HOW WE TEST

We’ve used enough mice to have a good feel for build quality, button placement, and shape. Our opinions are, naturally, subjective, but they’re also well-informed. The tricky part of testing mice is analyzing the other part of the equation: Tracking performance, jitter, angle snapping, acceleration, and perfect control speed.

What do all those mean? If you’re interested in the intricacies of gaming mice, here are some definitions that will help you understand why each of these terms are important.

Grip How you hold the mouse. The most common are palm, claw and fingertip.

CPI/DPI Counts/dots per inch, or how many times the mouse sensor will read its tracking surface for every inch it’s moved.

Jitter An inaccuracy in a sensor reading the surface it’s tracking. Often occurs at higher mouse movement speeds.

Angle snapping Takes data from a sensor and modifies the output with the goal of creating smoother movements. This is bad for games, as it means your cursor movements won’t match your hand’s movements.

Acceleration When a mouse sensor exhibits acceleration it your cursor will move faster the quicker you move the mouse. This is often considered bad, because it means moving the mouse slowly six inches across a surface will move the cursor a different distance than moving it rapidly the same distance. Perfect control speed The speed at which the mouse can be moved while still tracking accurately.

Lift-off distance The height a mouse has to be raised before the sensor stops tracking its surface. Some gamers prefer a low lift-off distance because they play at very low sensitivity.