Editing Optical mouse (section)

== Optical versus mechanical mice ==
[[File:Optical mouse shining.jpg|thumb|The Logitech iFeel optical mouse uses a red LED to project light onto the tracking surface.]]

Unlike mechanical mice, whose tracking mechanisms can become clogged with lint, optical mice have no moving parts (besides buttons and scroll wheels); therefore, they do not require maintenance other than removing debris that might collect under the light emitter. However, they generally cannot track on glossy and [[Transparency (optics)|transparent]] surfaces, including some mouse-pads, causing the cursor to drift unpredictably during operation. Mice with less image-processing power also have problems tracking fast movement, whereas some high-quality mice can track faster than 2 [[metre per second|m/s]].

Some models of laser mouse can track on glossy and transparent surfaces, and have a much higher sensitivity.

{{As of|2006}} mechanical mice had lower average [[power (physics)|power]] requirements than their optical counterparts; the power used by mice is relatively small, and only an important consideration when the power is derived from [[battery (electricity)|batteries]], with their limited capacity.

Optical models outperform mechanical mice on uneven, slick, soft, sticky, or loose surfaces, and generally in mobile situations lacking [[mouse pad]]s. Because optical mice render movement based on an image which the LED (or infrared diode) [[lighting|illuminates]], use with multicolored mouse pads may result in unreliable performance; however, laser mice do not suffer these problems and will track on such surfaces.