NMFTM
August 30th, 2010, 05:20 AM
I've recently started playing some realistic shooters (mainly Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising) and have decided that I want to upgrade to some other than a bare bones optical mouse, preferably a laser mouse since they're supposedly better. Mainly due to the desire to switch between sensitivity settings in game so I can go from sniping to running and gunning on the fly.
I don't mind the idea of spending some money on a mouse. But it seems like if your spending more than $50 on a mouse then your doing something wrong. I have a friend who has a very expensive Razer mouse and although I haven't personally used it. I kind of doubt whether it's really that much better than a much cheaper mouse.
I've been looking at mice and have so far narrowed it down to two mice that seem to fit the bill. the Ideazon Red1000 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826161004) and the Microsoft SideWinder X5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105223). Although I've only checked Newegg so far. I would like to order one as soon as possible so I can have it in time for the weekly LAN party I go to on Friday.
The Red1000 has a higher DPI rating (3200) than the SideWinder X5 (2000) and has more sensativity settings (5 vs the SideWinder's 3). But, on the negative side. The Red1000 only has 2 buttons to switch between sensitivity. Assuming that clicking the up/down sensitivity buttons a certain number of times will start roll back to the other end of the spectrum (e.g., hitting the increase button enough times will eventually roll back and decrease to the lowest sensitivity setting). You'd have to hit the up/down buttons a maximum of 3 times in order to go all the way through the list of 5 sensitivity settings. While it may not sound like a big deal, if you want to go from sniping to running and gunning in short order during frantic gameplay. Such as your sniping location being discovered and getting shot at. It seems like having to hit the button 3 times (as opposed to 1) and the possibility that in your frantic hitting of the button might overpass your desired setting. As opposed to having a single dedicated button for each sensitivity might not be the most ideal setup.
The SideWinder X5 has 1000 less DPI and only 3 settings instead of 5. But each sensitivity setting has it's own corresponding button. So theirs no hitting the up/down button multiple times to switch between settings. Which I would think would translate to a better gameplay experience. But on the downside, I'm not sure how I feel about the mouse's 2 side buttons. They look kinda small and weird to press. Although, I don't know how vertical (as opposed to horizontal) side buttons in general compare to the latter, which Logitech's G series uses. But the Red1000's look more comfortable than the SideWinder X5's.
The other issue being Linux compatibility. I've heard that Logitech has great Linux support and their G series are supposedly very well received from the gaming community. And at most all you'd have to do is some minor editing to your xorg.conf file or make a custom FDI file and place it in /etc/hal/fdi/policy directory to get the extra buttons to work. But I don't know much about mice, so it could be that easy for almost all mice as long as they don't' have 10,000 programmable macro buttons that need special software. But I don't know for sure if either of these two mice are 100% Linux compatible (I really like playing Nexuiz) and Google search didn't really turn up many results. I'm mainly looking for responses from people who have one of those two mice.
I also prefer wired to wireless devices. I don't think that wires really get in the way of anything to restrict my movement, even during frantic play as long as I use a USB extender with some extra cord sitting on my desk. Plus I sit a foot away from my monitor, not 10 feet across the room. And the response time will probably be slightly better as well as the possibility of interference being practically zero.
I don't mind the idea of spending some money on a mouse. But it seems like if your spending more than $50 on a mouse then your doing something wrong. I have a friend who has a very expensive Razer mouse and although I haven't personally used it. I kind of doubt whether it's really that much better than a much cheaper mouse.
I've been looking at mice and have so far narrowed it down to two mice that seem to fit the bill. the Ideazon Red1000 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826161004) and the Microsoft SideWinder X5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105223). Although I've only checked Newegg so far. I would like to order one as soon as possible so I can have it in time for the weekly LAN party I go to on Friday.
The Red1000 has a higher DPI rating (3200) than the SideWinder X5 (2000) and has more sensativity settings (5 vs the SideWinder's 3). But, on the negative side. The Red1000 only has 2 buttons to switch between sensitivity. Assuming that clicking the up/down sensitivity buttons a certain number of times will start roll back to the other end of the spectrum (e.g., hitting the increase button enough times will eventually roll back and decrease to the lowest sensitivity setting). You'd have to hit the up/down buttons a maximum of 3 times in order to go all the way through the list of 5 sensitivity settings. While it may not sound like a big deal, if you want to go from sniping to running and gunning in short order during frantic gameplay. Such as your sniping location being discovered and getting shot at. It seems like having to hit the button 3 times (as opposed to 1) and the possibility that in your frantic hitting of the button might overpass your desired setting. As opposed to having a single dedicated button for each sensitivity might not be the most ideal setup.
The SideWinder X5 has 1000 less DPI and only 3 settings instead of 5. But each sensitivity setting has it's own corresponding button. So theirs no hitting the up/down button multiple times to switch between settings. Which I would think would translate to a better gameplay experience. But on the downside, I'm not sure how I feel about the mouse's 2 side buttons. They look kinda small and weird to press. Although, I don't know how vertical (as opposed to horizontal) side buttons in general compare to the latter, which Logitech's G series uses. But the Red1000's look more comfortable than the SideWinder X5's.
The other issue being Linux compatibility. I've heard that Logitech has great Linux support and their G series are supposedly very well received from the gaming community. And at most all you'd have to do is some minor editing to your xorg.conf file or make a custom FDI file and place it in /etc/hal/fdi/policy directory to get the extra buttons to work. But I don't know much about mice, so it could be that easy for almost all mice as long as they don't' have 10,000 programmable macro buttons that need special software. But I don't know for sure if either of these two mice are 100% Linux compatible (I really like playing Nexuiz) and Google search didn't really turn up many results. I'm mainly looking for responses from people who have one of those two mice.
I also prefer wired to wireless devices. I don't think that wires really get in the way of anything to restrict my movement, even during frantic play as long as I use a USB extender with some extra cord sitting on my desk. Plus I sit a foot away from my monitor, not 10 feet across the room. And the response time will probably be slightly better as well as the possibility of interference being practically zero.