I think the problem is not with laser mouses, but with my mousery. I am too accustomed to using a (ball) mouse in a similar way to a pencil: small, feathery strokes when I get close to my target. Also, apparently I count on the momentum of the spinning ball to get me that last few millimeters.

I watched bitterly in utter mouse disability as Simon innocently, happily, plied his laser mouse vertically on his trouser leg as he sat computing upon my coffee table. Damn these newfangled contraptions!