Toby

I seem to remember this has been coming for a while. Hopefully Stratiform still works/will be made to work.

The list of features you posted is probably the worst example out there, simply because Razer likes to take things that are standard/basic and then dress them up in fancy names to try and turn them into selling points. As mentioned before, this is down to the sensor. If the sensor is good, then you're good on these. It's very unusual for a proper gaming mouse to have less than 1000Hz polling rate. There are rare exceptions as with the Logitech G602 (and presumably the G100s), though I couldn't say whether you'd notice or perform worse at 250hz than 1k, because the issue comes up so rarely, but chances are it won't even be an issue. I guess I'd suggest getting 1000Hz where possible, which will probably be most of the time. As optical sensors go, you're correct that it depends on the model, but any recent, decent gaming mouse with an optical sensor will in all probability be using one of those models. Again, it's a case of looking up the sensor a mouse uses and then looking up whether that sensor is "perfect" or "flawless" (so for Mionix, figure out what sensor the Naos 7000 has and then try and find out how that sensor performs. If the sensor performs well, then the mouse should too). Edit: You're probably going to need to look further than the specs on a product page to judge how good a mouse is. Mionix obviously aren't going to criticize their own mice on their website. Overclock.net is probably your best bet on finding valid opinions on specific mice, if you can't find info here.

If you're solely looking at Mionix, then it's a choice between the Avior 7000 and Naos 7000. The sensor is everything when it comes to specs. The sensor dictates acceleration, lag, jitter, prediction etc. It's very unusual these days for anything but the sensor to introduce any performance issues that can't be turned off. If the sensor's good and it has two mouse buttons and a scroll wheel, that's all you need. Beyond that, it's purely down to personal preference as to what you want in terms of fluff (DPI buttons, side-buttons, macros etc.) What I will say is that you absolutely don't need a DPI-drop or "sniper" button (though I don't think they exist on Mionix mice).

I'd forgotten about the lower polling rate on the G602. Is the malfunction speed realistically reachable, though?

Better than what? The G602? Not necessarily. You straight-up shouldn't be using more than 2500DPI (possible exceptions being 4k/8k monitors or multi-monitor setups) and I'm not aware of either sensor having flaws, so they should be equally as good. If you want wireless capability and more side buttons, probably look to the G602. If you'd rather have wired/not have to worry about batteries, don't mind losing some side-buttons and like the hyper-scroll wheel, wait for the G502.

For those games would you want the M45 or the G400s. Both the M65 and G500s hold the position of being more expensive models with more features, but worse sensors (fine for non-FPS, inferior for FPS). With that budget there's really very little limit to what you could get. Again, keeping in mind the games you play... Logitech G400s Logitech G502 (you'll have to wait a bit for this one in the UK) Logitech G602 Razer Deathadder Roccat Kone Pure Optical Roccat Savu Mionix Naos 7000 Mionix Avior 7000 CM Storm Recon Zowie AM Zowie FG Zowie EC1 Evo CL (or non-CL, whichever) Steelseries Rival That just about covers the best mice you're going to find for shooters.

Is it normal for so much feedback to consist of "no longer a registered user"? One of the feedback comments mentioned a 2 month wait for delivery, so be prepared for that.

False, true, true, true, hugely false. I'm pleased to see the move to optical more than anyone and while the feature set of optical mice is growing to the point that there's very little reason left to "settle" for a laser mouse (which are objectively worse, performance-wise), to say laser mice are unusable/suck is pretty much just plain wrong. Most people (not all) can't even feel the difference between laser and optical mice (which isn't to say it doesn't impact their performance) and any decent laser mouse will be perfectly adequate for gaming. Being worse doesn't automatically mean terrible.

Awesome. Thank you. <3

That typeface...Still with that bloody typeface. Is there/when can we expect an EU/UK ISO variant?

It's pretty typical for fingertip grippers to use small mice, to avoid the rest of their hand getting in the way of the range of movement. With your implication of using a bigger mouse with a hand that "lays naturally", I can't quite picture what you're suggesting that wouldn't equate to a palm grip or drastically reduce the range of motion...

Imported from S Korea, courtesy of eBay.

Razer Krait 2013. If only it were a bit wider and had side-buttons, it'd be perfect.

Ducky Shine 2 TKL, Shine 3 TKL and Zero Shine TKL Deck Francium/Francium Pro CM Storm Quickfire TK/Quickfire Rapid-i KBT Race (sort of) Max Blackbird

Let me guess. You searched google images for something like "black widow tournament edition backlit" and found this picture, checking neither the source nor comparing it to other pictures of the actual Black Widow Tournament edition?

Don't pay too much attention to the price of mice. Once you hit the $40-$50 mark, any correlation between price and quality breaks down completely. Logitech G400s Logitech G502 Logitech G602 Razer Deathadder Those are the best performing mice where Razer and Logitech are concerned. The question is whether any of them have all the features you're looking for. They're just inferior to optical mice, precision-wise. Nothing major (usually), but as the selection of optical mice grows, there's less and less reason to opt for a laser.

The only reason to go for the M65 over the M45 is for cosmetic reasons, otherwise the M45 is superior (for reasons already mentioned). "Sniper" buttons shouldn't be helpful unless your DPI's too high or the game's badly designed. For what reasons?

I wish Deck would stop plaguing their keyboards with that terrible typeface.

Can't you get a replacement from Mionix rather than the vendor?

Mechanical keyboards: Ergonomics/typing speed is true to a point, but it's primarily enjoyment. It's the difference between driving a second-hand scrapheap that's been mistreated and a Rolls Royce Phantom. They're both limited by the speed limit and they'll both get you where you want to go, but you'll enjoy it more with the Phantom. The ride will be smoother and you won't need to worry as much about it suddenly breaking down. Gaming mice: A little more can be said about performance benefits with a gaming mouse - if you buy the right one. Again though, this is more about reassurance. Knowing that any time you miss a shot, it's not because your mouse sensor drifted a few more pixels than it should have and that it's solely down to your own error.

Well he couldn't very well have the alphabet as his name with less than 26 letters, could he?

You ignored the best post so far... ...the type of games you play are important to the mouse you get. Also, do you want to retain 3 side-buttons, or would you be happy with 2 (which expands your choices significantly)? Maybe more than 3 this time?

In what sense?

Any evidence that kailh switches are - in practice - worse, aside from the one picture of a broken yellow switch?