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My Mouse Passed - Help me Replace the Hole in my Heart

AngryGoldfish

As a funny-ish story to explian my unfortunate situation, I was making dinner while listening to loud music through my bookshelf speakers, when suddenly I heard a crash in the other room. Upon investigation, I discovered that the vibrations had forced my mouse off the desk, a mouse I've had for years and love to bits, and broke it. So heavy metal killed my mouse and now I need a new one. That's my anecdote.

 

I have a budget of around £100, but I'm willing to spend more if I need to. My previous mouse, an optical Logitech something-or-other, was wireless, which was a pain in the ass at times, but it's years and years old now and I suspect the technology and performance has improved a lot since then. Either way I'll be happy as long as it performs well. I'll be using it mostly for media and web browsing, but a lot of gaming as well. I predominatly play single player action-adventure games, but I do dabble in multiplayer FPS and the such. Most importantly, I need buttons to raise and lower the volume and mute the audio entirely. A multidirectional scroll wheel is obviously important, and I'd prefer my 'back' and 'forward' buttons to be quite tactile and substantial—I like to know when I'm pressing something, which is the same principle behind a mechanical keyboard, I guess. So to summarise...

 

Budget (roughly): £100/$100/€100

Wired vs Wireless: No preference

Applications: Gaming (action games mostly), media, web-browsing

Buttons: Volume up, down & mute

 

Other than that, I don't know. I'm completely new to the current generation of PC mice. What should I be looking for? Has anything changed in the last ten years? Is my budget realistic? I've seen mice with customizable buttons, what are your opinions on these? What companies should I be looking into besides the obvious Razer and Logitech? Sorry if I've missed anything out. I'm kind of in a hurry since I have no back-up mouse.

 

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i thought you were talking about a REAL mouse....
how about Roccat kone XTD?

When 2 things meet each other, Quantum stuff happens.

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Logitech G400s -> Optical, all keys fully programmable [you can set the DPI switches to be volume]

 

Logitech G700s -> Wireless / laser, 11ish buttons, you'll find plenty to map to Volume up / down. And logitech has the best peripheral software by far. ^^ Should all be easily within your budget.

Frost upon these cigarettes.... lipstick on the window pane...

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Mionix Avior 7000 or Logiteh G400s

Proud Member of the Glorious PC Master Race

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Make sure its optical!

 

My vote goes to the Deathadder 2013

Intel I9-9900k (5Ghz) Asus ROG Maximus XI Formula | Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4-4133mhz | ASUS ROG Strix 2080Ti | EVGA Supernova G2 1050w 80+Gold | Samsung 950 Pro M.2 (512GB) + (1TB) | Full EK custom water loop |IN-WIN S-Frame (No. 263/500)

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Roccat looks physically similar to what I was using before. No option to add a mute button, though. I could live without the mute as I can access it from my keyboard, I would just love to keep it located to my mouse.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far, they all look fantastic and I'll read some reviews on them individually.

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Ahhh

 

i read it as

"my mom passed"

 

anyways RIP :)

If your grave doesn't say "rest in peace" on it You are automatically drafted into the skeleton war.

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I feel like we should really be helping him more understand what to look for in a mouse than just point out something he may necesarily like in the end. Here are some things you should consider:

Grip: Do you put your flat palm on the mouse or do you use just use your finger tips? That means either Palm of Claw grip, and I believe there is another one but I don't know what it's called.

DPI: How sensitive do you want your mouse to be? Do you want to fly across the screen of have a choice to lower it? Most people can't reasonably use 3000 DPI.

Sensor: Linus did an as fast as possible on Lazer Vs Optical, and I really suggest you go check that out. But the basic is with Lazer you will be able to get to much higher DPI ( logitech is working on a 12k DPI mouse ) while Optical is extremely accurate without any mouse acceleration and is preffered when gaming, especially FPS gaming.

Buttons: How many buttons do you need? Do you need 20+ for RPG gaming or are you fine with just 7 for FPS gaming. You can also remap your buttons to do certain actions like *wink* vol. up, vol. down, mute, etc.

Brand: Just like everything you buy, you want your mice to be from a reputable brand with good customer support, and generally good quality. These are the ones I can think of the top of my head:

Corsair, Cooler Master, Steelseries, Roccat, Razer, Mad Catz, and there are plenty more. Just ask around.

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You're 100% right, I do need help understanding the current market and the technical differences between mice, but it is always helpful to be recommended perennial favourites that people would suggest to someone in my situation. Once I'm given a variety of different potentials, I can do my own research on their individual characterstics and the technology they use. But to answer your questions:

Grip: I use a flat palm grip for the most part, but I do dabble it claw grip. I have averages-sized hands and fingers.

 

DPI: Albeit I may not have the experience of others, I personally feel that the variances in sensitivity usually is something you can get used to if given enough time and practise. However, I don't like to fly across the screen, no. I tend to be more of a fan of slow, pin-point accuracy and usually don't crank the settings up in Windows or the mice software. I am an average FPS player, in that I can play well enough in Counter Strike, but certainly a way off from the best. I do like a nippy mouse, but not 'flying' or anything like that. A balanced cursor, with a slight edge towards speed, is usually what I would go for. But again, with the patience you can reteach yourself to master almost any parameters.

 

Sensor: I've just realised my Logitech is actually a lazer mouse, so maybe I should stick to what I'm used to? Based on Linus' video, it seems that the opinions are quite diverging. It would be interesting to try both varieties out myself and see which one I prefer or perform better with, but I can't afford that right now. I might go optical this time, I'm not sure. I'll have to do some reading on it.

 

Buttons: I don't play many RPG games, and don't need endless programmable buttons. Razer has a mouse with a bunch of buttons on the side and that doesn't really interest me. I just don't game enough to warrant that. I think 7-10 buttons will be fine.

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So the Roccat Kone XTD seemed perfect until I found out that the back button isn't a back button and can only be used as a 'Shift' function. I thought maybe I could set up a web-browsing and file explorer profile that turned off the 'Shift' function and returned it to the normal back button, which is essential for me, but you can't. The 'Shift' key remains shift. I read on here that someone bound the EasyShift button to the Backspace key on the keyboard, thus retrofitting it as a back button. It seemed perfect other than that. I don't think it's right for me any more.

 

Also, I'm still kind of at a loss as to whether I want optical or lazer. Some people say "whatever you do get an optical mouse", yet lazer mice like the Roccat are getting amazing reviews from everyone. Confused.

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Also, I'm still kind of at a loss as to whether I want optical or lazer. Some people say "whatever you do get an optical mouse", yet lazer mice like the Roccat are getting amazing reviews from everyone. Confused.

Majority of consumers are misinformed and just assume laser is better because its newer tech. Manufacturers also market the high DPI of laser sensors as indicator of quality, which it is not. So, a lot of people get fooled by the marketing hype. I was one of those until I did some research on mice sensors.

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I understand that, but until I do my own research regarding the genuine reasons why optical is superior to lazer—which I'm doing now—I don't believe people are enjoying lazer mice simply because they feel the technology is better or more up to date; they are enjoying the mice because they are very good irrespective of what technology is under the hood. I'm a guitarist, and I'm more passionate about it than I am computer technology and gaming, and in that 'realm' there are tube vs solid state wars waging all the time. Traditionalists, who we could compare optical users to, which I am one of, abide by the vacuum tube philosophy. Although solid state and digital technology has come along leaps and bounds in the last ten years, I am still loyal to valve technology, and for personal, subjective yet valid reason. However, just because I prefer tube amplifiers does not mean that digital and solid state amplifiers are not great as well. In a really roundabout way, that's my point. And it's also my question: Is lazer technology really inferior to optical, or is it just another version of the same principle and end goal?

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I understand that, but until I do my own research regarding the genuine reasons why optical is superior to lazer—which I'm doing now—I don't believe people are enjoying lazer mice simply because they feel the technology is better or more up to date; they are enjoying the mice because they are very good irrespective of what technology is under the hood. I'm a guitarist, and I'm more passionate about it than I am computer technology and gaming, and in that 'realm' there are tube vs solid state wars waging all the time. Traditionalists, who we could compare optical users to, which I am one of, abide by the vacuum tube philosophy. Although solid state and digital technology has come along leaps and bounds in the last ten years, I am still loyal to valve technology, and for personal, subjective yet valid reason. However, just because I prefer tube amplifiers does not mean that digital and solid state amplifiers are not great as well. In a really roundabout way, that's my point. And it's also my question: Is lazer technology really inferior to optical, or is it just another version of the same principle and end goal?

It really depends on what is the most important aspect of a mouse for you. If you want the best possible performance, go for a flawless optical sensor. If you want an MMO mouse with a ton of buttons then you're screwed and have to sacrifice the flawless sensor for a flawed one. That doesn't mean it is unusable, though. Some time some feature like a screen under the mouse is only available in a mouse with a laser sensor, so if you had to have that specific feature, then you once again had to sacrifice the sensor quality for it. Some people might not even notice a difference between different sensors. Some simply don't care. In a perfect world everyone would do their research and map out what they actually want out of a mouse and buy based on those criteria. Unfortunately majority of the buyers just buy the one with highest DPI number and cooler sounding LASER on the box.

 

There are some exceptions, of course. Philips Twin-Eye laser sensors have a flawless tracking but suffer from another flaw: the cursors moves a bit when lifted. This is known as the Z-axis bug. The new G502 from Logitech uses a laser sensor and boasts to be flawless, but we will have to wait for reviews and tests for now.

 

As for the mice you listed, G602 (AM010) and Naos 3200 (A3060) use an optical sensor that have not been proven flawless, while the others have what is considered a flawless sensor (A3090 or PMW3310H, or a modified version of the two). Some people also report PMW3310H based mice to have anti-jitter smoothing that is not present in the A3090 mice. M45 and Naos 7000 use PMW3310H, while Pure Optical uses A3090 and G400s uses S3095. There is also the question of software implementation and build quality.

 

I have Naos 7000 myself, and it is my current favorite mouse. Awesome shape, great sensor (PMW3310H) and solid feeling. It is not perfect, though. I had a SteelSeries Rival (PMW3310H) before it which was lighter (which I preferred) and the buttons felt much better on the Rival too. On the Naos 7000 the buttons feel a bit... loose, I guess. However, what made me switch from the Rival was the shape of the mouse. The Rival just never felt right. I also had M40 (older M45, with A0390 instead of the newer PMW3310H) which had a great shape but not as great as Naos 7000. The M40 also felt a bit fatiguing to use. The buttons I felt required a bit too much force to use. The M40's weight screws also were really badly attached to mouse and one of them broke off after just a few weeks. Not an issue if you prefer lighter mice like I do, of course.

 

Logitech G602 is what I would consider the king of the gaming mice currently. Ergonomic shape, okay sensor, insane battery life, some extra buttons and compared to competition, very cheap. If you want wireless, this would be the mouse to go for.

On Naos 3200 vs 7000, the 7000 has a better sensor, but also costs more. I really like the Naos shape, so Naos 7000 would be my choice.

I can never really not recommend G400s. It's a solid mouse with a great sensor. The shape just isn't for me.

Kone Pure Optical, haven't heard much about it. I once owned the original Kone. It had great shape but the sensor (laser in that one) was crap. So I would imagine the Optical version with it's better sensor would be quite awesome.

M45, another mouse with a great shape and a great sensor, just not as comfortable as Naos 7000, at least for me.

 

To rank them from my own perspective (looking at ergonomics AND the quality of the sensor): Naos 7000 > M45 > Kone Pure Optical > G400s > G602 > Naos 3200.

 

Sorry for the wall of text. I'm a bit of mouse enthusiast. :P

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A wall of text is beautiful site, so thank you kindly, sir. xD

 

I also just discovered the PMW3310H in a different Mionix mouse with two extra buttons, the Avior 7000. It's a bit more than I wanted to pay at €80, but it seems to fit the bill. It's basically the ambidextrous version of the Naos you own, which originally drew me in because of the very ergonomic and large shell, but I'm further drawn to the Avior for the two additional programmable buttons.

 

I'm currently borrowing a Logitech mouse I bought for my mum last year for around £45. It's a lazer mouse and I don't like it. The shape is way too small and my accuracy is poor. I can't comfortably palm-grip it, or with the in between claw and palm grip where you use the flats of your fingers, which might be the technique I use the most. To be honest, I never thought about what technique I employed until now. What I've theorized is that I utilize all three variations of the technique depending on the position of my body in relation to the desk and mouse, what game I'm playing, and even what website I'm on, and I do subconsciously. I'm finding a consistent claw grip to be uncomfortable after a couple of hours, which is the only fitting one with this Logitech, while with my old Logitech I could use all three techniques when one became uncomfortable. I must have switched techniques without thinking, something I can't do any more. Overall I feel A LOT less accurate with it, but that could be because I was so used to the old sensor, which I discovered was the Logitech MX 610 by doing some Googling (the text has worn off from underneath the unit). I loved that mouse, even though some probably hated it for gaming. :P

 

So the reason why I'm drawn to the Mionix Avior and Naos is the shell dimensions and size. It's basically exactly what my MX 610 was. The only thing that concerns me is the right-side buttons getting in the way. I do really want them for the additional control, but I worry that they'd be annoying or I'd accidentally depress them and change something. I can of course disable them, but they'd still be there and I wonder whether that would annoy. So I'm torn between the Naos 7000 probably being more comfortable and out of the way, but losing out on the extra two controls; or going with the Avior and benefiting from additional buttons, with the potential that those buttons are annoying as fuck. Ha!

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