A couple of G5 questions.

After playing Borderlands as a Hunter (sniper) and getting frustrated with the way my free-with-any-asus-laptop-purchase mouse tended to jump ten pixels at a time when I was trying to hit one of those damn crab-worm larvae in the eye, I decided I'd give a decent gaming mouse a shot.

Fifty bucks later I've got a 2nd-gen G5 coming in, so until it gets here I'll settle my curiosity by asking a couple of questions. (And no, I probably shouldn't have bought a mouse on impulse without seeing/feeling it, but I was bored.)

- I usually claw-grip mice, is the G5 ok for that, or am I gonna have to get used to palming it?

- If you don't install the gimmicky little software program, can you still customise the button functions?

- Does your mousepad (or surface you're using in lieu of one) make any/much of a difference to a decent mouse's performance?

- G5 owners, anything you don't like about them? It's hard to find anything objective in amongst all the fanboys.

I know I probably should've asked all these before buying, but whatever =P

 

The G5 is more of a palm-gripper's mouse shape, but I don't think you'll have any real problems claw-gripping it. If you do decide to exchange it, though, the Logitech G9 or G9x and Razer Lachesis are excellent mice for the claw-style grip.

A mouse pad or other surface can make a difference when paired with a good performance mouse like the G5. I personally tend to prefer a more smooth, frictionless surface, so I went with the Razer eXactMat. It's Speed side is pretty slick, and the mouse just glides over it effortlessly. It also has a rougher textured Control side for those who prefer it slower. Also, cloth pads generally tend to have more friction than hard surfaces. If you like super-slick frictionless surfaces, I recommend the Razer eXactMat, particularly the Speed side. Best Buy's in-house brand, Rocketfish, has its own re-branded version of this pad, also dual-sided for Speed and Control, and a bit cheaper. For more controlled, smaller slower motions, check out the Razer Destructor, or SteelSeries QcK.

I've used a G5 before, though I've never owned one, and it was a pretty good mouse, but one thing I didn't like was the position of the thumb buttons; I felt like I had to reach just a little too far to press them. Not quite a dealbreaker, but I ended up going with the Razer DeathAdder, which has the best shape and button placement I've ever used.