OK, I've finally got enough of this animation thing figured out to have some cautious optimism that I'll actually be able to finish a project I've been asking for a lot of help with here. (Thanks to everybody who's commented!) But now this little Case Logic brand optical mouse I bought last week has become unusable for anything but the simplest tasks. I should have done my homework. It gets terrible on-line reviews.

Does anybody have any recommendations for the best mouse to use with Poser? Would a optical or roller ball type be better? I can't work with this damn thing.

(I'm running Poser 7 on a windows xp desktop.)

mouse ? pro Artist use a wacom tablet intusos pro medium or better

I'm using a logitech optical mouse. It works just fine. Tablets are cool (check the new Cintiq) but very expensive. And unless the tablet has an active screen, there is a significant learning curve.

For animation, the touch sensitivity of a tablet is not needed.

Ditto on Logitech optical.  Good enough.  I preferred a mechanical mouse for graphics work, but you can't get new ones any more.   All optical mice are a bit 'slippery' compared to a ball mouse.

Razer Deathadder or Logitech G7. Former if you like light mice you can flick around, latter if you like a heavy mouse you can control with your whole hand. Both are excellent quality and great for long hours of use.

Logitech G600 here - great customiseable tracking, lots of programmable buttons for shortcuts...

Logitech Marble Trackball in my case but then I have little room on the desk with all the other stuff.  That is used in conjunction with a 3Dconnection navigator which I would be lost without. 

I do have a Wacom Tablet as well but I only really use it for modelling. 

...ditto the 3D mouse, great addition to a setup.

I mainly use a Razer Naga gaming mouse (17 button wired) and a Wacom tablet.

Many of my other systems have Microsoft cordless mice. They work fine and are under $20 bucks.

As other have said there are lots of mice that will do the job, for just about any budget.

I bought an inexpensive logitech wireless mouse at walmart this afternoon. Not the cheapest on the shelf, but almost. And it actually works for selecting and moving keyframes in the animation pallette! And I was afraid my neighbors were going to call Mental Health on me for screaming and cursing at my computer when I was using that other mouse.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

One more thing you might want to consider is getting rechargable batteries for it and a charger.

I picked up a charger with batteries from a dollar store and they still work fine years later.

I use a standard corded 2-button logitech w/ scroll wheel (technically 3 buttons since the wheel clicks too) that came with my $14 logitech keyboard from newegg.

I've never gotten along well with wireless mice, or keyboards. The batteries tend to go out pretty fast, and they can lose signal even with new batteries. Easily interfered with by other devices.

Attached Link: My Mouse Here

Gaming mice are made to be durable and very sensitive, so they are perfect for 3d work. Plus, since I am working with it all day every day...having something durable is very important (I was going through a logitec mouse a year for a while.

Here is what I use:  http://www.ttesports.com/Mouse/134/Level_10_M_Hybrid/productPage.htm?a=a&g=ftr

Logitech G600

Lots of buttons for camera views, tools etc.

Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000.  I don't dig on huge mice - smaller the mouse the less I get any hand cramping. :)  I've had a good range of mice and I find the Microsoft ones to move around more cleanly on the screen - a bit more pricey though.  You're own experience may vary.

Rechargable batteries save you a ton of dough.

Ditto on Razer Naga or Logitech G600 - the more buttons, the better.

I have a mad catz RAT 3 and its great!! so good in fact I plan on buying a 7 (or the gaming edition) soon it has more buttons and adjustable hand grips

but I dont see a lot of use for it in poser :-( but its great for blender and paint proggys where a lot of shortcuts "under" yer thumb is handy