Guide to Buying a Gaming Mouse in 2017

By Hikari in Hardware 05/02/2017

Gaming Mouse Buying Guide

Gaming Mouse is easily one of the most important peripheral gamers could have in his/her arsenal’s of gear. Having a good mouse can result in performance boost and there are plenty of mouse in the market which can do so.

But its is important that you have a right mouse suited for you than to have a good gaming mouse.

Below are some Key point to note before you buy a gaming mouse for yourself

Sensors

Get a mouse with the flawless sensor and don’t confuse yourself with the word “FLAWLESS”. in this context it just means that these mice have little to no mouse acceleration, no lag or jitter and no prediction or correction algorithms. unlike superior and perfect sensor which have correction algorithms meaning they do not move accurately the way, we want it.

below are some flawless sensor list these sensors are highly accurate and the best in the market

PMW 3366
PMW 3360
PMW 3310
Avago S3989
Avago S3988

Switches

your gaming mouse should have either Omron Switches or Huanao Switches. both switches have high durability and have a high click lifetime.

Ergonomic Shape

Source: “Cyborg R.A.T. 5 mouse” by tc_manasan under CC license

Ergonomic is important aspect not just for performance but also to keep your hand at its peak to perform better.

If you use a nonergonomic mouse you will unknowingly twist your arm just to adjust to it which can put your hand under severe stress. ergonomic mouses are well designed to fit your palm, put your hand under less stress and provide proper support.

Know the type of grip you have this will help you determine which will fits your hand

Palm Grip: this is the most common type of grip gamers use. in this type of grip, the whole hand is over the mouse with the little finger and thumb on the side.

This grip is usually slow as the movement of the mouse is done by the whole arm.

Claw Grip: as the name suggest the finger are in shape of claw while holding the mouse. the palm rests on the back of the mouse with little finger and mouse on side of mouse but the finger used to click button are in shape of a claw.

Claw grip offers quick movement and faster clicking.

Finger Tip Grip: This grip is the most unusual grip and is seen less often. in this grip only your fingertip are touching the button with your little finger and thumb on the side of the mouse and your palm hovers it does not touch the back of the mouse.

Fingertip offers the highest movement and clicking as it is nor burdened with your palm which makes it lighter.

Weight

The weight of the mouse is another aspect you should look for but it should not be much of an issue as most of the gaming mouse now comes with adjustable weights.

but if it doesn’t have adjustable weights you should look for a gaming mouse with a weight around 100g this is widely preferred weight by most gamers.

DPI / CPI

Dpi simply means dot per inch it a measurement of how sensitive your mouse is and the higher the Dpi the more your cursor move across the screen

To people who don’t know about DPI may be thinking “Oh it just changes sensitivity I can just do it from the windows setting” WRONG

DPI and sensitivity in windows are totally different. DPI refers to the sensitivity of the hardware and sensitivity in windows is just a software setting. So if you have a cheap mouse with a low DPI it would only provide DPI which your mouse has and you won’t be able to tweak anything according to your preferences. So get a mouse which has a wide range of adjustable DPU

Polling Rate

Polling rate basically means the frequency at which your mouse emit light to track the movement of the mouse. so the higher the polling rate the smoother your mouse moves.

To give a better insight in pooling rate know this that pooling rate is measured in Hertz(Hz) check for this while buying mouse if doesn’t show polling rate check for response time. The higher the polling rate the less lag or ms you would have

125 Hz would have 8 ms

250 Hz would have 4ms

500 Hz would have 2ms

1000hz would have 1 ms

Pooling rate is important when even a slight lag could be critical a higher polling rate puts a load on your CPU but if you have good rig it wouldn’t matter.

Mouse Pad

I am mentioning mouse pad in this guide because it enhances the mouse capabilities and also provide a proper ground for your mouse to work on

There are two types of Pads –

Cloth Pad

Cloth Pads are usually made of rubber with a fabric on the top layer and provides cushioning for the user providing comfort and work well pretty good for any gaming mouse.

if u get it dirty it’s not easy to clean it
cloth pad are for those who need sensitivity either low or more
provides friction which results in more controlled accuracy

Hard Pad

Hard Pads are also made with rubber but with plastic layering on top.

it’s extremely easy to clean
hard pads are those who need speed in their movement.
the hard pads provides low friction which enables quick movement.

The above guide can only help you choose your Mouse but you should have a first-hand experience of how the mouse feels for you that’s how you can certainly decide a right mouse for you.