Shinies

So why can't you use LEDs with better optical sensors? - This is because when a red LED shines onto a surface it illuminates a larger area and the optical sensor needs to have a wider field of view in order to detect more details. This would ramp up the cost of mice significantly, because we would eventually be integrating high-end sensors and much more powerful image processors to get the accuracy desired.

The laser diode on the other hand has a much tighter beam and it illuminates a smaller area (though you will not see this because the diodes operate in the infrared range), this allows the sensor to see higher resolution images of small areas. So we can still use lower-cost sensors and lower cost image processors by just changing the field of view to a smaller area.

This is a big step because often large areas contain patterns that can confuse optical mice and make them think that they have not moved. With the laser mice however, they see things like you would under a microscope and the world they see becomes much easier to track.

A simple analogy of what I mean is to look at the data side of a CD or DVD; looks shiny, right? - Maybe you can see where the data sector ends if it's a CD-R or DVD-R. Now, look at it under a microscope. That's kind of how a laser mouse sees things.

Talk Turkey

Still awake? - Good. Now that the technical lesson is over with, let's talk about the rated performances of these two mice and try and find out what that means for our head shot count.

Ripped from the website:-

Specifications for SteelSeries Ikari Optical:

- Frames per second: 6.500

- Inches per second: 40

- Counts Per Inch (CPI): 400 - 1600

- Acceleration: 15 G

- Buttons: 5

- Cord: 2 m / 6,5 ft (braided to improve durability)

- Polling: 1000 Hz

- Lift distance: 3,5 mm

- CPI high/low indicator

- Gold-plated USB connector

- Large pressure points that reduce friction for optimized glide

- Driverless, plug-and-play feature for LAN gamers

- Measurements: 130 x 83 x 36 mm / 5,1 x 3,3 x 1,4 in

- Operating systems: Win XP/Vista/Win 2000/Win 98/Win ME/Mac OS

Specifications for SteelSeries Ikari Laser:

- Samples per second: 40.000

- Inches per second: 50

- Counts per inch: 1 - 3.200 (one CPI Steps)

- Acceleration: 20 G

- Sensor data path: True 16 bit

- Lift distance: 1,8 mm (0,07 inch)

- Buttons: 5

- Cord: 2 m / 6,5 ft (braided to improve durability)

- Polling: 1000 Hz

- Gold-plated USB connector

- Measurements: 130 x 83 x 36 mm / 5,1 x 3,3 x 1,4 in

- CPI high/low indicator

- SteelSeries FreeMove Technology

- Large pressure points that reduce friction for optimized glide

- Driverless, plug-and-play feature for LAN gamers

- Operating systems: Win XP/Vista/Win 2000/Win 98/Win ME/Mac OS