Gaming keyboard and mouse questions

[amythompson172]

I was on Amazon.com looking at the Logitech gaming mice and keyboards. In particular, this keyboard:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-920-...TF8&coliid=I3HFPICXO2YVFH&colid=3CXCNQ4RANJ32

And this mouse:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002J9GDXI

I've never owned a gaming mouse or keyboard before. So I am wondering what the benefits really are in gameplay. Starting off with the mouse, I can't recall what my Microsoft laser mouse DPI is but I'm sure it's nowhere near the 5700 of the Logitech gaming mouse above. How much difference does that really make say when playing a shooter? How does it affect gameplay? Is it easier to aim quickly and accurately? Does it help you to play better? There must be some reason people like them. I'd like to understand how beneficial they are. As for all the extra buttons I don't honestly see myself using them. Do people really find all those buttons on a mouse helpful? What for? What do people activate with them?

On to the Logitech gaming keyboards. The one I linked above I think is their entry level model. I like the backlit keys feature. That is pretty cool. Some of the other stuff seems pretty useless to me personally. The defining feature of this keyboard really seems to be the macro keys. So the question is, what are they good for? I'm trying to imagine what I'd want to macro in a shooter for example. What would I want to macro playing some RPG? What would I want to macro playing World of Warcraft? Once again, people like these a lot for some reason but I am honestly clueless about what specifically it is. So please enlighten the clueless!

Thanks a lot for any feedback on this stuff. I appreciate it.

 

[Leeky]

The mouse buttons can come in handy for things like reloading during gameplay. Hitting the mouse button with your thumb can certainly be quicker than hitting it with a finger on the keyboard.

The sensitivity and the acceleration (measured in G's, for g force) can be quite important, but so is having a good quality mouse mat to go with it. Ultimately speaking the higher the rating the more accurate the mouse is, and how sensitive it is to movement during gameplay.

Having adjustable DPI settings can be useful for things like sniping, where you can knock it down a touch to make the scope sight move slower. I use my Logitech G9 mouse at the highest setting all the time, but the option to reduce it on the fly can be handy some times.

As for the keyboard, those extra buttons could be used to perform multi-button actions during gameplay, or just used to perform certain functions in replacement of the existing keyboard buttons in use.

I must admit that having owned many gaming keyboards, I've ever really used the macro functions, so someone else would probably be better explaining this.

The backlit keys are indeed very helpful, especially in late night gaming sessions.

 

[Buckshot420]

One thing you really need to know when shopping for a mouse is your type of grip. Do you use a claw grip or do you palm the mouse? I use the claw grip and I LOVE this mouse.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=hAhBT8TvFabm0QHRhZnYBw&ved=0CIIBEPMCMAI

If you want to stick with a logitech go with the G500. As for keyboards, have you seen this one yet?
http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-C...U003US/dp/B004M3ECFU/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[amythompson172]

One thing you really need to know when shopping for a mouse is your type of grip. Do you use a claw grip or do you palm the mouse? I use the claw grip and I LOVE this mouse.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=hAhBT8TvFabm0QHRhZnYBw&ved=0CIIBEPMCMAI

If you want to stick with a logitech go with the G500. As for keyboards, have you seen this one yet?
http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-C...U003US/dp/B004M3ECFU/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Ive heard this "claw grip" term before and was completely clueless, but now that you said palm grip as well, i totally understand. My hands are fairly large, and palming the mouse simply dosent work, and is very uncomfortable. Apparently I use the claw grip, and that CM mouse is very interesting to me. Im pretty sure im going to give that one a go! Thanks a bunch!

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

If you have large hands, odds are you use a fingertip grip or claw grip (or some combination of the two). I have relatively large hands and like yourself, I can't use a palm grip with standard mice because they're too small for me. A few pointers before you buy the Cooler master mouse:

Mice for claw or fingertip grips are smaller than those for palm grip. In other words, if you have comfort issues (as I do) using larger palm grip mice, it doesn't make much sense to buy a smaller claw grip one. It simply doesn't cater to your hand size, so shopping by grip type is useless.

I'd say Logitech has a decent all around profile with its mainline mice and I use the G500 daily (the second-gen G5 before that). It's a tad awkward in that it feels too narrow (there are only a few popular mice that are wider, and only by a couple mm if memory serves), but it gets the job done.

Adjustable DPI is pretty gimmicky in my opinion. In my experience, the sweet spot is around 1800-2000DPI with no acceleration/angle snapping etc. for 1:1 movement (though I believe I've read that the G500's sensor has slight positive acceleration -- negligible for standard usage).

If you've already adapted to a low DPI (say, 800) you'll probably find it difficult to control speeds far beyond that with precision. What's more, I've yet to use a mouse where the DPI toggle is in a comfortable position -- again, because I assume my hands are simply larger than average.

As for the additional buttons, as Leeky said, they offer greater flexibility for controls, but you probably won't use all of them in every game. In some games I set a thumb button (Mouse4) as melee attack (easy to access and odds are I want to tap that button as quickly as possible).

I won't say much about keyboards as I'm somewhat of a snob, but you don't *need* macro buttons, nor do you need proprietary software for such functionality. You can use something like AutoHotKey to achieve similar or identical results in most situations, though it's less user-friendly.

I'm no pro, but I do just fine in multiplayer games using nothing but a plain 104-key Filco keyboard with Blue Cherry MX switches. I have media keys scripted with AHK and I can't say I've ever needed additional buttons for macros to hit the top of a scoreboard. I gather you haven't ether.

 

[amythompson172]

Buying razer is the equivalent of buying a bottom shelf walmart mouse, painting it black and putting a name on it. The only reason it gained any ground is because (for whatever reason) when you slap the word "gaming" on it, people eat that **** up like hotcakes.

A local store here ordered 10 "gaming" network cards that cost something like $200 and they sold in 1 hour. This was last year. People are just stupid and buy anything labeled "gamer".

That said, logitech does have quality mice and keyboards. Their "gamer" stuff is well built for the most part. I imagine they label quite a bit of it "for gamers" because it just sells better that way.

You should stray away from "gamer" headsets, logitech included. There is better quality for less money to be had in other brands.

 

[thesurvivor190]

I have a g500, and it is pretty amazing. I've had it for over a year now, and I haven't had any problems with it.

DPI and how fast the cursor moves depends on various different settings. There is windows acceleration, game sensitivity settings etc.
Aiming mostly depends on how adjusted you are to the sensitivity, and whether or not that sensitivity is right or not. When you get a new mouse, it is expected that you won't be used to it for a while, but you will generally adjust to get used to it.
Of course, you could also adjust the settings to your liking.

A laser sensor means that the mouse more accurately senses your movement.

As for comfort, this mouse is very ergonomic. I use a palm grip, and my hands rest on it pretty nicely. I can go for long gaming sessions without a problem.

Extra buttons: Most of the buttons that logitech lists as macro buttons are actually useful every day buttons. For example, scroll wheel and scroll click are things that you probably use every day, so you most likely wouldn't change them. There are 3 buttons on the side of the mouse that seem to be macro keys, but 2 of them are back and forward keys, which are very useful for web browsing. The 3rd button can be reprogrammed to be a macro key.

 

[slh28]

The G500 is awesome except for the middle wheel - when you press the wheel button it also registers a side scroll 50% of the time. Quite annoying for tabbed browsing.

The point of high DPI is so you have greater accuracy, for gaming mine is set at 1800-3600 DPI with the mouse speed set to the minimum.

Having used a mechanical keyboard I would never think of spending money on a gaming membrane keyboard again. Mechanical keyboard do cost a bit more but it's definitely worth saving up to get one. You need to do some research into the different type of Cherry MX switches to see which type you prefer (e.g. search youtube), as they are quite different.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

The G500 is awesome except for the middle wheel - when you press the wheel button it also registers a side scroll 50% of the time. Quite annoying for tabbed browsing.

Logitech's mice tend to have stiff scroll wheels and the G500's wheel tilt is a bit more sensitive than I experienced on the G5. I can see how someone would have your problem, but I just wanted to say that I have no issues pressing the scroll wheel accurately. Guess it just varies between users.

 

[slh28]

Logitech's mice tend to have stiff scroll wheels and the G500's wheel tilt is a bit more sensitive than I experienced on the G5. I can see how someone would have your problem, but I just wanted to say that I have no issues pressing the scroll wheel accurately. Guess it just varies between users.

Sigh... I just wish they would take the wheel from the MX Revolution and put it in all their mice. Easily the best wheel of all time! It would go to free scrolling mode automatically whereas on the newer Logitech mice you have to press a button to go from click-to-click to free scrolling mode.

 

[amythompson172]

I have that mouse.
It broke after 2 years of abuse... by broke I mean the smoothness was eroded to hell.
I liked to so much I went and bought the exact same mouse.
What does that tell you about what I think about it?

As for the keyboard, I have a G11. I used to have a G15... but I traded it with my friend for this one because I preferred the blue LED lights.
You'll never use the Micro Keys... I have 18 of them and they do sod all for me.

Logitech products are amazing. I highly recommend them.
I used to have a regular mouse and keyboard... but now I've used Gaming sets... I'd never go back to generic.