It was bought to replace the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 which I've used for 2 years.
Despite the fact that the Explorer was specifically designed for right-handers, the 3000 actually feels better in my hand.
Comaparing the 3000 with the Explorer...
First of all, it's smaller and fits better in my hand. I consider my hand medium size for an Asian male, your milage may vary, but it feels just right for me.
Second, it's lighter. Some people prefer heavier mouse but I like lighter ones, as they require less effort to move around. The 3000 together with my C4-NGen04 mouse pad (or "sheet" for its thinness) and feet works like a charm.
Third, it has a symmetrical layout. I don't know why but symmetrical layouts are easier for my hands than asymmetrical layouts like the Explorer. When I used the Explorer for some time, the right part of my hand and the tail finger actually feels quite uncomfortable.
Fourth, the "1000 DPI" or so called "High Definition Optical Technology" really helps tracking. When I first replaced my Explorer with the 3000 I had to lower the mouse speed by about 5-6 steps to get it under control.
Fifth, the wheel is step-less, I like it more than the stepping one on the Explorer, but you may not. Also, it could be a nuisance for gamers who use the wheel to switch between gears.
Sixth, the 3000 lacks the "Back" and "Forward" buttons of the Explorer on the left side, although I don't miss them much as I never liked buttons on the side anyway. It has a thumb button, which is defaulted to the "Magnifier" (i.e. "zoom") function. Of course, you can configure it to your liking using Intellipoint.
Speaking of Intellipoint, it seems that it's a must if you want to use the Tilt Wheel. If you know how to use the Tilt Wheel without installing Intellipoint, please let me know. On the other hand, Intellipoint offers quites a few configurable options then just to enable the Tilt Wheel, and ipoint.exe uses less than 2MB in memory on my box.
Seventh, as mentioned above, the 3000 has the "Tilt Wheel", which can be quite handful if you need side-scrolling a lot (e.g. work with large spreadsheets).
Eighth, the wheel button of the 3000 is very, very stiff and difficult to click, I don't use it much, but if you do, you better give it a try first and see if you can deal with it.
Ninth, it's not a general issue for the Explorer, but mine had a problem that when it's lifted and placed back on a surface, the pointer would jump to the top of the screen and needs a few seconds to "calm down".
Finally, the Chinese name of the 3000 is quite funny to me, it means "Microsoft Comfort Optical ***Shark*** 3000" in English.
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