GROUP TEST: Mice

For games, a standard office mouse just isn’t up to the job. Lewis Painter rounds up the five best models

Whether you’re blowing chunks out of opponents or ploughing through reports for work, it’s essential that you have the right mouse under your hand. Gaming mice in particular have a seemingly endless variety of options to choose between, all offering different benefits.

A lot of it comes down to personal choice: how it feels in your hand and whether you find the positioning of the buttons comfortable. Incidentally, left-handed gamers should take note; these are all exclusively right-handed mice. Aside from sheer ergonomics, there are other factors to consider. Many mice, for example, offer adjustable on-the-fly DPI (dots per inch) settings, allowing you to change your mouse’s sensitivity at the touch of a button. This is for when you need fine control when, for example, taking a headshot. Most gaming mice come with anywhere from five- to 10 programmable buttons (which you can assign to specific functions such as sprinting, crouching or reloading), while an MMO-style mouse might cram 20 or more onto its chassis. These can give you a leg up on the competition, when used correctly.

Many also offer various backlighting options to make them more attractive to look at. Occasionally a mouse comes with removable weights, allowing you to make it heavier or lighter until you’ve found your ‘perfect’ weight.

Whether you want a wired or a wireless mouse is another consideration, though our view is that wired is best. You don’t have to faff around with replacement batteries, plus some gamers report that they can notice lag with some wireless mice.