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I don't know why I recently felt the urge to buy a gaming mouse... but I did. I even bought two of them in the end. So here goes my little story, for your entertainment, and I'll also draw a conclusion when I'm finished.
For the longest time, I was using this 10 euro optical laptop mouse, really small and cheap 800 dpi corded no-name USB rodent. Before that, I used a ball mouse which I really liked the shape of but it had the typical problems of course.
So I was reading this astonishing mouse benchmark at ESReality, and browsing Quakeworld.nu and a host of other forums, and getting more and more itchy to try a new mouse. At the time I also wanted to try additional mouse buttons, for quicker access to several weapons.
I'm a high sens player, I can turn 180 degrees without lifting my palm off the table, and so I thought "more DPI might be nice, too."
So with the requirements of several additional buttons, pretty much 1600 dpi, corded, and reliable, and preferably optical, it was clear that it was between one of the Logitech mice and Razor. I soon got the impression that Logitech mice were more sturdy, especially the thumb buttons etc (Diamondback thumb buttons look really flimsy), plus normal stores carry them here, so I could test before buying. In the end, I got a MX518.
Logitech MX518: Definitely sturdy, good workmanship, 10 buttons, ergonomically shaped, very fine-tunable via software - and a fat butt. Gosh, this thing is a brick - never would have guessed other people have SUCH big hands! Also, after using it for a while, I found out that it's designed for people who hold their mouse between thumb and pinky, putting index finger on left button, middle finger on wheel and ring finger on right button.
Soon there were some problems. I couldn't get used to the shape, and I slowly realized that apparently I have _really_ small hands. I'm 1.83 m tall, so I would guess a normal mouse would be fine - but no, this really hi-tech ergonomical thing (looks like something from StarTrek!) is too fat for my hands. Also, I'm normally holding the mouse more in the fingertips while having the back of the palm on the table, and prefer not using the ring finger.
What's more, I fooled around with the extra buttons but surprisingly they didn't make as much sense as I thought. And I would keep accidentally hitting one of the thumb buttons while browsing the web ^^ stupid thumb buttons.
So I returned to switching weapons via the keyboard, apart from a quick grenade bind on the wheel. I'm 90% a shotgun user anyway and found out I can switch weapons pretty quickly.
The dpi thing was also interesting. Turned out I was SO used to the 800 dpi setting that even after weeks, I would instinctively reach for the nifty little DPI switching buttons on the mouse, and set it down. I tried lowering my in-game sensitivity setting accordingly, but it felt so weird... it was no use, I definitely play best at 800 dpi. Having 1600 dpi did NOT magically improve my aim or make me play better. Instead, it messed up my movement, dodging, strafing and bunnying abilities, which is too much of a price to pay for theoretical marginal aim improvements - in my book at least.
So in the end, I was using it as a high-end, ergonomically shaped three-button mouse at 800 dpi resolution :-) one with too fat a bottom for my tiny hand, surplus onboard DPI switching and thumb buttons that just got in the way. And the wheel on that thing is SO sticky, and small, that it's almost not useable as a third button.
So I thought, "hmm, why not get something smaller, simpler, with just three buttons but still high-tech?" And then I saw pics of the Razer Krait. Which promises exactly that - when you ignore the marketing blurb about RTS games and APM and all the other shit, of which I was already sure at the time that it was just that, shit. =) A Razer with a smaller-than-usual body, two buttons and a useable wheel (according to tests.) And no flimsy thumb buttons.
And yeah, it's not that expensive, so I ordered it.
Now guess what happens when I get it, toss the several layers of plastic away that it comes in, ignore the stupid marketing crap on the cover, plug it in and start using it...
Razer Krait: Really nice, smallish shape, nice buttons, good working wheel with well-defined click, works for right- and lefthanded people, plus the Diamondback's optical sensor.
And... stops working after five seconds.
Huh?
Unplug the USB connector, replug, hey nice - that seems to have solved the problem. Five seconds later... mouse cursor freezes, buttons don't respond anymore, only the orange kiddie lanparty glow is still there. So it gets power, right?
Unplug, replug - good, it works again. Check if it's recognized by the kernel - sure, Razer 1600 dpi optical mouse, handlers: /dev/input/mouse1, /dev/input/event2. Everything A-OK. Open the desktop menu - no problem, works like a charm.
Five seconds later - total freeze again. Nice orange glow, though.
Plug in MX518 - no problems, like before.
Ehhh... OK, I go to Razer's website. They must have a support forum, right. Wrong. Those guys don't HAVE a forum. They have lots of "upgrade your firmware" ideas in their support section, though. Well here's the catch:
This thing HAS no firmware. It's a friggin' three-button-mouse! What do mice need firmware for anyway? I look at the more interesting support sections for the Copperhead etc, and apparently people ARE having unplug-replug-cursor-freeze problems with those. Supposedly that's "just a firmware issue." Sigh...
This is the point where questions start popping up in my head.
#1 How can a company that sells "professional gaming mice" even HAVE firmware issues with their products? They should be plug-and-play right?
#2 How can a company that creates a big marketing hype about the "Razer mob" not have a community forum on their site?! Heh, credibility?!
#3 Mice with firmware. Eh... it's the same crap everywhere really. A mouse is HARDWARE. It has a sensor that sends data to the computer plus some switches. Excuse me, PROFILES? FIRMWARE UPDATES? Please. Why can't they just build a reliable, useable mouse? It's not a friggin' cell phone!
#4 From a supposedly professional maker, NO linux support whatsoever. Not even specs. Nothing. (And no forum.)
#5 Having gotten curious, I look around the internet. Gosh, guess how many people have those weird problems with Razer mice! Unplug, replug being very high on the list, especially with Diamondbacks. Now what is the official reaction from Razer? NOTHING. For years! And... the Diamondback doesn't have firmware, either! So it must be something else, right? "Oh, it must be a driver issue!" BULLSHIT! A mouse doesn't even NEED a dedicated driver, it's just an assembly of switches and a sensor!
EVERY mouse I ever had has been working with THE STANDARD LINUX MOUSE DRIVERS! I never TOUCHED the crappy proprietary Windows drivers. Surely Razer mice are something special, right... apart from the fact that the Krait DOES work with the standard linux mouse driver (of course it does) - for five seconds at a time.
^^
Now what do we have here. Two "professional gaming mice".
One is rock-solid, has no colored lighting, but lots of superfluous switches and idiotic features (let's be honest here, who needs onboard DPI switching?), and is made for right-handers with (I'm pretty sure) medium to big hands and a special grip. Let's not start on the look of the MX518. But at least it's generally useable.
Is it worth the over 40 euros? Ehhh... not really. Does it make me play better than my 10 euro no-name featureless piece of crap? Not really!
The other is one of the few mice that I can actually, ergonomically, use. I like its minimalist "no-frills" approach. Three buttons and an asshole, this should be plug-and-play right? Umm no, not exactly. Instead it has a really, really weird technical problem that is the most unexpected behaviour I've ever seen in a piece of (not) hardware (that just has 2 buttons and a wheel!)
The company's website is crap, they seem to be more interested in colorful marketing than quality support or even credibility. And the more you look around, the more people you see with similar weird technical problems that just don't get addressed by the company.
What's the conclusion?
"Gaming mice" are crap. :-( Quake is probably one of the fastest, hardest shooter games ever. You'd think "gaming grade" equipment would make a difference, if not here, where else?
But at this point, I long for a mouse with the Krait's small body and simplicity (much like my old, old ball mouse) and the Logitech's solidness. I should probably just buy a Microsoft office mouse :-/ or the 10 euro Logitech. The little laptop mouse, while reliable, is showing its age and it's really just a tad small.
What kind of people do actually USE this overhyped crap?
counterstrike players?
For the longest time, I was using this 10 euro optical laptop mouse, really small and cheap 800 dpi corded no-name USB rodent. Before that, I used a ball mouse which I really liked the shape of but it had the typical problems of course.
So I was reading this astonishing mouse benchmark at ESReality, and browsing Quakeworld.nu and a host of other forums, and getting more and more itchy to try a new mouse. At the time I also wanted to try additional mouse buttons, for quicker access to several weapons.
I'm a high sens player, I can turn 180 degrees without lifting my palm off the table, and so I thought "more DPI might be nice, too."
So with the requirements of several additional buttons, pretty much 1600 dpi, corded, and reliable, and preferably optical, it was clear that it was between one of the Logitech mice and Razor. I soon got the impression that Logitech mice were more sturdy, especially the thumb buttons etc (Diamondback thumb buttons look really flimsy), plus normal stores carry them here, so I could test before buying. In the end, I got a MX518.
Logitech MX518: Definitely sturdy, good workmanship, 10 buttons, ergonomically shaped, very fine-tunable via software - and a fat butt. Gosh, this thing is a brick - never would have guessed other people have SUCH big hands! Also, after using it for a while, I found out that it's designed for people who hold their mouse between thumb and pinky, putting index finger on left button, middle finger on wheel and ring finger on right button.
Soon there were some problems. I couldn't get used to the shape, and I slowly realized that apparently I have _really_ small hands. I'm 1.83 m tall, so I would guess a normal mouse would be fine - but no, this really hi-tech ergonomical thing (looks like something from StarTrek!) is too fat for my hands. Also, I'm normally holding the mouse more in the fingertips while having the back of the palm on the table, and prefer not using the ring finger.
What's more, I fooled around with the extra buttons but surprisingly they didn't make as much sense as I thought. And I would keep accidentally hitting one of the thumb buttons while browsing the web ^^ stupid thumb buttons.
So I returned to switching weapons via the keyboard, apart from a quick grenade bind on the wheel. I'm 90% a shotgun user anyway and found out I can switch weapons pretty quickly.
The dpi thing was also interesting. Turned out I was SO used to the 800 dpi setting that even after weeks, I would instinctively reach for the nifty little DPI switching buttons on the mouse, and set it down. I tried lowering my in-game sensitivity setting accordingly, but it felt so weird... it was no use, I definitely play best at 800 dpi. Having 1600 dpi did NOT magically improve my aim or make me play better. Instead, it messed up my movement, dodging, strafing and bunnying abilities, which is too much of a price to pay for theoretical marginal aim improvements - in my book at least.
So in the end, I was using it as a high-end, ergonomically shaped three-button mouse at 800 dpi resolution :-) one with too fat a bottom for my tiny hand, surplus onboard DPI switching and thumb buttons that just got in the way. And the wheel on that thing is SO sticky, and small, that it's almost not useable as a third button.
So I thought, "hmm, why not get something smaller, simpler, with just three buttons but still high-tech?" And then I saw pics of the Razer Krait. Which promises exactly that - when you ignore the marketing blurb about RTS games and APM and all the other shit, of which I was already sure at the time that it was just that, shit. =) A Razer with a smaller-than-usual body, two buttons and a useable wheel (according to tests.) And no flimsy thumb buttons.
And yeah, it's not that expensive, so I ordered it.
Now guess what happens when I get it, toss the several layers of plastic away that it comes in, ignore the stupid marketing crap on the cover, plug it in and start using it...
Razer Krait: Really nice, smallish shape, nice buttons, good working wheel with well-defined click, works for right- and lefthanded people, plus the Diamondback's optical sensor.
And... stops working after five seconds.
Huh?
Unplug the USB connector, replug, hey nice - that seems to have solved the problem. Five seconds later... mouse cursor freezes, buttons don't respond anymore, only the orange kiddie lanparty glow is still there. So it gets power, right?
Unplug, replug - good, it works again. Check if it's recognized by the kernel - sure, Razer 1600 dpi optical mouse, handlers: /dev/input/mouse1, /dev/input/event2. Everything A-OK. Open the desktop menu - no problem, works like a charm.
Five seconds later - total freeze again. Nice orange glow, though.
Plug in MX518 - no problems, like before.
Ehhh... OK, I go to Razer's website. They must have a support forum, right. Wrong. Those guys don't HAVE a forum. They have lots of "upgrade your firmware" ideas in their support section, though. Well here's the catch:
This thing HAS no firmware. It's a friggin' three-button-mouse! What do mice need firmware for anyway? I look at the more interesting support sections for the Copperhead etc, and apparently people ARE having unplug-replug-cursor-freeze problems with those. Supposedly that's "just a firmware issue." Sigh...
This is the point where questions start popping up in my head.
#1 How can a company that sells "professional gaming mice" even HAVE firmware issues with their products? They should be plug-and-play right?
#2 How can a company that creates a big marketing hype about the "Razer mob" not have a community forum on their site?! Heh, credibility?!
#3 Mice with firmware. Eh... it's the same crap everywhere really. A mouse is HARDWARE. It has a sensor that sends data to the computer plus some switches. Excuse me, PROFILES? FIRMWARE UPDATES? Please. Why can't they just build a reliable, useable mouse? It's not a friggin' cell phone!
#4 From a supposedly professional maker, NO linux support whatsoever. Not even specs. Nothing. (And no forum.)
#5 Having gotten curious, I look around the internet. Gosh, guess how many people have those weird problems with Razer mice! Unplug, replug being very high on the list, especially with Diamondbacks. Now what is the official reaction from Razer? NOTHING. For years! And... the Diamondback doesn't have firmware, either! So it must be something else, right? "Oh, it must be a driver issue!" BULLSHIT! A mouse doesn't even NEED a dedicated driver, it's just an assembly of switches and a sensor!
EVERY mouse I ever had has been working with THE STANDARD LINUX MOUSE DRIVERS! I never TOUCHED the crappy proprietary Windows drivers. Surely Razer mice are something special, right... apart from the fact that the Krait DOES work with the standard linux mouse driver (of course it does) - for five seconds at a time.
^^
Now what do we have here. Two "professional gaming mice".
One is rock-solid, has no colored lighting, but lots of superfluous switches and idiotic features (let's be honest here, who needs onboard DPI switching?), and is made for right-handers with (I'm pretty sure) medium to big hands and a special grip. Let's not start on the look of the MX518. But at least it's generally useable.
Is it worth the over 40 euros? Ehhh... not really. Does it make me play better than my 10 euro no-name featureless piece of crap? Not really!
The other is one of the few mice that I can actually, ergonomically, use. I like its minimalist "no-frills" approach. Three buttons and an asshole, this should be plug-and-play right? Umm no, not exactly. Instead it has a really, really weird technical problem that is the most unexpected behaviour I've ever seen in a piece of (not) hardware (that just has 2 buttons and a wheel!)
The company's website is crap, they seem to be more interested in colorful marketing than quality support or even credibility. And the more you look around, the more people you see with similar weird technical problems that just don't get addressed by the company.
What's the conclusion?
"Gaming mice" are crap. :-( Quake is probably one of the fastest, hardest shooter games ever. You'd think "gaming grade" equipment would make a difference, if not here, where else?
But at this point, I long for a mouse with the Krait's small body and simplicity (much like my old, old ball mouse) and the Logitech's solidness. I should probably just buy a Microsoft office mouse :-/ or the 10 euro Logitech. The little laptop mouse, while reliable, is showing its age and it's really just a tad small.
What kind of people do actually USE this overhyped crap?
counterstrike players?
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