Any other high-end wireless mice to consider?

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dparm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
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My MX518 has seen better days and the cord is driving me nuts as of late. I'm considering snagging a used G7, but want to know if there are any other "high-end" wireless mice to consider? I'm a recreational gamer, but the computer also gets lots of use for web browsing and misc. productivity tasks.
 
There are three that I know of, one of which isn't released yet.

First, the Microsoft Sidewinder X8.

Second is the Razer Mamba.

Third is the upcoming Cyborg RAT9, supposedly to be released in April.

All three have the "1000 MHz" polling for 1ms response time, and all three have a variety of buttons to tinker with & reprogram.

If you're looking for high end mice in general, the Performance Mouse MX and the MX1100 are both very nice & while I can't speak for the MX1100, the Performance Mouse MX is extremely comfortable in the hand. Neither are "gaming" mice, the Performance MX runs at 125 MHz, and the MX1100 runs about the same (129 MHz according to reviews, but I've not seen it myself). Both have a variety of buttons to configure, though. (As an aside, 125 MHz polling = ~8ms 'lag' in response time)

Just picked up a Mamba & a Performance MX today, liking them both; the second is for the girlfriend, whose MX Revolution also died. =/
 
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How do the Performance MX and Mamba compare to each other? They are my top picks to replace my dieing MX Revolution.
 
Anyone have any info or experience on the Logitech MX620? It is laser, 2.4 Ghz wireless, batteries last months, and it has the free-wheeling scroll feature. I have 2 MX518s and I like them, but don't need all the gaming features it has. I'd like to have a cordless mouse for my HTPC and I could always keep the MX518 around for gaming situations rather than waiting for it to die to get a cordless.
 
My Sidewinder x8 is the absolute, hands down, best mouse I have ever had. I have owned, Logitech G5, Razer Lachesis, MX Revolution, and standard mice. Nothing compares to the comfort and convenience of this mouse. The wireless to wired/charging mode is an absolutely dream as you can continue playing while the mouse charges. It takes about an hour to charge fully and you barely notice the thin, extra long cable attached to the mouse. After its charged, u simply slide the magnetized charging cable off and the charge lasts for like 4 entire days!

Its not showing but extremely practical. It is also very comfortable. The connection never stutters and I could continue listing exceptional qualities about it.

My vote goes to the Sidewinder x8
 
Regarding the Performance MX vs the Mamba.

I'll say a few things about the Mamba first:

The response time was impressive. Quick, smooth, and no lag. The mouse was fairly comfortable, though Razer could learn a lot from Logitech's ergonomics department. Yes, it was comfortable, but not as comfortable as either the performance mouse mx or the mx revolution. The weight was ok, a little too light for my preferences, but that's just me. The mouse did have issue with the ashes that occasionally end up on my mousepad, something I wasn't terribly pleased with, but it only happened twice.

Going from wireless to wired was more of a pain in the *blank* than I expected given reviews. Unplug from the dock, turn the mouse over, turn off the mouse, attempt to align the mouse, and then watch windows pick up a new USB device. It seems counter intuitive. Not too bad. Going from wired to wireless was even worse. Holding the latch open and then having to pull a lot harder than I wanted to on a custom cable, turn the mouse on, plug the dock back up, and again watch windows pickup a new USB device. Not the end of the world... but ugh. That's a huge deal as far as I'm concerned, the more I think about it. If I'm in some new FPS (I dunno... BF3 sometime in the future or something) that's taking a huge chunk of my processing power... and my battery dies... I've just lost the entire round as it's going to take Windows a good one to five minutes to install, as installing a USB device goes on a back burner when other programs are taking the lion's share of the processor. Why Razer chose to do that is beyond me.

I ended up returning the Mamba, however.

The main reason why? Battery life. I ran it the day I got it till it 'died.' I expected the battery not to be full charged, so no worries. I let it charge overnight and then some, it ended up getting around a 15 hour charging period (which I would assume would be more than enough for any mouse). 4 hours later, the mouse is hiccuping with responses. This was after updating to the latest firmware for the mouse and dock.

I returned it and picked up a second Performance MX. It's been tracking on my glass desk wonderfully after removing the mousepad, is more comfortable, and has yet to be charged (and has been on for three days now). Battery light just this morning popped to one of three bars, and isn't yet complaining. I've noticed no real lag, no problems at all, and am more than happy with it.

Wired to Wireless is a simple plugin, the mouse still functions wirelessly, still transmits to the unifying receiver, just suddenly is getting charged via microUSB that plugs into a wall outlet. I tested this shortly after getting home with the second one to see if the re-detect/change-of-input-deal was a standard for wired-wireless mice: Nope, just a design choice by Razer. I assume you can charge via USB, as the cable actually has a standard USB connector that plugs into the wall outlet adapter. Not sure why they went that way, to be honest. More juice, maybe? It didn't say one way or another through the quick glance through I took of the manual. The wire was just as ungainly, to me, as any other USB wire, but not horribly so. It's not my preference to run wired to begin with, but the ability to run that way just in case is nice, and there's no delay "detecting" the mouse.

I liked the Mamba... but it's Razer's first real foray into wireless technologies. They have a lot to learn about battery life. Being a wireless device means that you need at least a "day's" worth of gaming/usage before you should have to recharge, preferably lots more. 4 hours before it starts not receiving movement because the mouse is shutting down to 'save power' is not even remotely acceptable. The mouse was decently designed, and for those that love the feel of the DeathAdder, the feel is just about the same. I personally found the forward and back buttons way too large (coming from an MX Revolution, that can't be a surprise) and was rather consistently clicking them by accident. It took me all of about an hour to get used to the DPI buttons on the mouse, as they were in the corner that I've 'clicked' on mice for years, meaning I had DPI settings flip around quite a bit until I got used to it. I give the mouse a thumbs up for everything but battery life. For those out there who would start in on battery conditioning: It can help, but never more than 30%, and that's on the best of occasions. 4 hours + 30% = (240 minutes * 1.3 = 320 minutes) = 5 hours 20 minutes. That's still nowhere near acceptable, and wasn't worth the three or four days it would take to properly drain the Mamba's battery as it seems to shut off to prolong battery life as it gets low, starting back up when you click a button.

As an aside, something I didn't know up front: The Performance MX also has adjustable DPI, from 100 to 1500, in 100 increments. It also allows for switching between two DPI settings via a button press. I changed over the 'zoom' button (as I will consistently use ctrl-scroll for that). I was rather pleased with that detail, not being something I expected from one of Logitech's mice. I'll give Razer another try after three or four more wireless mice come out of their gates, assuming reviews stand up well.

I'll happily admit that I'm not a competitive gamer. I play to have fun. That means that the lag difference that you see between wired & wireless is negligible to me. That lack of lag might be important to someone, and maybe I just got a bad battery, who knows. Considering some of the reviews I've seen, though, I doubt it. Also... going from $129.99 to $79.99 (the Performance MX was on sale at Best Buy last week) meant I was more than happy to say it wasn't worth the effort of dealing with. $50 is nothing to sneeze at, and while I might have put up with that kind of battery life from a $80 mouse, I wasn't about to put up with it from a $130 mouse (and I fight it quite amusing that the $80 mouse is literally destroying the $130 mouse's battery life in comparison).

Just my opinions, your mileage of course may vary. Good luck to anyone hunting for a new mouse, it's never fun to find something new. Hell, I probably would have bought another MX Revolution if they had it.

... As a non sequitor: What is it about Logitech that makes them discontinue GOOD products? The G15 v1 and the MX Revolution come to mind. grr! (Sorry, had to add that in.)

(Just noticed one comment: Wires don't bother me because my desk is messy. The physical friction of the wire moving & the tension of the wire preventing easy movement as well as a wired mouse's tendency to change orientation just a bit when I release the mouse are the reasons I hate wires. That'll never change, on anything from an extremely clean desk to one that's cluttered to all daylights.)
 
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Thanks for the follow up! Good to know about the battery, I was a little worried even with the "expected" results (something like 14 hours? thats crazy low compared to my MX Revolution).

How do the two MX's compare for ergonomics?
 
Overall, the way the MX Revolution feels in comparison the the Performance MX is 'about the same' in a lot of ways. Notable differences:

The back/foward buttons on the PMX are shaped a little differently and are face angled a little towards the top of the mouse.

The ridiculously irritating little silver button on the MXR that is seated just behind the main scroll wheel in between the left and right click buttons is replaced by the hyperscroll change button on the PMX, so on basic touch it 'feels' the same.

The Thumb-wheel is missing, of course, but frankly I don't notice unless I'm palming the mouse as opposed to the lighter grip I usually use. The zoom button is barely noticeable to my thumb, and the thumb button isn't noticeable unless I intentionally click it (and I've yet to UNintentionally click it).

I like the MX Revolution a touch better... but after literally almost four years on one in one way or another, I'd be surprised if anything new felt better. On the other hand; the Performance is almost as comfortable in general, so that's impressive in and of itself, as far as I'm concerned.
 
A few years ago, I went with the Razer Copperhead, their flagship at the time. In fact I got two of them. Razer makes, by far, the prettiest mice on the market. Not the best. Their software, (on the copperhead at least) is terrible. The firmware is buggy. The build quality is not good. After a year the cable was providing an intermittent signal. A year after owning the red one it developed the same issue, and the left button started generating spurious clicks. Again, I'd like to emphasize how overwhelmingly pretty they are.

So I finally gave in and decided to get a new mouse. After shopping for a few months, and being unsatisfied with missing features and prices, I found one not advertised as any kind of a gaming mouse. It's sold as a laptop mouse.

I went with the Anywhere Mouse MX, and I'm incredibly happy with everything about it. The software is cooperative. It uses AA's (one or two if you'd like to change the weight, can swap in spares mid game if you forget to charge things). The receiver is tiny. I've never had any interest in wireless mice before, but with this thing there's no lag. The off switch is also a lens cap. As far as sensitivity, I haven't had any interest in adjusting it. It's perfect, tracks on anything, glides like butter. Also, "Darkfield" just sounds so badass.

Logitech's mechanical toggle on the smooth scroll is amazing, if you haven't tried it, go to any big box store and try it out.

Also ... what's with the Microsoft mice? Reminds me of the old transformers toys.
 
Yeah, I considered the Anywhere Mouse MX, as it's the smaller 'laptop' version of the Performance Mouse MX. In the end though, it's tiny size was actually a turnoff to me.

As an aside, the Anywhere MX has that same 8 ms "lag" spoken about in multiple mice threads. It's not noticeable at all unless you're doing something like an FPS, and only then if you're really one to notice it.

Hyperscrolling is one of the features that I only use occasionally, but miss it desperately on mice that don't have it on those few occasions. I preferred the adjustable by wheelclick variety on the MX Revolution, but this is as good.

And yes, the glass tracking is badass as well as the Darkfield name. =)
 
I ordered the Performance MX today for £44.99 (50% discount @ Logitech on my account) after having had 3 MX Revolutions over the years, an MX1100 and MX1000 before them and in between I have also had the Mamba (which performed well BUT had crap drivers, crap ergonomics and missing sidescroll and middle middle buttons.
 
Good thread. Any other opinions on the Sidewinder X8 vs Performance MX? I'm ready to give wireless another try (clutter on my desk is ridiculous!), so any other opinions would be appreciated. :D
 
you know Logitech is the way to go =]

i'll use uBerOptions to remap the thumb buttons to mimmick the MX Rev as I use Fraps on those buttons in games.
 
Anyone here currently using the rat 7? I ask because it looks like an incredible gaming mouse and I personally don't like gaming with anything wireless.

Edit: Apparently not for sale yet! Woops!
 
yea im also awaiting the wireless version of the rat. im hoping its as good as it seems to be in all the reviews and promos.
 
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