Introduction
The right gaming mouse could be the difference between winning and losing. Your gaming mouse could make your gaming experience much more exciting. The real challenge comes with choosing the right one for you from the vast product range on the market. That’s not all; understanding the complex technical language used to describe these mice and how they translate to a great gaming experience might be challenging.
As you head on to the market to choose your new gaming mouse, there are some features and technical terms you might want to consider. We’ll also share information on how these features translate to better gaming experience and some recommendations if you’re having trouble deciding.
So Which Gaming Mouse is Right for Me?
To choose the right gaming mouse for you, you have to check out the mouse features such as DPI, poll rate, wired/wireless, tracking speed, etc. The best gaming mouse for you doesn’t have to be the most expensive or have the most features. You need to consider which games you want to play with the mouse and which features would let you play them smoothly.
For instance, World of Warcraft and other MMO games would need a gaming mouse with multiple programmable buttons that let you set up macros. If you’re getting a gaming mouse for First Person Shooter games, a six-button mouse might do the trick. Your PC will also come into play. While a high poll rate on your mice might be excellent for eliminating lag, if you have an older PC with lower capacity, thus frequent reports could cause your computer to glitch.
How to Choose Right Gaming Mouse….
Step 1: Check The Features
To choose the right gaming mouse for you, you might need to have a firm grasp of their unique features. You would also need to find out how these features could relate to your gaming needs. Technically, you could play your games on your PC with a regular mouse. However, there are specific gaming mouse features that make them better for gaming than ordinary mice.
The tedious task of choosing a gaming mouse might involve hours of research into the brands offering the best mouse features and customer satisfaction.
Step 2: Determine the DPI You Want
Dot per inch (DPI) measures the mouse’s sensitivity. Count per inch (CPI) is also another term for DPI. This unit measures the movement of your cursor per inch mouse movement.
Why is this important for gaming? Higher DPI means your mouse is more sensitive and would move across the screen. However, a lower DPI equates to more precise movements, so small mouse movements won’t register on the screen.
Top gaming mice come with a DPI button that lets you alter their sensitivities to suit the game you’re playing. So, you can switch easily to a lower DPI for precise headshots or tone it up for quick reflex moves.
A high DPI isn’t suitable only for quick moves; you would appreciate this if you’re using a higher definition screen. For instance, you would observe more movement on your screen per inch mouse movement on a full HD screen instead of a 4k screen.
Here are the available specifications:
- Maximum: 20000 DPI
- Minimum: 50 DPI
You don’t have to get the full specifications available just because you can. Here’s no perfect DPI number for each game, and it all boils down to what setting you’re most comfortable with.
Here’s a quick tip if you’re struggling with DPI numbers:
For those that want to take the shortcut and just get a good mouse, my friend who competitively plays Fortnite uses the Razer Firefly V2 Gaming Mousepad + DeathAdder V2 Gaming Mouse Bundle from Amazon if you’d like a high DPI mouse. It has a DPI rating of 20000 and comes with an optimized gaming surface.
Step 3: Determine if You Want a High Poll Rate
Poll rate is how often your mouse reports its position to your computer. This feature eliminates the time lag you might experience while using your gaming mouse. There’s a constant rate for your mouse. For example, if your mouse has a poll rate of 250Hz, it reports to your PC 250 times each second, and a poll rate of 1000Hz means it conveys to your PC 1000 times per second.
Modern gaming mice usually come with the option of changing poll rates. These are better because you can modify your settings to suit your needs. The most common poll rates available on gaming mice are:
- 125Hz
- 250Hz
- 500Hz
- 1000Hz
A good example of a mouse with 1000Hz is the MARVO G985 Electro Luminous RGB Gaming Mouse
Before choosing that mouse with a high poll rate, you might want to consider your computer’s capacity. If your mouse is reporting to your PC so many times each second, it gets overwhelmed. Having your computer lag during a game could impair your gaming experience.
Some matches aren’t compatible with faster polling rates because they depend on old gaming engines. An example of such an old game is crossfire, which supports a 125Hz poll rate and would run slower if you set your mouse to higher rates.
For most games, you might not notice a significant difference between 500Hz and 1000Hz. In that case, a 500Hz poll rate might be better since it puts far less stress on your PC. You might be better off with a 1000Hz poll rate for games that need sharp reflexes where a tiny variable could be the difference between victory and loss. Such high-intensity games include first-person shooter (FPS) games and counter strike global offensive.
Step 4: Tracking Speed
No need to overthink this part, most gamers use a standard tracking speed. I recommend going with 200 to 250 unless you want to get really specific about your specs. The tracking speed is the mouse’s actual movement on the pad not related to the screen’s cursor movement. The tracking speed is typically associated with the DPI, and a lower DPI generally puts a cap on the maximum tracking speed.
So, what’s the ideal IPS rate for a gaming mouse?
If you’re using a high sensitivity mouse, you could get away with using lower tracking speed. A tracking speed of 80 IPS should probably serve you well with no issues.
A lower sensitivity mouse might have you moving your mouse a long-distance across the pad; you might need higher IPS to combat this challenge. Consider using 200IPS or 250IPS for better results.
Here are the available tracking speeds:
- 150 IPS
- 250 IPS
- 450 IPS
- 650 IPS (current maximum)
Step 5: Sensor Selection
The sensor on your mouse is another critical feature to look out for. There are three primary mouse sensors:
- Optical
- Laser
- Philips twin-eye
Optical sensors are the most popular if you want to skip your own research on it.
They use infrared or LED light cast downwards to illuminate the mouse pad. The light generally diffuses superficially on the surface and illuminates a wide area. Most gamers prefer optical mice because they tend to have less jitter or smoothing issues.
Why would I want to get a Laser Mouse?
Laser mice use a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser and also have their benefits. Optical mice have trouble tracking motion on a translucent surface like glass, but laser mice do so excellently. That’s because laser mice are much more sensitive to textures even if they don’t diffuse light well. This advantage can swiftly become a challenge on some mouse pads.
A laser mouse’s extra sensitivity could pose challenges if your mouse is on certain surfaces like wood or a cloth pad. The sensitive mouse would register every little bump on the surface, especially when moving slowly. When your mouse is moving faster, it might not pick up on as much information. This discrepancy in information shared during slow and fast movement leads to the speed-related accuracy variance (SRAV).
What does SRAV mean for your games? You might expect that each time you move x distance on the mouse pad, you get y motion on the screen. However, that’s not always the case, and depending on how fast you move the mouse, x distance on the mouse pad might give you z motion on the screen. This variation might affect your gaming accuracy.
The last type of mouse sensor is the Philips twin-eye sensor. I don’t recommend getting this one but it’s good to be aware of it incase someone tries to market this to you. This sensor isn’t quite as popular anymore—the major problem with this mouse is that it tracks vertical movement. So, if you try to reposition your mouse, you might inadvertently move the cursor. At low speed, you might observe lower CPI, which also results in SRAV.
Step 6: Wired or Wireless?
Most pro gamers would go for a wired mouse. That’s because the wired transmit information faster without delay. With a wireless mouse, you might experience some lag in transmission. This split-second delay might be the difference between winning and losing in a fast-paced game like FPS.
The primary benefit of a wireless mouse is that it’s portable. You can pack it up to go without worrying about wires. You could also use them with your laptop anywhere you go. You could get modern wireless mice that are super responsive, but a slight latency is always possible. If you choose to go wireless, bear in mind that you would need batteries to operate it.
If you’re going for a wired mouse, the type of wire is also up for consideration. Firstly, if your wires are too thick, they could add some drag to your mouse, reducing your responsiveness. The cable drag could also be from the wires rubbing on the surface or lack of flexibility. A quick way to get around this problem would be to tape the cable to an elevated surface so they don’t drag as much.
The Corsair Ironclaw Wireless RGB – FPS and MOBA Gaming Mouse on Amazon might be the wireless mouse you’ve been searching for. It supports three modes of connection so that you can switch from wireless to USB wired anytime.
Step 7: Weight Selection
Here’s an outline of categories of weight for gaming mice:
- Super light: <80g (2.82 ounces)
- Light: 80 to 100g (2.82 – 3.53 ounces)
- Normal: 100 to 120g (3.53 – 4.23 ounces)
- Heavy: >130g (4.59 ounces)
Heavier mice generally require more effort to move about. Lighter mice might also be better for the health of your wrist. That’s because it puts less strain on your wrist.
There isn’t a single weight that’s best for all gamers. However, it’s best to choose mice that weigh less than 120g (4.23 ounces). This maximum refers to the weight of the mouse alone without wires or other accessories. Most times, the weight the manufacturer specifies includes accessories, so you might want to consider that while choosing.
Some mice have an adjustable weight option so that you can alter weight distribution for better efficiency.
Additional Features To Look For:
Most gaming mice come with at least six buttons, including left-click, right-click, middle toggle button, DPI toggle button, and two side buttons. While some high-end gaming mice cost almost $200, you could find much more affordable alternatives with great features. Consider checking Amazon for more affordable gaming mice such as the Logitech G203 LIGHTSYNC Wired Gaming Mouse. It has the standard six-button layout.
Programmable Buttons
When you get your gaming mouse, you might observe some extra buttons on the side. These buttons are called programmable buttons. Fresh out of the box, these buttons on your mouse don’t do much, but you can set them to carry out specific functions such as:
- Opening maps
- Scoping
- Casting spells
- Throwing grenades
- Melee attacks
- Reloading
- Adjusting camera angles
- Healing/health boost
- Activating voice chat
Furthermore, you could also use these buttons for macros. Macros come in handy in completing complex or repetitive tasks. When you set this up, you can perform combo moves or rapid firing.
To show you how easy it is to program buttons, check out this quick tutorial video (that may be useful to come back to once you decide on a gaming mouse!)
Six mouse buttons might be all you need for your typical FPS game. However, for massively multiplayer online (MMO) games and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, you might enjoy having more than six buttons.
The Razer Naga Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse from Amazon has three interchangeable side plates and 19 programmable buttons, making it ideal for MMO and MOBA.
RGB Backlight
You might want to consider a gaming mouse featuring RGB backlights. These lights come from several tiny different colored LED lights fixed to other parts of the mouse.
This feature allows users to customize the mouse to suit them. The combination of the three primary colors could produce up to 16million colors on most gaming mice. You could choose a color theme that fits in with the theme of your gaming setup. This way, you can have a unified setup.
These RGB lights are trendy, and their widespread use might be enough to convince you to consider this feature while choosing.
For Ambidextrous and Sweaty Hands:
Checkout this BenQ ZOWIE FK1 Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse from Amazon if you’re ambidextrous or left-handed.
The mouse build might influence your gaming efficiency. For instance, you might want to go for an ambidextrous mouse if your left hand is your dominant hand. An ergonomic mouse conveniently accommodates right-hand use and might be uncomfortable if your left hand is dominant.
Gaming mice typically consist of a plastic exterior. Since you might sweat on your palms while playing, you might favor mice with sufficient grip. Some mice might have rubber or silicone patches to aid gripping. Plastic is also light for smoother movements.
Grip Style:
Your grip style also determines the type of mouse that works for you. Here are the three popular grip styles:
- Palm grip: If your entire palm lies flat on the back of your mouse, that’s a palm grip. The palm grip is the most popular grip style, and you’ll find lots of mice that suit you. Measure the distance between the middle of your palm to your longest fingertip. This measurement could guide you in choosing the right mouse size. A wide mouse with ample room to rest your palm might also serve you well.
- Claw grip: The base of the palm and fingertips lay on the mouse that’s a claw grip. This style is a mix between the finger and palm grip because the palm isn’t resting flat. Claw grip works better with smaller mice, and you might prefer one that is about an inch shorter than a plan grip mouse. A narrow mouse might also be ideal.
Finger/tip grip: Only your index, middle, and ring fingers rest on the mouse’s top buttons in the finger grip. Your thumb rests on the side to assist in holding the mouse in place. Your palm would typically have no contact with the mouse. If this is your mouse grip style, the mouse size might not matter. However, short light mice might make movements more comfortable.
Additional Resource: The Best 8 Gaming Mice Compared
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at entertainmentden.ns@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to respond. I appreciate the feedback I’ve received already from so many of you and thank you for the input on articles suggestions as well. Be sure to check back frequently for new articles!