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Gaming mice
I'm looking for a gaming mouse and I'm not knowledgeable about what sorts of options I have available. Price isn't a matter as long as it's nothing crazy like 300 dollars. What does everyone here use and recommend?
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It's small and has two big buttons. Nothing fancy, just two buttons and a wheel. It's reasonably precise, though I can't say too much about that since I'm not that good at FPSs. It doesn't "lag" like some of the mice my friends use, and it's precise enough for the stuff I do which sometimes requires hitting individual pixels on the screen, even if I turn the sensitivity way up. The wheel doesn't roll too easily, and snaps tightly into each stop - a good thing if you're still switching weapons with the wheel or do other input actions with it that require you to do a certain number of clicks (I mean up or down, not the wheel button) with the wheel. When you click the middle button, the wheel never accidentally turns up or down, unlike on other mice I tried. It requires a bit more effort than most other mice if you want to use the wheel to quickly scroll up and down through web pages or something though.
There's one problem with it: It doesn't work on my desk, which has a white shiny surface. On other desks with darker surfaces it works fine. I don't know if that's a problem with all infrared mice or just with this one. I put it on a mouse pad which cost as much as the mouse itself (Razer eXactMat).
I never used a "high quality" mouse on a bare desk. I just had no mouse pad back then because I had used a trackball before, but when I wanted to play some FPSs, I noticed how slow I was with that thing, so I went and got a mouse.
The only mouse I use on bare desks is my cheap laptop mouse, and that one's going to break anyway from being carried around in my bag all the time, so I don't care much about wearing it out.
Using a trackball is fine if your screen is smaller than 19" and you don't have to make quick and far movements. Quick movements over short distances are fine, but if you have to go to the other end of the screen with your cursor, it's going to take a while. And no, flicking the ball and then catching it is no option because the cursor will end up anywhere but where you want it to be. Maybe you can develop some special technique, but it's not worth it. Just use a mouse.
There are several other mice in the Steelseres Xai price range that are much easier to use and equivalent quality. Logitech G9x/Alienware TactX (same mouse) or the Razer Lachesis are both fine. If you want the best bang for your buck and still have programmable buttons the Razor DeathAdder is probably the way to go. If you want something bare bones but quality you can pick up the Steelseries Kinzu for $20. If you do not plan on using more then left and right click along with the scroll wheel it will be perfect for you.
Really you should go to a few stores and man handle every single mouse they have until you find something that feels right in your hand.
Over the Xai, it's got an attachable wider grip (Important for my huge hands.) and I can rely on Logitech to make decent driver software, also -on offer- it's cheaper. The Xai has a higher DPI (5000 vs 3200) but +1200 should be enough of an improvement to last for at least a year.
Correction: Amazon speaks lies, the G9x goes up to 5000DPI as well.
G9x is a damn fine mouse. I had the weights in it to begin with but I've slowly been increasing sensitivity and reducing the weights as I get used to it.
Scroll click is hard to press but that's more than made up for by smooth scroll (That shit is the bomb.).
Perhaps I'll get it, then buy L4D2, so I can play with my podcast brothers.