It's difficult to lock down the best gaming mouse brand, largely because each brand offers a wide range of budget, mid-range, and premium options. There are, however, a few contenders for the prize; Razer, Corsair, Logitech, SteelSeries and Roccat. These brands are all responsible for some of the best gaming mice on the market right now, and each offers a slightly different experience based on what you need from your pointer. If we were to be locked down for a top spot, though, our top picks for the best gaming mouse suggest that Razer is leading the competition right now.
Trust Gxt 25 Gaming Mouse Driver
If you're new to PC gaming you may be wondering whether the often higher prices of gaming mice will actually enhance your game. While even the most expensive gaming mouse won't turn you into a pro player overnight, there are features included as standard on these devices that you won't find in regular pointers.
The best gaming mouse models combine comfort with customization, speed, and accuracy - and do it all while still offering solid value for money on top. Whether you're after an fps-first speedster or something a little chunkier under the fingertips, there are plenty of brands vying for a shot at the top spot these days. We've had our hands on a massive range of rodents over the years, and we're bringing you all our favorites right here.
The good news is that we're seeing the tech powering these devices getting cheaper and cheaper, which means you can find plenty of gaming mice sitting at affordable prices these days. That's why we're bringing you not only the best gaming mouse models overall, but also the best value pointers punching well above their price tags.
Finding the right gaming mouse for your playstyle depends on a number of factors; the shape that feels most comfortable, your grip type, and the games that you play. That's why we're always putting new designs and sensors through their paces in all realms of PC gaming, from twitchy first person shooters to slower strategy and simulation titles. Not only that, but we've stretched each device (including the battery and connectivity available on the best wireless gaming mice) through long play sessions to make sure that comfort and performance lasts as well.
Want to avoid breaking the bank? We'd recommend the Logitech G203 Lightsync. As well as being aggressively affordable, it's the best gaming mouse for those on a budget - balancing a decent feature-set with that low cost. In fact, its competition generally only comes from the Razer Viper Mini and the Razer DeathAdder V2 Mini. The Logitech G203 Lightsync, however, is cheaper than the DeathAdder V2 Mini and offers a larger body than the Viper Mini, which will satisfy a wider range of grip types.
Wireless performance is excellent and battery life will see you through plenty of sessions without RGB switched on. Essentially, the Razer Naga V2 Pro offers everything you could ask for from a gaming mouse - and does it for a massive range of players.
We're recommending the Kone XP as the best gaming mouse for RGB lovers, but it's important to note that this is from a brute force angle, rather than in terms of customization. It still feels like the Swarm software is catching up, which means we were a little disappointed to realise that you can't actually change the colors of these RGB strips. However, there are plenty of cycles to choose from, and the overall effect may be too good to turn down.
It's no slouch when it comes to features, either. It offers an enviable 18,000 DPI sensor with a tolerance of 400 IPS, meaning it'll still be able to track your movements when the mouse is hurtling across your mat. Additionally, the click action of each button is tactile and satisfying. That makes the Ironclaw RGB a real contender for the prize of best gaming mouse.
While some parts of the Logitech G Pro Wireless do show their age - the plastic cable does drag considerably when plugged in, for example. This is a gaming mouse that has certainly withstood the test of time in general. You're getting a solid 25K sensor with incredibly precise tracking and some smooth movement across the desk top as well. Not only that, but we found battery life to be particularly strong here as well. While the 45-60 hours recommended by Logitech is a little on the smaller side these days it still held up under our testing and we didn't experience any stuttering when in the final 5%. That's not something we can say for the vast majority of pointers we've tested.
Add a soft click, comfortable form factor (for both left and right handed use), and a relatively lightweight profile and you've got yourself a solid ambidextrous gaming mouse for whichever hand you use.
During that initial testing period we make sure the performance is up to the task of the latest and greatest titles by checking everything from sensor accuracy to click debounce, grip materials to scroll wheel resistance. Within this testing, however, we're always keeping our assessments inline with value. That means we're making sure that a $150 gaming mouse offers just as much value for money as a $30 model, and measuring our results in accordance.
It's easy to forget that the best gaming mouse for you might not be the latest or greatest release. In fact, it's worth getting to know what you need from a gaming mouse to make the right choice when it comes to checkout.
Grip typeFor all the jargon involved in buying a gaming mouse, it's easy to forget the biggest factor of all - comfort. You will naturally hold your mouse in a certain grip, usually either a palm, claw, or tip grip. The size and shape of your mouse will determine whether it is comfortable to hold in this way, so it's worth noting how you naturally place your hand on the pointer and double checking your chosen mouse will fit you.
Wired vs wirelessWireless gaming mice are gathering steam these days, as models hit the market that can overcome the traditional latency that used to come with untethering. However, it's still worth noting that you'll be paying a lot more for a wireless mouse that functions like a wired one.
CPI / DPI In everyday play, some tend to place too much emphasis on the CPI / DPI of the best gaming mice on the market. CPI (or sometimes referred to as DPI) tracks how often the mouse's sensor tracks the surface it's on. The higher this rate, the less you'll need to move your mouse to register movement on the screen.
Who knew a simple gaming mouse could spawn so many strange words. You'll find all the commonly used terms batted around in marketing and spec sheets just below, so that you know exactly that you're getting.
CPI / DPI CPI and DPI are used interchangeably when speaking about a gaming mouse's sensor. The term refers to both counts per inch and dots per inch and relates to the number of times your mouse reads the surface underneath it for every inch of movement. That translates to the distance of movement of your cursor on the screen - a higher CPI, the less you have to move your mouse for it to register.
Several years ago, I bought a Medion laser gaming mouse, the MD 86079, at the local Aldi. I'd been using it quite happily for years, and was always amazed at the comfort and accuracy of it, especially on glossy surfaces. Recently, I recommended it to somebody else, only to find that Medion had stopped selling it and it wasn't available anywhere else, either.
Another thing that I noticed, was that all these L103G variants advertised configurable macro keys and DPI settings, up to sometimes 5000 DPI, while my mouse was advertised as hard-set 1600 DPI with just an auto-fire button, and only came with driver software that let me remap the navigational buttons.
Surely if these mice are all the same model, they would have the same chipset and thus the same capabilities? I also wondered why my DPI switching and autofire (macro) buttons didn't work under Linux - if these mice are programmable, then surely this functionality is handled by the mouse chipset and not by the driver?
After some mucking around with VirtualBox to get USB passthrough to work (hey, openSUSE packagers, you should probably document that you've disabled that by default for security reasons!), I installed the original driver software for my Medion mouse. Apparently it's not even really a kernel driver - it seems to just be a piece of userspace software that sends signals to the device.
My initial guess was that the mouse initially acts as a 'dumb' preconfigured USB/2.0 mouse, in order to have acceptable behaviour and DPI on a driver-less system, and that it would only enable the 'advanced features' (macros, DPI switching) if it got a signal from the driver saying that the configuration software was present. Now of course this makes sense for a highly configurable gaming mouse, but as my mouse didn't come with such software I found it a little odd.
The Trust GXT 33 is another Areson L103G model, advertised as configurable up to 5000 DPI. Its 'driver' software happily lets me configure my mouse up to those 5000 DPI - even though my Medion mouse was only advertised as 1600 DPI! I've changed the configuration (as you can see in the screenshot), and it really does take effect. It even keeps working after detaching it from the USB passthrough and thus returning it to Linux. And it doesn't stop there... 2ff7e9595c
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