The Showdown: Wired vs. Wireless

[megarat]

This goes for pointing devices as well as keyboards.

Personally, I understand the aesthetic of wireless technology, but my experience with Bluetooth input devices has been less than positive.  Their precision (especially w/r/t mouse/trackball tracking) has been wanting, they require some extra fussing to get paired, they're more likely to have driver compatibility issues, and having the battery die right in the middle of an operation is ridiculous.  And maybe I'm paranoid (*putting on tinfoil hat*), but I like to keep the radiation in my environment to a minimum.

So I was looking online for a disposable travel-mouse, ideally with a retractable USB cord, and noticed that the entire market seems to be going in the direction of wireless devices.  For every wired model, there are now five (or more) wireless ones.  The future for input devices appears to be wireless, whether I like it or not, and maybe someday wires will go the way of the 8-tracks.

I'm curious about the opinions of others in this forum.  Do you have a strong preference of wired vs. wireless?  What are your thoughts about the future of wired technology?  Is this (apparent) trend justified, or is it merely something created by the manufacturers to make us buy new gear?

[cchan]

I don't mind wired keyboards; you're not moving them around. But I love wireless mouses because there's no cord to snag on something. I don't notice any lag in wireless mouses.
I don't worry about radiation.

[alexlzl]

The biggest problem of wireless mouse is: they are too heavy for people with RSI. The stupid batteries add the weight and make it painful to move around. Too bad seems they don't make many good wired mouse any more. I really love the MX Revolution, but there is no peer in wired models.

[wellington1869]

I've had a bunch of wireless stuff (not bluetooth, which I agree is generally very problematic, but regular rf) and I havent had any real issues with them. Even gamed with them (I'm not a professional or anything but for my purposes they were fine). Then again I stuck to highly rated mice from mainstream companies (mostly MS and logitech).

Right now I have wireless travel mice and I love them, they work absolutely flawlessly. (I'm currently using the logitech vx revolution cuz I like having 5 buttons). I have two of them actually.  Even battery performance is really excellent (about 6 months before need to switch and anyway I use Sanyo eneloop rechargeables (eneloop doesnt lose its charge in the device like regular nicads and nimhs and lithiums do, they're fantastic).

As for radiation, I guess I'd be more concerned about my cell phone radiation than the miniscule levels produced by wireless keyboards and mice (with their 6 foot range, in RF anyway). Even my wireless router at home if probably a far greater source of radiation than my mouse.

All that said, at my desktop I've switched recently to all wired. It wasnt so much because of bad performance or radiation issues. On my MS mouse I used to use at the desktop, it did have that 1/2 second delay when "waking up". And with wired you dont even have to worry about that 6 month battery change. It was just little things like that that drew me back to wired stuff. But I could go back to wireless if necessary. I just happened to find keyboards and mice for the desktop that I really like now, and like enough that I dont care if they're wired.

[cchan]

The biggest problem of wireless mouse is: they are too heavy for people with RSI. The stupid batteries add the weight and make it painful to move around. Too bad seems they don't make many good wired mouse any more. I really love the MX Revolution, but there is no peer in wired models.

I like my VX Revolution for this reason; it's very light for a wireless mouse. I'll weigh some of my wired andwireless mouses tomorrow and see what I get. The VX Rev feels lighter an most of the wired mouses i've had though.