7 Best Gaming Mouse (2018) Reviews + (The Ultimate Buyer's Guide)

It's also got large grip areas on both sides which allow you to grasp the mouse firmly.

If you look at the mouse from the side you can see large mouse buttons as sloped downward making it optimal for palm grip.

It doesn't really matter where you press them they feel the same whether you're pressing at the very top or at the end of the buttons.

You also get a rubberized step scroll wheel with RGB lighting underneath. It got a DVI adjustment button right in the middle of the mouse on the left side.

You get two large side buttons which are easy to press regardless of your grip style.

A sniper button was there which is a little bit odd to reach but by default is actually not mapped to anything. Now one thing you don't see in a lot of mice today is modularity.

That's something that the Rival 700 brings to the table. You've got the ability to swap between cables. It comes with a 2-meter braided cable for desktop use and a 1-meter rubber cable for people that are gaming on laptops.

The top cover which is a plastic matte finish by default can be swapped out for either a glossy plastic finish or an anti-sweat cover. Even the mouse sensor can be swapped out. You can buy an external sensor to replace it.

There's even a good bit of customization you can do to the mouse. That nameplate that you're going to replace at the rear. SteelSeries even provides a template file so that you can 3d print your own. You've got RGB lining on the top plate and scroll wheel.

It got a healthy amount of effects like color shift multicolor and solid color.

One of the biggest features which is the OLED display, here you can show off the text or animated gifs that run at 10 frames per second.

Some will say it's gimmicky but actually, I think it's a pretty cool feature. Obviously, you don't need to have a display on your mouse but it just adds a little bit of flash to your peripherals.

Through the SteelSeries software, you have the option of turning on GameSense which in specific titles will show your game stats on the display.

Rival 700 weighed in at just under 139 grams making it somewhat of a heavy mouse. In my experience the tracking was great. There was no jitter or prediction or things like that.

The sensor seemed to pick up on any subtle hand movements. It's a real flagship mouse in every sense.

These all things makes this #1 spot in our list of best gaming mouse.

It has clever software that allows you to set it up exactly the way you want it.

The Spatha is pretty much the ultimate gaming mouse. The Spatha comes really well packaged, you will definitely get the impression that this is a premium bit of kit.

The mouse itself looks and feels pretty damn big weighing in almost 180 grams.

When you play games this mouse definitely gives that feeling. The main left and right mouse buttons are actually independent of each other. The mouse body feels better and more responsive. It is actually pretty comfortable to hold.

There are 12 customizable buttons in the mouse. If you are into games where you want to have macros and pre-programmed mouse buttons. The size and the shape of the buttons are kind of small and a bit difficult to differentiate with your thumb. As you move them around you're going to get used to obviously.

This pretty big mouse which has no size or weight adjustment and there's no left-handed version. You can use the mouse wired or wirelessly.

So if you're playing first-person shooter games you'll want the most responsive wide option. Whereas the wireless mode gives you more flexibility to use it away from your desk.

The battery life is awesome I've been using it for about two days straight wirelessly and it's still got about 1/3 of its charge left. Although you can extend the battery a little bit if you go into the software.

You change the lighting to battery saver mode and there are a few other power saving options. You can tinker with in the settings to get a few extra hours.

I didn't have any dropout issues or any latency issues. The most important feature of this Mouse and the most useful one to gamers will it be of course, the programmable buttons.

You need to download the driver software. You can change the Mouse's DPI, acceleration, speed, polling rate and button response and much more.

If you've got any Mouse tracking issues if you're using on different surfaces. There's a little option there where you can calibrate it which is quite nice if you're changing the surface.

You got a full RGB color wheel at your disposal and you can light each of the three individual areas of the mouse. Overall this mouse looks great, it's got premium build quality and great materials.

This mouse has seven side buttons in a total which of 14 customizable buttons.

This mouse has an accent DPI of 16000 5G sensors which most of you won't utilize. The left and right clicks are mechanical as well as the seven side buttons.

It has a total of 14 buttons including the DPI buttons and tilting scroll wheel buttons. All the buttons present in this mouse can be programmed.

This mouse has RGB which is controlled by Razer Synapse software. It has 16.8 million colors to choose from, with effects that include slow pulsing light, a cycling color spectrum, reaction to input, and static color.

From there you can adjust the colors of the logo, the scroll wheel as well as the side buttons.

Regarding functions, some people may be wondering why do you need so many buttons on your mouse.

This mouse was originally made for mobile games where each of the buttons can be attached to a specific attack. You can also set macros to them for editing programs.

So maybe like in video editing even set: one button to cut another to delete, one opens up a menu to make various adjustments to the colors.

You also got into device color synchronization. So if you've got other Razer devices you can match the chroma range up then their colors will work in sequence.

Maybe another one will just simply copy and paste it. You might be wondering, you have to switch all my buttons every time you change games and software.

Well not really, the Razer Synapse software you can save various different profiles and even link these profiles to different programs. That way when you open them up you'll have the right key map each time.

Through here you can also adjust the various DPI settings and you know each step can be adjusted. You can also adjust the lighting as well as calibrate the mouse.

I think this mouse is really comfortable to hold in my hand. It's not too small, it's not too big it's got it's pretty happy size.

There's a little area for your ring finger which I didn't think I needed until I actually got it off to the side. Overall I'd say this is a fantastic mouse, the sensor is fantastic. It has a nice seal.

Which sealed it's spot at #3 in our list of Best gaming mouse.

On the backside which doesn't really impact comfort that much. You do get SteelSeries logo on the palm face which is RGB illuminated.

It has a pretty nice glow to it. The surface of the retainer looks relatively smooth.

But you do have a tiny bit of a rough material which does help with grip and still feel comfortable. This rough matte material is also fingerprint resistance.

The most of the mass of the mouse is made out of fiber and reinforced plastic. The mouse has an ambidextrous design so left and the right-handed user is able to use it. The mouse has a weighing in at 92 grams for quick and easy movement.

You will get a great textured rubber padding that really does do a good job of adding grip.

The two thumb buttons that are nicely positioned with a good size and also has a decent feel to them. Moving to the opposite side you see the exact same designers on the left.

So, if you are left-handed the design is perfect. Their left and right mouse buttons, you get a decent fast mechanical switch designed by steel series. They do have a guaranteed 50 million click life cycle.

The scroll has the cool textured rubber grip and is illuminated on the sides. But it's not really any different from a lot of other scroll wheels.

Just behind the scroll, you get the DPI selection switch that allows you to switch between the two dpi levels. The most other mice have between four to six different dpi levels.

But SteelSeries only goes for about two which keeps it nice and easy. You are however able to adjust the dpi levels in the software. The Sensei 310 runs on the SteelSeries Engine 3 software, which is one of the good software for controlling gaming peripherals.

You get three glide paths that deliver a nice smooth glide. Then also the custom three optical sensor designed by SteelSeries which apparently is the world's first true one-to-one eSport sensor.

The sensor has a max dpi of 12,000 DPIs. The polling rate and has no hardware acceleration. The cable you have a length of 2 meters or 6.5 feet and the cable is not braided.

The SteelSeries Engine 3 software that allows you to customize all of the buttons on the mouse. So the left and right thumb buttons as well you can also change the DPI for the two labels.

The acceleration of the mouse, the polling rates and then the angle snapping can be changed by software.

You are able to configure profiles and then change the backlight of the scroll wheel and palm rest.

The amount of power that you can deliver to the sensor from the battery.

The highly optimized 2.4 gigahertz connection in tandem with some design decisions in terms of where the transmitter is located, where the battery is located.

In relation to where the transmitter is located and the various materials used throughout the shell and other components throughout.

The entire build result in a very fast and supremely stable connection. The left and right click of mouse buttons are based on a mechanical pivot design.

It also features a spring tension system that ensures that you don't have to bend any plastic in order to just press the button.

They also ensure that the response of the button returning home is quite fast. This included Omron switches are also raised off of the main PCB onto their own and put at a slight angle so the button is pressing directly onto the switch. and doesn't have to go through.

The buttons do have a quite noticeable horizontal shift and lift slightly. We like the clicks overall and they feel satisfied and responsive.

Physically it's designed in a way that it looks different and futuristic too represent its design mentality.

But also holds enough of its Logitech characteristics that you'd probably be able to identify it as a Logitech mouse. Its weight is pretty damn good at 107 grams.

For a cable, it has a micro USB connection and an included six-foot braided USB cable. That feels quite nice for when you need it to charge the mouse.

The mouse is fast with swappable magnetic forward and back buttons and symmetrical design.

It features a hyper-fast scroll wheel but with a little bit of wait shed by using a spoked design instead of a solid design. The scroll wheel also features tilt inputs and is able to be switched between click scrolling and free scrolling

The Logitech Gaming software allows you to configure onboard memory profiles. They are helpful if you use computers that are not your own profile configurations to bind various buttons to various things.

It can configure your DPI, set your report rate, and tell the mouse what forward and back button configuration you currently have.

Due to the magnet setup there you have lighting control where you can set lighting modes based on profiles.

It features solid color, color cycling and breathing modes for all the various RGB colors.

The battery settings can tell you approximately how much gaming time you have left and can change that estimation based on your lighting preferences.

This mouse has a 12,000 optical DPI sensor which is updated from the 8200 DPI laser sensor in the M65 RGB.

It has 8 programmable buttons and these are of high precision. This mouse is geared more towards the first-person shooter end of the market.

As it cuts away with any buttons that you probably aren't going to use with one big central sniper button located on the left-hand side of the mouse.

The rest is more of a simplistic design you can customize too. In the back of the mouse, you get the illuminated Corsair logo with RGB lighting.

So, if you want to change this you have to use the software. You can choose an array of effects.

Moving up you will find the dpi indicator light to tell you exactly what mode you’re in and then you’ll find your left and clicks and scroll wheel.

Then you can find a very small text of corsair engraved on the left click. Moving around to the left-hand side of the mouse.

You will find the sniper button which I personally find incredibly useful in both gaming and non-gaming applications.

Its default state sets your dpi to 400. You can change it to be whatever you want it to do whether it's a media key and macro.

It's also worth noting that the indicator light on the top the mouse does actually change to blue all the time you're holding this button.

Overall all the buttons are in a nice easy to reach place there aren't any of these extra buttons that I find very difficult to get to.

The overall shape of the mouse is very nice very easy to grip. It has an impressive build quality material. The top end of the mouse is a harder clamshell plastic.

The cable is braided cable and the end is color-coded so you can see when you're plugging it in or out. The optical sensor has a 12,000-dpi sensor which in theory should make it better at all.

The sensor has 12000 DPI for pixel-precise gaming. The backlighting has 16.8 million colors customizable.

It supports Corsair CUE software and it can be freely downloaded from the Corsair website.

This mouse has a 1000Hz USB polling rate. Using the software, the sensor can be calibrated to any surface whether you use a cloth or hard mousepad.

The Gladius II also has really nice shaped comfort grooves on the left and right buttons. The forward and back buttons have great tactile feedback.

They are easy to reach and you never press them by accident at any points while gaming. The forward and back buttons is a dpi button, ideally it will be used for snipers for fine aiming.

But I found it too close to my thumb's gripping position during gaming. I was constantly pressing it in by mistake moving my hand back just ruined my grip style.

The DPI button on the top of the mouse is well placed and it offers great tactile feedback. The mouse felt absolutely perfect. Its fun groove gives great support even if there's a dpi button right where my thumb rests.

The mouse weighs in at 109 grams on the heaviest side for FPS gaming. Heavier mouse improved my long-range shooting and finding it harder to use at short range.

The Gladius 2 is well balanced for both situations depending on the game. The build quality of the mouse is built like a tank. The only thing I'd like to point out is that the fair bit of rattle from the left and right clicks.

The mouse is built in durable and they are very resistant to scratches. The USB cord is detachable. If it's ever broke, a replacement can be found in the box.

The Gladius 2 comes with one that is braided and one that is rubber. The software allows you to create up to three different profiles and then save them over.

This software also allows you to alter all nine buttons, even the scroll wheel can be changed to things like macros. You can adjust your DPI as well as angle snapping, polling rate, acceleration and button response.

It gives you plenty of options for customizing your mouse's lighting to match your gaming setup such as a single static color, breathing effect, color cycle, reactive wave.

The Gladius II gaming performance was excellent. The shooter tracking was one-to-one and the sensor didn't exhibit any jitter or skipping. Its shape was comfortable which allowed me to focus on my aim.

Alright so there are a few things different between a gaming and a regular Mouse. And the first thing would be the sensor which may seem obvious at first.

But there's a little bit more depth to it than just the sensor.

So most regular mics use an optical sensor which uses an LED whereas most gaming mice use a laser sensor.

The reason being is that:

The laser sensor has a higher attainable DPI than optical mouse. But that does not mean it's superior.

They both have disadvantages that don't really make one or the other shifty riyer over the other.

Aside from that higher end gaming mice use higher-end sensors that have better gaming characteristics.

Another thing is that game mice also usually has higher polling rates which is measured in megahertz.

Polling rate is the rate of data being sent from the mouse to the operating system. A higher polling rate would result in less input lag which is also very important for gaming.

The next is:

The most of best gaming mouse come with extra buttons that are programmable to use as hotkeys or shortcuts.

This comes in handy while gaming:

As the mouse can shorten the amount of controls that have to be done in the keyboard and replace them with the mouse. It is a lot more convenient for most people.

Also some higher-end mice have more modular ability as well to fit different hand sizes and grips.

Below pic shows the modular ability of this mouse:

For example: Mad Catz rat 8 has completely swappable palm rests and extensions and also width adjustment.

Additionally many gaming mouse have adjustable weights to fit the users exact means in terms of mouse movement performance.

Another aspect that is massively different from regular mice is:

A lot of regular mouse are not designed with the idea of fitting inside the users hands to gain more efficiently and comfort for long periods of use also known as the ergonomics of the mouse

now that does not mean that every regular Mouse isn't designed with comfort in mind but gaming mice do definitely have a much different grip.

Gaming mice usually have a larger profile to fit the palm nicely to maximize comfort. And also support different grips on the mice that may not seem important to some.

But for people who game for long periods of time they can definitely appreciate that.

I know I do.

This brings me to my next point:

Gaming mice are designed to be used a lot and take a beating especially for ragers.

Aside from that the mouse is going to be used extensively in the rest of the parts have to hold up.

The left and right buttons have to be more responsive than built well to deal with a lot of clicking and button mashing.

Most regular mice would start breaking down quickly even with casual use. I personally noticed that regular mice creak and the buttons start to feel mushy.

Usually most gaming mice come with a 50-million click lifespan for each of the buttons and remain very responsive for a long time.

Another thing to mention is that most gaming mice use a braided cable which is not necessarily more durable than rubber coated USB connections but personally I do prefer the braided cable.

And lastly another vast difference would be software and lighting.

Not every gaming mouse comes with software but a lot of them do. Alternatively regular mice don't have custom software to customize the mouse or none that I know of the software for a mouse.

It can serve many different functions such as creating different shortcuts also creating different profiles for different programs and games that contain different DPI and shortcut settings specific to that program or game.

Also lighting effects can be vastly customized to serve the user to their content.

Many gaming mice offer backlighting and RGB lighting to fit many different themes and preferences.

And if done right can look very tasteful and add a nice addition to the overall appeal to the color coordination of the setup.

So those are the main differences between the gaming mouse and the regular Mouse or at least the ones that I recognize to be the most different between the two.

There are definitely more if you think there's more that I left out on this list please comment down below and let me know and also add on to list.