i had a wireless mouse (i'm back to wired) that wasn't optical, it had a ball. it crapped out after a couple months. i'm guessing it's cause it was cheap (i paid $20 for the wireless mouse/keyboard combo at fry's...keyboard still working like a charm) but it worked when like 5 feet away. i've heard some bluetooth ones are rated to 50 feet so u should definitely have no problem there