Dual-Mode Gaming Mouse

I've never really been a wireless mouse person, but decided to change that when I realized how useful they could be. If I hook up my laptop to a TV to watch a movie, I can have the wireless mouse by my side as I watch so I can click stuff. I recently bought the G700, which has great features, including the ability to be used in wired or wireless mode.

Problem is, I don't quite find it comfortable. Granted, my previous main mouse was the unusually shaped G9 (with the custom grip), so maybe I just need time for my hand to get used to the new angle/positioning. I'll give it another week or two, but I might as well look at new suggestions now.

Anyway, features that I'm looking for in a mouse:
Dual-mode wireless or wired modes.
At least five buttons (clickers, wheel, two thumb buttons; more buttons, the merrier)
DPI switching
Rubberized shell
Small wireless receiver
Optional: Free scroll/"regular" mouse wheel toggling
Optional: Adjustable weights


Mice that I've owned over the years and my opinion of them:
MX518: Great mouse. Very comfortable, great features.
G5 rev1: Did not find it comfortable. It was heavy and kind of slick, so my hand fatigued because I do a lot of lifting.
OCZ Eclipse: To date, probably the mouse I found the most comfortable. Problem was, it kept dying every month or so. Got fed up with the constant RMAing.
Microsoft Habu: Very comfortable, nice features, nice look.
Logitech G9: Second most comfortable mouse, excellent features.

Logitech G700: Love the features, including the multitude of buttons and dual-mode and scroll wheel. However, my hand just isn't adjusting right away to its shape. The G9 is a flat, slightly sloped, wide mouse. The G700 is higher and the slope seems steeper. Coupled with a non-rubberized texture, my hand feels inclined to slide off to the right. So I guess what I'm looking for is a relatively low, wide, relatively large, rubberized mouse in terms of comfort. (As I said previously, I'll give the G700 another two weeks or so to see if my hand adjusts to it).


So, anyway, any suggestions from the community?

 

The Razer Mamba is a good choice if you don't like the G700. It connects wirelessly or via detachable USB cable, both at full 1,000Hz polling and 5,600 DPI. It's got 7 buttons; your standard left and right click, scroll wheel, two thumb buttons, and two small buttons at the top left of the left-click button.

It's a very comfortable right-handed shape; it's not flat, but its curvature is rather uniform, and overall more similar to the G9 than the G700. Its surface is rubberized all across the top, and the wells for your thumb and pinkie, so slipping is not an issue.

As for DPI switching, the two small auxiliary buttons on the top left are assigned by default to raise and lower your DPI on the fly...of course, you can program them to do anything you want, along with all the other buttons.

The scroll wheel is not one of those free-scrolling ones like Logitech mice have, but it's quite comfortable to use. Every notch on the wheel is very precise, and I've never had trouble with under- or over-scrolling, which I can't say for my old free-scrolling G9.

The only thing you might not like is the wireless receiver, which functions as the Mamba's charging dock. It's about half the size of the mouse itself, and you plug the USB cable into it when you want to use the mouse wirelessly. When you want to charge the mouse, you simply drop it on top of the dock. Personally, I love the design, since I don't have to constantly plug and unplug the cable every time I want to charge the mouse. I just take it off the dock in the morning and drop it back on when I go to bed at night. So far the battery has not run out on me.

Based on your list of previous mice, the Mamba is most similar in shape to the Microsoft Habu, so if you liked that, odds are you'll find the Mamba quite comfortable.

 

Viewed the product video on Razer's site. Like you suspected, not too happy with the way the wireless works. Also, price is a bit much for me. (I didn't specify price range, I know).

Thanks a bunch for the suggestion, though. Any others?

 

It is expensive, I'll give you that. I got mine for $70 refurbished though.

You might like the Microsoft Sidewinder X8. It's got 7 buttons, and the wireless receiver is a bit smaller than the Mamba's. It only does 500Hz polling in wireless, but people are still happy with that.

 

I don't know of any mice that fit all of your criteria.

Logitech G700 - you don't like the shape
Razer Mamba - expensive, large receiver base
Cyborg RAT9 - wide, flat, extremely comfortable. Large receiver base, low-quality imaging sensor
Razer Orochi - may be too small for your needs.


Honestly, I would recommend that you just look for a wireless mouse, like a Logitech Marathon M705, and just use an extra mouse.

Leave the wireless receiver plugged in to your laptop. When you are in front of your laptop and gaming, you use your wired mouse. When you are on the couch watching movies from your laptop, you pick up the wireless mouse and use that. The batteries on the Logitech Marathon M705 last close to forever, so you can just leave the thing on for years (literally) and never need to worry about swapping batteries. And since you're leaving the wireless receiver plugged in to your laptop, you never need to worry about swapping cables, un/plugging receivers, etc.

 

I was looking at that one, actually. However, I'm confused about the wired option. When plugged in, is it only charging the mouse and data is still moving wirelessly, or is it de facto wired mode?

Also, not rubberized, but then again my Habu is only rubberized on the clickers and I'm fine with that.

Kent, thanks for the suggestions. Ideally, I'd like to keep only one mouse. I'm just weird like that, haha.


For a weird suggestion, any know of any mouse-friendly grip tape or something? I think my real gripe about the G700's comfort isn't the shape itself, but rather how (relatively) smooth it is. If there's some none-too-ugly grip pads or tape or something, I can just put some on the sides and top and I'll be fine.