What is the advantage of gaming mice?

I play many computer games and have for years. FPS, RTS, tower defense, you name it. My mouse: $7 dynex. I just don't see the advantage in getting a high end gaming mouse when a cheap one will get the same job done.

 

The lights. It's a known fact that LEDs increase your framerates exponentially.

In all seriousness, I'd say it's 90% placebo, 9% better tracking, and 1% that button on the side that lets me knife you without taking my fingers off of WSAD.

 

I have an button on each side too, really great mouse for being so cheap.

 

You probably lack the framerate and competitive motivation to notice a difference. There is no difference when your framerates aren't silky smooth. This is especially noticeable in games and application such as fps, rts, or photo manipulation. Try this simple test. Start your mouse cursor from the top of your screen and pull it down in a line. If your mouse is accurate, there shouldn't be any zigzag.

Also most gaming mice are built for quality, hence their higher cost. Try playing a rts for awhile and see how responsive your buttons are.

 

Advantages:
-Cool looking
-Faster tracking
-Extra buttons
-High quality
-LED lights
-Designed to be more comfortable than cheap mice.

 

There are two distinct advantages that are more or less universal among gaming mice compared to "normal" mice:

• DPI - this stands for "dots per inch", and it measures how many points of data your mouse reads and transmits in one inch of physical motion. It is essentially a measure of your mouse's precision. Most gaming-grade mice have at least 1,600 DPI. While it's not as important for low-sensitivity gamers, people who play at high sensitivity settings will require higher DPI in order to achieve single-pixel precision.
• Response time - the amount of time it takes your mouse to perform an action corresponds to its USB polling rate. Typical non-gaming mice have a USB polling rate of 125Hz, meaning the mouse sends data to the computer via USB 125 times per second. This yields an 8ms delay between polls, which is the response time. Gaming mice pretty much universally have 1,000Hz polling, which cuts the response time down to 1ms.

 

I've gotten more improvement from my mouse-pad than my mouse. When you've got a smooth and consistently predictable surface, most mice are similar in performance.

Also, extra buttons are nice. Instead of 3 buttons on my right hand, and 12 buttons on my left hand, I can do seven on my right hand and 8 on my left thus distributing the combinations more evenly.

 

I bought mine for comfort and smoothness.

 

-Comfort/Ergonomics (depending on your style)
-Macro buttons
-Better tracking/sensor
-Higher DPI
-Faster Response time
-More street/nerd cred

But lets be real here, you will still get pwned without skill.

 

It's a shame that most of the response time advantage you gain from having a gaming mouse will be negated by any LCD monitor. Even the fastest TN panels can't keep up with good old CRT

 

Just get a nice deathadder for 50 bucks and you will not ask this question.

 

The Logitech G9 is a superior mouse. If you require higher DPI (which I can't fathom anyone needing) the G9x is also a terrific option.

 

When I played WoW, I bought a Razer Naga because I needed a ton of buttons.

 

In all honesty, its the crazy lights and how cool looking it is.
I personally have some random Microsoft mouse that I got for free from a friend.

But yes, the side button is helpful in games.

 

i got a gaming mouse simply because it was only marginally more expensive than a standard non-gaming mouse. also, i game occasionally and not seriously... i guess i was considering price vs. performance value.

 

If you decide to get a gaming mouse, it's a good idea to steer clear of laser mice unless you really need the DPI. You can get optical mice up to about 3000DPI which is still overkill for most people.

I never understood the whole laser thing, imo it just makes twitch shots less reliable.

As for what mice we use, I've been using a crappy old three button 400DPI logitech which I gave postit whiskers up untill a month or so ago when I actually got a proper mouse. It's a bit of a learning experience and at one point I got so frustrated that I almost went back to my old one but I'm pretty much used to it now. I still haven't got round to doing anything with the thumb buttons though.

 

^Indeed. My ideal mouse would be a wireless DeathAdder, i.e. the Mamba with the DA's 3,500 DPI optical sensor.

 

Eh, idk about other people but I find wireless to be more hassle than it's worth. There's also the knowing that although new wireless mice have very low latency, they probably still add two or three milliseconds onto the chain versus a USB mouse.

 

Its actually quite the opposite for me.
I use a logitech G500 for several reasons.
1) 3 extra buttons on the side. For FPS I bind them to my most commonly used weapons. Makes swapping easier.
2) Shape. It fits my hand a lot better than any standard mouse I have ever used.
3) Adjustable dpi. Some games have that effect where if you get in a big gun or a tank, it slows down your mouse movement to add to the realism. With one button click, I can adjust my sensitivity on the fly. I thought it was stupid at first, but after using it a few times in game, theres no looking back.
4) Weights. I cant stand cheap light mice. I like a mouse that has something to it.
5) Reprogrammable buttons. Not all games like you to set stuff to "mouse 3" etc, so I just rebind them to keys on my keyboard. Problem solved.

 

Nope, the Mamba and G700 both have 1ms response time in wireless, same as wired.

Older generation wireless models like the G7 and Microsoft Sidewinder X8 had 2ms response, but these newer ones even have that matched.