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I just got the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000. I love the keyboard (a wireless version of the excellent Natural 4000 that I had been happily using for 3 years).

But I don’t like the giant “baseball” mouse. I don’t mind the steep angle as much as I thought, except that it forces you to keep your entire hand very high above the desk, which makes me severely lose accuracy. And it has one of those mushy, notch-less Microsoft scroll wheels that you can’t easily wheel-click because it tries to tilt to the sides. So I’m happy ditching it and accepting my nice $70 wireless keyboard, and I’m now shopping for a good wireless mouse.

I like:

• Logitech. My previous mouse was the MX510, which served me great except it’s not wireless, and it’s starting to show severe wear (like flaky buttons) that 4-year-old mice show under very heavy use.
• Notchy scroll wheels.
• Scroll wheels you can easily click (as a third mouse button).
• Large mice.
• A “back” button near the thumb.
• A right-hand-curved shape.

I don’t like:

• Mushy scroll wheels.
• Wimpy scroll wheels with weak notches.
• Tilt-horizontal scroll wheels.
• Proprietary batteries and charging cradles.
• Smaller “notebook” mice.
• Anything at all about the Mighty Mouse.

I’m testing an MX Revolution from the office, and I like the switchable freewheel/notchy scroll wheel more than I thought I would. It’s a very heavy wheel and gives a nice flywheel effect, spinning freely after you let it go for a few seconds. It’s completely different from a mushy Microsoft wheel. I’d even say it’s the best scroll wheel I’ve ever used — for scrolling. But it has no middle-click function: it can’t, because clicking the wheel is what toggles it between notchy and flywheel modes.

So here’s what I’m considering:

• The MX Revolution I’m trying. Cons: Proprietary battery and cradle, although the battery lasts forever. No middle-click.
• The MX620: Same wheel as the Revolution, but switching between notchy and flywheel is done with a switch on the bottom (so I’ll never really use the flywheel mode). Clicking the wheel does a middle-click if you can avoid tilting it. Uses AA batteries. Cons: Bad middle-click. Can’t easily switch to cool flywheel thing.
• The G7: Looks closest-shaped to my old MX510 with a conventional middle-clicking notchy scroll wheel. Cons: Weird proprietary battery packs that wear out after a year. Giant ugly charge-cradle.

Price isn’t a factor here because they’re all in the same $50-80 range and this is something I’ll use many hours a day for years.

Any thoughts? I think I’m leaning mostly toward the MX Revolution at this point.