Most important features in a mouse

Mercutio

Mercutio

Mercutio

Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2003
Posts
5,129
Location
Sheffield, UK
I'm... considering a bit of tinkering on the rodent front. Have a few ideas where I'd like to take things but rather curious what others thoughts might be on what makes a "good mouse".

Amazing sensor aside (I'd be prototyping it with a very "hacked together" setup with whatever shell fits best and the sensor it comes with but with a plan to eventually throw a top end sensor at it.

Thought on mine at the moment is adjusting the size in ones hand (with a view to better suiting claw or palm grip folks) and a... few other bits I'll keep a little closer to chest.
I'm planning to keep it as light as humanly possible as weight = inertia = inaccuracy (in my mind). Appreciate some prefer a heavier mouse (seems a bit odd) so I'm sure I can find space somewhere for it to be loaded down for those that prefer.

So... anyone who cares to reply, what's considered "vital" features on a mouse in your eyes? ("good", "useful" etc would be nice to hear. It's all very individual but... it might well spawn a useful idea/direction).

Mine:
Light
Lots of well placed buttons
 
Sensors are all much of a muchness, IMO, especially these days.
Some people are fussy over whereabouts in the mouse it is, but I've never found it made a difference. Same for the weight - A heavier mouse is my preferred, but dinky little micro-weights don't change much for me.

DPI is another thing - 16,000dpi is obviously good, because it's a bigger number than 8,000, innit, noooooob!!!
And yet, even on 1440p, I don't use anything higher that 3,500dpi. I claw the mouse and need less than 2" of movement to carry my pointer across the full width of my screen.


Obviously I use the mouse for all things, not just twitch-shooter gaming, so I look for more functional features...

Size - I have very large hands and prefer a wide mouse. CM Storm Inferno, Logi G700S, Steelseries WoW v1 sorts of things.

Buttons - Lots!! Three down the outside of each main button, four or six under the thumb, a coupe of dorsal ones, a couple for the 3rd finger... So many options and so rarely utilised.

Resistance - Too many mice are too lightweight on the main buttons. If I so much as rest a finger on them, they click under that weight, leading to all manner of accidents or finger strain from having to keep fingers hovering over the top. They should require a good amount of force to actuate, same as most HOTASes.

5-way scroll - forward, backward, tilt L&R and press. Should be mandatory nowadays. Scroll clutches are useful, too.

Profiles, on board memory, indicator lights. All useful.

Wired/wireless option an especial favourite on the G700. It just needed braided cable to complete everything.

Interchangable/adjustable points.... Usually a weak pont, unfortunately, especially with Madcatz mice. I wouldn't mind swappable panels, as too many mice have an thumb indent which I find quite painful at times.

RGB - Kinda have to, these days, I suppose.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Sensors are all much of a muchness, IMO, especially these days.
Some people are fussy over whereabouts in the mouse it is, but I've never found it made a difference. Same for the weight - A heavier mouse is my preferred, but dinky little micro-weights don't change much for me.

DPI is another thing - 16,000dpi is obviously good, because it's a bigger number than 8,000, innit, noooooob!!!
And yet, even on 1440p, I don't use anything higher that 3,500dpi. I claw the mouse and need less than 2" of movement to carry my pointer across the full width of my screen.


Obviously I use the mouse for all things, not just twitch-shooter gaming, so I look for more functional features...

Size - I have very large hands and prefer a wide mouse. CM Storm Inferno, Logi G700S, Steelseries WoW v1 sorts of things.

Buttons - Lots!! Three down the outside of each main button, four or six under the thumb, a coupe of dorsal ones, a couple for the 3rd finger... So many options and so rarely utilised.

Resistance - Too many mice are too lightweight on the main buttons. If I so much as rest a finger on them, they click under that weight, leading to all manner of accidents or finger strain from having to keep fingers hovering over the top. They should require a good amount of force to actuate, same as most HOTASes.

5-way scroll - forward, backward, tilt L&R and press. Should be mandatory nowadays. Scroll clutches are useful, too.

Profiles, on board memory, indicator lights. All useful.

Wired/wireless option an especial favourite on the G700. It just needed braided cable to complete everything.

Interchangable/adjustable points.... Usually a weak pont, unfortunately, especially with Madcatz mice. I wouldn't mind swappable panels, as too many mice have an thumb indent which I find quite painful at times.

RGB - Kinda have to, these days, I suppose.
Click to expand...

I generally relate sensors with DPI? There's a difference? :D

Width, with what I have in mind, wouldn't be a problem. I've got a couple of ideas on the button front too (without resorting to "deep click" type non-sense) totally agree there's a load of good button ideas that just need pulling together. I'm a current G700s owner too and also have a lot of love for SOME of the design ideas in the wow mice (mostly the extra left/right). I may just steal those directly rather than re-inventing the wheel (was thinking perhaps fingertip/stretch left+right). I can never get on with the tilt switch on scroll-wheels but if I can engineer it in easy enough, it'll be present.
Got other plans on axis design :D ;)

My basic approach is going to involve essentially "re-skinning" an existing mouse (desolder microswitches, wire them so I can move then around/etc, steal the button moulds from other mice and re-home them, that sort of thing. A little 3d printing if needed but the mk1 is going be a complete Frankenstein effort) so I may well pick on a gX03 as my start point. Considering dropping an arduino pro-micro in the casing somewhere to handle button input for-now, re-engineering the sensor control into arduino requires all sorts of v-usb knowledge I just don't have so that part, some other rodent will be doing the heavy lifting, with basically another USB controller grafted over the top :D. It'll be interesting for sure, I can see me running out of space real quick though.

I do have an old Razer/MS Habu I was looking at too (removable side panels ;) ) but I think it's using rather too much space for the mounting mechanism to be useful.

Weight is going to be a problem I think. I _prefer_ to keep weight down and have some space to load it up with more, if wanted (suits everyone). I've been a wireless user for ages too (apart from the wow mice which managed to weigh heavy anyway) so I'm perhaps going to find light a bit weird too. Does seem to be where the FPS crowd are for better accuracy (less inertia to be corrected for).
 
Last edited:
Mercutio said:
I generally relate sensors with DPI? There's a difference? :D
Click to expand...
Choice of DPI is just how fast the cursor moves, based on your input. A gentle 1" mouse movement at 2,000dpi might move it 6" on screen, while the same movement at 16,000dpi will send it flying.
The sensor is about how accurate the movement is. Lasers have mouse acceleration built in which you cannot disable. Optical sensors will let you disable it, but they also can't do the higher DPIs. However, unless you're a pixel-precision professional FPS gamer, you probably won't notice it in the first place unless your mouse has a really crap sensor.

More here:
https://www.maketecheasier.com/mouse-buying-guide/

Mercutio said:
totally agree there's a load of good button ideas that just need pulling together.
Click to expand...
I keep thinking I might get a Roccat Tyon, for that reason.

Mercutio said:
I'm a current G700s owner too and also have a lot of love for SOME of the design ideas in the wow mice (mostly the extra left/right). I may just steal those directly rather than re-inventing the wheel (was thinking perhaps fingertip/stretch left+right).
Click to expand...
There's easily loads of room down the right side for another three buttons, plus another one or two in front of the scroll. Could have a panel directly in front with 2-4 more and a 3rd finger option as well.

Mercutio said:
I can never get on with the tilt switch on scroll-wheels but if I can engineer it in easy enough, it'll be present.
Click to expand...
I mainly use mine for dpi levels, but done with enough resistance it can be very usable.

I'll happily volunteer to test and offer findings, reviews, opinions...
 
I'll keep in mind the testing offer. It's all a long way off yet and I don't think the mk1 will really be worth much external testing. Just... putting out feelers for what folks want/look for/ideas. Fair point on the DPI/Sensor, I'll have to see what I end up "borrowing".
 
ttaskmaster said:
Sensors are all much of a muchness, IMO, especially these days.
Click to expand...

Not sure I'd agree on that - I've found very varied quality in how well they respond to being lifted and placed back down, linearity and/or some just feel erratic/inconsistent or overly smoothed (i.e. as a way to filter errors), some feel like you are hitting an artificial limitation at times while others quite organic despite sometimes having identical on paper stats and so on as well as the whole acceleration thing which can be quite subtle on some sensors but still noticeable even when they supposedly don't have it, etc.
 
Rroff said:
Not sure I'd agree on that
Click to expand...
I did say IMO and quantified that with the sentence that followed. :D

I've had long chats with people over the sort of descriptions you've just given, before trying their mouse and finding it worked perfectly fine... in my opinion of it. The one at the minute is over the G700S and simply whereabouts within the mouse the sensor actually is - I love it and can use it just fine, while "Mr FPS" among my friends argues that it's too far forward for accurate movement... or something along those lines. I can't see/feel what he's talking about, so I just carry on using mine in happiness.

TL, DR: YMMV, YEMD, etc... :D
 
Position of the sensor itself has never bothered me personally - would need to be at the extremes of the mouse before that was an issue for me heh.

I really notice quite small differences though in the actual sensor - especially ones where their "fix" for erraticism in the input is to simply smooth the input.
 
Which mice do we generally consider to have a "good" sensor + logic? If there's a model someone can suggest that's pretty cheap (the cheaper the better really - I'm just cannibalizing parts) that has a good sensor without smoothing/inertia/etc it'll help me know what to track down.
 
I've bought an awful lot of mice over the last few years in my search for my perfect mouse.

Lack of decent mechanical buttons in the right position in a wireless mouse are what I'm still looking for. Below are just a few of the mice I've bought in recent years and in what way I feel them lacking.

G502 - my current mouse, great in every way but I wish it was wireless.
G900 - ambidextrous design not comfortable, not enough buttons. 2 to the left of left main button and a normal right handed design would make this the perfect mouse for me.
Rival 500 - Great number of left side buttons but the end 2 are placed too far forward for my grip.
G700 and G602 - spongy non mech side buttons are rubbish.
Spatha - too big and heavy, non mech side buttons.
 
Aberfala said:
I've bought an awful lot of mice over the last few years in my search for my perfect mouse.

Lack of decent mechanical buttons in the right position in a wireless mouse are what I'm still looking for. Below are just a few of the mice I've bought in recent years and in what way I feel them lacking.

G502 - my current mouse, great in every way but I wish it was wireless.
G900 - ambidextrous design not comfortable, not enough buttons. 2 to the left of left main button and a normal right handed design would make this the perfect mouse for me.
Rival 500 - Great number of left side buttons but the end 2 are placed too far forward for my grip.
G700 and G602 - spongy non mech side buttons are rubbish.
Spatha - too big and heavy, non mech side buttons.
Click to expand...

Well after having a Roccat Leadr for just over 2 weeks now I can say I think I've finally found my perfect mouse :)

It's comfortable to use for long periods, it's wireless and has plenty of decent buttons that are all within easy reach with my grip so hits all the asks I stated above.

My only concern now is what will I do when it packs and they've stopped making them, I may need to buy a spare just in case. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom