I have an optical mouse that I love... on the other hand my mom has a wireless optical mouse that seems to like to like dying when I'm in the middle of doing something.

It seems like I'm always having to replace the batteries on the mouse when I use my mom's computer... added to that is that the mouse seems to be able to work fine for at least a few months for my mom, but for me the batteries only seem to last a week, if I'm lucky. I don't know why the mouse feels the need to go on strike around me, but I do know that I much prefer my optical mouse even though it has a wire (at least I'm not always having to replace batteries).