What is the point of high sensitivity mice?

Inazuma

Inazuma

Inazuma

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Hi all,
I've been using low-mid range gaming mice (£20-50) for years now, but always I've had to crank the sensitivity down either through Windows or whatever DPI button there is on the mouse. And I'm pretty sure most hardcore gamers use very low sensitivies too.

I saw that over the years, mice have been getting higher and higher DPI figures, but I just don't get it. Moving from mouse to mouse, I've never really felt any one mouse was more accurate than another. The only real difference between them was how good a grip they had.

Am I missing something?
 
I guess it's just a way to keep releasing 'newer and better' mice in our consumer driven society where people look at numbers and think higher is better.
 
Its a matter of preference lots of players use high DPI because they control the mouse using fingertips rather than most people who use the palm, it gives fine control with very little actual movement of the mouse & I know that quite a few pro gamers use very high sensitivity because of this.
 
My understanding is that DPI and tracking rate are different things.

DPI = quality of sensor, i.e. accuracy of the mouse - a higher DPI reduces the likelihood of the mouse 'skipping' in high speed movements. Tracking speed = 'sensitivity' in terms of how quickly the cursor shoots across the screen.

That being said, I think the difference between a 5000dpi and 6000dpi mouse is probably not noticeable if you have a mediocre mouse mat.
 
I went from a MS intelli explorer v3 to Logitech G400. Not sure what the DPI of the explorer was but i have the G400 i have set to 1800DPI and its so much better.

How is sensitivity measured if its not by the DPI?
 
Guest2 said:
I went from a MS intelli explorer v3 to Logitech G400. Not sure what the DPI of the explorer was but i have the G400 i have set to 1800DPI and its so much better.

How is sensitivity measured if its not by the DPI?
Click to expand...

As described above, the DPI is in relation to the sensor on the mouse itself. Sensitivity is handled by Windows and the application in question.
 
Guest2 said:
I went from a MS intelli explorer v3 to Logitech G400. Not sure what the DPI of the explorer was but i have the G400 i have set to 1800DPI and its so much better.

How is sensitivity measured if its not by the DPI?
Click to expand...

IIRC the IME 3 had a 400DPI sensor, which was great for its time. Still ranks as one of my all time favourite rodents, just behind the Razer Diamondback.
 
Do you mean what's the point of high DPI mice? because sensitivity and DPI aren't the same thing.

In answer to your question there is no point in high DPI mice, and it's a marketing gimmick.
 
I went from a logitech standard office mouse to a Razer Deathadder 3500dpi and the difference is very noticeable, I think the logitech one had a dpi of 800
 
I think it is all a load of BS.....

I have good aim in CS and BF3 and I use 400dpi sometimes 800dpi...

You do not need any more than 800dpi.

Razer are poor buy a logitech.
 
There is actually a definitive minimum required DPI based on the settings you use, and if the game you're playing lacks raw/direct input a maxiumum DPI too, otherwise you entire a realm of pixel skipping, or negative acceleration.

In reality, those mice are marketing gimmicks, 99.9% of people should be more than happy (accuracy wise) with 800 dpi. Higher DPI doesn't mean you have a better quality sensor either. The reality is, a good gaming sensor will be about consistancy, something the vast majority of mice fail at.
 
NirK said:
I think it is all a load of BS.....

I have good aim in CS and BF3 and I use 400dpi sometimes 800dpi...

You do not need any more than 800dpi.

Razer are poor buy a logitech.
Click to expand...

This

I'm still using a Logitech MX300 and my aim is really good, in both Quake Live and Quake 4.
 
What is the point of high sensitivity mice?...

There is no point...its BS

Total marketing gimmick. I smile every time one of these threads come up.

It would be like me taking off perfectly good tyres on my car and putting new fancy expensive ones on and then claiming my car goes faster. Okay, so some brain box scientist will say well technically due to the tyres angle of its jigaboo and low velocity of its tinglesmore the car is actually travelling 0.1mph faster. AKA, in the real world, there is no difference.

Yeah but Im L33T and have a Rage-Trojan-Dominator-Razor mouse with 1,000000000000000000000000 dpi!

Get yourself a 'normal' mouse. Ive been using a bog standard Logitech PS/2 (yes PS/2!) Optical Mouse for years and it does exacly what a mouse needs to do. I'd probably spend about £10 on a new mouse as I do believe that buying a good brand is best. Ive had cheap £2 mice before and their build quality is naff, after a while it broke.

Stick with a simple Logitech or Microsoft mouse and put your hard earned cash towards other PC parts that count.
 
It really is just marketing bs. I'm still using my Intellimouse Explorer v3.0 (has always been my favourite mouse). I don't meant to gloat but...my accuracy has always been very good in Quake (instagib), TF2 etc; the mouse is fine. ;)

I tried to use a Razer mouse (Diamondback), it was horrible... to the extent that I simply couldn't aim properly with it. So I went straight back to an Intellimouse Explorer 3.0!
 
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