After 10 years, it's time for a mouse upgrade... Recommendations?

[YoungBlade]

My current mouse is the Anker Precision Gaming Mouse 2000 DPI circa 2013. I have been using it just fine for the last decade, but I feel like it's time to upgrade.

Spoiler

2013 called and it wants its aesthetic back...

 

The use case is mixed, both work and gaming. The main games I play are a mix of single player adventure, competitive shooters, simulation, and RTS games. They include Control, Halo Infinite, Fortnite, Death Stranding, Tomb Raider, Riftbreaker, AoE II, old Batman Arkham games, KSP, and sometime down the road, Alan Wake II. My main monitor is a Gigabyte M27Q 1440p 170Hz display. My gaming PC specs are a Ryzen 9 5900X, 48GB DDR4-3333, and an RTX 2060 Super.

 

My preference is for a wired mouse. Yes, I know a wireless mouse is highly recommended for gaming, but the wire on my mouse has never bothered me. I do not want to deal with batteries at all. I do not want to deal with Bluetooth connectivity at all, not only is Bluetooth not as reliable in my experience, I use a KVM to go between two computers, so a USB connection is needed.

 

If the recommended mouse is wireless, it needs to use a USB connector, it needs to be rechargeable, and it needs to be able to work when charging. But honestly, wired is preferred.

 

My budget is $50. I'm not looking to become an eSports professional, and I'm not a peripheral snob by any stretch of the imagination, so I don't feel I should go above that. I also don't care about RGB at all - the thing is going to be covered up by my hand when I'm using it, and my palm doesn't have eyes. Although I'm not trying to actively avoid RGB, as I can presumably shut it off.

 

The two mice I've been looking at are on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of size - the Logitech G203 and EVGA X20. The G203 is highly recommended, much lighter, and from my understanding, it's a superior gaming mouse for competitive shooters. The X20 is much closer in size and weight to my current mouse, and has more features in terms of programmable buttons. And I am certainly open to looking for new options, hence the post here.

 

Thoughts?

[SimplyChunk]

G305/304.  Cheap, reliable, runs on a AA battery (which lasts for months at a time.)  I've used three of them so far at this point and they're great

 

Just get a 4 pack of AA rechargeables then you can charge while you use 

 

@Skyesgaming is a G305 convert.  She'll tell you

[YoungBlade]

Just now, SimplyChunk said:

G305/304.  Cheap, reliable, runs on a AA battery (which lasts for months at a time.)  I've used three of them so far at this point and they're great

I will not use a mouse that requires external batteries. I did that for years when I had a laptop, and no matter how long the battery lasts, having to find a battery when I'm in the middle of something is unacceptable to me.

 

I mentioned in the OP that I don't want to deal with batteries.

[SimplyChunk]

2 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

I will not use a mouse that requires external batteries. I did that for years when I had a laptop, and no matter how long the battery lasts, having to find a battery when I'm in the middle of something is unacceptable to me.

 

I mentioned in the OP that I don't want to deal with batteries.

Your loss..  For your 50 bucks..it's unbeatable

Edited November 28, 2023 by SimplyChunk
added reasoning

[flibberdipper]

Honestly, the lil G203 is a fantastic mouse and they can be found for dirt cheap. I picked two up (one for a secondary PC, one to replace my G Pro Wireless with a flaky side button), and even though I absolutely despise wired mice I love the idiots. They're pretty light, and the fact that the cable is just a plain ol' rubber dealio means there isn't that godawful braided shit weighing it down and catching on shit.

[YoungBlade]

11 minutes ago, SimplyChunk said:

Your loss..  For your 50 bucks..it's unbeatable

What makes the G305 so superior to any wired mouse that it's worth potentially ruining a match in Halo Infinite or losing a late game fight in Fortnite because I need to spend a minute replacing the battery?

 

I don't get to game that often, so while the odds of that happening are relatively low, it would be pretty frustrating to me. I partly gave up on wireless mice after I actually cost my team a game of LoL because I had to go find batteries.

[flibberdipper]

11 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

What makes the G305 so superior to any wired mouse that it's worth potentially ruining a match in Halo Infinite or losing a late game fight in Fortnite because I need to spend a minute replacing the battery?

 

I don't get to game that often, so while the odds of that happening are relatively low, it would be pretty frustrating to me. I partly gave up on wireless mice after I actually cost my team a game of LoL because I had to go find batteries.

So uhhhh I also happen to own a G305 K/DA that I use with my Mac Mini (and an MX Master 3S for my laptop, but we don't care about that mouse right now), and they're fine.

 

Battery life is decent, performance and tracking are good, and they're comfortable. However, my lord are they ass heavy. I'm typically not too picky with my peripherals; you could hand me a modern Dell mouse + chiclet-style keyboard and I'd honestly be happy, but the one thing I do like are lighter mice (or if it's a heavier mouse at least make it pretty balanced like the MXM3S). But the G305... Lordy they have some ASS. I've only used mine with Duracell Optimum's and not something like an Energizer Ultimate Lithium to save a few grams, but man... On the odd occasion I game with it, it does take a bit for my idiot brain to "recalibrate."

[SimplyChunk]

59 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

What makes the G305 so superior to any wired mouse that it's worth potentially ruining a match in Halo Infinite or losing a late game fight in Fortnite because I need to spend a minute replacing the battery?

Because you won't.  Install GHub (if you need to) set the DPi button to show you your battery level when it's pressed, set the DPi to 1600 (where mine is) or 2000 where yours was.  Commit it all to the onboard memory. Uninstall GHub (if you want to)  Never worry about your battery level again.  When you press the button the little light will show Green for good batt, Orange for normal batt or Red for replace batt.

[YoungBlade]

11 minutes ago, SimplyChunk said:

Because you won't.  Install GHub (if you need to) set the DPi button to show you your battery level when it's pressed, set the DPi to 1600 (where mine is) or 2000 where yours was.  Commit it all to the onboard memory. Uninstall GHub (if you want to)  Never worry about your battery level again.  When you press the button the little light will show Green for good batt, Orange for normal batt or Red for replace batt.

My previous wireless battery also had a button to press to show the charge. I just didn't use it often enough.

 

What makes the G305 special? Why is it worth the effort over just plugging in my mouse and never needing to think about this again?

[Blue4130]

55 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

My previous wireless battery also had a button to press to show the charge. I just didn't use it often enough.

 

What makes the G305 special? Why is it worth the effort over just plugging in my mouse and never needing to think about this again?

In my opinion, swappable batteries Trump lithium ion just for the fact that lithium ion batteries degrade. Finding AA batteries is easier than trying to find a replacement Li-ion and swapping it in two years down the road.

 

I use a g603 and you don't even need to press the button to see when the battery is nearing death. The led turns red when it's time to switch, when it turns red I know I have a few hours. More than long enough to finish my game before switching.

[SimplyChunk]

2 hours ago, YoungBlade said:

What makes the G305 special?

they're often on sale on amazon for around 25-30 bucks.  The swappable batteries.  Endless colour options these days too.

[Doobeedoo]

A ton of wireless mice on the market now with good prices and are USB rechargable also 2.4GHz wireless. Some offer extra dongle for fast switching between two PCs so maybe KVM scenarion could also be applied. Some do cost more though so depends what you value more.

[Geneleco]

If you are willing to extend your budget a bit, i would look at the Vaxee outset ax (or XE), or zowie ec2-c. Both are very high quality mice, with a focus on build quality and simplicity. Neither have any boated software, all settings can be changed on the mouse. I would be worried with either the logitech or the evga they might not last 10 years like your last mouse. Within your budget, the ROCCAT Kone Pro or Burst Pro (and their wireless varients) are on sale and good value now. There is also ofc the classic logitech g502, which you should be able to find within your budget.

[YoungBlade]

59 minutes ago, Geneleco said:

If you are willing to extend your budget a bit, i would look at the Vaxee outset ax (or XE), or zowie ec2-c. Both are very high quality mice, with a focus on build quality and simplicity. Neither have any boated software, all settings can be changed on the mouse. I would be worried with either the logitech or the evga they might not last 10 years like your last mouse. Within your budget, the ROCCAT Kone Pro or Burst Pro (and their wireless varients) are on sale and good value now. There is also ofc the classic logitech g502, which you should be able to find within your budget.

Thank you for actually showing me some wired options! I will look deeper into those recommendations when I get more time.

 

Honestly, the fact that this mouse has made it 10 years without one of the switches dying or the sensor having any problems is pretty remarkable. The Q.C. Passed sticker on the bottom (which is still there) apparently meant something with this one. I don't think any mouse I've ever owned has lasted that long, and I don't expect its replacement to, either.

 

And it wasn't like I mostly left it in the garage and only drove it to the grocery store and church on the weekends. I probably used it at least an average of 6 hours a day over the course of its life, between gaming, work, and hobbies, which means it could have around 25,000 hours of actual usage on it by this point. And with the exception of some minor wear on the left click button - purely cosmetic wear - it works as well as the day I got it. So say what you will about its weight or aesthetic; it's been quite a reliable work horse.

 

So if my next mouse only makes it 5 years or so, that's not going to be a disappointment to me. And if it somehow makes it 10 years, I'll just be pleasantly surprised once more.

[YoungBlade]

On 11/29/2023 at 4:12 PM, Geneleco said:

If you are willing to extend your budget a bit, i would look at the Vaxee outset ax (or XE), or zowie ec2-c. Both are very high quality mice, with a focus on build quality and simplicity. Neither have any boated software, all settings can be changed on the mouse. I would be worried with either the logitech or the evga they might not last 10 years like your last mouse. Within your budget, the ROCCAT Kone Pro or Burst Pro (and their wireless varients) are on sale and good value now. There is also ofc the classic logitech g502, which you should be able to find within your budget.

Looking at these, the ROCCAT Kone Pro looks like a great option at its currently reduced price of $20. Apparently, it used to be much more expensive - the Tom's Hardware review recommended the then cheaper DeathAdder V2 Pro, which actually made me laugh, as while the wired version of the DeathAdder does seem like it would be an ideal mouse for me, it currently costs almost 5x as much. If the DeathAdder was under $50 like it evidently was back then, I probably wouldn't have even made this post.

 

The main complaints seem to be about the quality of the plastic and the feel of the scroll wheel (which is apparently aluminum). We'll see how it handles when I get it next week.

 

Thank you again for the recommendations! They were very helpful and actually in line with what I stated in the OP.

[Geneleco]

19 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

Looking at these, the ROCCAT Kone Pro looks like a great option at its currently reduced price of $20. Apparently, it used to be much more expensive - the Tom's Hardware review recommended the then cheaper DeathAdder V2 Pro, which actually made me laugh, as while the wired version of the DeathAdder does seem like it would be an ideal mouse for me, it currently costs almost 5x as much. If the DeathAdder was under $50 like it evidently was back then, I probably wouldn't have even made this post.

 

The main complaints seem to be about the quality of the plastic and the feel of the scroll wheel (which is apparently aluminum). We'll see how it handles when I get it next week.

 

Thank you again for the recommendations! They were very helpful and actually in line with what I stated in the OP.

I personally really liked the kone pro (air) scroll wheel, imo best ive used. There was a issue with the scroll encoder, if you have a blue scroll encoder you might have a problem, but the newer batches have a white encoder which should be fine.

[YoungBlade]

On 12/1/2023 at 10:00 AM, Geneleco said:

I personally really liked the kone pro (air) scroll wheel, imo best ive used. There was a issue with the scroll encoder, if you have a blue scroll encoder you might have a problem, but the newer batches have a white encoder which should be fine.

I've been using the Kone Pro for a bit over a month now.

 

There was no real "wow" moment for me, which was a bit disappointing. It certainly is way lighter than my previous mouse, but that hasn't seemed to help much for competitive games. My attempts in Aim Labs, for example, were no better with either the new or the old mouse, when switching back and forth between them. Unlike with a high refresh rate monitor, I'm not seeing the appeal of a light mouse for gaming. Maybe I'm not hard core enough in my FPS gaming for it to matter, but going to 170Hz was a noticeable and measurable improvement over 60Hz, so I know the components I use can matter.

 

The plastic doesn't exactly feel cheap, but I don't really care for the feel on my fingers. It's clear that they have a good manufacturing process for it to be thin, but durable. However, I can understand based on how light it is why people might think it's cheap plastic. There's really not any "rattle" to the components when I shake the mouse, which would be expected if they were cheaping out on manufacturing and had loose tolerances.

 

The size is great for my hand - very similar to my previous mouse, but a bit more ergonomic. And the scroll wheel feels good. It's not obvious that it's aluminum, so I think the Amazon reviewers were wrong about that, or there's been a change since it first came out. It seems plastic to me.

 

The software for it is decent and easy to figure out. It saves settings to the mouse, so I only had to install the software on one computer to configure it. I use a KVM setup for work, so I use the same mouse and keyboard for both work and gaming.

 

On the whole, I'm satisfied with the purchase. I was expecting more - something that would make me feel like I'd been missing out on something after all these years, but in the end, I just got a new mouse that might be a bit easier on my wrist than the old one since it's lighter. Which isn't a bad thing, and I'm not going to be switching back. The old one will just be a spare.

[Geneleco]

On 1/15/2024 at 5:38 PM, YoungBlade said:

There was no real "wow" moment for me, which was a bit disappointing. It certainly is way lighter than my previous mouse, but that hasn't seemed to help much for competitive games. My attempts in Aim Labs, for example, were no better with either the new or the old mouse, when switching back and forth between them. Unlike with a high refresh rate monitor, I'm not seeing the appeal of a light mouse for gaming. Maybe I'm not hard core enough in my FPS gaming for it to matter, but going to 170Hz was a noticeable and measurable improvement over 60Hz, so I know the components I use can matter.

Yeah you might not have a wow moment, i normally dont with my new mice (i collect alot), but i normally find out which mice i like the most with how much more consistent i am day to day. I can play pretty well with any decent gaming mouse, but with a great mouse, i can play well consistently for many hours.