Mouse as "disability aid"? Help a friendly mutant! MadCats won't...

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Hi folks!

I'm new to the forum, or at least to posting here, in the past having been content to lurk and read.

I suffer from being a genetic mutant. Unfortunately, in real life rather than comic books, having mutated DNA doesn't lead to cool powers and wearing spandex uniforms to conquer the forces of evil, it means that things simply don't work quite as they should. None of my elastic tissue functions or repairs right, leading to muscle pulls, tendon troubles, constant tremors and a variety of other stuff from the exciting end (so far over 20 collapsed lungs and other potentially life threatening Jack Bauer moments) to the mundane odd behaviour of my skin.

The RAT MMO7 has allowed me to set a comfortable grip at exactly the dimensions that suit my hand, the right weight, in general the right "feel" but, way better than that, the "sniper" button allows me to have fine control when my hands are shaking too badly to be able to aim well. I can also set macro and keyboard commands to the extra keys on the mouse for when fine manipulation of the keyboard isn't very good (or simply when the cat decides to ban all import of fingers to one side of the keys) - all together it's been invaluable.

However it's now dying. I contacted their support desk, who, when they found out that it was over a year old, informed me it would have to be "escalated" and they'd inform me when they had further information. I suspect that means I'll have to wait for a personal visitation from their version of Santa Claus tho, as I've not heard since mid april.

I'm guessing I'm going to need to replace it, but I'm not sure I want to go with MadCats again, as the device, despite its awesomness, never did entirely behave. Terse responses followed by silence from their support side doesn't build brand loyalty either.

I saw that Zalman makes a very cool mouse now (ZM-GM4), that is around as adjustable as the RAT, but there's no mention on whether a sniper style function is available, or can be added with the macro software that it uses. It does seem to be the only other physically customisable choice for weight and shape.

The Shogun Bros Ballista Mk-1 looks pretty cool, definitely has a sniper button, and has lines very similar to the old logitechs I used to use for years.

Logitech themselves has the G602 wireless, again, seems good, but I can't see any mention of definite inclusion of the sniper function.

Finally the Roccat Tyon has a heap of features and customisations, but again, no definite blurb mentioning sniper mode in amongst it all...

Can anyone help me make a choice? I'm pretty much stuck in the house recently, as my wonderful wife is going thru anti-cancer treatment, and I don't drive personally, so I can't just go out to a store and try them out. I also live in a small town in the far north, so decent sized stores are a long long drive.

Just throwing this out there and seeing what comes back. Hopefully I'll find some sort of compromise that works, but I've hit a wall as far as what I can reasonably find out online. Maybe one of the above will do, maybe someone knows of a mouse I've never heard of...

Thanks in advance, and sorry for rambling!

TL/DR

My Mouse is dying, I need a replacement, preferably with sniper function to mitigate shaky hands because of illness, and if possible, adjustable features for bad grip. Have seen several options, with incomplete details as to what their features include, hopefully someone can help with a suggestion.
 
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Do you need a sniper button as you said it gives fine control when your hands shake or would you be happy with a sniper dpi shift function assigned to any button including RMB via a macro?
 
The DPI shift would be fine if it could be set to be as easy to switch to and from as the sniper button is.

Often, like on my RAT, the DPI button is out of the way and requires cycling between all available profiles to return to the one you were just on, that wouldn't really be feasible, but if the DPI profiles could maybe be mapped to individual buttons, I guess that would work fine?

Have you something in mind? (and thanks for being the only responder so far!:))

Nic
 
The DPI shift would be fine if it could be set to be as easy to switch to and from as the sniper button is.

Often, like on my RAT, the DPI button is out of the way and requires cycling between all available profiles to return to the one you were just on, that wouldn't really be feasible, but if the DPI profiles could maybe be mapped to individual buttons, I guess that would work fine?

Have you something in mind? (and thanks for being the only responder so far!:))

Nic

Shape and finding something comfortable should be top priority. From those mice you've selected the Tyon looks to be more for palm grip users as it has more of an arch.

You'll probably get a better response from OCN as their users are more familiar with mice that use macro functions and are a far more knowledgable community when it comes to product selection, shape, form, function and finding something suitable for your needs.
http://www.overclock.net/f/375/mice

I'll try my best but other mice which you haven't considered which are also good contenders are:
Corsair Vengance M65/95, Gamdias, Logitech G502, Thermaltake E-Sports Level 10M, Bloody ZL5A, Other mice from Madcatz (RAT 9), Func MS-3², Cougar 600/700M (OCUK have this on offer atm with a free mouse mat) as these all appear to have a sniper feature but then again I don't know if you can use macros with them (I only have experience with Logitech mice that uses LUA coding that allows macro scripting).

When I had the Logitech G700s I got a sniper assist function working whilst holding the ADS (Aim Down Sight Right Mouse Button) on my mouse. I didn't fancy sniper buttons as it meant that I had to play finger tennis by holding another button.

https://www.avforums.com/threads/logitech-gaming-software-lgs-8-40.1714196/#post-18125388
 
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You, sir (or possibly ma'am), are awesome.

Thanks for that, and I'll check the other forum out.

The extra mice that you mention there have some definite possibilities among them, especially the Cougar - that's a real find, thank you. Both shape tweakable and with a sniper button, it's currently top of my shortlist.

Folks like you keep forums worthwhile.

Nic.
 
I'd give another vote for the G700. Very good wireless mouse (so you don't have to have a cable to contend with too) and there's enough buttons that one of them will definitely feel comfortable. If you motor control isn't so amazing just make all of the 4 side buttons do the same thing (toggle DPI change) so you can just stab at it with your thumb and get it regardless :)

As it's wirelss, get a bungie micro usb cable (find a long one). They usually come apart and give you a weak ass USB cable that definitely works but just won't take abuse (tho i'm yet to kill one) I buy a big bag of 20 for like £8 when I run out and just treat them as disposable (they are all over my place of work after being "borrowed" :D ). Should let you keep playing while its charging as it doesn't feel cabled.

You have the tilt on the mousewheel too, might be a bit too dexterous for your worst moments but the rest of the time... :)

I'm completely unaffected by any sort of disability but I can put myself in your shoes for ideas etc :)

But anyway, cracking mouse, I'd recommend. You can also macro keys to it (I have all the extra buttons macro'd to numpad num keys so I can just assign em in any game without fuss but you can record macro's too. You might find e.g windows key, right cursor, enter useful to just shutdown off one button rather than having to pilot the mouse to do it.).


Edit:
To be fair though, plenty of mice that do this. The G700 just happens to be... relatively light too. You might find a cabled mouse generally lighter though. I have one (G700) and rate it highly.
 
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You, sir (or possibly ma'am), are awesome.

Thanks for that, and I'll check the other forum out.

The extra mice that you mention there have some definite possibilities among them, especially the Cougar - that's a real find, thank you. Both shape tweakable and with a sniper button, it's currently top of my shortlist.

Folks like you keep forums worthwhile.

Nic.

No problem :)
Definitely not a ma'am :p

I know you may feel a bit miffed with Mad Catz but the Pro X looks a good shape also. They have a nice pinky finger rest that could be beneficial when you have shakes.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=28235407#post28235407
 
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