Best gaming mice?

[ba12348]

Ive had a Razer Imperator (old version) for almost 4 years now, and I gotta be honest, Logitech fan boy that I am, I love it. Unfortunately, the scroll wheel wore out recently, and due to my play style, that makes most of my games unplayable. (Side story: Its a stupid little 10 cent part that I could easily re-manufacture with the right tools, but I don't have the right tools).

So I've been doing my research, but I cant find a mouse that doesn't have one major drawback or another! The Logitech G700 has compatibility issues with their G110 keyboard (yes of course I have that one, what you thought fate would let that one slide?), the G500 has a history of left click problems, Roccat wont honor their warranty, and Razer has opposite ends of the spectrum (MMO mice with more buttons than a stealth bomber or mice with barely enough buttons to function).

So Im looking for suggestions for gaming mice, it's currently between the G700, which isn't really in the running until they fix the compatibility problem, the G500 and and new Imperator. Suggestions are always welcome, but I have a few criteria:
Has to be laser
Has to have on the fly sensitivity adjustment
Has to have two thumb buttons, 3 is acceptable, but no more unless it has some other really high points.
Has to be wired, something like the G700's carge/data cable would work.

I gotta be honest, Razer may get pegged as the "flashy" company, and I find it hard to argue against that when they make something like the switchblade, but I am really happy with my old Imperator, despite the fact that it collects more dirt than an archaeologist.

I'm about to build a new computer (c'mon tax return!) so it has to have Windows 7 compatibility, but its hard to find one that isn't. Yes 7, not turd- uh, 8.

 

[bystander]

What compatibility problem does the G700 have? I'm using one now, and quite happy with it, but I am unaware of a problem.

I wouldn't use it as a wired mouse though, the cable is very heavy, but it is surprisingly responsive as a wireless mouse. I cannot tell a difference between the G400 and the G700, despite that the G700 is wireless.

 

[cats_Paw]

Ok... this might be a bit long:
You need to factor 4 things when you think about mices:
1. Types of games you use.
2. Type of grip you use.
3. Weigth.
4. Shape

Those 4, are assuming everything else is great (for example, no problems with compatibility as you mention).

In general, razer is a poor company when it comes to quality (well, its great compared to a OEM mice, but the quality of their products is slight low compared to similar priced mices).

I was a logitech fanboy untill the G3 G5 series
After that, all others were probelmatic. G700, 500 and 400 have issues with the buttons (it seems they are rather weak, and tend to break. Those G-Keys i mean), the M series get a lot of sudden death...

Steelseries makes very nice "simple" mices. If you want a decent mice with no fancy lights and ridiculously high DPI, this might be a decent option.

In my case, i am looking for old mices all the time (Logitech MX518, mini optical, G3 and Dual mouseman, all from logitech), and each time i find one i grab it.

Now, lets move to the 4 points at start:

1.What kind of games you play: Belive it or not, each style has a better mice for it. Small mice work better for RTS games since you will probably be using a finger grip to be more precise at higher mice speed. This means, since you nnormally will be looking at the things you want to move/select rather in the center of the screen, you want something that is very precise in that area.

If you play FPS, there is a chance you will have to make 180 degree turns, and the correct the aim with a relativly open move (moving your hand more, making it more precise in a wider radious).
Then you would want a palm grip so that your arm does the movements.

If you play farmville (i guess some ppl do) you want a palmgrip, hugeass mice that will make your entire hand rest on the mice.

2.The form of grip is actually subjective, but:

The palm grip allows you to cover more area with a smaller precision. It also adds a bit of a "break" effect. Since your hand and your mice is a bit heavy, when you want to stop, you need to make some force in the oposite direction to get a full stop. This normally reduces the accuracy, especially when you begin to get tired.

The Claw grip covers big areas harder, but when trained is more precise in small areas. You use your fingers to do the movement, so you have more control ofver th mice, but the limitations of your working area is your fingers flexibility.

Mixed grip seems to logicly be the best option, however its the worst. This is due to the fact that your brain has to change from doing one control (arm/wrist or fingers/wrist) to do both and coordinate them togheter. While some people will say that practice will eventually master this form of grip, with the same amount of time you can master 2 times (meaning higher than amster) one grip.

3.Weight: This is important for 2 reasons: the amount of force required to move/stop your mice, and the material you will want under it.
If the weight is extreamly light (like for example Logitech Mini optical), you can have a very fast, smooth material. This way your hand/fingers will be able to have almost absolute control of the mice.
If you have a rather heavy mice, you need a fabric type material or the weigth of the mice will make it dance.

4.Shape: little to say here, best is if you can have your 3 main fingers (thumb + the 2 fingers closest to it) very comftable, and then the other two can hold the side with bearly touchning the table/micepad.

Thats for comfort. If you have all your hand resting on the mice, you will probably get lazy over time and become slow.

Finally, one thing that i personally value a lot: Recoil. As in, how fast after a click does the button go back into its original position so i click again. In games like Broodwar or starcraft 2, this is important as you will probably press the key 4-5 times each second (at competitive level).

Finally you state: has to be laser. Most people dont know this, but optical is actually more presice than laser:

I know, everyone says its not like that, but laser sends beams of laser taht bounce and when they get back to the source, the "driver" makes an educated guess of the movement done. Thats why (as far as i know) there are no Laser PS/2 mices, as they need the PC to do the calculations with its software.

Optical, since it uses PS/2, can be based on more simple drivers that react quicker and with less "guessing". PS/2 goes directly into the CPU, and that means it does not have time to preload the information to a software, neither it needs to wait for other aplications to stop in order to get to the CPU.

Bottom line is: if you can take care of your table/pad, optical will be better, if not, laser.

About DPI: Get a 2000 DPI mice, set it on max, go to windows settings and set it on fastest moving. then remove cursor help. then you will see how fast 2000 DPI actually is. YOu can make 4 spins in FPS game with a 4 CM movement (assuming sensitivity in the game is set all way up as well).

I never saw anyone use even 1000 DPI at full. If you ask me, its a marketing thing.

 

[ba12348]

What compatibility problem does the G700 have? I'm using one now, and quite happy with it, but I am unaware of a problem.

I wouldn't use it as a wired mouse though, the cable is very heavy, but it is surprisingly responsive as a wireless mouse. I cannot tell a difference between the G400 and the G700, despite that the G700 is wireless.

The G700 is reported to have an issue when used on the same computer as a G110 keyboard, latest report was on Feb 26 on Logitechs own website, under the G700 reviews. Apparently it will erase profiles, reset macro assignments, etc, likely due to the G700 using Setpoint and the G110 using the LGS software. I went with the G400 and love it.

 

[ba12348]

Best answer selected by ba12348.

 

[bystander]

The G700 is reported to have an issue when used on the same computer as a G110 keyboard, latest report was on Feb 26 on Logitechs own website, under the G700 reviews. Apparently it will erase profiles, reset macro assignments, etc, likely due to the G700 using Setpoint and the G110 using the LGS software. I went with the G400 and love it.

Glad you like the G400, but you might have liked to know that the G700 doesn't use SetPoint anymore and instead uses the LGS software. I also used both prior to the change, and never experienced that, but I never used SetPoint for macros, perhaps it was on the SetPoint side there was issues, but that's old news anyways.

 

[ba12348]

Ok... this might be a bit long:
You need to factor 4 things when you think about mices:
1. Types of games you use.
2. Type of grip you use.
3. Weigth.
4. Shape

-snipped for the sanity of future readers-

You didn't really tell me anything I wasn't already aware of, but excellent post on the nuances of mouse selection. I went with the Logitech G400 mouse, love it.