The List is Here for those who don't want to read it all and would just like to see the list and it's respective prices.
First off this guide started off as a price point list to try and lower the amount of "spec me a mouse for £XX " because buying a mouse is a preferential thing and whilst we can all give our opinions on which mouse is the best, we aren't you, we don't have your hand, or your play style.
What happened however as I began putting this together explaining a few simple differences in grip style. I’ve learned rather a lot about mice and discovered there were many differences even I have been a bit ignorant of. So having beat out some of the jargon I’ve put this simple article together featuring the core details that will hopefully allow you to make a more informed decision on the mouse you purchase.
Note If there are any mistakes please let me know or even additions I’m happy to amend and discuss and always willing to learn from people who may be more informed on some of this than I am.
So before I start listing mice and their respective price points a few things to cover:-
Grip style for most of us this isn't an issue as the average user uses the Palm grip style but there are other types of grip. Fingertip and Claw. I won’t discuss the benefits of each grip type as I don’t know them I am a palm grip user.
Palm Grip:-
This is as I've previously said the most common grip type. With the whole palm and fingers being in contact with the surface of the mouse. These mice have a high arch and ergonomic design to allow for a comfortable hold and the middle and index finger to be in complete contact with the top of the mouse.
Claw Grip:-
Called as such because the user will arch his hand into a claw the main difference between the claw grip and the palm grip is that the finger tips and the pit of the hand that come into contact with the mouse. A suitable mouse for this style of grip will have a high lipped edges and a profile so the
mouse can be manipulated without accidently hitting the side buttons.
Some mice that suit Claw style grip here
Fingertip Grip:-
A deviation of the claw grip where only the fingertips come into contact with the mouse and is generally suited to smaller low profile mice.
Wired or Wireless:
As the technology gets better the differences between the two are dropping. A wireless gaming mouse is deemed to respond slower as it has to do an extra thing to get the data to the computer. Often wireless mice of the past would use lower powered laser engines which are inferior to optical ones. Finally the big killer Battery power. This is all changing as technology advances as long as you remember to charge the mouse you shouldn't have any problem with the battery running out on you and many mice now come with additional wired cable for those longer gaming sessions which may run the mouse battery down. Although the Wireless mice that compete with the wired ones at the high level are often quite pricey.
Polling rate:
The Polling rate matters, it's how often the mouse is communicating with the computer 125hz is 125 times a second which is 8ms 1000hz is 1000 times a second which is 1ms We know it's mattered because back in the day people used to overclock their intelli mouse 3.0 to get a better polling rate out of it to improve its performance. After using a 1000 Hz mouse for a period of time you will notice the drop back to a 125 Hz polling rate mouse just as you would notice the drop from 120 Hz back down to 60/65 Hz on a monitor.
Laser vs Optical:-
A Laser or a LED light up a small surface a little camera takes pictures of the surfaces which is illuminated by a light source and compares them to determine the tracking. Laser mice on the whole track better on hard mouse mats than on fabric ones and optical the other way round.
This is not really a debate I want to have as Laser technology has improved and the difference is marginal as many people in this section of the forum will tell you when they claim their mouse is the best and you will find many prefer laser and many prefer optical.
Higher DPI mice tend to be more suited to laser sensors and lower sense gaming tends to favour optical sensors. This comes about with things like lift off something you are much more likely to do at lower sense than higher sense. Some lasers will track the mouse’s movement even after it has been lifted off the mouse mat although as previously stated this difference isn't as large as it used to be.
A new Doppler shift sensor detects the different wavelength of the reflected laser beam something I would imagine we will see more of in the future only a few mice at the moment are using this sensor.
DPI or Dots Per Inch
The number of dots per inch that can be counted or in simpler terms the sensitivity of your mouse. A misconception that has been used by Manufacturers for a while to sell their mice is that DPI = Accuracy it doesn't. A great example is the Microsoft Intelli mouse with 400 DPI Widely used by gamers in the competitive CSS and CS1.6 scene for years even after much higher DPI mice came to light. So if it's not accuracy what is it? It is exactly what it says the number of dots it can count per inch moved. at 6200 DPI you would have to move your mouse considerably less at default windows settings to cover the screen.
So what DPI is right for you a simple way to look at it for FPS gaming is how much you want to move your mouse to turn a full 360 degrees.
Take the normal resolution used today 1920 * 1080
1920 * 4 = 7680 pixels
High sensitivity mouse movement of say 0.1m or 4" for a full 360 = 1920 DPI
Medium sensitivity mouse movement of say 0.25m or 10" for a full 360 = 768 DPI
Low Sensitivity mouse movement of say 0.5m or 20" for full 360 = 384 DPI
Ultimately it boils down to how you set your game up. and how you play. Back on the old mouse ball days My sensitivity in CSS was 20 when I bought my first laser mouse with 4800 DPI or something ridiculous I lowered my in game sensitivity to 1.5 and used approx 1600 DPI as I got more into CSS I lowered it even more and now use around 0.7 in game sensitivity with Windows pointer speed at 6/11 (1) and a DPI of 1200 (I think).
Windows Mouse pointer speed options::-
Here is the list of the pointer speed settings in windows which also effect your mouse movement.
1. 0.03125
2. 0.0625
3. 0.25
4. 0.5
5. 0.75
6. 1.
7. 1.5
8. 2.
9. 2.5
10. 3.
11. 3.5
Most people use 6/11(1) but you could if you liked double your DPI and use 3/11 (0.25) and not notice much difference. So there's far too much to think about in my opinion and these 8000 + DPI mice are insane. Even on 4K resolution you would need a max of 4000 dpi for high sensitivity gaming at normal windows mouse speeds. But if you use lower mouse pointer settings you can justify using a crazy high dpi whether it will have a positive or negative effect on your game only you will know.
Mouse Prediction or Angle Snapping:
This is a feature where the mouse uses an algorithm to attempt to try and predict the mouse’s movement. In the picture below you will see some red and blue lines. The blue were done with a mouse that doesn't have prediction and in the Red are a mouse using prediction.
I've done it so the top line was quickly the second was average and the third was slow.
As you can see the red lines are almost perfectly straight which is bad if you are trying to track a head on Call of duty or Counterstrike but obviously not as bad in an RTS or RPG MOBA style game like DOTA 2 and League of Legends.
Thanks so Woll3 a user on Overclock.net and other members of that forum. Here is a known list of mice with prediction than can be turned off or ships with it off at default.
If you are unsure though you can just open paint and flick the mouse across the page quickly if it's straight you have prediction enabled.
Angle Snapping and Mice with Prediction
CMStorm Spawn Can switch ON or OFF in driver.
CMStorm Recon Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Logitech G400 Shipped with Angle Snapping ON. Ships with Angle Snapping OFF after PID 13333. Rare to find one with Angle snapping ON as of 7/28/2012
MadCatz R.A.T. 3 Ships With Angle Snapping OFF
Razer Abyssus Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Razer Deathadder 3G Shipped with Angle Snapping ON. Can disable or enable via firmware flash. Latest versions: 1.39 (OFF) and 1.40 (ON)
Razer Deathadder 3.5G Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Razer Deathadder 4G Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Roccat Savu Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Zowie EC eVo Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Zowie AM Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Acceleration:
Assuming most of you have disabled acceleration in windows as it is a modification where the mouse cursor speeds up as the mouse is moved more. Something largely gamers will not want.
That said Many mice come with wild claims of acceleration of 50g that is 500 meters per second something that you will most likely never need (or be able to read as accurate) and thus it is a pointless marketing gimmick.
First off this guide started off as a price point list to try and lower the amount of "spec me a mouse for £XX " because buying a mouse is a preferential thing and whilst we can all give our opinions on which mouse is the best, we aren't you, we don't have your hand, or your play style.
What happened however as I began putting this together explaining a few simple differences in grip style. I’ve learned rather a lot about mice and discovered there were many differences even I have been a bit ignorant of. So having beat out some of the jargon I’ve put this simple article together featuring the core details that will hopefully allow you to make a more informed decision on the mouse you purchase.
Note If there are any mistakes please let me know or even additions I’m happy to amend and discuss and always willing to learn from people who may be more informed on some of this than I am.
So before I start listing mice and their respective price points a few things to cover:-
Grip style for most of us this isn't an issue as the average user uses the Palm grip style but there are other types of grip. Fingertip and Claw. I won’t discuss the benefits of each grip type as I don’t know them I am a palm grip user.
Palm Grip:-
This is as I've previously said the most common grip type. With the whole palm and fingers being in contact with the surface of the mouse. These mice have a high arch and ergonomic design to allow for a comfortable hold and the middle and index finger to be in complete contact with the top of the mouse.
Claw Grip:-
Called as such because the user will arch his hand into a claw the main difference between the claw grip and the palm grip is that the finger tips and the pit of the hand that come into contact with the mouse. A suitable mouse for this style of grip will have a high lipped edges and a profile so the
mouse can be manipulated without accidently hitting the side buttons.
Some mice that suit Claw style grip here
Fingertip Grip:-
A deviation of the claw grip where only the fingertips come into contact with the mouse and is generally suited to smaller low profile mice.
Wired or Wireless:
As the technology gets better the differences between the two are dropping. A wireless gaming mouse is deemed to respond slower as it has to do an extra thing to get the data to the computer. Often wireless mice of the past would use lower powered laser engines which are inferior to optical ones. Finally the big killer Battery power. This is all changing as technology advances as long as you remember to charge the mouse you shouldn't have any problem with the battery running out on you and many mice now come with additional wired cable for those longer gaming sessions which may run the mouse battery down. Although the Wireless mice that compete with the wired ones at the high level are often quite pricey.
Polling rate:
The Polling rate matters, it's how often the mouse is communicating with the computer 125hz is 125 times a second which is 8ms 1000hz is 1000 times a second which is 1ms We know it's mattered because back in the day people used to overclock their intelli mouse 3.0 to get a better polling rate out of it to improve its performance. After using a 1000 Hz mouse for a period of time you will notice the drop back to a 125 Hz polling rate mouse just as you would notice the drop from 120 Hz back down to 60/65 Hz on a monitor.
Laser vs Optical:-
A Laser or a LED light up a small surface a little camera takes pictures of the surfaces which is illuminated by a light source and compares them to determine the tracking. Laser mice on the whole track better on hard mouse mats than on fabric ones and optical the other way round.
This is not really a debate I want to have as Laser technology has improved and the difference is marginal as many people in this section of the forum will tell you when they claim their mouse is the best and you will find many prefer laser and many prefer optical.
Higher DPI mice tend to be more suited to laser sensors and lower sense gaming tends to favour optical sensors. This comes about with things like lift off something you are much more likely to do at lower sense than higher sense. Some lasers will track the mouse’s movement even after it has been lifted off the mouse mat although as previously stated this difference isn't as large as it used to be.
A new Doppler shift sensor detects the different wavelength of the reflected laser beam something I would imagine we will see more of in the future only a few mice at the moment are using this sensor.
DPI or Dots Per Inch
The number of dots per inch that can be counted or in simpler terms the sensitivity of your mouse. A misconception that has been used by Manufacturers for a while to sell their mice is that DPI = Accuracy it doesn't. A great example is the Microsoft Intelli mouse with 400 DPI Widely used by gamers in the competitive CSS and CS1.6 scene for years even after much higher DPI mice came to light. So if it's not accuracy what is it? It is exactly what it says the number of dots it can count per inch moved. at 6200 DPI you would have to move your mouse considerably less at default windows settings to cover the screen.
So what DPI is right for you a simple way to look at it for FPS gaming is how much you want to move your mouse to turn a full 360 degrees.
Take the normal resolution used today 1920 * 1080
1920 * 4 = 7680 pixels
High sensitivity mouse movement of say 0.1m or 4" for a full 360 = 1920 DPI
Medium sensitivity mouse movement of say 0.25m or 10" for a full 360 = 768 DPI
Low Sensitivity mouse movement of say 0.5m or 20" for full 360 = 384 DPI
Ultimately it boils down to how you set your game up. and how you play. Back on the old mouse ball days My sensitivity in CSS was 20 when I bought my first laser mouse with 4800 DPI or something ridiculous I lowered my in game sensitivity to 1.5 and used approx 1600 DPI as I got more into CSS I lowered it even more and now use around 0.7 in game sensitivity with Windows pointer speed at 6/11 (1) and a DPI of 1200 (I think).
Windows Mouse pointer speed options::-
Here is the list of the pointer speed settings in windows which also effect your mouse movement.
1. 0.03125
2. 0.0625
3. 0.25
4. 0.5
5. 0.75
6. 1.
7. 1.5
8. 2.
9. 2.5
10. 3.
11. 3.5
Most people use 6/11(1) but you could if you liked double your DPI and use 3/11 (0.25) and not notice much difference. So there's far too much to think about in my opinion and these 8000 + DPI mice are insane. Even on 4K resolution you would need a max of 4000 dpi for high sensitivity gaming at normal windows mouse speeds. But if you use lower mouse pointer settings you can justify using a crazy high dpi whether it will have a positive or negative effect on your game only you will know.
Mouse Prediction or Angle Snapping:
This is a feature where the mouse uses an algorithm to attempt to try and predict the mouse’s movement. In the picture below you will see some red and blue lines. The blue were done with a mouse that doesn't have prediction and in the Red are a mouse using prediction.
I've done it so the top line was quickly the second was average and the third was slow.
As you can see the red lines are almost perfectly straight which is bad if you are trying to track a head on Call of duty or Counterstrike but obviously not as bad in an RTS or RPG MOBA style game like DOTA 2 and League of Legends.
Thanks so Woll3 a user on Overclock.net and other members of that forum. Here is a known list of mice with prediction than can be turned off or ships with it off at default.
If you are unsure though you can just open paint and flick the mouse across the page quickly if it's straight you have prediction enabled.
Angle Snapping and Mice with Prediction
CMStorm Spawn Can switch ON or OFF in driver.
CMStorm Recon Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Logitech G400 Shipped with Angle Snapping ON. Ships with Angle Snapping OFF after PID 13333. Rare to find one with Angle snapping ON as of 7/28/2012
MadCatz R.A.T. 3 Ships With Angle Snapping OFF
Razer Abyssus Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Razer Deathadder 3G Shipped with Angle Snapping ON. Can disable or enable via firmware flash. Latest versions: 1.39 (OFF) and 1.40 (ON)
Razer Deathadder 3.5G Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Razer Deathadder 4G Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Roccat Savu Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Zowie EC eVo Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Zowie AM Ships with Angle Snapping OFF
Acceleration:
Assuming most of you have disabled acceleration in windows as it is a modification where the mouse cursor speeds up as the mouse is moved more. Something largely gamers will not want.
That said Many mice come with wild claims of acceleration of 50g that is 500 meters per second something that you will most likely never need (or be able to read as accurate) and thus it is a pointless marketing gimmick.
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