What is causing this?

[maxwilson]

My microsoft Habu mouse is shakey and really hard to click on basic items when on my mouse mat - http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/614515...e/Product.html

And when its over a bare desk it works fine. Any ideas? Below is a paint image of lines I drew. Top ones on mouse mat

[img=http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9304/76258260.th.jpg]

[aidanjt]

Solar flares...

Seriously though, mouse mats are useless with optical mice. They scatter the light of the emitter into the material, instead of returning it. Better to have a slightly grainy desk surface (shiny desk surfaces 'blind' them).

[Darlo]

Hey, i looked at your link to the mousemat but couldnt tell if it was a hard surface or a fabric surface, the problem you described sounds like its a fabric surface.
When you put pressure on the mouse it can cause the surface to deform and reflect the light back causing the mouse to move slightly. Another cause could be that there is some dust in the housing of the laser, this can be solved by cleaning it out.
Hope that helps

[maxwilson]

aparently the mat is "gaming surface with a hydratek coating" what ever that means lol.

I gave the laser a quick clean and its still playing up. I'm going to try another mouse to see if the same problem occours

My back-up trust optical mouse seemed to work fine on the mouse pad. Maybe it's the laser on the surface?

[Darlo]

yeah laser mice need really hard and flat surfaces to work on, optical mice are more forgiving if the surface is rough.

[peterb]

aparently the mat is "gaming surface with a hydratek coating" what ever that means lol. snip---->

It probably means you paid 3 times as much as you should, and it doesn't work as well - as you have discovered (while claiming to be beer/coffee proof) (cynical - moi?)

[maxwilson]

Haha yeah, im regretting it now. its even got some slight stains on it, i dont know what from.

I just added as i was getting something else from play. Ah well lesson learnt lol

[zxnet2k]

I had some trouble with an optical mouse a while ago, after a while I ditched the mouse mat and just used a plain piece of A4 paper (just standard paper - not glossy or photo style) and it worked perfectly - and could go on any surface

[Gibbo]

single colour mats work much better than pretty picture mats

different colours reflect light differently and screw with your mouse