Optical vs Laser

[hughJ]

The simple fact of the matter is people get higher DPI mice because they want to increase the sensitivity of the mouse without losing accuracy. There is NO POINT in getting a copperhead if you're going to use it in 600DPI mode and then flick it across the desk at 100 meters a second, that's retarded.

I'd bet the vast majority of people get high DPI mice because they think bigger=better, thinking it will translate into more kills. In the end, they just end up lowering their ingame sensitivity to counter the DPI increase anyways. High sensitivity users are definitely in the minority now in online games, which is probably why razer/logitech have DPI switches on their mice to make them more friendly to the broader market.

People also got the newer/higher DPI mice because the sensors happened to be increasingly better all-round, not just the DPI. The 800dpi tracked faster and more consistently than the 400dpi mice, the 1600dpi was better still, (and the 1800dpi now appears the most consistent.) The present crop of laser mice happened to break that trend by giving an incremental improvement from 1600DPI to 2000DPI, while being vastly inferior in tracking speed, coupled with the fact that they're much more picky about their surface.

If you're only planning on using high DPI, high sensitivity under all circumstances, and aren't prone to doing very fast wrist flicks, etc.. then certainly I can see the copperhead being completely suitable. Personally my sensitivities happen to vary quite a bit across different platforms. Desktop use and deathmatching, I tend to be very high... for casual BF2 and other slow games, I'm more medium sensitivity. And by using an optical mouse I've never had to be concerned about moving my wrist or arm too fast regardless of what I'm playing.

 

[McClintoc]

i'm a low sensitivity player, should i just stick with my optical and forget the laser?

 

[CletisMckloskey47]

laser w/o mousemat. i see no problems not using a mousepad

 

[Conker]

Have both a cheap microsoft mouse thats optical and a fatal1ty professional laser mouse and the fatal1ty one sucks since it has a polling problem with the frequencies and all that but my optical microsoft mouse works great so i voted for optical without mousepad

 

[o0akoni0o]

laser w/o a mousemat. in fact i've had more problems with laser when using mousemats. currently using a g5 (old revision) and came from a mx510. never really used the thumb buttons so having only one on the g5 never mattered to me. otherwise i was happy with the switch and personally felt the g5 was better.

 

[Frosteh]

I'd bet the vast majority of people get high DPI mice because they think bigger=better, thinking it will translate into more kills. In the end, they just end up lowering their ingame sensitivity to counter the DPI increase anyways. High sensitivity users are definitely in the minority now in online games, which is probably why razer/logitech have DPI switches on their mice to make them more friendly to the broader market.

Probably, most people dont fully understand what the accuracy of the mouse means.

I wouldn't say high sensitivity users are in a minority, it depends on the game, if you look at games like UT2004 theres an abundance of high sensitivity players

People also got the newer/higher DPI mice because the sensors happened to be increasingly better all-round, not just the DPI. The 800dpi tracked faster and more consistently than the 400dpi mice, the 1600dpi was better still, (and the 1800dpi now appears the most consistent.) The present crop of laser mice happened to break that trend by giving an incremental improvement from 1600DPI to 2000DPI, while being vastly inferior in tracking speed, coupled with the fact that they're much more picky about their surface.

Actually I happen to think the copperhead has better tracking than previous mice, on decent surfaces, it's just that its tracking is in accurate at faster movements which is a slightly different thing.

If you're only planning on using high DPI, high sensitivity under all circumstances, and aren't prone to doing very fast wrist flicks, etc.. then certainly I can see the copperhead being completely suitable.

I think if you're buying a copperhead mouse and you dont have the above usage then you're wasting your money. If all mice were equal price then you might be able to justify buying the more accurate kit with the reasoning that if you happen to need higher sensitivity then you have got it.

The copperhead is one of the more expensive mice on the market that a lot of that extra money goes towards it being highly accurate, the benchmark done does not take this into account.

Testing a 1000 DPI mouse at a movement speed of 2m/sec can't be compared to a 2000 DPI mouse with the same movement speed because it results in vastly different inputs to the computer and is not naturally associated with the mouse.

The results need to be weighted by expected use, for the results to be meaningful to the general public, if you just take a look at the figures for 5 seconds you'll see why.

A 2000 DPI copperhead might crap out at a movement speed of 2m/s compared to a 1000 DPI mouse that can do all the way upto 4m/s but what are the relative inputs to the computer?

Well the 2000 DPI is giving twice as much info, when you translate this into turning per 360 degrees in a First Person Shooter game you'll find that both mice in fact crap out at the same turn speed IN GAME despite the graph something something entirely different.

I think you'll find that the turn speed in game with no loss of information from the input of a 2000 DPI mouse results in many many full 360 degree turns which is impractical for anyone to use, people just dont use high sensitivity mice that fast.

Moreover no testing was done with the mouse with the input speed turned down, the copperhead has several reading resolutions which will no doubt effect its ability to track at high movement rates, instead of lowering sensivity the laser should have been changed.

 

[Calis]

according to an article and comparison i read, optical is more accurate than laser, and generally better, and also, when the polling rates are cranked on various mice, the mx500 is the best performance (accuracy that is), followed by the mx518

 

[G'ßöö]

MX518, best mouse ever. Was gonna go G5, but they robbed me of a thumb button.

FACT! for gaming, whatever mouse it is its corded. cordless mice are for people without extrasensory vision and gifted dexterity. the 518 is the best, use a stores return policy to the utmost and learn

 

[ballpoint]

Laser mouse for me all the way. I occasionally am struck by the difference when I fail to charge the second battery for my G7. I have to pull out my old MS Intellimouse Optical for a couple hours and the difference is striking. The G7 is the greatest mouse I've ever used in terms of "pointer response".