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Calling FPSers, are highend mice worth it?

Gautama2

Golden Member
Currently, I'm using a Logitech MX310 optical mouse (800 dpi I think) on my bare desk. I just got the Logitech G15 keyboard from a friend on the cheap so I was thinking maybe I should up the mouse as well.

I mainly play CS:S. I'm definetely not a casual gamer, but I'm not completely uber either. I would say my skill is at CAL-O levels, nothing higher.

So my question is, do you think a $50-$60 mouse is a sizeable enough increase to warrant its pricetag to someone who is budget concious?
 
I paid $80 for my Habu, but mice are built to last. I'd rather spend more money on my mouse than on my keyboard.
 
I bought a G5 a while back when they were ~$50, and I think it was definitely worth it. The sensitivity increases are very noticeable, as are the higher quality pads that make the mouse glide better. A very worthwhile investment IMO, especially for FPS. Plus most people don't go through mice terribly often when they buy the higher quality ones. They usually last forever. I go through video cards faster than mice =P
 
Originally posted by: Gautama2
Currently, I'm using a Logitech MX310 optical mouse (800 dpi I think) on my bare desk. I just got the Logitech G15 keyboard from a friend on the cheap so I was thinking maybe I should up the mouse as well.

I mainly play CS:S. I'm definetely not a casual gamer, but I'm not completely uber either. I would say my skill is at CAL-O levels, nothing higher.

So my question is, do you think a $50-$60 mouse is a sizeable enough increase to warrant its pricetag to someone who is budget concious?

Do you Awp???? IF so maybe you might want to get one of the new ones with adjustable DPI. If you don't then maybe you could spring for an older "performance" mouse.
 
Originally posted by: potato28
I paid $80 for my Habu, but mice are built to last. I'd rather spend more money on my mouse than on my keyboard.
Ditto for me.

I will say the same thing I always say when this issue comes up:
An expensive, precise mouse will not make you play better.
HOWEVER, if you are a good player you might make the upgrade and then discover just how much you were being held back by a cheap mouse.

It happened to me when I got a Razer. I was getting much better ownage in UT and CS and Red Faction and Quake and Doom and definitely Far Cry. Never even thought I was very good at shooters. RTS's play a little better too, I dont seem to be struggling when I wanna click on an important button quickly.

Now I even use them for my office computers. They're so smooth and I can make little movements much easier while in Photo-Paint.
 
Originally posted by: shortylickens
Originally posted by: potato28
I paid $80 for my Habu, but mice are built to last. I'd rather spend more money on my mouse than on my keyboard.
Ditto for me.

I will say the same thing I always say when this issue comes up:
An expensive, precise mouse will not make you play better.
HOWEVER, if you are a good player you might make the upgrade and then discover just how much you were being held back by a cheap mouse.

It happened to me when I got a Razer. I was getting much better ownage in UT and CS and Red Faction and Quake and Doom and definitely Far Cry. Never even thought I was very good at shooters. RTS's play a little better too, I dont seem to be struggling when I wanna click on an important button quickly.

Now I even use them for my office computers. They're so smooth and I can make little movements much easier while in Photo-Paint.

QFT.

I have a cheap Logitech wireless mouse that I use. When I played on my comp with my cheap mouse, I did ok, but I could definitely feel the mouse holding me back sometimes. Went over to my friend's place and played on his G5 and his MX518 and the difference was night and day. Not only did I perform a little better (but not to the point where I felt that it was all the mouse), but it was more comfortable and more sensitive.
 
Originally posted by: Howard
My MX518 is doing well right now.

I have this mouse, and it also has been pretty good for me. I had the MX510 before, and the 518 is slightly better due to the DPI adjustments you can make on the fly.
 
I'd go for the xTrac Ripper. Good old huge comfy thin cloth. It will need a perfectly smooth surface, though.
 
Originally posted by: Gautama2
Well, now you've convinced me. Next topic.

What mousepad?

That depends on the mouse as well as your play style.

Are you right handed? Do you prefer palm or finger style use? Your MX310 is a fairly all-encompassing design, and we can't really tell anything from that - you could be a lefty finger or a righty palm or anything in between.

Although I'm going to go ahead and guess righty palm and recommend a Razer DeathAdder, other than it being a right handed mouse, it is hard to argue against it as the best performing mouse on the market, and its also fits your budget @ ~$60

Otherwise a Razer Copperhead if you use finger control and prefer the Copperhead's ambidextrous design as well as additional features (built in memory eliminates need of drivers once you set it up) Although I would stress that the Copperhead is a finger mouse and takes a while to get used to if you've never tried it before.

As far as the mouse pad it would also help to know if you're a high or low sensitivity player (lower sensitivity players benefit from the super huge mouse pads because they would otherwise need to lift and swipe their mouse several times to do a 180 or 360, whereas higher sensitivity players might not need anything more than a standard size mouse pad)
 
Pads:
I've got an Xtrac on one system and a QckSteel on the other. Both are nice.
You can find good ones at newegg.

AVOID the Ratpadz GS.
Solid plastic might seem nice, but it scrapes and is loud as hell.
 
i'd suggest the Razer Exactmat, but thats only if ur getting a razer mouse, my G7 only works on one of the sides... which sucks cuz i like the other side more lol
 
Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
Originally posted by: Gautama2
Well, now you've convinced me. Next topic.

What mousepad?

That depends on the mouse as well as your play style.

Are you right handed? Do you prefer palm or finger style use? Your MX310 is a fairly all-encompassing design, and we can't really tell anything from that - you could be a lefty finger or a righty palm or anything in between.

Although I'm going to go ahead and guess righty palm and recommend a Razer DeathAdder, other than it being a right handed mouse, it is hard to argue against it as the best performing mouse on the market, and its also fits your budget @ ~$60

Otherwise a Razer Copperhead if you use finger control and prefer the Copperhead's ambidextrous design as well as additional features (built in memory eliminates need of drivers once you set it up) Although I would stress that the Copperhead is a finger mouse and takes a while to get used to if you've never tried it before.

As far as the mouse pad it would also help to know if you're a high or low sensitivity player (lower sensitivity players benefit from the super huge mouse pads because they would otherwise need to lift and swipe their mouse several times to do a 180 or 360, whereas higher sensitivity players might not need anything more than a standard size mouse pad)

I'm a right hand palmer, and I found a sweet deal on a G5 so I'm probably going to jump on that. I'm a moderate to low sensitivity guy. I'd prefer not to spend more than $15 on a mousepad, and anything I can pick up at CircuitCity or BB as opposed to ordering online would be a big plus for me.
 
Originally posted by: Gautama2
Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
Originally posted by: Gautama2
Well, now you've convinced me. Next topic.

What mousepad?

That depends on the mouse as well as your play style.

Are you right handed? Do you prefer palm or finger style use? Your MX310 is a fairly all-encompassing design, and we can't really tell anything from that - you could be a lefty finger or a righty palm or anything in between.

Although I'm going to go ahead and guess righty palm and recommend a Razer DeathAdder, other than it being a right handed mouse, it is hard to argue against it as the best performing mouse on the market, and its also fits your budget @ ~$60

Otherwise a Razer Copperhead if you use finger control and prefer the Copperhead's ambidextrous design as well as additional features (built in memory eliminates need of drivers once you set it up) Although I would stress that the Copperhead is a finger mouse and takes a while to get used to if you've never tried it before.

As far as the mouse pad it would also help to know if you're a high or low sensitivity player (lower sensitivity players benefit from the super huge mouse pads because they would otherwise need to lift and swipe their mouse several times to do a 180 or 360, whereas higher sensitivity players might not need anything more than a standard size mouse pad)

I'm a right hand palmer, and I found a sweet deal on a G5 so I'm probably going to jump on that. I'm a moderate to low sensitivity guy. I'd prefer not to spend more than $15 on a mousepad, and anything I can pick up at CircuitCity or BB as opposed to ordering online would be a big plus for me.

What kind of deal on the G5? I'd recommend the MX518 over the G5 not just for price but it should also suit your style better.

You're probably going to be more limited with mousepad choice when it comes to buying from B&M, but just going with any large cloth pad should suit you well - it isn't easy picking out mousing surfaces as the best surface depends upon your preferences as well as how well it works with your mouse's sensor. Hard surfaces such as plastic/glass/metal and softer surfaces from cloth/plastic are just some of your choices. The texture of the surface also comes in to play, whether you want silky smooth or a rougher feel to prevent unwanted sliding...it isn't going to be easy to choose unless you already have experience and you're most likely not going to get that experience without taking some risks and spending money on mouse pads. That being said plain old cloth is relatively safe.
 
I'm hopefully getting a new G5 for $30 from an AT member. I think the on the fly dpi settings may help me, and I just can't stand the look of the mx518.


The Xtrac Ripper looks nice and has a good size. $13.95+$5 shipping from the Egg, anywhere cheaper?
 
Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
maybe i should stop using my sh1tty generic mice...but i'm kinda below the poverty line right now.

nah, basic mice can actually be pretty good...when it comes to throwing together a gaming PC, spending a ton of money on your keyboard and mouse usually is low on the priorities as you can definitely get decent performing kb/mice for cheap.
 
I disagree a good mouse will make anyone play better, they still might not be a good player, but the accuracy of a good mouse does help even a novice gamer. It's not needed as I've gotten owned like a noob by people who has crappy 10 dollar mice. My Diamonback helped my frags in CS:S go up, not leaps and bounds but there was an improvement. I paid 40 bucks for it on sale, and have had it for over a year now (maybe 2?) so it was money well spent.
 
I would say no. I have the same mouse as your (mx310) and I pretty much can pwn anything. It's just a matter of having the right settings in each game, having aiming skill and smarts, and having the mouse surface area to move around in if you like to use low sens like me.
 
Originally posted by: shortylickens
Originally posted by: potato28
I paid $80 for my Habu, but mice are built to last. I'd rather spend more money on my mouse than on my keyboard.
Ditto for me.

I will say the same thing I always say when this issue comes up:
An expensive, precise mouse will not make you play better.
HOWEVER, if you are a good player you might make the upgrade and then discover just how much you were being held back by a cheap mouse.


It happened to me when I got a Razer. I was getting much better ownage in UT and CS and Red Faction and Quake and Doom and definitely Far Cry. Never even thought I was very good at shooters. RTS's play a little better too, I dont seem to be struggling when I wanna click on an important button quickly.

Now I even use them for my office computers. They're so smooth and I can make little movements much easier while in Photo-Paint.

You hit the nail on the head right there. OP, since it sounds like you're good at FPS, then it probably would be worth getting a good mouse. The thing I love about my G5 is changing the DPI settings depending on the weapon I'm using. If I'm using a sniper rifle I lower it to min. DPI to improve my acuracy, but when I'm in a vehicle then I'll put it to the max and other weapons are usually in between. I don't play CSS, but I'm using BF2 as an example.
 
I didn't vote, but I'll state my experience.

I haven't played a FPS in a long time and with the new rig, I bought FEAR. I kept a lot of my old peripherals: kb, mouse, etc. I played through it with an older MS intellimouse explorere and it worked fine. I had good resolution and accuracy. Mind you, I don't play online, don't intend to, but offline it worked fine.

I still decided to get an MX518 and ditch the MS mouse, just to start making things look right together.

 
I'm using a Razer Copperhead right now. It's nice but other than the shape I don't see a ton of difference. My favorite mouse to date is the MX510 from Logitech. Wired is also better than wireless.
 
If you want to try a cheap, but decent, semi-high-DPI mouse, then check out the MS Optical 3000 (wired) mouse. It has 1000 DPI. It doesn't have a lot of extra buttons, in fact it only has one side button. The wheel does go left and right though. The wheel is smooth action, with no detents. For some games (UT), that may take getting used to.

Anyways, I got this mouse at Target for $15, and I'm quite happy with it overall.
 
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