Gaming Mouse + Keyboard

[Jas]

Hey guys I am planning on building a gaming PC sometime early next year. At the moment I am using a laptop for my gaming needs. When I get a new computer I plan to get a wireless mouse and keyboard to create less clutter on my desktop and so I can easily relocate myself and game using my TV.

To that end I have been browsing various sites to find a good keyboard and mouse. I was wondering if you guys have any recommendations. The only things I really want are for them both to be wireless and for the mouse to have a few extra buttons for when I play FPS, MOBA or the odd MMORPG. A numpad on the keyboard is not essential.

Thanks in advance.

[Imariel]

My best recommendation to you is to not use wireless mouse or keyboard.

Personally I've found wireless mouses in particular unreliable especially when gaming at higher levels. The unreliability comes from a longer response time, varying reaction speed as well as a recharging issue. It has been a couple of years since I've actually used any wireless technology for my gaming needs though. That said the common case of clutter is easily dispersed by some well thought out cable work.

Seeing as I can't really help with personal advice in the wireless department I'll just chip in that the Razer series is some of the best things since sliced bread went back to being bad again. Personally using a Naga mouse, the 12 extra buttons is a godsend both in MMO's with a lot of binds to keep track of as well as games like MOBAs where you can use them for courier and/or minion microing. For a keyboard I'm using Anansi, not really much to say, might be a waste of cash but it is quite customizable and the LED fits with my decor. The common complaints about Razer is that it's overpriced, a point in which I can agree, and that they're fragile, an opinion I do not share considering the various drinks and drops I've inflicted upon my own.

tl;dr - Wireless sucks and I'm admittedly a razer fanboy.

[Jas]

Thanks for the advice. I know I will be sacrificing a little bit in competitive gameplay by suing a wireless set up but I feel that it is worth it considering what else I plan to do with my set up - mainly moving about 3 or so metres away across a living space to move from my future desktop screen to my couch and use my TV.

I have been looking at Razer products. The price is the main negative for me though I am not ruling them out. I would prefer to pay for an overpriced product and enjoy what I have than get something more value for me money and regret it in the future. I tend to be very picky with my gadgets and accessories and often buy the better products if I can afford it.

[coleam]

The one thing with Razer is that their mice are designed for a particular hand position - sort of hovering over the mouse, controlling it with just your fingertips. If you're used to resting your whole palm on the mouse (like me), it just won't work. For that reason, I prefer Logitech. I personally use a G110 keyboard and a G500 mouse, but both are wired. Logitech does make one wireless gaming mouse, the G700, but as far as I can tell, no one makes a wireless gaming keyboard. For that you'll just have to get a standard keyboard or give up on the wireless.

[Thyestean]

It depends on how much you are willing to spend. If you are talking about high end gaming such as sc/scII. You will have to think about what mechanical switches you want such as red/blue/black/brown. Red switches are the best for gaming, however, I don't think they make red switch wireless keyboards. Plus they aren't cheap. For example, I spent $130 on my red switch keyboard. But this is all if you plan on being at the top of your game for high end games.

Mice is all about what feels good like coleam said, as most mice today have adjustable dpi settings. I found razor to have a nice variety of mice for affordable prices.

[The Arid Legion]

For a mouse, I reccomend the Cyborg RAT 7. This thing is amazing. It's only got three buttons, five if you count the extra scroll wheel thingy, but it allows you to program three different presets for them and switch between them by pressing a fourth. It goes up to 6400dpi and at that setting, which I use for everything except fps, the only things you'll be using to move it are your thumb and ring fingers. You can even change what dpi level you want each of the settings to be at.

It's also adjustable, you can change the pinky and thumb rests and change and move the palm rest back a forth. You can also make it heavier/lighter.

It looks fucking badass too.

Only con is the price, no idea about the Aussie price, but over here it's about R1,000. Which is the price of meals for five people at an expenisve resturant. That's starters, main, desert and drinks.

There's also the RAT 9, which is the same thing, just wireless.

[enembee]

I see this question asked way too often, so here it is:

Mice

Your mouse choice essentially comes down to your grip style: palm, claw or fingertip.

Palm Grip

Essentially, you're looking for a mouse with a high curve, it forces your hand into a more organic shape, puts more of your palm against the surface of the device.

If you fall into this category, you've then got to look at additional factors.

The 'Most Bang for Buck': Logitech G400.

Pros:

• The build quality is amazing, this will last forever.
• Awesome ergonomics, really comfortable to use.
• Consistently responsive sensor.
• Good drivers that allow you to turn off adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses.
• (Debatable) Doesn't blind/distract you with annoying flashing lights.

Cons:

• (Debatable) Adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses enabled out of the box.
• (Debatable) Doesn't blind/distract you with annoying flashing lights.

The 'Best Palm Grip': SteelSeries Sensei

Pros:

• Steelseries generally make amazingly hard-wearing products.
• Awesome ergonomics, really comfortable to use.
• Consistently responsive sensor.
• Good drivers that allow you to turn off adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses.
• Ambidextrous
• (Debatable) Inbuilt LCD screen so you can name it and play with your settings looking at it.
• (Debatable) Blinds/distracts you with annoying flashing lights.
• (Debatable) A thousand different settings for you to mess with.

Cons:

• Ludicrously expensive.
• Acceleration is occasionally dodgy.
• (Debatable) Adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses enabled out of the box.
• (Debatable) Blinds/distracts you with annoying flashing lights.
• (Debatable) You will spend forever trying to perfect your settings.
• (Debatable) Inbuilt LCD screen so you can look like a douche showing it off to everyone you meet.
• (Possible) A lot of SteelSeries products are a magnet for sweat.

The following mice are very much 'Your Mileage May Vary':

The 'Best Short(er) Palm Grip': SteelSeries Kana

Pros:

• Steelseries generally make amazingly hard-wearing products.
• Awesome ergonomics, really comfortable to use.
• Consistently responsive sensor.
• Good drivers that allow you to turn off adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses.
• Ambidextrous
• (Debatable) Blinds/distracts you with annoying flashing lights.
• (Debatable) A thousand different settings for you to mess with.

Cons:

• Expensive
• (Debatable) Lighter on features than its bigger brother.
• (Debatable) Adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses enabled out of the box.
• (Debatable) Blinds/distracts you with annoying flashing lights.
• (Debatable) You will spend forever trying to perfect your settings.
• (Possible) A lot of SteelSeries products are a magnet for sweat.

The 'Simple is Better': Zowie EC2 eVo

Pros:

• Never heard of one to break.
• MX518 style high arch for awesome hand posture.
• TOTR sensor.
• (Debatable) No bullshit.

Cons:

• Something this ugly shouldn't be this expensive.
• (Debatable) No bullshit.

The 'I Have Weird Hands': Any of the QPad Mice

Pros:

• Have a history of making amazing products
• TOTR sensor.
• (Debatable) Lights to blind/distract you.
• (Debatable) Weird shape.
• (Debatable) Braided cables for indestructibility.

Cons:

• Something this ugly shouldn't be this expensive.
• (Debatable) Lights to blind/distract you.
• (Debatable) Weird shape.

Finally there are the two mice that everyone raves about and that still hold up surprisingly well, despite being years old and nobody actually making them any more. The MX518 and the MSIE 3.0. Both are still super usable and possibly very cheap if you can find one for sale, but they don't measure up to the newer mice in terms of features or precision.

Fingertip Grip

Essentially with the fingertip grip you're looking for a small, lightweight mouse with as few ridiculous features as possible because otherwise you're going to perform 9,000 actions every time you rest your hand. This category is essentially a foregone conclusion (the G9) but I've added some others for the sake of competition.

The 'If You Don't Buy This You're Ridiculous': Logitech G9

Pros:

• 30 grams
• Perfect form factor
• Adjustable weight
• Adjustable/Removable grip
• Amazing, consistent sensor.
• Essentially the only mouse in this category worth the money.
• (Debatable) Lights to blind/distract you.
• (Debatable) Looks are marmite

Cons:

• If you don't actually use the fingertip grip, you'll have wasted your money
• (Debatable) Lights to blind/distract you.
• (Debatable) Looks are marmite

The 'I want to pay an extra $20 for a needlessly better sensor': Logitech G9x

Pros:

• Perfect form factor
• Adjustable weight
• Adjustable/Removable grip
• Amazing, consistent sensor.
• Better sensor than the G9
• (Debatable) Lights to blind/distract you.
• (Debatable) Looks are marmite

Cons:

• If you don't actually use the fingertip grip, you'll have wasted your money
• (Debatable) Lights to blind/distract you.
• (Debatable) Looks are marmite

The 'I didn't buy a G9 and now I regret it': Zowie Mico

Pros:

• Perfect form factor
• 60 grams
• Consistent sensor.
• (Debatable) No lights to blind/distract you.

Cons:

• If you don't actually use the fingertip grip, you'll have wasted your money
• 3 Buttons
• (Debatable) No lights to blind/distract you.

The 'I really should have gone with the G9: SteelSeries Kinzu V2

Pros:

• Perfect form factor
• Steelseries generally make amazingly hard-wearing products.
• Awesome ergonomics, really comfortable to use.
• Consistently responsive sensor.
• Good drivers that allow you to turn off adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses.
• (Debatable) No lights to blind/distract you.

Cons:

• Heavy for its size.
• If you don't actually use the fingertip grip, you'll have wasted your money
• 4 Buttons
• (Debatable) No lights to blind/distract you.

The 'Only Razer in the Entire Post': Razer Abyssus

Pros:

• Almost no features, so nothing to go wrong.
• Perfect form factor
• Consistently responsive sensor.
• Good drivers that allow you to turn off adjustable DPI and all that stuff nobody ever uses.
• (Debatable) No lights to blind/distract you.

Cons:

• A little long.
• Is made by Razer so will probably still break.
• Heavy for its size.
• If you don't actually use the fingertip grip, you'll have wasted your money
• 3 Buttons
• (Debatable) No lights to blind/distract you.

Claw Grip

The most difficult grip to choose a mouse for. Depending how large your hand is, where you like to grip the mouse (sides or top) and how aggressive you are with your grip you might like any of the mice above or hate them all.

Essentially, if you have a big hand and/or your fingers rest on the top of the mouse, use the palm guide. If you have a small hand and/or your fingers rest on the sides of them mouse, use the fingertip one.

Lastly:

Someone said it already, but if you have loads of money, like the look of it or change your grip style, get a RAT5 or RAT7. You can dick about with them a whole bunch and change them to better suit your grip.

Keyboard

Your keyboard choice essentially comes down to about three factors: budget, whether you want function keys and whether you want wireless.

There's so many worthwhile keyboards I'm not even going to bother making an attempt at a comprehensive guide, it'd be pointless. Instead I'm going to say:

If you're high budget, get something with CherryMX switches (Red or Black for gaming). I recommend QPad, SteelSeries or Filco.

If you're low budget, try and find something with a decent high key rollover (this is how many keys you can press simultaneously). Logitech keyboards are generally pretty decent.

If you're high budget and want a ridiculous number of function keys the K60 and K80 by Corsair are pretty much the best you'll get. They've got a variety of CherryMX's.

If you're low budget and want a ridiculous number of function keys, look at one of the cheaper logitech gaming keyboards for MMOs.

If you want wireless, you won't find a decent one for gaming, so instead get an ergonomic one with a trackpad built in.

[Jas]

Thanks for the great information guys. I had never heard of the RAT 9 before. Given me a lot to think about. Found that grip explanation really helpful enembee.

I am still really wireless inclined. I could run corded products across my lounge but the would need to be 3-4m long to provide best results without even trying to hide them. I will look into the RAT9. There is a local supplier and its price is comparable to the Razer series. Just depends on how much I can spare for it.

In terms of keyboards I think from what is being said I will have to forgo a gaming one. I highly doubt I would be anywhere near the top in anything I play so its ok. I'll probably try and find a nice wireless keyboard. I was looking at the Logitech diNovo but not sure how it holds up compared to recent releases. A dedicated charging base instead of a USB connection means I would have some possibly inconvenient downtime mid-game. Any suggestions on this front?

Again thanks guys.

EDIT: In terms of a mouse, I am looking for a wireless one as well. With that and your explanation enembee I have been looking at the G700, M950 or the RAT9. I know the RAT9 is the best of the lot but it might be out of my price range again so I am looking for other viable options.

[Wildfeather]

Just wanted to say, trackball 4 lyfe.

With my laptop I'm not sure if I will always have space for (and remember to bring) a mouse pad and I don't want to block my keyboard. Using a trackball mouse means I do the normal wrist dependant mouse motions with my thumb.



I use this. And it let's me game with very limited space. And the battery in it lasts forever.