The Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse. Wireless. amazon
Xah Lee, 2009-12-18
Spend few hours looking at gaming mouse today. Here are some thoughts.
Microsoft sells several mouses. You can have a look at their current mouse and keyboard here: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/default.mspx. There is a section just for gaming mouses.
Even if you are not a gamer, a gaming mouse provides multiple reprogramable buttons and that is a productivity gain. Generally speaking, it has more advanced technology than a non-gaming mouse.
The gaming mouse from Microsoft:
The Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse. Wireless. amazon
The Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse, with its recharger.
All these mouses has at least 5 programable buttons, 1 scroll wheel, and 3 instant-change-dpi buttons.
The X8 is wireless, all the others are wired. The wireless of X8 is actually quite advanced. It has a built-in rechargeable battery, so you don't need buy batteries or change them. And it can be plugged into the mouse, so while it is recharging, you use the mouse as wired one. It also features a new “BlueTrack” technology, but i'm not sure if it really does track better in human detectable way.
The middle 3 red buttons let you change dpi by a single press. They light up. The top button is 2000 dpi, the middle 800, the bottom 400.
Changing dpi is a great feature. For gaming, you want fast action, for example when turning, but when you are aiming at a far target, you want less sensitivity for precision aiming. This applies for non-gaming work as well, such as working in 3D modlers.
All are shaped for the right hand, except the X3, which is symmetric.
Other reviews of the X8: Source, Source .
Microsoft Sidewinder X3. amazon image source
I bought the Sindewinder X3, on discount, for $20 at a local Fry's Electronics. It is fantastic. The flat cylinder shaped scroll wheel is great, because it is easier to push as a actual button too. (Most other mouse's wheel is tube shaped and hard to press.) I choose this model because this is the smallest among them, and i have small hands. Also, this is the only among them that is symmetric for either hand. I always use 2 mouses, one for each hand. But i'm buying this mouse for my left hand, and in combat, i use left hand for mousing. Also, this is the lightest among them. I prefer mouse as light as possible. Those gaming mouses that comes with attachable weights seem ridiculous to me. Another great feature about this mouse, or perhaps the whole series, is that it is shaped so it is easy to grab it. You want it to be easily grabable for quick lifting, sometimes needed. Many mouses come in some oval shape that's comparably less easily grabable.
One thing curious is that the laser at the bottom does not glow. In all optical mouses i've used, they glow a red glow. And if you lift the mouse, after few secs they'll start to flash. On the X3, there's no light on the laser. (if you peek into the lens carefully, you can however see red light inside.) I find this no-glow interesting and welcome.
A interesting mouse i noticed is the “Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse”. ($80) This mouse has 17 buttons!
At first i thought this would be the most stupid mouse. I thought that, some geek thought more button is better, so idiotically jam'd the mouse with cellphone number keys. The result would be very painful to use. However, from reading amazon.com's reviews, apparently it is usable.
Thinking about it for a while, i think this could be actually a very good mouse. The buttons probably can be operated by touch without sight easily for at least half of the number buttons.
Here's the worst news: these number keys are not reprogramable. That means, they either function as the number key row on your keyboard or the number keys on your keyboard's number pad! What a loser.
If you are a programer, you could program the number keys using AutoHotkey, however, that still effects the keys on your keyboard.
This bad news effectively make this mouse worth much less.
I haven't tried any Logitech mouses. No particular reason, just that i've always been happy with Microsoft's keyboard and mouse. The current available gaming mouses are:
One annoying thing is that most spec don't say their size. Here's some info gathered from a amazon reviewer “Lakemechanic”:
V220 - 8.8 cm long V320 - 9.8 cm V450 - 10.5 cm L6, L7, L8, MX400, & MX Revolution - 12.3 cm LX7 - 12cmx 5cm x 2.5cm (long x wide x high) MX518-12.5 cm MX620 - 12.8 cm G5 - 12.5 cm G9 - 10.5 cm Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse - 11.2cm x 5.1cm x 4.2cm Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 - 12.4cm x 6.7cm x 4.2cm Razer DeathAdder - 12.6cm x 6.9cm x 4.5 cm
Wikipedia article Mouse (computing) has quite a lot juice on mouse.
Recently also looked at webcams.
The best one from Microsoft is the Cinema one. I think i'll have that.
