Gaming mice - do they really make any difference?

Well... on one hand a lot of peripheral mfrs seem to be slapping the word "Gaming" on any old ****e and charging a price premium for it so I am not certain you need one that says "Gaming" or has the name of a CPL player on it.

OTOH you can definitely reach a point with cheap mice where you're reaching the technical limits of what it will do and the pointer isn't going where you're movign the mouse.

If you're reaching that point then yeah you need a better mouse. If you're not then you probably don't.

Personal preference is the Logitech MX518 for having perfect ergonomics for my hand (YMMV) and generally being superbly reliable.

I am unsure about lasers. Last time I read a proper review of them the lasers didn't track so well above a certain speed which was why I started using decent-ish Logitech optical mice in the first place.

This may have been fixed.

As regards loads of buttons most serious business FPS guys I have spoken to about this don't like them because it's easy to hti the wrong thing by mistake.
 
Do any of you guys with "gaming mice" use a KVM switch? If so can I ask which?

I've heard some KVMs don't get on with the more complicated mice!?
 
I usually stick with the MS ones most of the time, they do the job well enough for me. I find the making sure it feels comfortable to hold, weighs right (for you) and has the range of button you're looking for the most important parts - which the MS ones usually do well enough.
 
Interesting. I'm actually plugged into my system via the PS2 slot. I plugged another similar mouse into my USB slot, and the movement in games was slightly different. I'd say the USB was slightly smoother!?

I guess this is maybe an indication of what a gaming mouse may bring with it, smooter/more reliable movement!?
 
I've relied on MX518 and the wired G5 for years now - through all sorts of LAN competition and 'top-level play' yada yada. It's a solid mouse and I've never seen the need for any of the latest yahoos. AFAIK the g5 goes to a max of 2000dpi and I've never felt that to be 'not enough'. I don't really see what the new-fangled expensive mice add to that formula? Acceleration and firmware ****? No ty.
 
I think that a good quality mouse pad helps a lot as well.

I recently invested in a Steelseries mouse pad, with apart from being way bigger than I expected, has made my cursor control so much smoother.
 
Cloth mat all the way for me. It's a shame that the Everglide Titan is no longer made; I absolutely love mine but it's starting to show it's age now.
 
I am the last person who would ever have thought that I'd have shelled out £60+ on a mouse, but about 18 months ago I bought a Razer Naga. The main selling point for me was having all those buttons under my thumb - the ability to faff with things like DPI etc. was nice to have, but of no real interest.

I can quite honestly say that that purchase was my greatest computer/gaming purchase ever, and that if my current Naga was to break, I would by another without hesitation. I simply could not entertain playing WoW or SWTOR without it.

A couple of people have said that a decent mousemat is also important - I can vouch for this personally, as I've bought a Razer Goliathus this week and the way the Naga moves without resistance and the difference in the response of the pointer on screen is amazing. Too amazing if anything - I actually do need to adjust the sensitivity now!

I've got to say since buying my Naga, I've become a bit of a Razer whore though - my keyboard is an Anansi and I also use a Nostromo controller. However, gaming is my number one hobby and I want to buy the best I can afford - I love the look and functionality of their gear and the config software is pretty damn thorough.
 
I think the Naga is quite an MMO specific mouse, isn't it? I would certainly see no real use for it in FPS gaming. I'm too used to my keyboard shortcuts!
 
FrenchTart said:
There's a difference between DPI and sensitivity - it's perfectly possible to have a high DPI mouse and a low sensitivity setting in game (which is what I do).
Click to expand...

+1. I was having wicked smoothness issues in BF3 until I turned up the mouse to the max, turned everything off/down in SetPoint and lowering in game sensitivity.
 
chipachap said:
+1. I was having wicked smoothness issues in BF3 until I turned up the mouse to the max, turned everything off/down in SetPoint and lowering in game sensitivity.
Click to expand...

Mouse drivers are horrible tbh, also with RAW input it doesn't even take drivers into consideration.

I will always advise people to not use mouse drivers UNLESS they had to.
 
I loved my old Razer Copperhead until the left click button became less responsive after about ~4 years of use. I bought the Naga as a replacment as I was mainly playing WoW at the time and sort of regret it for the cost and I don't really make the most of the number pad on the side. Wish I just got another good FPS mouse really.
 
i tried the razer and didnt like it, at all and bought the logitech mx518 best mouse ever for me!!
 
So, bit of an impulse buy, I got the Roccat Kone [+] gaming mouse. I already have a Rat5 and the Razer Naga, both really good gaming mice. Been playing with the Roccat now for a couple of days and it seems really good (with the weights in). Its very customisable and has the ‘Easyshift’ feature so that you can double up buttons. The led lights add a little style to the mouse, the thing I found very good is the TDCU feature, it scans your playing surface and then adjusts the sensor to suit your mat, feels really very responsive.

Don’t know if anyone else uses it, would be interested to hear your views if you do use it..
 
I would say that it makes a large difference. Saying that, I used to use a cheap microsoft wireless keyboard/mouse combo on my laptop. When I got my pc I also bought a Logitech G500. Made such a big difference.

Even at 5400DPI + high sensitivity I can 'snap' onto targets and icons etc.

All personal taste really.
 
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I was thinking of getting a cyborg rat mouse, I was looking at the 3.

I was thinking it would be a cheep and cheerful purchase, well reasonably cheap. Just curious if its a good idea to spend a bit more for the rat 5?

The main thing I'm worrying about is that the rat 3 will not be comfortable as it doesn't have the adjustment stuff. I've read you need a claw grip and I think I'd rather palm the mouse which is what I'm used to.

However if clawing is comfortable I wouldn't mind something new. My parents use my pc so its fairly important its comfortable for them to use and not some odd outlandish shape that they will struggle with.

Thanks
 
Well, I have a Microsoft Mouse and a Logitech gaming mouse on my main machine now... and notice no real difference in game TBH.
 
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