One year later, while enjoying the greatness of the Sidewinder Mouse, it dawned on me:
I will never find a better mouse, which fits my big palm that perfectly, while also being extremely accurate, no matter the surface it is used on. Nothing lasts for ever, so I tried to get my hands on some replacement mouses of this model. But Microsoft stopped producing them! Panic stage 1!
Thank god, some month later Microsoft released a stripped down budget version of this mouse: the Sidewinder X5 Mouse. I immediately bought 4!, hoping they would last until the end of my days. Since then I cycle through them. I care for them gently and carefully. I refurbish and clean them regularly. The unused ones are nicely stashed in a dark and dry place. It is a great feeling not having to care about mouse research anymore.
I should have done the same with my slowly dying Sandisk Sansa Fuze 1st Gen. I am refurbishing the shit out of this thing, but deep down in my gut, a numbing feeling intensifies. My Sansa wants to go. Soon I will not be able to do anything about it! :'(