...

It didn't solve the problem for me. Sorry. I like the speed of the cursor when I'm moving the mouse fast... I just want the slower movements sped up a little bit.

It's hard to explain. When I'm moving the mouse fast, it's as fast as normal. When I'm moving the mouse slow, it's half as fast as moving a Mighty Mouse at the same speed. Mouse Zoom didn't solve the problem for me because when I use MouseZoom to speed up the slow portion, the fast portion is too fast.
 
TheSpaz said:
It didn't solve the problem for me. Sorry. I like the speed of the cursor when I'm moving the mouse fast... I just want the slower movements sped up a little bit.

It's hard to explain. When I'm moving the mouse fast, it's as fast as normal. When I'm moving the mouse slow, it's half as fast as moving a Mighty Mouse at the same speed. Mouse Zoom didn't solve the problem for me because when I use MouseZoom to speed up the slow portion, the fast portion is too fast.
Click to expand...

Why not speed up tracking and just kill mouse acceleration altogether? There are two Terminal commands to accomplish both.

Here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/812544/

and then, here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/812687/
 
lugesm said:
One more confirmation: MouseZoom works for me ! :D
Click to expand...

MouseZoom is just a front end to the scaling terminal command. Also, we shouldn't have to hack our system to get the mouse to track like the Mighty Mouse (even though MouseZoom still doesn't make it feel right)
 
TheSpaz said:
We shouldn't have to hack our system to get the mouse to track like the Mighty Mouse (even though MouseZoom still doesn't make it feel right)
Click to expand...

Agree. But, until Apple issues a software revision for the new mouse, MouseZoom is an improvement.
 
MouseZoom doesn't work and neither does the Terminal scaling command - I tried both. I can't even imagine using this mouse on a 27" panel, my 24" is a pain. What is needed is an acceleration setting as well as tracking speed - like you get on any Logitech mouse. I love this MagicMouse from the standpoint of how it looks and the great technology in the multi-touch top - BUT, I'm likely to go back to my bigger, faster, albeit uglier MX600 :(

Rich :cool:
 
RichardI said:
MouseZoom doesn't work and neither does the Terminal scaling command - I tried both. I can't even imagine using this mouse on a 27" panel, my 24" is a pain. What is needed is an acceleration setting as well as tracking speed - like you get on any Logitech mouse. I love this MagicMouse from the standpoint of how it looks and the great technology in the multi-touch top - BUT, I'm likely to go back to my bigger, faster, albeit uglier MX600 :(

Rich :cool:
Click to expand...

Surprising that MouseZoom does not work for you. I have a 24" iMac and I can adjust the MouseZoom from painfully slow to ridiculously fast. Check all your mouse settings.
 
lugesm said:
Surprising that MouseZoom does not work for you. I have a 24" iMac and I can adjust the MouseZoom from painfully slow to ridiculously fast. Check all your mouse settings.
Click to expand...

He's talking about changing the acceleration, not just the speed. The acceleration is the difference between moving your mouse slow and moving it fast. It speeds up and slows down depending on how fast you move the mouse... not how far.

I would like to change the curve so the fast movements stay the way it is now, but the slow movements need to be kicked up a couple notches so that my hand doesn't get a cramp.
 
I don't know what's so difficult here.

1) Go into the Terminal. Type the command to increase mouse tracking. Type in the value. My Magic Mouse uses 150 or so. Tracking is increased dramatically. Log out and back in to activate, and it will be permanent unless you fiddle with the tracking in the Mouse pref pane, which you have no reason to anyway at this point.

2) Go into the Terminal. Run the Unix executable that kills mouse acceleration. Effect is immediate. The Magic Mouse, IMHO, works so much better *without* mouse acceleration. I can track across a 24-inch screen beautifully.

Both solutions are available in this forum. Just keep in mind that killing mouse acceleration has to be redone each to time you log back in or restart. I rarely do either so its not that big of a deal. Just have the Unix executable file handy somewhere and have the Terminal open at Login.

At the very least, this is a perfectly viable solution until the new version of USB Overdrive is released. And if you'd rather not pay for that, these Terminal solutions are free, obviously.

Anyway, if you're dead-set on USB Overdrive, here's an update:

http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/News.html

Apple Magic Mouse update: I've been working hard on the device and I now know how it works. I am writing a lot of code to support it properly and I will post a new version as soon as it is ready. Until then, please be aware that without specific support the Magic Mouse is a two buttons mouse with no scroll wheel. The current version of the USB Overdrive handles it as any other mouse so you lose both the scroll wheel and the ability to configure gestures using Apple's own drivers. The good news is that this mouse can do a lot more than basic gestures, and I'll do my best to make it even more magic.
 
*LTD* said:
I don't know what's so difficult here.

1) Go into the Terminal. Type the command to increase mouse tracking. Type in the value. My Magic Mouse uses 150 or so. Tracking is increased dramatically. Log out and back in to activate, and it will be permanent unless you fiddle with the tracking in the Mouse pref pane, which you have no reason to anyway at this point.

2) Go into the Terminal. Run the Unix executable that kills mouse acceleration. Effect is immediate. The Magic Mouse, IMHO, works so much better *without* mouse acceleration. I can track across a 24-inch screen beautifully.

Both solutions are available in this forum. Just keep in mind that killing mouse acceleration has to be redone each to time you log back in or restart. I rarely do either so its not that big of a deal. Just have the Unix executable file handy somewhere and have the Terminal open at Login.

At the very least, this is a perfectly viable solution until the new version of USB Overdrive is released. And if you'd rather not pay for that, these Terminal solutions are free, obviously.

Anyway, if you're dead-set on USB Overdrive, here's an update:

http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/News.html

Apple Magic Mouse update: I've been working hard on the device and I now know how it works. I am writing a lot of code to support it properly and I will post a new version as soon as it is ready. Until then, please be aware that without specific support the Magic Mouse is a two buttons mouse with no scroll wheel. The current version of the USB Overdrive handles it as any other mouse so you lose both the scroll wheel and the ability to configure gestures using Apple's own drivers. The good news is that this mouse can do a lot more than basic gestures, and I'll do my best to make it even more magic.
Click to expand...

Guess what. Neither of your solutions solves my problem. It's uncomfortable for me to speed up the tracking to insane speeds or turn off acceleration.

I just want to adjust the lower acceleration curve. I would like to make the tracking of my Magic Mouse match the tracking of my Mighty Mouse and so far that hasn't been possible with your terminal commands or MouseZoom.
 
MouseZoom is "good enough" for me right now, but I'm curious whether the "trackpad enhancements" rumored for 10.6.2 include greater configuration options for the Magic Mouse. There seems to be lots of potential in the Magic Mouse just waiting to be unleashed.
 
Did OS 10.6.3 help the slow tracking issue at all or is it still exactly the same?
 
entatlrg said:
bump again, any new and better solutions to tracking and pointer speed?
Click to expand...

and bump again, how does Apple not notice this? It's painfully crippled. The scaling and accelerations commands do help for now, but still feel a bit weird. Here's to hoping they'll update with more features soon.
 
Guys, the people over at Magic Driver

http://plentycom.jp/en/magicdriver/index.html

have been developing a mouse driver that SUPPORTS increased sensitivity on mouse tracking as well as tracking speed. In other words it does let you change the shape of the acceleration curve. It only works for the Magic Mouse though.

I don't know where I'd be without this driver. It makes the Magic Mouse usable for me, otherwise as others have put it using the mouse at lower speeds feels like you're dragging the pointer through mud. I've tried all other kinds of drivers and adjusters such as MagifPrefs and so on, NONE does what Magic Driver does.

However here's the bad news. The developers haven't released a beta for a while, and when I contacted them, they said they are thinking of stopping development on Magic Driver. To me this is terrible news. And because the current beta is set to expire in April, it wouldn't even be possible to continue using the driver in its current (completely functional) state.

Try the driver and if you like it, write to the developers and tell them you want them not to drop this driver!!
 
I remedied the problems by switching back to a Logitech mouse and using USB Overdrive. In all fairness, I gave Apples mice (tried several including the new MagicMouse) a very fair trial of almost two years. In the end they just don't track precisely enough for me. You could try USB Overdrive with your MagicMouse, I never did that. But, I'm back to my G7 and loving it.

Rich :cool:
 
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