Nocturnal310
Headphoneus Supremus
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Prologue: This is not the final version, need to change somethings....so watch out for updates! , I had posted this on other forums also and thought it might be relevant here too when i noticed some Gaming threads
All you need to know about GAMING mouse
Like high end headphones which we term as 'real headphones'..there is a market for high end mouse also which are called 'gaming mouse'..mainly due to high performance, high built quality and ergonomic designing offering great control, more buttons for utility and overall a better experience..they are used by Gamers who rely a lot on their mouse for controlling the movement of crosshair and need to access several buttons in a second.
Gaming mouse. The in-thing. The thing every Gamer wants these days & every newbie doesn’t fully understand.
I am creating this guide for all new Gamers and those who are looking forward to buy a Gaming Mouse.
I have to mention if you find yourself getting a new mouse every few months because they stop working..then you can also get a gaming mouse.
Gaming is a field which demands exceptionally great products. Although for Casual Gaming you can do away with a $10 optical mouse. But once you reach a certain stage or notice you do lots of gaming or break a mouse every few months like i used to...its time to get a real mouse.
The most important Gaming accessory is a Gaming mouse & hence I‘ll focus on Mouse only.
Q.Why do I need Gaming mouse for Gaming?
This is an interesting question. First things first.You don't 'need' it, its something you 'want' because for basic usage, a regular optical mouse is more for enough, Gaming mouse like high end headphones are performance products.
If you play FPS (First Person Shooter) games only then do you need a Gaming mouse. This is due to the fact that Mouse undergoes maximum wear & tear during this Genre of gaming. I have personally noticed that I used to damage a mouse very 2 months doing tons of Gaming, friction on the desk, overuse of Buttons, moving my arm at high speeds...a regular mouse can take so much.
(for reducing wear & tear damage you can also get a Mouse pad which reduces friction)
& for the Members here who play Counterstrike MODs, including Source. You might understand better what wear & tear I mean.
I’ve personally broken 6 normal mice before I went ahead & decided to buy my Razer Deathadder.
I used to play with a Generic Made in China portable mouse//
But as I entered competitive Gaming & started playing in Clans I realized I need a proper mouse which won’t betray me.
FYI, A Professional Gamer moves his hands at very high speeds of upto 2.5 m/s.
Since Top CS players like f0rest play at Ultra-low sensitivity, the friction & stress a mouse and its sensor undergoes is tremendous for an average $10 mouse.
Checkout some videos of f0rest of fNatic clan HERE
There are different types of players who player at different Sensitivity:
High Sens: Top speed of 0.5 m/s
High sensitivity players don't tend to move the mouse very far when they're playing so they can make do with small mousepads. They have to keep a very firm grip on the mouse because the slightest movement translates to huge swings on the computer screen. High sensitivity players don't need to move their mice very fast.
Low Sens: Top speed of 2 m/s
Low sensitivity players tend to have huge mousepads because every movement is a full sweep of their arm. Many top Counter-Strike professionals use ultra low sensitivity. When they want to turn around 180 degrees it often takes two huge sweeps of their arm, and they need to execute that movement as quickly as possible. Low sensitivity players can hit very fast speeds of up to 2 m/s (78"/s) and sometimes beyond.
Medium Sens: Top speed of 1 m/s
Medium sensitivity players are somewhere in-between, and make up the majority of players. They can play on the standard small pads, but a larger mousepad can make gaming more comfortable. Medium sensitivity players can move the mouse quite fast at times, but not at ridiculous speeds.
There are some players that use even lower sensitivites than mentioned here, for example moving the mouse up to one whole metre (40") to turn 360 degrees. I would consider this quite extreme, but it should be taken into account so that test results go beyond what you might consider fast speeds. (Referenced)
If you haven't figured out what type of Gamer are you then let me help.
Types of Gamers:
1. Casual Gamers: Most of us lie here, we don't play to win, we play to enjoy, the journey is the prize. Casual Gamers also need Gaming mice because their regular mice will need regular replacement as it isn't built to take the heat.
Most of these Gamers play latest Games like Crysis, Bioshock, COD4 etc.
2. Competitive Gamers: These are the ones who have sudden jolts of Competitive primal instincts. One day they are on Couch with chips & the next day they are online with their online opponents PWNING them. They live normal lives but the Animal within comes out at Night. These gamers are nocturnal species who Play to Win at night. During the day they look like Clark Kent (Casuals). Most of these Gamers play games like CS, CZ, CSS, UT series. also HL2 or TF2 for a change.
3.Professional Gamers: Alrite, you ain't one if you are reading this. Professional Gamers already have the best of all accessories. They have companies offering them products. They know the stuff they want. These days they are like David Beckham. They Play, they endorse, they earn. Gaming is their life.
4. Wannabe Gamers a.k.a n00bs a.k.a Addicts!: This is the emerging breed of Gamers who play for Hours for such timepass. They just buy Latest Computer with best GFX to play Counter-strike (lol).
They play a lot, sometimes all night irrelevant of whether they are good or bad they just play for fun, get overexcited then they OWN someone on a server, also skip studies.
You must be familiar with such addicts on World of Warcraft who can play for days.Oh btw.. In Counterstrike some of them are good but they ain't winning Tournaments anytime soon due to lack of skills.
These Gamers call themselves G@M3RS! meaning they have their Cool Nicknames..hence termed 'wannabe'..mainly annoying little kids. (no offense to young members..just my observation)
Hope this helped you classify yourself as a Gamer.
So lets get down to some serious business.
Q. What companies make best Gaming mouse?
The top players in this industry are Razer Inc. , Logitech & Microsoft...some new companies also like Steelseries & Roccat (europe only).
Microsoft often partners with Razer but Microsoft has made their own Gaming Mice too. (Sidewinder).
Other Less popular Companies making Gaming mouse are 'Genius' & ' Wolf King'.
I ll be explaining from scratch. So you can scroll further down if you find the initial stuff little lame.
Firstly, there are 4 Types of Mouse based on the Input technology. I am excluding the Ball mouse as its a dinosaur & can be found in Geek Museums.
1. Optical Mouse.
2. Laser Mouse.
3. Infra-Red Mouse (new). (also known as 3G IR - as marketed by Razer Inc.)
4. Wireless Mouse.
The Optical Mouse is the most popular among Gamers & NOT laser mouse.
This is because Laser mouse has high Lift - Off distance i.e. it tracks the surface even after being lifted above the surface for upto 10 mm.
This is not acceptable during Gaming sessions as when you reach the end of the mouse pad you need to pickup & bring your mouse to the center during which the cross-hair shouldn't move. With laser mouse this ain't possible so
Laser mouse is NOT for Gamers.
Dont fall prey to marketing by Logitech (G9) & Razer (Lachesis).
Laser mouse is Great for Casual Gamers & Graphic designers, Professional Architects. etc. as it offers very high DPI and works on more surfaces. But for Competitive Gaming, Laser sensor has some unresolved issues.
For example: They have a Higher Lift-Off distance, they skip a lot, they have issues with Tracking accurately. Especially if you are a low sensitivity gamer you ll have trouble with them if you move your arm too fast.
They are like Hummer on Formula One Track.
There are other issues also which i ll mention as you read.
The latest technology is 3G IR which is even better than Optical as it has very high precision tracking & doesn't compromise of Lift-Off distance much.
Then there are Wireless mouse. They have Sensors like others but they are Wireless. Which means u have to plug-in a receiver.
Issue with Wireless: Wireless Mouse have a Slower Response Rate, because wireless devices have to do additional processing to decode the input, also distance from the receiver changes every few seconds affecting the time taken for reception of the input. However, with technological improvements this difference is minimize by increasing the Frequency at which they send information. For Example: Logitech G7. This mouse is Wireless but its also the First Wireless Gaming mouse. It has Max. 2000 DPI and a Laser Sensor
Issue with Best Wireless Gaming mice?
Well, it has maximum data rate of 500 reports/second which is HALF of Latest Wired Gaming Mice.
Update: with Release of Razer Mamba this general notion is being changed that Wireless mice aint good enough for Gaming. Checkout at bottom of article for more info. on this mouse
.
Logitech G7: To Buy or Not to Buy?
There are few terms you need to understand when chosing a Gaming mouse.
Perfect Control
When you move your mouse it may result in turning your viewpoint in an FPS game, moving the cursor in an RTS game, or something else like rotating a tank turret. In each case the importance of using a mouse is the proportionate response. If you move the mouse slowly you expect to turn slowly or the cursor to scroll slowly. If you move quickly you want to be turning faster or the cursor to move quickly across the screen. If someone creeps up behind you in a game you want to be able to make a wild flick of the mouse to face your opponent quickly and return fire. The ideal mouse response is a linear one, where moving the mouse twice as fast results in a response of "twice as much". I define Perfect Control as the top speed up to which the mouse performs exactly as it should.
Malfunction Speed
Another important factor in choosing a mouse is the fastest speed you can move before it gives up and decides to fire the next rocket at your feet. I call this the Malfunction Speed, where the mouse loses control and effectively stops working. When you flick your mouse beyond the Malfunction Speed, anything can happen. You may either end up looking in any random direction or just find you haven't turned around at all. All optical and laser mice must have a Malfunction Speed, so we want it to be as high as possible so you don't notice it.
Dots-per-inch (DPI)
With a printer, the DPI (dots per inch) tells you how well the printer can translate information from the computer onto paper. For a mouse, the DPI value tells you how well the mouse can translate your hand movements to the computer. It would seem that a higher DPI would theoretically mean a better mouse? Before you run out to buy the highest DPI mouse we should think carefully about how much DPI is actually useful on a computer that spends most of its time displaying images made up of pixels.(Referenced)
High Sens: 360 degrees in 0.1 m (4"), roughly 1000 DPI needed
Medium Sens: 360 degrees in 0.25 m (10"), roughly 400 DPI needed
Low Sens: 360 degrees in 0.50 m (20"), roughly 200 DPI
But you have to realize that only DPI is not that determines the performance. DPI doesnt even give an estimate which mouse is better for you....similar like Megapixels in Digital cameras...its the sensor which matters more.
Laser mouse often have much higher DPI but they have lower Perfect control & Malfunction speed.
This has been proven in worlds first Mouse Benchmarking 2007 in the ESREALITY article which I ll post as a link. It’s a MUST READ for all Gaming enthusiasts.
Now, that you know that Optical & IR mouse are best for Gaming.
Lets Talk about different Design & which is better for you.
1.Claw Grip Design: This type of design is for players who like to control their mouse with only two fingers. Forefinger & Middle finger. Thus your palm forms a Claw-like Shape when you are using this type of mouse. This design offers a very precise movement & accurate aiming for Gamers.
Example: Razer Krait, Razer Copperhead & Razer Diamondback.
NOTE that if you have a Large Palm like me, you ll find it quite uncoomfortable to play with a Claw Shaped mouse.
2. Palm Grip Design: This is the most common design but is slightly enhanced & contoured for Gaming mice.
For controlling this mouse you place your entire palm on it. Hence its called Palm Design. It is doesnt have a very Precise movement but it is very comfortable for long gaming sessions. I prefer this design as I have large palms.
Example: All Logitech Mice - MX518, MX510, G5, G7, G9, Razer Deathadder, Razer Lachesis.
Q. Which is the best gaming mouse in the world?
-Each mouse differs in design which makes it unusable for everyone..but benchmarking by Sujoy @ ES Reality (a gaming website) has enabled us to decide which mice technically perform better than others I ll mention some popular mice which shine above the others.
>MX518: This is the most popular & perhaps the oldest Gaming mouse. Great for Counterstrike players on a budget. It has On-the-fly DPI adjustment settings (400, 800 & 1600) which let you adjust DPI of the mouse while Gaming. It is easily available in the market & is preferred mainly by Counterstrike 1.6 players. 1600 DPI, & Palm Design. Although there are some issues like Slippery surface (when your palms are sweating), Lack of on-board memory for storing Profile which is crucial in competitions as you don't carry the Driver CD everywhere. It's price is much lower now & it still offers a Gaming Grade performance.
A Must-Buy for Emerging Gamers on a Budget.
There is a newer version of MX518 recently noticed in the market which is 1800 DPI and revamped looks. Its a good buy for MX518 lovers.
And updated Firmware (Vista support) can be downloaded from logitech website.
Bottomline: Its one of the most popular Gaming-grade mouse which oozes Performance. one of the top 3 rankers in the Mouse Benchmarking 2007. For Competitive & Professional Gamers. Casual Gamers might find the Grip slippery after 45mins to 1hr. One of the best Performance-to-price Ratios.
MX518 (comes in 2 versions: 1600 DPI & 1800 DPI):
>Microsoft Intelli 3.0: This is an optical mouse and has a palm grip design. This is an update to the MS intelli 1.1 which as Microsoft's first attempt at Gaming-grade mice, it is a performance mouse with an improved ergonomic design & offers a 9000 frames per second of tracking, but has a low Perfect control. The top speed is 1.92 m/s which is easily reached by low sensitivity gamers but if you play at home mostly, you wont find reaching such speeds easily, especially if you usually move hand at moderate speeds. It's been priced lower than other rivals such as Razer so if you want a mouse for non-competitive online gaming or single -player gaming, it ll perform much better than other standard optical mice out there.
Bottomline: Microsoft's most popular gaming mouse, used by many Counterstrike gamers on a budget. Great for most First-person games like Crysis, Bioshock, Fallout 3 and RPG's such as GTA series.
Low top speed unsuitable for Professional gaming, can cause skipping
also, built quality is inferior when compared to other brands like Razer and Logitech.
MS Intelli 3.0:
> Microsoft SideWinder: This is the Microsoft's flagship gaming Mouse, very popular among Gaming enthusiasts and was once the top gaming mouse in the consumer level gaming, after competition from Razer it kinda subsided in the background, you wont find it popular among Professional and Competitive gamers these days. The design is very sophisticated instead of ergonomic, the edges are kinda rigid. The buttons for several on-the-fly DPI & sensitivty adjustment are big & strategically placed. There's also a small screen to display the DPI.
Overall, this mouse is kinda expensive for the performance it offers. Even after severe competition from Razer they havent launched any update to it. Otherwise it is has great features, looks very flamboyant. If you game at home or in the office it will serve your needs more than enough.
Bottomline: For Casual Gamers with good budget who do lots of Late night Gaming but aren't into Professional or competitive gaming, a luxury product and not really a performer. It will also make a great showpiece on the Desk.
Lamborghini Gallardo of the Gaming mice.
Microsoft Sidewinder:
>Logitech G5: It is a premium 2000 DPI Laser Gaming mouse by Logitech which is in the flagship series consisting of other less popular G-series models. Since launched, it's price has fallen has fallen now & u can buy it for much lower price, Overall, it has been designed along the lines of MX518 which also has a Palm grip design, but G5 uses a Laser sensor and has several more features to justify the price tag. Its a laser mouse (Yes, Laser mice Skip much easily compared to Optical mice), but Laser sensors have a much better range of surface compatibility i.e they work on non-ideal surfaces much better and that is one of advantages if you are a Laptop gamer who can do gaming anywhere in the cafes, airports, college campuses. They have also included a Adjustable weight cartridge, (sounds cool right?) to enable better handling which uses different sets of weights which you can add or remove as needed. Overall its performance is much better than most budget level Optical mice but still isnt used by Low-sensitivity gamers mainly due to presence of a Laser sensor which still doesn't perform better than top of the line optical mice. I would recommend this mouse if you are a serious gamer who does most of the gaming on his/her laptop while on-the-go.
Bottomline: Great Built quality, Suitable for most of the gamers: Casual, Serious, addictive gamers. Performance is moderate for first-person games, Adjustable weight gives you better control of handling.
Logitech G5:
Adjustable Weight Cartridge on G5:
>Razer DeathAdder: This is currently the Top Ranked gaming mouse in the world in terms of Performance, Design and Built quality. It has been technically benchmarked above all Others. See This. It has a phenomenal Tracking speed of of 2.92 m/s which even a low-sensitivity gamer might never reach. It has a 3G IR sensor which offers surface compatibility of laser and tracking speeds of Optical (as claimed by razer and observed by users) , although be careful, looking at IR sensor can damage your eyes., but it works on all surfaces hence it is 'nearly' similar to laser sensor. It has 1800DPI which is more than enough for 19" - 21" or resolutions of 1280X1024 to widescreen of 1280X768. But since its the top performer & latest its also very expensive. So go for this if you got the cash & passion for competitive gaming. I wouldn't recommend this for casual gamers as such a high Perfect Control is never needed. You would rather go for G5 if you don't play CS or CSS.
This mouse is best for CS Mods, CS Source, Call of Duty 4 modern warfare etc. It has a sweat dissipating rubberized skin. So you can play long hours comfortably. I am using this currently.
It DOES have one important feature missing and that is.... It has no On-the-fly DPI adjustment which even the old MX518 has.
Bottomline: For Professional or Competitive gamers who demand the Best performance, For Right handed-gamers only, design is ergonomic, the grip has a rubberised feel which dissipates sweat unlike Logitech MX518 and G5..which become slippery. ALSO has a MAC OSX edition now.
Ferrari F1 of Gaming mice.
Razer Deathadder:
Razer Deathadder GuildWars edition:
Razer Deathadder MAC edition:
>Razer Lachesis : This is the latest mouse from Razer.This has an ultra high 4000 DPI. This has been marketed as a Gaming mouse but its more for Professional designers & It has a very good design. Infact the best design since its a hybrid of Claw + Palm Grip. Its also expensive as its the latest. One of my friend is using it & is very happy with it. He also attracts Attention due to this mouse.
Bottomline: For Enthusiasts who love buying the latest & with best features. It is also a Great performer for Competitive Gamers.
Razer Lachesis:
------------------
>Razer Mamba (Possibly the Worlds Fastest 'Wireless' Gaming Mouse by Razer):
For long time all gamers had become skeptic that there isnt going to be a Wireless mouse with response time as good as Wired mouse and zero lag issues.
finally razer claims they have released a mouse which can prove all skeptics wrong.
Announced at CES 2009, it is a wireless mouse which uses 2.4GHz RF and an integrated battery that offers an impressive 14 hours of non-stop gaming, or 72 hours of 'normal' gaming. It also features DPI and battery life indicators, (feature also found in MS Sidewinder) and a 3.5G Laser sensor which offers an unbelievable 5,600 DPI. This target wouldn't have been possible with Optical sensors which generally have a lower DPI.
All this with a 1000 hz polling rate giving you a 1 ms response time and on-board memory so you can carry your profile settings anywhere without needing to re-install the Driver application.
Now for those who love every feature of mouse except miss the wire they have an option to plug in a 7 foot cable provided. Seems like Razer hasnt left any stone unturned is it?
well, not until you see the price tag of $129, making it the most expensive Gaming mouse out there.
Also, there aint any technical reviews comparing its performance to a wired mouse like Deathadder.
Razer Mamba:
looks a lot like Deathadder doesnt it?
So now we 've reached the End of Article. Hope you enjoyed reading it.
This was a very basic article & it ll give some idea what to look for when chosing a gaming mouse. If you have any enquiry you can post it here. You dont need to create new topics. Thanks!
Comments are welcome & i ll be editing it if there are any mistakes or incomplete information.
-----------------------------
References:
>ESREALITY Mouse Benchmarking Article
> Fnatic Clan
All you need to know about GAMING mouse
Like high end headphones which we term as 'real headphones'..there is a market for high end mouse also which are called 'gaming mouse'..mainly due to high performance, high built quality and ergonomic designing offering great control, more buttons for utility and overall a better experience..they are used by Gamers who rely a lot on their mouse for controlling the movement of crosshair and need to access several buttons in a second.
Gaming mouse. The in-thing. The thing every Gamer wants these days & every newbie doesn’t fully understand.
I am creating this guide for all new Gamers and those who are looking forward to buy a Gaming Mouse.
I have to mention if you find yourself getting a new mouse every few months because they stop working..then you can also get a gaming mouse.
Gaming is a field which demands exceptionally great products. Although for Casual Gaming you can do away with a $10 optical mouse. But once you reach a certain stage or notice you do lots of gaming or break a mouse every few months like i used to...its time to get a real mouse.
The most important Gaming accessory is a Gaming mouse & hence I‘ll focus on Mouse only.
Q.Why do I need Gaming mouse for Gaming?
This is an interesting question. First things first.You don't 'need' it, its something you 'want' because for basic usage, a regular optical mouse is more for enough, Gaming mouse like high end headphones are performance products.
If you play FPS (First Person Shooter) games only then do you need a Gaming mouse. This is due to the fact that Mouse undergoes maximum wear & tear during this Genre of gaming. I have personally noticed that I used to damage a mouse very 2 months doing tons of Gaming, friction on the desk, overuse of Buttons, moving my arm at high speeds...a regular mouse can take so much.
(for reducing wear & tear damage you can also get a Mouse pad which reduces friction)
& for the Members here who play Counterstrike MODs, including Source. You might understand better what wear & tear I mean.
I’ve personally broken 6 normal mice before I went ahead & decided to buy my Razer Deathadder.
I used to play with a Generic Made in China portable mouse//
But as I entered competitive Gaming & started playing in Clans I realized I need a proper mouse which won’t betray me.
FYI, A Professional Gamer moves his hands at very high speeds of upto 2.5 m/s.
Since Top CS players like f0rest play at Ultra-low sensitivity, the friction & stress a mouse and its sensor undergoes is tremendous for an average $10 mouse.
Checkout some videos of f0rest of fNatic clan HERE
There are different types of players who player at different Sensitivity:
High Sens: Top speed of 0.5 m/s
High sensitivity players don't tend to move the mouse very far when they're playing so they can make do with small mousepads. They have to keep a very firm grip on the mouse because the slightest movement translates to huge swings on the computer screen. High sensitivity players don't need to move their mice very fast.
Low Sens: Top speed of 2 m/s
Low sensitivity players tend to have huge mousepads because every movement is a full sweep of their arm. Many top Counter-Strike professionals use ultra low sensitivity. When they want to turn around 180 degrees it often takes two huge sweeps of their arm, and they need to execute that movement as quickly as possible. Low sensitivity players can hit very fast speeds of up to 2 m/s (78"/s) and sometimes beyond.
Medium Sens: Top speed of 1 m/s
Medium sensitivity players are somewhere in-between, and make up the majority of players. They can play on the standard small pads, but a larger mousepad can make gaming more comfortable. Medium sensitivity players can move the mouse quite fast at times, but not at ridiculous speeds.
There are some players that use even lower sensitivites than mentioned here, for example moving the mouse up to one whole metre (40") to turn 360 degrees. I would consider this quite extreme, but it should be taken into account so that test results go beyond what you might consider fast speeds. (Referenced)
If you haven't figured out what type of Gamer are you then let me help.
Types of Gamers:
1. Casual Gamers: Most of us lie here, we don't play to win, we play to enjoy, the journey is the prize. Casual Gamers also need Gaming mice because their regular mice will need regular replacement as it isn't built to take the heat.
Most of these Gamers play latest Games like Crysis, Bioshock, COD4 etc.
2. Competitive Gamers: These are the ones who have sudden jolts of Competitive primal instincts. One day they are on Couch with chips & the next day they are online with their online opponents PWNING them. They live normal lives but the Animal within comes out at Night. These gamers are nocturnal species who Play to Win at night. During the day they look like Clark Kent (Casuals). Most of these Gamers play games like CS, CZ, CSS, UT series. also HL2 or TF2 for a change.
3.Professional Gamers: Alrite, you ain't one if you are reading this. Professional Gamers already have the best of all accessories. They have companies offering them products. They know the stuff they want. These days they are like David Beckham. They Play, they endorse, they earn. Gaming is their life.
4. Wannabe Gamers a.k.a n00bs a.k.a Addicts!: This is the emerging breed of Gamers who play for Hours for such timepass. They just buy Latest Computer with best GFX to play Counter-strike (lol).
They play a lot, sometimes all night irrelevant of whether they are good or bad they just play for fun, get overexcited then they OWN someone on a server, also skip studies.
You must be familiar with such addicts on World of Warcraft who can play for days.Oh btw.. In Counterstrike some of them are good but they ain't winning Tournaments anytime soon due to lack of skills.
These Gamers call themselves G@M3RS! meaning they have their Cool Nicknames..hence termed 'wannabe'..mainly annoying little kids. (no offense to young members..just my observation)
Hope this helped you classify yourself as a Gamer.
So lets get down to some serious business.
Q. What companies make best Gaming mouse?
The top players in this industry are Razer Inc. , Logitech & Microsoft...some new companies also like Steelseries & Roccat (europe only).
Microsoft often partners with Razer but Microsoft has made their own Gaming Mice too. (Sidewinder).
Other Less popular Companies making Gaming mouse are 'Genius' & ' Wolf King'.
I ll be explaining from scratch. So you can scroll further down if you find the initial stuff little lame.
Firstly, there are 4 Types of Mouse based on the Input technology. I am excluding the Ball mouse as its a dinosaur & can be found in Geek Museums.
1. Optical Mouse.
2. Laser Mouse.
3. Infra-Red Mouse (new). (also known as 3G IR - as marketed by Razer Inc.)
4. Wireless Mouse.
The Optical Mouse is the most popular among Gamers & NOT laser mouse.
This is because Laser mouse has high Lift - Off distance i.e. it tracks the surface even after being lifted above the surface for upto 10 mm.
This is not acceptable during Gaming sessions as when you reach the end of the mouse pad you need to pickup & bring your mouse to the center during which the cross-hair shouldn't move. With laser mouse this ain't possible so
Laser mouse is NOT for Gamers.
Dont fall prey to marketing by Logitech (G9) & Razer (Lachesis).
Laser mouse is Great for Casual Gamers & Graphic designers, Professional Architects. etc. as it offers very high DPI and works on more surfaces. But for Competitive Gaming, Laser sensor has some unresolved issues.
For example: They have a Higher Lift-Off distance, they skip a lot, they have issues with Tracking accurately. Especially if you are a low sensitivity gamer you ll have trouble with them if you move your arm too fast.
They are like Hummer on Formula One Track.
There are other issues also which i ll mention as you read.
The latest technology is 3G IR which is even better than Optical as it has very high precision tracking & doesn't compromise of Lift-Off distance much.
Then there are Wireless mouse. They have Sensors like others but they are Wireless. Which means u have to plug-in a receiver.
Issue with Wireless: Wireless Mouse have a Slower Response Rate, because wireless devices have to do additional processing to decode the input, also distance from the receiver changes every few seconds affecting the time taken for reception of the input. However, with technological improvements this difference is minimize by increasing the Frequency at which they send information. For Example: Logitech G7. This mouse is Wireless but its also the First Wireless Gaming mouse. It has Max. 2000 DPI and a Laser Sensor
Issue with Best Wireless Gaming mice?
Well, it has maximum data rate of 500 reports/second which is HALF of Latest Wired Gaming Mice.
Update: with Release of Razer Mamba this general notion is being changed that Wireless mice aint good enough for Gaming. Checkout at bottom of article for more info. on this mouse
.
Logitech G7: To Buy or Not to Buy?
There are few terms you need to understand when chosing a Gaming mouse.
Perfect Control
When you move your mouse it may result in turning your viewpoint in an FPS game, moving the cursor in an RTS game, or something else like rotating a tank turret. In each case the importance of using a mouse is the proportionate response. If you move the mouse slowly you expect to turn slowly or the cursor to scroll slowly. If you move quickly you want to be turning faster or the cursor to move quickly across the screen. If someone creeps up behind you in a game you want to be able to make a wild flick of the mouse to face your opponent quickly and return fire. The ideal mouse response is a linear one, where moving the mouse twice as fast results in a response of "twice as much". I define Perfect Control as the top speed up to which the mouse performs exactly as it should.
Malfunction Speed
Another important factor in choosing a mouse is the fastest speed you can move before it gives up and decides to fire the next rocket at your feet. I call this the Malfunction Speed, where the mouse loses control and effectively stops working. When you flick your mouse beyond the Malfunction Speed, anything can happen. You may either end up looking in any random direction or just find you haven't turned around at all. All optical and laser mice must have a Malfunction Speed, so we want it to be as high as possible so you don't notice it.
Dots-per-inch (DPI)
With a printer, the DPI (dots per inch) tells you how well the printer can translate information from the computer onto paper. For a mouse, the DPI value tells you how well the mouse can translate your hand movements to the computer. It would seem that a higher DPI would theoretically mean a better mouse? Before you run out to buy the highest DPI mouse we should think carefully about how much DPI is actually useful on a computer that spends most of its time displaying images made up of pixels.(Referenced)
High Sens: 360 degrees in 0.1 m (4"), roughly 1000 DPI needed
Medium Sens: 360 degrees in 0.25 m (10"), roughly 400 DPI needed
Low Sens: 360 degrees in 0.50 m (20"), roughly 200 DPI
But you have to realize that only DPI is not that determines the performance. DPI doesnt even give an estimate which mouse is better for you....similar like Megapixels in Digital cameras...its the sensor which matters more.
Laser mouse often have much higher DPI but they have lower Perfect control & Malfunction speed.
This has been proven in worlds first Mouse Benchmarking 2007 in the ESREALITY article which I ll post as a link. It’s a MUST READ for all Gaming enthusiasts.
Now, that you know that Optical & IR mouse are best for Gaming.
Lets Talk about different Design & which is better for you.
1.Claw Grip Design: This type of design is for players who like to control their mouse with only two fingers. Forefinger & Middle finger. Thus your palm forms a Claw-like Shape when you are using this type of mouse. This design offers a very precise movement & accurate aiming for Gamers.
Example: Razer Krait, Razer Copperhead & Razer Diamondback.
NOTE that if you have a Large Palm like me, you ll find it quite uncoomfortable to play with a Claw Shaped mouse.
2. Palm Grip Design: This is the most common design but is slightly enhanced & contoured for Gaming mice.
For controlling this mouse you place your entire palm on it. Hence its called Palm Design. It is doesnt have a very Precise movement but it is very comfortable for long gaming sessions. I prefer this design as I have large palms.
Example: All Logitech Mice - MX518, MX510, G5, G7, G9, Razer Deathadder, Razer Lachesis.
Q. Which is the best gaming mouse in the world?
-Each mouse differs in design which makes it unusable for everyone..but benchmarking by Sujoy @ ES Reality (a gaming website) has enabled us to decide which mice technically perform better than others I ll mention some popular mice which shine above the others.
>MX518: This is the most popular & perhaps the oldest Gaming mouse. Great for Counterstrike players on a budget. It has On-the-fly DPI adjustment settings (400, 800 & 1600) which let you adjust DPI of the mouse while Gaming. It is easily available in the market & is preferred mainly by Counterstrike 1.6 players. 1600 DPI, & Palm Design. Although there are some issues like Slippery surface (when your palms are sweating), Lack of on-board memory for storing Profile which is crucial in competitions as you don't carry the Driver CD everywhere. It's price is much lower now & it still offers a Gaming Grade performance.
A Must-Buy for Emerging Gamers on a Budget.
There is a newer version of MX518 recently noticed in the market which is 1800 DPI and revamped looks. Its a good buy for MX518 lovers.
And updated Firmware (Vista support) can be downloaded from logitech website.
Bottomline: Its one of the most popular Gaming-grade mouse which oozes Performance. one of the top 3 rankers in the Mouse Benchmarking 2007. For Competitive & Professional Gamers. Casual Gamers might find the Grip slippery after 45mins to 1hr. One of the best Performance-to-price Ratios.
MX518 (comes in 2 versions: 1600 DPI & 1800 DPI):
>Microsoft Intelli 3.0: This is an optical mouse and has a palm grip design. This is an update to the MS intelli 1.1 which as Microsoft's first attempt at Gaming-grade mice, it is a performance mouse with an improved ergonomic design & offers a 9000 frames per second of tracking, but has a low Perfect control. The top speed is 1.92 m/s which is easily reached by low sensitivity gamers but if you play at home mostly, you wont find reaching such speeds easily, especially if you usually move hand at moderate speeds. It's been priced lower than other rivals such as Razer so if you want a mouse for non-competitive online gaming or single -player gaming, it ll perform much better than other standard optical mice out there.
Bottomline: Microsoft's most popular gaming mouse, used by many Counterstrike gamers on a budget. Great for most First-person games like Crysis, Bioshock, Fallout 3 and RPG's such as GTA series.
Low top speed unsuitable for Professional gaming, can cause skipping
also, built quality is inferior when compared to other brands like Razer and Logitech.
MS Intelli 3.0:
> Microsoft SideWinder: This is the Microsoft's flagship gaming Mouse, very popular among Gaming enthusiasts and was once the top gaming mouse in the consumer level gaming, after competition from Razer it kinda subsided in the background, you wont find it popular among Professional and Competitive gamers these days. The design is very sophisticated instead of ergonomic, the edges are kinda rigid. The buttons for several on-the-fly DPI & sensitivty adjustment are big & strategically placed. There's also a small screen to display the DPI.
Overall, this mouse is kinda expensive for the performance it offers. Even after severe competition from Razer they havent launched any update to it. Otherwise it is has great features, looks very flamboyant. If you game at home or in the office it will serve your needs more than enough.
Bottomline: For Casual Gamers with good budget who do lots of Late night Gaming but aren't into Professional or competitive gaming, a luxury product and not really a performer. It will also make a great showpiece on the Desk.
Lamborghini Gallardo of the Gaming mice.
Microsoft Sidewinder:
>Logitech G5: It is a premium 2000 DPI Laser Gaming mouse by Logitech which is in the flagship series consisting of other less popular G-series models. Since launched, it's price has fallen has fallen now & u can buy it for much lower price, Overall, it has been designed along the lines of MX518 which also has a Palm grip design, but G5 uses a Laser sensor and has several more features to justify the price tag. Its a laser mouse (Yes, Laser mice Skip much easily compared to Optical mice), but Laser sensors have a much better range of surface compatibility i.e they work on non-ideal surfaces much better and that is one of advantages if you are a Laptop gamer who can do gaming anywhere in the cafes, airports, college campuses. They have also included a Adjustable weight cartridge, (sounds cool right?) to enable better handling which uses different sets of weights which you can add or remove as needed. Overall its performance is much better than most budget level Optical mice but still isnt used by Low-sensitivity gamers mainly due to presence of a Laser sensor which still doesn't perform better than top of the line optical mice. I would recommend this mouse if you are a serious gamer who does most of the gaming on his/her laptop while on-the-go.
Bottomline: Great Built quality, Suitable for most of the gamers: Casual, Serious, addictive gamers. Performance is moderate for first-person games, Adjustable weight gives you better control of handling.
Logitech G5:
Adjustable Weight Cartridge on G5:
>Razer DeathAdder: This is currently the Top Ranked gaming mouse in the world in terms of Performance, Design and Built quality. It has been technically benchmarked above all Others. See This. It has a phenomenal Tracking speed of of 2.92 m/s which even a low-sensitivity gamer might never reach. It has a 3G IR sensor which offers surface compatibility of laser and tracking speeds of Optical (as claimed by razer and observed by users) , although be careful, looking at IR sensor can damage your eyes., but it works on all surfaces hence it is 'nearly' similar to laser sensor. It has 1800DPI which is more than enough for 19" - 21" or resolutions of 1280X1024 to widescreen of 1280X768. But since its the top performer & latest its also very expensive. So go for this if you got the cash & passion for competitive gaming. I wouldn't recommend this for casual gamers as such a high Perfect Control is never needed. You would rather go for G5 if you don't play CS or CSS.
This mouse is best for CS Mods, CS Source, Call of Duty 4 modern warfare etc. It has a sweat dissipating rubberized skin. So you can play long hours comfortably. I am using this currently.
It DOES have one important feature missing and that is.... It has no On-the-fly DPI adjustment which even the old MX518 has.
Bottomline: For Professional or Competitive gamers who demand the Best performance, For Right handed-gamers only, design is ergonomic, the grip has a rubberised feel which dissipates sweat unlike Logitech MX518 and G5..which become slippery. ALSO has a MAC OSX edition now.
Ferrari F1 of Gaming mice.
Razer Deathadder:
Razer Deathadder GuildWars edition:
Razer Deathadder MAC edition:
>Razer Lachesis : This is the latest mouse from Razer.This has an ultra high 4000 DPI. This has been marketed as a Gaming mouse but its more for Professional designers & It has a very good design. Infact the best design since its a hybrid of Claw + Palm Grip. Its also expensive as its the latest. One of my friend is using it & is very happy with it. He also attracts Attention due to this mouse.
Bottomline: For Enthusiasts who love buying the latest & with best features. It is also a Great performer for Competitive Gamers.
Razer Lachesis:
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>Razer Mamba (Possibly the Worlds Fastest 'Wireless' Gaming Mouse by Razer):
For long time all gamers had become skeptic that there isnt going to be a Wireless mouse with response time as good as Wired mouse and zero lag issues.
finally razer claims they have released a mouse which can prove all skeptics wrong.
Announced at CES 2009, it is a wireless mouse which uses 2.4GHz RF and an integrated battery that offers an impressive 14 hours of non-stop gaming, or 72 hours of 'normal' gaming. It also features DPI and battery life indicators, (feature also found in MS Sidewinder) and a 3.5G Laser sensor which offers an unbelievable 5,600 DPI. This target wouldn't have been possible with Optical sensors which generally have a lower DPI.
All this with a 1000 hz polling rate giving you a 1 ms response time and on-board memory so you can carry your profile settings anywhere without needing to re-install the Driver application.
Now for those who love every feature of mouse except miss the wire they have an option to plug in a 7 foot cable provided. Seems like Razer hasnt left any stone unturned is it?
well, not until you see the price tag of $129, making it the most expensive Gaming mouse out there.
Also, there aint any technical reviews comparing its performance to a wired mouse like Deathadder.
Razer Mamba:
looks a lot like Deathadder doesnt it?
So now we 've reached the End of Article. Hope you enjoyed reading it.
This was a very basic article & it ll give some idea what to look for when chosing a gaming mouse. If you have any enquiry you can post it here. You dont need to create new topics. Thanks!
Comments are welcome & i ll be editing it if there are any mistakes or incomplete information.
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References:
>ESREALITY Mouse Benchmarking Article
> Fnatic Clan
