The odd thing about computer mice—gaming, ergonomic, or otherwise—is how subjective they are. I guess we've all got different hand shapes, finger lengths, and technical needs. I've been hunting for the perfect mouse for my particular hands for years now, and I've refined my selection down to two.

Unfortunately, they couldn't be more different, so I guess I'm a two-mouse sort of guy now. One is the Logitech MX Master 4, an ergonomic mouse with a poor sensor for gaming, but an excellent shape for all-day work usage. It's also near-silent, which the rest of my household is very grateful for.

And the other is the Razer Cobra HyperSpeed, a tiny rodent with exactly the sort of weight and technical specs I like for gaming, all for a relatively reasonable sum. Looking at the two together, they're completely chalk and cheese. Neither mouse is perfect, but switching between the two is the best solution I've found for all my computing needs.

As I sit here during a workday, typing out this article, it's the MX Master 4 that keeps me company. While I technically prefer the MX Master 3S, I managed to damage the rubber coating of mine when I took it apart for cleaning, so I've switched to the newer model.

It's not quite as comfy as the 3S, but it's still a weighty rodent with a horizontal scroll wheel for spreadsheets and a selection of programmable buttons that come in handy for my daily tasks.

When I want to play something fast-paced, though, I swap over to the Cobra HyperSpeed. It's tiny, which makes it perfect for quick fingertip movements. It's also got a speedy sensor, brilliantly clicky, satisfying switches, and a little dash of near-tasteful RGB lighting underneath.

It's a bit like cars. In an ideal world (in which I could afford to have two automobiles on my driveway), I'd have a big, wallowing cruiser for getting me to the office in comfort, and a little two-seater sports car to bomb around in on the weekends. Which is exactly how I use these two mice.

But the stark difference between the two makes me think that, for my purposes, the perfect mouse doesn't exist. I've tried lots of them over the past few years, but this combo is the one I've stuck with for a while now, and it's probably where I'm going to stay.

Neither is technically the best on the market for all purposes. But once you've found a system that works for you, it's difficult to change—which means I guess I'm a dual-wielder from this point forward. As are, I notice, several other members of the PC Gamer team. What's next, two gaming chairs? This double-hardware lifestyle is going to get expensive, I can tell.

Wireless gaming mice are great and have only gotten better with time. They're so good, in fact, that I would not go for a wired model unless I was really looking for a budget option. And yet it turns out wired mice were the best choice for the Valorant Champions tournament in Shanghai, where custom desks were apparently interfering with the signal.

The Valorant Esports X page recently revealed that "repeated mouse interference issues have caused multiple tech pauses and disrupted our most important tournament of the year" and that it would be asking all players to swap to wired mice until the problem is fixed.

In a match between FUT Esports and 100 Thieves, player xeus had an issue with their mouse where it was unable to fire. Xeus is part of FUT, which lost to 100 Thieves, two to zero.

Riot claims, "Following an official post-game evaluation, we concluded that a round rollback should have been allowed. We take responsibility for that error." Riot also said, "After considering the available options, we have decided that the match result will stand, as other options would result in overturning a victory by a team that competed under the same conditions and was not responsible for the error."

Riot fabricated custom metal desks for the tournament, and believes the material choice could be the cause of the interference problem here. For most players, they will be able to use their wireless mouse simply in wired mode, but some mice without USB Type-C ports, like the recent SteelSeries Rival Pro, would pose a significant problem.

In this use case, a pro would have to swap the mouse altogether, which means getting used to a new shape, weight, and feel. At the highest level, this could be a slight disadvantage.

But even using the same mouse, being tethered to your rig poses a slight problem too, as it adds some resistance in movement. This will likely mean that many players have to ever so slightly change the way they play for the tournament, or at least until things are fixed.

There's a reason why wireless mice are so popular among competitive players. They're easy to move around; you don't have to factor in the tether of the cable as you move your arm, and polling rates are now so high that wireless mice are as quick as wired. Regardless of how fast this issue is fixed, it's still likely quite the setback for pro players, and may make them bring a spare USB cable with them in the future.

You may know the trick of checking price in relation to weight, rather than full price, at a supermarket, to account for different pack sizes, but have you ever thought of applying that same metric to gaming mice? Me neither, until our Dave spotted such a rubric on Amazon. The Turtle Beach Burst II Air Amazon listing has a price-to-ounce ratio, and that got me thinking: which mouse would offer the best price-to-gram ratio?

Yes, it may be a bit silly to value price relative to weight, as it's favouring cheap but heavy mice, and it might mean that some ultralight mice get the short end of the stick, and some might argue that price-to-gram tells you less about whether you should buy the mouse than price by itself, but you've gotta take that one up with Mr Bezos. I'm just the messenger, and as we all know, the messenger never gets shot.

And most scientists are unappreciated in their time.

As a fierce rodent scientist, I fear this specific study needs much more than just working out the weight-to-price ratio. Thus, my own personal rubric was born, an unholy alliance of two different scores that are then averaged together.

First, the price-to-weight ratio. Here, I grabbed the weight of the mouse and the MSRP, then assigned it a grams-per-dollar value. Some mice have slightly different weights (like the SteelSeries Rival Pro white and black models, which are one gram different), so I took the lowest available. From here, I graphed every pick on a scale and assigned a value based on how well they rank. The mouse at the very bottom of this graph would be assigned 100%, and the mouse on the total opposite end would get 0%.

In the name of unadulterated overkill, for science, my method was to get the difference between the highest- and lowest-value mouse, then divide that difference by 100 to get 1% (0.034), and then calculate the difference between either end and the scored mouse in measures of 0.034.

Finally, to account for quality, I would grab our review score (which does mean this specific study can only happen with mice we've reviewed). The combination of these two gets you what I am tentatively calling the PC Gamer price-to-weight-to-value-to-quality score, or the James score for short. Catchy name, I know.

Yes, this does mean that the data is held back specifically by mice we've reviewed, but I can live with that. Anyway, here are the numbers.

So, if you are looking to pick up a new gaming mouse and want the most grams for the least amount of money, and want something that we have personally tried and recommend, the Glorious Model O Eternal has placed at the very top of the PC Gamer. price-to-weight-to-value-to-quality score table. That's funny timing, as I happen to have recommended that exact mouse as a good budget buy this week.

Second place is the 8BitDo Retro R8, which coincidentally happens to be the mouse I keep on my desk, and joint third place is two different Mchose mice.

As time has gone on, many gamers are looking for the lightest mouse possible and are willing to pay more for the privilege, which shows how strange this Amazon measurement is. And as such, I thought this test would show how silly the weight-to-gram ratio is, but my super fancy, very scientific analysis shows that solidly built budget mice are the best out there. And yeah, for most people, I think that's bang on. Thanks, Jeff.

Optical click vs analogue click

Reaction times taken and averaged from Human Benchmark

Reaction time

Sensei Pro

176.4

X3 Superstrike (level 3)

177

X3 Superstrike (level 1)

175.1

050100150200

Avg reaction time (ms)

Reaction time Data

Product	Value
Sensei Pro	176.4
X3 Superstrike (level 3)	177
X3 Superstrike (level 1)	175.1

I had about the same reaction time with both mice, regardless of the level of actuation I set the X3 Superstrike to.

The Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike (and the X2 Superstrike) promises a reduction in latency between deciding to click and actually clicking, because you can reduce the button-press distance thanks to the analogue switches. Which is great on paper, but I wanted to see just how much of a difference it makes in practice.

I used the X2 Superstrike for a while after it came out, and I felt a difference while playing Counter-Strike, but it was difficult to know how much of that was placebo. So, now the X3 is out, I thought I'd actually test the difference compared to a mouse with regular clicks.

I used the Human Benchmark reaction test, and I have done so much reactive clicking this morning that I now feel I never want to engage that part of my brain again. I did 150 reactive clicks total—50 for the SteelSeries Sensei Pro, 50 for the X3 Superstrike at its lowest actuation distance (level 1), and 50 for at level 3. I made sure to swap between the mice quite frequently to ensure it wasn't just a case of me improving over time. All worth it in the name of science.

Anyway, enough preamble, let's get to it. You'll see from the chart above that, compared to the Sensei Pro, with the Superstrike I perform... about the same. I'm not comfortable saying that 1 ms difference at level 1 is due to anything other than natural variance, especially given I actually scored worse at level 3 than with the Sensei Pro.

The chart below shows the distribution of various testers' click latency on the Human Benchmark website.

Now, it's probably the case that if I spent eight hours straight testing this, gathering thousands of click results, there might be a clearer difference. But that the difference isn't visible over 150 reaction tests is significant, especially given there was tons of variance between those actual results. I got some results very close to 200 ms with every mouse at every setting, and I got some close to 150 ms with every mouse at every setting.

What that tells me is that while it could be true that in the long run I could have slightly faster reactions with the Superstrike, in each individual case it's very much up in the air. Probably orders of magnitude more influenced by how much sleep I've had, how hydrated I am, and so on.

That being said, if you're a pro player who has more consistent and faster reaction time than me, I could see the faster clicks being more important.

Give it a test yourself at Human Benchmark and let us know where you score on the curve!

Last month, I visited SteelSeries HQ in Copenhagen to get a first look at some new gear, but the most surprising thing was not what was there but what was conspicuously lacking: USB ports. The two new mice I was shown, the Rival Pro and Sensei Pro, cannot be plugged in at all. A bold decision, but over the past few weeks of using both mice, I've been surprised to find that sacrifice is worth the benefits. So much so that I couldn't help but conclude in my Rival Pro review that SteelSeries is absolutely and unequivocally back, baby, firing on all competitive cylinders.

All this is said, however, with a big asterisk, this being the assumption that connectivity and functionality will hold up over time. These mice cannot afford to struggle with connectivity for firmware updates, for instance.

SteelSeries is using ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless, which is a new and niche tech that promises to be more reliable, however given it's new there's an element of 'are we sure' here. I've had no problems yet, but time will tell.

The main benefit of ditching USB connectivity entirely is that presumably this is what has contributed to keeping the weight of both mice so low, despite having hot swappable batteries. We've seen hot-swappable batteries before, but it's still very niche for gaming mice, and at any rate, I've not seen it done in such premium feeling mice as the Rival Pro and Sensei Pro.

The Rival Pro has an ergonomic slope to it, while the Sensei Pro is symmetrical with a slight hump towards the back. Apart from the difference in shape, though, both share the same specs and the same quality feel. I feel nary a wiggle or a flex under my fingers, and apart from the more mushy-feeling (but not bad) scroll wheel, both mice feel as well-built as the most well-built mouse I've ever had my hands on: the Razer Viper V4 Pro.

SteelSeries was keen on highlighting the "true" 8K of both mice, because apparently they send one packet and receive one receipt at 8K whereas most mice do things in batches. You can also set it to have a higher click polling rate than sensor polling rate to save on battery life. But I'm not too fussed about either of these things: sensor polling rate is what I care about, and I'm not too fussed about 8K anyway.

It says something, then, that assuming the connectivity doesn't putter out at any point in future—and I've had zero problems on this front so far—I'm still using the Rival Pro as my go-to mouse for Counter-Strike despite its lack of backup USB connectivity. The combination of light weight, hot swappable battery system, fantastic shapes, and top-tier build quality are what really make the proposition worth it.

Of particular note is the fact that you're getting optical clicks, but they somehow have a gorgeous mechanical sound and feel, which is practically unheard of.

I did receive these as a review unit, though, which means I've not had to fork out $180 for the pleasure. These are expensive mice, make no mistake. More expensive than the Viper V4 Pro, even, though the same price as the X2 Superstrike and just a little less than the X3 Superstrike.

But they truly do feel that pleasant under the palm that I think both the Sensei Pro and Rival Pro are worth it, if you're lucky enough to have that kind of a budget. And assuming that UWB connection does indeed hold out in the long run.

This has been quite the year for competitive/esports gaming mice. First we had the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike (and now the improved X3), then the Razer Viper V4 Pro. Now, with this Rival Pro, we have SteelSeries finally rejoining the former brands in the sphere of top-tier competitive gaming mice. A true return to form, in my humble opinion.

What makes for a good competitive gaming mouse? Well, it's often said that 'shape is king', so a comfy shape is certainly an important factor. In addition, you want it to be lightweight, which means no heavier than about 60 g and preferably a fair bit lighter than this. You also, of course, want flawless connectivity, an accurate and reliable sensor, and solid build quality.

As far as I'm concerned, if all those are implemented correctly, then that's everything you need to land in top-tier territory. But mice can also offer some nice-to-haves such as 8K polling and the ability to adjust things, such as lift-off distance (LOD) or sensor frame rate. They might also have completely new technologies, which is where the Superstrike gets its claim to competitive fame thanks to its inductive technology and rapid trigger clicks.

This SteelSeries mouse doesn't have anything quite as fancy as haptic-inductive clicks, but that doesn't bar it from being a great competitive mouse, just as surely as it doesn't bar the current best gaming mouse on the market, the Viper V4 Pro, from the same accolade. When it comes to all the other areas that make for a great competitive gaming mouse, the Rival Pro is up there with the best of them and is superb for gamers who use a palm grip. And it even has a couple of its own tricks up its sleeve.

The first trick is its 'Infinite Power System', ie, hot-swappable batteries. They're designed well and once you've swapped them a few times to get used to it, you can flip the mouse over and replace it with the backup in the wireless receiver/charger very easily. There's no additional battery inside the mouse itself, so the connection will cut out when you swap, but I've had no problems at all with the mouse turning back on and connecting straight away before it hits the pad again.

It's necessary that this system work smoothly because SteelSeries has decided to completely remove the option to connect the mouse to your PC with a cable. It's fully wireless with no USB-C port, which is a bold decision, but I'm sure eliminating the internals for a cable also helps keep the mouse light despite its hot-swappable battery system.

In addition to the batteries, another thing that will presumably help ensure the lack of a cable isn't too much of an issue is that SteelSeries is opting for an ultra-wideband (UWB) rather than a 2.4 GHz connection. This means more bandwidth and less channel interference from other devices, which should, in theory, make for a more reliable connection, and I must say I've had zero issues with the mouse remaining connected and stable after my initial setup. We've seen whispers of other, lesser-known brands opting for UWB connectivity, but it's still very new and niche.

I naturally feel (as I think others might) a little wary of completely ditching a wired connection. But I suppose that's how many PC gamers felt when mice started going wireless in general, even with the option for a cable. And I must admit, after everything was set up the way I wanted it, my experience with this mouse's UWB connectivity and battery system has been flawless. Perhaps SteelSeries will herald in a new era that sees us cut the cord fully, and eventually we won't worry about it.

It definitely feels worth it to keep the weight low, and here we come to the nuts and bolts: shape, weight, and build quality. The long and short of it is that this is, I think, the most comfortable I've ever felt with a mouse under my hand as a palm gripper.

Previously, my go-to mouse was the Zowie EC2-DW, which shares a similar ergonomic shape that's designed for palm grip. Comparing the two, the SteelSeries Rival Pro has a slightly less pronounced left-side slope, leaving me to feel my hand is resting a little flatter than with the Zowie. But it's still curved and ergonomic, and the curves feel, well, curvy, rather than sharp. The whole thing is helped by a nice matte texture to the surface that feels fantastic under the hand.

I'm not actually sure whether I prefer the shape of the Zowie or the Rival Pro; they both feel very similarly ergonomic and well-suited to a full palm grip for low-sensitivity gameplay in tactical shooters. It's a close call but the SteelSeries mouse is now my go-to, primarily because I prefer its matte coating and because it has the hot-swappable battery system. And because it's lighter.

Build quality is fantastic, too. The buttons (including side buttons) feel sturdy and responsive and don't have a hint of pre- or post-travel to them, and try as I might I cannot get a creak out of this thing when I squeeze it. What's especially impressive is that the left and right mouse buttons are optical ones but they feel and sound mechanical rather than loud or hollow which can often happen with optical switches—SteelSeries says it worked closely with the switch manufacturer to achieve this.

The only problem I have is the scroll wheel action isn't as defined and satisfying as some others—the steps are more defined on the Viper V4 Pro and Superstrike, for instance. Still, it's far from the worst scroll wheel I've felt, and everything else about the mouse feels lovely.

You also get the option to adjust pretty much anything you might want in the SteelSeries GG software, including sensor rotation, angle snapping, lift-off distance (LOD), and so on. You can also enable 'Max Performance' mode which puts the sensor at the highest frame rate, though this will of course affect battery life.

These kinds of options are only available in the local GG software, whereas you can change some of the more basic options in the web software. Oh, did I forget to mention? Yes, this launch also marks the release of the SteelSeries GG web app, so you don't have to install anything locally if you just want to adjust polling rates.

Another trick to the Rival Pro—adding yet another tool to 2026's quickly-growing arsenal of gaming mouse technologies—is that it has what SteelSeries is keen to point out is "true" 8K polling, in a way that other gaming mice don't.

SteelSeries claims that other supposedly '8K' mice tend to send 2–8 reports of sensor data in batches for each receipt of transmission, and if any of those is missed due to interference then it's all sent together in a batch again, and this can cause lag or stutter. With this mouse, however, SteelSeries says you get true 8K because it sends one packet and receives one receipt; there's no batching or bunching up of sensor report data.

SteelSeries has also come up with some new tech for the polling rate which allows you to control the sensor and connection polling rate separately. Enabling 8K polling across the board—the way that other 8K mice implement it—can be very CPU-intensive and actually lower your frame rate, plus of course make your battery run out quicker.

SteelSeries' solution, to let you set one polling rate for your sensor and another for the UWB connection in general, has the benefit of allowing you ultra-quick and responsive clicks (by enabling 8K UWB) without the performance hit and battery drain of 8K sensor polling. The '8K' is also technically '9K' as it's overclocked, but USB connections can only transmit 8K-worth of data anyway.

For my part, I'm not too fussed about this. I keep 8K UWB enabled because I haven't found it to cause any performance loss in Counter-Strike nor any significant hit to battery life, and I keep the sensor polling set to 1 kHz or 2 kHz. But I don't notice any difference between my click responsiveness at 8K UWB vs 1K UWB. Your mileage may vary; perhaps some will be able to notice a slight difference, but I don't notice any.

Moreover, for competitive gaming it's arguably the sensor's rate that you want high anyway, and you can't select high sensor polling alongside low click polling—plus doing so likely wouldn't save much battery life anyway. Still, for anyone who wants to eke every bit of responsiveness possible out of their mouse, these new polling rate technologies are useful additions.

My time with the mouse has been smooth sailing. Smoother than smooth, in fact, given how easy the 'infinite' battery system is to use. I especially like that the little LED on the charging/connection hub can be set to show how charged your mouse is, so you don't have to be unsure when that red 'low battery' light will pop up.

Alternatively, you can set it to show you which (polling) performance mode you're in. And don't worry about being able to tell which DPI mode you're in, because when you change DPI with the underside button, a little LED on the side of your mouse lights up with the corresponding DPI level colour.

You also shouldn't worry about your batteries dying, as SteelSeries says you'll be able to buy replacement ones. So, it seems all bases are covered.

I'm happy with the choices SteelSeries has made here. I don't think the new technologies will be as game-changing as Razer's FrameSync or Logitech's HITS system, but a great hot-swappable battery system and UWB connectivity aren't anything to turn our noses up at. I just hope the complete lack of USB connectivity doesn't prove to be a problem in the long run.

Above all, I'm excited by SteelSeries' return to form in the competitive gaming mouse scene, to the extent that this mouse feels almost as premium as the most perfectly crafted mouse I've ever used, the Viper V4 Pro. The only thing that sets the latter apart is its scroll wheel and its inclusion of a USB port. And in fact I think the SteelSeries mouse actually has the Razer one beat when it comes to clicks, thanks to it having optical ones that sound and feel mechanical, compared to Razer's incredibly loud clicks.

It's certainly an expensive mouse at $180, but if you're looking for something top-end that feels fantastic for palm gripping, I don't hesitate in recommending it. Assuming the lack of a USB port pans out fine over the long term, this will be my own go-to mouse for gaming in tactical shooters. It's already my go-to for Counter-Strike, and given I'm quite picky over such things, I can't give a much bigger endorsement than that.

To paraphrase Wang Chung, we are in our Big Deal Days, love. With prices going crazy on PCs and laptops, because of the price of memory and GPUs, peripherals are one place where there should be good discounts, so we're hoping for some good Prime Day gaming mice deals this season. Amazon's October Prime Day is rolling around next week, with the event starting on Tuesday and running through until the end of play Wednesday. As always, however, every other retailer is jumping on the discounts bandwagon and timing a sale to coincide with Mr. Bezos' own event.

👉ALL of Amazon's gaming mice deals👈
👉OUR favorite Prime Day PC gaming deals👈

We're PC gamers, so the best gaming mice are our bread and butter, we spend a lot of time through the year testing the latest mice and the latest tech, so check out our guide to get an idea of what might be the right one for you. In the meantime, though, there are still plenty of tempting options below.

Where to find the best Prime Day gaming mice deals

• Amazon: All the gaming mice you could ever want
• Walmart: Speedy gaming mice, superb savings
• Best Buy: Big name meeces with big value discounts
• Newegg: Big savings on big brand gaming mice

Prime Day gaming mouse deals

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Logitech G203 | Wired

Perfect as a starter or low-budget option with a list of useful features like 6 programmable buttons, Lightsync RGB effects and a ton of customisation via Logitech's G Hub software, this mouse proves that you don't need to go fancy to get a great gaming peripheral. Key specs: Wired | 8,000 DPI | Right-handed Price check:Best Buy $39.99

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$25.99$34.99

Amazon deal recommended by:

Dave James • Editor-in-Chief, Hardware • 56 mins ago

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Save $33.68

Glorious GHS Eternal | 40 mm drivers

With a solid build quality, good compatibility and sweet design, the Glorious GHS is a thoroughly middle-of-the-pack budget gaming headset, but is a bit of a steal with a third off. Key specs: 40 mm drivers | 20 hz - 20 kHz | 255 g

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$26.31$59.99

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Andy Edser • Hardware Writer • 2 hrs ago

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Logitech G305 Lightspeed | Wireless

The Logitech G305 Lightspeed is our favorite budget wireless mouse—it's nothing fancy, but it's lightweight, has great battery life, and uses a killer sensor. The only thing to note is that this deal isn't necessarily that out of left field—the G305 hasn't been at full price for a while, but it's still worth snagging if you need a nice budget option with no frills. Key specs: Wireless | 12,000 DPI | Right-handed Price check: Best Buy $49.99

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$29.99$49.99

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Dave James • Editor-in-Chief, Hardware • 56 mins ago

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Logitech G305 Lightspeed

Already reasonably priced, who could say no to this charming rodent at a deep discount? Offering precision and durability with buttons rated for 10 million clicks—plus an array of fetching colours—this remains a great budget pick for good reason. Key specs: Wireless gaming mouse | Hero sensor | 12K CPI | 5 programmable buttons | 99 g weight | 200 hour battery life

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$29.99$49.99

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James Bentley • Hardware writer • 21 days ago

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Razer Basilisk V3

This mouse might be a few years old, but we scored it highly in our review in part thanks to that lovely ergonomic design. It also has some lush underglow RGB that's sure to tempt even those who usually hate RGB lighting. Key specs: Wired gaming mouse | 26K DPI | 11 buttons | 100 g

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$34.98$69.99

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James Bentley • Hardware writer • 21 days ago

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Logitech G502 Hero | Wired

This is a substantial discount on a tried and tested Logitech gaming mouse, with a large amount of customisation. The G502 Hero uses the Hero 25K sensor for accuracy, 11 customizable buttons, and comes with five removable weights to adjust the feel for even the pickiest of competitive gamers. Key specs: Wired | 25,600 DPI | Right-handed Price check:Best Buy $69.99

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$37.99$69.99

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Dave James • Editor-in-Chief, Hardware • 56 mins ago

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Razer BlackShark V2 X

The Razer BlackShark V2 X is a remarkably good gaming headset, so much so that we'd say it was absolutely worth its full asking price, never mind the $20 discount you'll find here. Razer's 50 mm titanium drivers are nicely punchy and capable of plenty of volume without distortion, it's well-made, comfortable to wear all day, and the mic is pretty good, too. Plus, it's got a green cable, and we all know that pop of colour makes wired gaming headsets better by default. Key specs:50 mm drivers | Wired | Cardioid microphone

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$39.79$59.99

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James Bentley • Hardware writer • 21 days ago

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Logitech G432 | 50 mm drivers

Logitech has been cranking out decent budget gaming headsets for a while, but this one's actually more of a mid-range set with a very healthy discount. The black and blue colorway won't be for everyone, but with 7.1 surround sound, a flip-to-mute mic, and DTS Headphone:X 2.0 support, this is certainly a whole lot of headset for the cash. Key specs: 50 mm drivers | 20-20,000 Hz | Closed-back | Wired Price check: Best Buy $49.99

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$39.99$79.99

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Andy Edser • Hardware Writer • 2 hrs ago

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Razer Kraken V4 X | 40 mm drivers

If you're wondering why you might pay a little more than the Razer headsets above for, well, another Razer headset, the answer is comfort. Don't get me wrong, the BlackShark V2 X is a comfy thing to wear, but the plush, cushy memory foam cushions of the Kraken are well worth considering if you're looking for as much all-day usage as possible. It still sounds great, too. Key specs: 40 mm drivers | 20-20,000 Hz | Closed-back | Wired Price check: Best Buy $59.99

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$44.99$79.99

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Turtle Beach Burst II Air | Wireless

We gave this mouse an 85% in our review, praising its very low weight, huge battery life, and super-responsive feel. It doesn't have quite as many fun extras as competitors and can be a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but it is a super solid choice at this price. Key specs: Wireless | 26,000 DPI | Symmetrical Price check:Best Buy $99.99

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$54.99$99.99

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Dave James • Editor-in-Chief, Hardware • 56 mins ago

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HyperX Cloud III | 53 mm drivers

We found this headset to be very comfy in our review, with a balanced sound that still manages to keep a decent whack of bass. Our major drawback was the MSRP, but at $58 this set of cans is well worth a look. Key specs: 53 mm drivers | 15-25,000 Hz | Closed-back | Wired Price check: Best Buy $57.99

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$57.99$99.99

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Andy Edser • Hardware Writer • 2 hrs ago

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Nothing Ear (a) | Bluetooth | 42.5-hour battery life (9.5 from earbuds)

These earbuds might not be ideal just for gaming (their low-latency mode is pretty poor), but for listening to music and more casual gaming, they're great. They have a great sound profile, sit comfortably, and look pretty snazzy, too. Key specs: Bluetooth 5.4 | 42.5-hour battery life (9.5 from earbuds) | 20 Hz – 20 kHz frequency response

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$59$79

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Andy Edser • Hardware Writer • 2 hrs ago

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KTC H24V27

This KTC pick is a budget pick, and it knows it. The 100 Hz refresh rate is just okay; a VA panel means less good viewing angles and color accuracy, but it's a solid enough gaming monitor, and the cheapest I'd actually recommend right now. Remember to use the code "LDSF246" for the full discount Key specs: 24-inch | 100 Hz | 1 ms | VA

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Scuf Valor Pro

This controller is comfy, responsive, and all its various buttons, sticks, and triggers feel very high-quality. There's little to dislike about the Valor Pro unless you really don't want to keep that cable. This is a great price for a Scuf controller, too. Key Specs: Wired USB Type-C | Xbox, Windows | Hall effect thumbsticks

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Acer AOpen 24KG1Y X3bip

With a $50 discount, this is the highest refresh rate 1080p monitor you will find at its price point. It's also IPS, which offers better viewing angles and colours than VA and comes with a solid response time too. Key specs: 23.8-inch | 200 Hz | 0.5 ms | IPS

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Asus ROG Pelta

With a strong battery life, super comfortable fit, and nice, airy materials, the Asus ROG Pelta is a bit of a belter. At its usual price, it's still a very good offering, but $45 off makes it an instant recommendation. Key specs: 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth, and USB-C connectivity | 90-hour battery life

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MSI MAG 244F

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MSI MAG 255XFV

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Prime Day gaming mouse deals in the UK

Where are the best Prime Day gaming keyboard, mouse, and controller deals in the UK?

• Amazon: Big discounts on top-brand gaming mice
• Overclockers: Over 100 gaming mice to choose from
• Scan: Gaming mice from just £18
• Box: Gaming mice from Asus, Logitech, and Razer
• Currys: Mice from as little as £20
• Argos: Good prices on budget to high-end mice

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I found yxngstxr's candidness fantastic, here, considering we were at a Logitech G Play event when he said these words to me—an event surrounding the launch of the X3 Superstrike, no less. I trusted what he was saying: he liked the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike and tried it for a while, but found it inconsistent, and had heard about it having a front-weighted balance.

The front balance is something I'd noticed, and it seems Logitech has, too, because the new X3 Superstrike has its weighting more centrally balanced—one of the biggest upgrades to the new one. It will be interesting to see whether yxngstxr switches to the X3 now.

Another CS2 pro, Oscar 'Azuwu' Bell, reminded me: "M0nesy [one of the best CS2 players], before the major, he was on the Superstrike, and for the major he went back to the Superlight."

For my part, I tend to think that shape is king and whatever fits your hand and your grip most comfortably is what will serve you better. Which is in part why I'm hoping that Logitech releases more mouse shapes with the Superstrike's HITS system in there. I did ask Logi about this—perhaps a 'Dex' shape—but the company wouldn't say yes. Perhaps notably, I didn't get a 'no', either.

A couple of days ago I got the chance to speak with two pro Counter-Strike 2 players, Azuwu and yxngstxr, both from team Luminosity Gaming. Amongst other things, I asked them about polling rates.

As a long-time (and recently-returned) Counter-Strike player, I've stuck to 1 kHz despite all the hype over 4K and 8K. I've tried 8K for comparison before and couldn't make out much of a difference.

I've always stuck to 800 DPI and 1 kHz, just like yxngstxr, in my case mainly because it saves battery life and doesn't risk any lower performance or stuttering which is a risk with 8K on some systems. Our James recently tried out different polling rates and didn't find a consistent benefit, either.

But I never tried out higher polling rates for too long, and after now having heard directly from pro players that the difference is noticeable above 1K, I'm thinking I might give it another go.

I was a little surprised that yxngstxr sticks to 1K, but he explains that that's because he likes to do more flick-shots than perhaps most low-sens pros:

"The low-sensitivity player, because they're not moving a lot, they like the smooth feeling. If you have low-sens, you're usually not a flicky guy. That's why the low-sens players usually play like 2K, 4K, like peak Niko."

Perhaps I'll end up being the same and sticking to 1K. But given pro players are telling me they definitely can feel a difference, I think it's high time I give it some more extensive testing and hope that FaceIt rank starts to climb.

It's fair to say I was pretty taken by the G Pro X2 Superstrike when Logitech launched it earlier this year. It was the first mouse I'd seen in a long time that did something genuinely revolutionary. But, just seven months later, it is being rendered all but obsolete by the new G Pro X3 Superstrike.

The revolutionary part of the original was that it made its switches analogue and paired this with haptic feedback to replicate the feeling of a click. This allows for adjustable actuation, meaning you can set it low for less time between deciding to click and actually clicking, and the haptics make sure you feel the click exactly when you should, whenever it's set to actuate.

That being said, it's far from a perfect mouse. I was thoroughly enamoured by it during my testing, and I still think it deserves a heck of a lot of credit for that revolutionary tech alone. But over time its flaws have come to feel more pronounced to me.

It's pretty much the same as the Superlight 2 in other respects, from the shape to the weight, side buttons, and scroll wheel. The side buttons are pretty mushy, the scroll wheel has problems with long-presses, and most importantly—and specifically in the case of the original Superstrike, not the Superlight 2—it's quite top-heavy thanks to those new internals.

The worst problem for a lot of people was that front-heavy weighting, as that can cause drag and, well, just not feel very smooth when picking up and moving the mouse. Given it's such an expensive mouse and is aimed squarely at competitive gamers who need great balance and weighting, and although it hasn't bothered me too much, this has been a big issue for many.

So, these seven months later, stepping up to the plate is the X3 Superstrike, which fixes this weighting issue and has a couple of other benefits, but it makes me wonder why Logitech didn't just wait and release this version in the first place.

It's basically the same weight, with a couple of grams shaved off only if you're outside of Europe, but battery life has been improved by 50% up to 135 hours at 1 kHz polling, assuming you're clicking just shy of once per second. It's also got a slightly upgraded sensor, with a bump to DPI, acceleration, and max speed—but nothing major.

In terms of what it actually feels like to use, it feels almost exactly the same as the original X2 Superstrike—except the weighting is more balanced. I've been using it for the past few days and most of the time I forget I'm not just using the X2 Superstrike. Occasionally I'm reminded of the better balance, but apart from that both feel about the same to use, whether for work or gaming.

You do get different colour choices with the X3, though: Midnight Black or Magenta Eclipse (pink and black). I'm not sure why the original white-and-black combo isn't available for the X3, but the black version I have under my palm looks good enough to me.

In other words, just seven months after the X2's launch, the X3 launches—for an extra $20 at $200/€190, mind you—and very much feels like the X2, but improved in a couple of simple ways.

X2 Superstrike vs X3 Superstrike

X2 Superstrike

X3 Superstrike

It's the time frame that makes this a little difficult to swallow, because Logitech must surely have known back in February that a new version was on the cards before very long. Which, if so, means it was hyping up and selling a very expensive mouse it knew would very soon be superseded by a slightly more expensive one that essentially matches it but eliminates a couple of pain points.

Don't get me wrong, it is a better mouse. It just feels like Logitech could have waited a few months and delivered a much more well-rounded product.

That being said, I'm aware that Logitech wanted the Superstrike and its tech out on the market ASAP. Its engineers told me as much when I spoke to them back in February

Logitech G's Head of Engineering Regis Croisonnier told me:

"Usually when you start to talk about the technology or prototype, between the time we have the prototype and the time we implement it in a product, I would say the average time is between two to three years. Here, we knew we had a golden nugget in our hands, right? We wanted to move fast, so we took all the shortcuts we could."

So, Logitech probably thought it was important to get the tech in the Superstrike out as fast as possible, even if it could make a more well-rounded product just a few months later. But it still leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth, because what about all the people who bought the X2 Superstrike and might now be kicking themselves that they didn't wait just a while longer?

Logitech has been keen to express that the tech is bleeding-edge, so anyone buying the X2 must have had at least some inkling that they were paying a fee for tech which might become cheaper or be put into different mice before long—we're already seeing some from niche brands, and the Chinese market is never too far behind cloning popular mice. But that doesn't mean they were to know that there'd be essentially an 'X2 Superstrike but more finished' just seven months later.

It's difficult to say where the line would be, however, that would make the X3 Superstrike easier to swallow. If it had been a year, or a year and a half later, would that have felt better? For my palate, I think so. Which, again, isn't to say Logitech should have delayed the X3, but perhaps it could have not released the X2 and waited until it was in X3-like shape.

To be extra charitable, perhaps Logi wasn't sure whether other big brands might beat them to the punch with analogue tech if they left it. No other big brand has launched anything similar yet, but Keychron could have beaten Logitech to the punch in being the first to announce such analogue mouse switch technology, which I suppose would have stopped Logitech from being able to say it came up with the idea first.

Whatever the reasons and however much sense they made to Logitech, it doesn't quite get this taste out of my mouth.

The PC Gamer hardware team got into a disagreement last week. We were sat around in the office chatting about Razer's new MMO gaming mouse and how we wouldn't know what to do with all its buttons (it has 12). That got us onto the topic of what we do with the two side buttons more commonly found across gaming mice.

Turns out, the team I've worked with for years, who I thought I could trust, who I've shared a laugh with, who I thought were my friends, are complete and utter fools. As are most of you—soz.

They reckon the best use of the two side buttons are forwards and back, ie. for browsing the web. That tends to be the default assignment for gaming mice out of the box, which goes to show the lack of ingenuity on their part.

We asked you lot what you thought about this very important question in the form of a poll. It read:

"Jacob wants to know if there are people like him, so do you have your mouse side button set to forward/back or copy/paste?"

The results are pretty surprising. Not for the overwhelming majority of you that use these buttons for forward and back (1,343), but the near two hundred kindred spirits—fellow travellers—that are with me on the whole copy and paste thing.

Do you have your mouse side button set to forward/back or copy/paste?

Turns out that so so so many of you are just wrong

Votes (%)

CTRL+C / CTRL+V

10

Forward/Back

67

Something else entirely

23

Votes (%) Data

Product	Value
CTRL+C / CTRL+V	10
Forward/Back	67
Something else entirely	23

Hear me out: it makes it easy to copy from one place to another without ever reaching for your keyboard. I'd actually argue that's more ergonomic. Not in a medical or legal sense, but a moral one. Whereas you can already go forward and back on a browser with just your mouse. Why are you in such a rush between webpages anyways? What are you hiding?

Over 400 of you responded with 'something else entirely', which I'd chalk up to various game- or genre-specific macros. I'm with you on that. I map these buttons to 'C' and 'V' while I'm playing an FPS—I haven't completely lost the plot.

Anyways, is now a good time to say I also rest my middle on the scroll wheel at all times and use my ring finger for right click? Ah, probably not.

For our current week-long poll, we want to know about something far less contentious: How much RGB festoons your gaming PC?

I'm a thoroughly average gamer. And in first-person shooters, I reckon I am ever so slightly above average at aiming—If aim-tester software, Aimlabs, is anything to go by, at least (top 38%, baby). But as a hardware tester, I have access to all kinds of gaming gear, and that includes competitive-level specs.

I wanted to see if the average gamer would benefit from a better polling rate and, as the average gamer, I thought I was the perfect guinea pig. So, grabbing my Asus Rog Harpe II Extreme Edition 20, a mouse with a max DPI of 65,000 and a max polling rate of 8,000 Hz, I went through the training software at different polling rates multiple times to see if it would improve my aim.

If you are unaware of what exactly a polling rate is, it is the rate at which your gaming mouse communicates with your rig. A 125 Hz polling rate gives feedback to your PC every 8 milliseconds, whereas 8,000 Hz gives feedback every 0.125 milliseconds. Generally speaking, the advice for most gamers is to linger at around 1,000 Hz, as responding every millisecond is plenty fast but not so fast that it drains the battery life of your squeaker.

Aimlabs is a free bit of software that tests your shooting across a series of firing ranges. It then ranks your accuracy and speed before putting it all together for a final score. A flat score of 50,000 tends to put you just around the middle of the pack worldwide. Considering this sample set consists of people who specifically seek out software to get better at shooting, I'd imagine the top 50% of Aimlabs is better at aiming than the top 50% of gamers overall.

First, my methodology. I booted up the Aimlabs software and picked Gridshot (Ultimate), a firing range where blue orbs pop up on screen, and you have to fire at them with a pistol. You have unlimited ammo, so you don't have to concern yourself with conserving it, and you don't need to move, either. Through minor adjustments and flicks, you simply have to hit the bubbles as quickly as you can whilst receiving score penalties for missing. That means it's a test of both accuracy and speed. I went through the map at every polling rate once or twice (between seven and fourteen runs), before doing a final run, and those scores are the ones you see below.

After those warm-up rounds, I decided my first test would be on 1600 DPI, which is what feels most natural for me. You can see my results below

Uhhh yeah, that is all over the place. But I can say it felt most comfortable at 1,000 Hz, mostly because I aim based on feel. I don't usually pay all that much attention to the cursor as it moves. As such, I would say 125 Hz feels awkward but played fine, and 2,000 Hz is where I stop noticing much of a difference.

4000 DPI felt significantly worse, but it was where I noticed the polling rate making the biggest difference. I consistently lost track of the cursor at 125 Hz thanks to the speed of the mouse, but could fairly confidently read the position of the mouse at 8,000 Hz. You can see my results for that below

As you can see, the lower polling rate equates to lower scores at 4,000 DPI, but it varies a good bit past 1,000 Hz. My best score is at 4,000 Hz, but 8,000 Hz and 1000 Hz are close enough in score for me to say I don't think I'm better at significantly higher polling rates. I did feel the difference all the way up to 4,000 Hz, though.

However, many pro players use a low DPI, ranging from 600 to 800 DPI, so I thought I'd test that and got by far my best scores

Who knew that the pro players who spend multiple hours a day firing digital guns would be right about the best settings to fire those fake firearms? For me, I find 1,000 Hz is my sweet spot for performance and feel. Considering a slower DPI got me better scores, 800 DPI will become part of my regular rotation too. I'm a tad too impatient for lower than 1600 DPI whilst scrolling my desktop (especially with two monitors), but when it comes to aim, slower can be better. Or it can if you're about average like me.

For 'fun', I tried it on the highest DPI I have available to me, 65000. I got a miserable score of 10,294, and even that was a huge struggle. So there you go. If you're average at shooting (sorry to hear that), consider giving a low DPI a go. It might not feel as snappy, but it's plenty quick after some getting used to and accurate to boot.

According to niche mouse maker Finalmouse, its new hybrid mechanical-optical Starlight X mouse has faster clicks than any other it's tested, including the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike.

"At the centre of SLX is an entirely new TMR DS analogue click architecture.... The result is not simply the fastest click latency we've ever produced, SLX achieves the fastest click latency of any gaming mouse we've tested. And, beyond that, the fastest button input we've measured in a consumer electronic device."

Apparently, Finalmouse used to use its own XLat tester to measure the time it takes from the mouse switch electrically closing to the USB packet arriving at your system. But this isn't the whole story, because the time to actually press the button down, before the switch closes, is important, too. Decreasing this button-press time is the main benefit Logitech pointed everyone towards with the G Pro X2 Superstrike, and is what allowed the company to claim a 15–30 ms reduction in click latency.

Using copper tape on the surface of the mouse clicker in combination with its XLat tester and a machine it built to model a human click, Finalmouse has managed to measure the total time taken from starting to press the button to the data packet being received by the host system:

"[The pressing machine,] in combination with a little bit of copper tape and an XLat, will allow us to very accurately model the end-to-end latency of something that looks as closely as possible like a human click actuating a mouse."

Finalmouse compares a pre-production sample of the Starlight X to the Superstrike, the Razer Viper V4 Pro, and the Endgame Gear OP1 8K V2. The latter mouse is the fastest one that Finalmouse has measured just considering the latency from actuation to packet receipt. However, it lacks the pre-click latency reduction that analogue clicks provide.

Averaging 50 test clicks for each mouse, the two mice with analogue switches clicked significantly quicker than the two with traditional mechanical switches.

Finalmouse is keen to point out that the Starlight X is quicker than the Superstrike; however, I'm not massively convinced this is important. That's because presumably the way this is achieved is by making the click actuate even sooner in the button depression than the Superstrike's lowest level, thanks to its TMR tech.

But although I do fine with the Superstrike on its lowest level of actuation, anecdotally I've heard from a lot of people who aren't keen on keeping the Superstrike at this low of an actuation level and who keep it at level three or four. In which case, the SLX's 2 ms score might just be a theoretical but not very practically realisable measurement.

What I find more interesting than the Finalmouse's score is the difference between the analogue and mechanical mouse scores. Logitech's data indicated a much bigger reduction than this, but Finalmouse's testing seems to show that when we compare an analogue click to a mechanical one, when testing under normal finger-press conditions, you 'only' shave off about 3–5 ms.

I put 'only' in quotes, however, because in practice this still shows that it's shaved in half from a couple of fast mice without analogue clicks. This being said, my reaction time (as tested by the Human Benchmark) is about 165 ms, so we are dealing in very slight improvements. Even pro gamers don't have reaction times lower than 100 ms.

As far as the Starlight X goes, I suppose if you're perfectly fine using the Superlight's lowest level of actuation and think you could go even lower, then maybe it will be worth a look. Though, at least according to commenters on X, shipping times for the mouse are best measured in months rather than milliseconds, so if their words are anything to go by, you could be waiting a while.

I was just as surprised as anyone to hear word back in July that we could see another Logitech Superstrike gaming mouse this year. The first one, the G Pro X2 Superstrike, only launched a few months ago, and yet rumours suggest the X3 Superstrike will be revealed later this month during the Logitech G Play event. And now, given an Amazon video attributed to Logitech Canada (via Jakeu on X), this seems all but confirmed.

I'll be attending G Play, so hopefully I'll get to see the new mouse in person, but I haven't actually been told what I'll be seeing there yet. Given this video, though, it's gotta include the new Superstrike, right?

Previous leaks and rumours suggested an X3 Superstrike that has the option of an all-black colourway (excluding some white accents) or a pink-and-black design. The video on Amazon confirms both of these. These previous rumours had also claimed the new version would have an upgraded controller, plus some tweaks to the haptic-inductive trigger system (HITS).

The HITS system is, of course, the main draw to the Logi Superstrike. The induction technology allows for adjustable actuation and rapid trigger, effectively allowing you to lessen the latency between deciding to click and actually clicking. The haptic system means you get the feeling of a click when you click, despite the differing actuation levels.

In the video, a new chipset and "upgraded" sensor are confirmed, the latter of which allows for an an additional 4,000 DPI, up to 48,000. But in addition to this, there are a couple more interesting claims. First is that we'll be seeing an extra +50% battery life, up to 135 hours from the original Superstrike's 90 hours at 1,000 Hz polling. Second is that the mouse will apparently have "refined weight and balance."

This last point is something a fair few people should be happy about, because some people didn't like the weighting of the X2 Superstrike. Logitech managed to shave off enough weight to keep it to around 60 g despite the new HITS system, but this made it quite front-weighted. Hopefully "refined weight and balance" means a more even distribution. And I might be piping up a fool's hope, here, but if some extra grams can be shaved off, then even better.

At any rate, it looks like we shouldn't have long to wait to find out. Maybe Logi will also do something about those mushy side buttons. In my book, that would truly leave the X3 Superstrike in top standing for competitive gaming.

Most gamers enjoy a speedy or balanced feel to their mouse pad, but there are a few of us out there who have a penchant for stopping power. If you're into tactical shooters that require very steady aim plus occasional flicks with a precise stop on your enemy's head, slower control pads are for you.

I've been trying out some different control pads in Counter-Strike 2 for months now and I feel like I'm finally able to draw some solid conclusions over which are best. At least as far as my own fingertips are concerned. Your mileage may of course vary.

Personal favourite: Zowie H-SR III
Noteworthy: Wallhack CR-005

Key terms

• Stopping power: How easy it is to stop your mouse where and when you want it to, presumably over an enemy's head.
• Static friction: How hard it is to get the mouse moving from stationary. The combination of this and dynamic friction makes for good stopping power.
• Dynamic friction: How hard it is to keep the mouse moving when in motion. The combination of this and static friction makes for good stopping power.
• Softer pads: Tend to be slower.
• Harder pads: Tend to be faster.

Razer Gigantus V2 Pro (Control ver.)

Razer's Gigantus V2 Pro is great if you really have a thing for slow pads and don't much care what you have to sacrifice to get it. The surface, which Razer says was made to match the pro player's NiKo's preference, is indeed very slow—slower than any I've used. This means little chance of accidentally nudging your crosshair out of line when holding an angle.

However, it's a bit too slow for my liking, and I'm saying this as someone who massively prefers control pads to speed ones now for playing CS2. I think the slowness is in part thanks to how soft the pad is as it's noticeably softer than any other I've tried.

But if something super-slow is your thing—and who can argue with one of the best Counter-Strike players of all time?—it'll serve you well. Also note there's even a Max Control version that is, presumably, even slower than this one.

Corsair MM Pro

Corsair's new pad is the one I like the least out of those I've tried. That's not to say it's bad, it just doesn't stand out in any particular way. It's smaller than the others and is a little too quick for my liking in a control pad, feeling a bit closer to a regular cloth pad than I'd like. In particular, I notice that with this pad I have to try a little harder to keep my crosshair steady when holding a headshot angle.

Still, it does look nice and it is slower and more controlled than many other (non-control) options on the market—it's certainly slower than speed pads. If you prefer a little more speed to your control and don't mind your competitive pad being a bit on the smaller side, the MM Pro is a reasonable choice.

Zowie H-SR III / G-SR III

I was immediately sold on this Zowie pad when I tried it. It ticks every box for me and is what I keep returning to as my baseline for playing Counter-Strike. That's because it manages to maintain a level of static friction that keeps my crosshair steady when holding angles, but is just on that cusp where I can also move my mouse pretty easily for flicks.

There's also its dynamic friction, ie, how it feels when actually moving the mouse. On this front, the H-SR III doesn't just have a decent amount of slowness/muddiness to it but also a texture that you can subtly feel as you move. It might be the placebo effect, but I feel like that's helped my muscle memory a little when aiming in-game.

Then there's the fact that it's a pretty hard pad for cloth, which means you don't get much inconsistency to how much your mouse drags depending on how hard you press. That can make all the difference in clutch moments when you tense up and push down harder. I really don't have anything to complain about here, which is why the Zowie is my go-to. (The G-SR III is just the H-SR III but a little smaller.)

Steelseries QcK Performance Control

Steelseries' QcK Performance Control is a very divisive pad. I sent it to my colleague Andy, and he had a much worse time of it than I did. To be honest I can see why: it's not your usual control pad.

Instead of opting for a slow cloth, SteelSeries has given this pad quite a smooth and hard-topped but very rough texture. You can really feel your mouse moving across it, which does help your muscle memory. Stopping power is pretty good, too.

On the other hand, static friction isn't quite as good as on the Zowie pad, and dynamic friction might be a touch quicker, too, though it's hard to tell. Most importantly, though, the rough texture can be quite unpleasant on your arm when gaming for an extended period if you're a low-sens player as many control pad gamers are. Unless you use a gaming sleeve like me, of course, but few are willing to take the L to their public image that I am.

Wallhack CR-005

Yes, this is a glass pad on an article about control pads, and glass is usually as far from 'controlled' as you can imagine. The CR-005 that Wallhack has created, however, is a glass pad with "microscopic concave formations" that help slow things down.

However, it still doesn't quite match a good cloth control pad for, well, control. After breaking it in a little, I found it to be more speedy than the Zowie and even the Corsair. It's still not as fast as speed pads though, and the static friction is particularly nice for a glass pad.

The main benefit of going glass is that it should last a very long time, unlike a cloth pad which wears out pretty quickly. It will also have consistent friction and glide however hard you press into it. The downsides are not being able to roll it up, potentially having to wear a gaming sleeve to prevent your arm sticking, having to replace your mouse skates more often as they get worn down, and having to wipe it down pretty frequently to keep dust away.

If it was a little slower and more controlled I think I'd make these sacrifices for the consistency and longevity of a glass pad, but it's just not quite there yet for control players compared to cloth. Saying that, even if it's not quite as slow as some cloth options, it's impressive that Wallhack has managed to make a glass pad as slow as this. It means glass pad lovers who play tac FPS need to miss out no longer.

With mice sensors getting so ludicrously high-spec'd, some competitive gaming mouse brands are instead trying to make the shell as light as possible. Lighter = speedier. And Pulsar is finally joining the uber-lightweight mouse trend, with a 29 gram gaming mouse that is, well, half of a mouse.

Effectively, the new X2F CrazyLight is just the front half of a gaming mouse, including the sensors, switches, and battery. Pulsar is not the first to cut a gaming mouse in half (in fact, the G-Wolves HSK Pro V2.0 has been around for a while and is just 26.8 g).

It's not even the first very light gaming mouse from Pulsar, with the X2 CrazyLight Mini being 35 g, but it is the lightest ever Pulsar mouse, to my knowledge. And it manages to get that weight without going for the honeycomb shell that many other lightweight competitors go for.

According to Pulsar, the new X2F comes kitted with Pulsar's new SX2 sensor, which we don't currently have the stats for. The previous generation XS1 has a DPI of up to 32,000, a max speed of 750 IPS, and acceleration of 50 G. This is the sensor our Jacob Fox had his mitts on when he reviewed the X2 CrazyLight Medium and X3 Crazylight Mini. It also supports up to 8,000 Hz polling. I would assume the XS2 ups some of those stats.

For context, the Razer Viper V4 Pro, which we consider to be the best gaming mouse right now, has Razer's latest Focus Pro sensor and offers 50,000 DPI, with a max speed of 930 IPS, and acceleration of 90 G.

Alternatively, we think the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike is the best competitive mouse right now, and its Hero 2 sensor offers a DPI of 44,000, a max speed of 888 IPS, and a max acceleration of 88 G.

Whether or not the X2F CrazyLight will be the best competitive mouse after its release on September 28 will likely be a combination of how good the sensor is, how well balanced the weight is, and, of course, its price. Unfortunately, we don't have information on any of those yet. Also, even within the competitive mouse scene, it's sure to be pretty niche, since you have to use a fully fingertipped grip to use these kinds of mice.

We haven't got hands-on, so it's hard to say much more, but the only critique I could levy from looks (other than 'where's the rest of the mouse?') is that you can already see the 210 mA battery, so it's a shame it's not hot swappable. A hot-swappable battery could allow for a smaller battery in the device itself, further reducing the weight, and it's just a great way of staying charged at all times. Though that would presumably add on extra weight, which might defeat the purpose for this kind of mouse.

The notion of chopping off half of your gaming mouse to improve speed definitely feels a bit niche to me, but the fact that multiple companies are doing it implies there are many more competitively minded people than I otherwise thought. Let's just hope they aren't in my games. I prefer the easy opponents I'm currently being put up against.

2026 is shaping up to be an immense year for high-end gaming mice, with everything from the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike to the Razer Viper V4 Pro and the Corsair Sabre V2 Pro proving genuine innovation, with everything from materials to speed and potency all covered off.

So when the AngryMiao AM Infinity.97 came across my desk promising a sub-50 g weight with a 30,000 DPI sensor, 8000 Hz wireless polling and some very innovative battery tech, it definitely piqued my interest.

AngryMiao is a brand I associate more with its keyboards than mice, with it having a penchant for the weird and wacky, opting for sci-fi-type designs in a similar vein to Gravastar. The AM Infinity.97 doesn't deviate from that formula, opting for a very holey chassis with an aggressive look all in the name of both lightness and standing out from a very crowded ultralight mouse market.

It's purposefully been designed to be smaller than other mice to shed weight while keeping things comfortable, shaving three percent off a 'standard' size, hence the 97 in its name—it refers to being 97% of a full mouse.

It's certainly an interesting aesthetic that's helped along in any case by the colour you choose: AngryMiao offers the AM Infinity.97 in black, white or pink. The one I was sent was white, which looks pleasant enough. At first, it seems like there aren't many places where your hand can make contact with the chassis, given the number of holes in the rodent, although you'd be surprised at how comfortable this mouse is when you get it in hand.

AngryMiao states this mouse is designed more for claw grippers than any other type, although I had no issues using a palm or fingertip grip over my couple of weeks with the device. It's a very comfortable rodent to use, and a sub-50 g weight (47 g with the battery) makes this one of the nimblest and lightest mice I've used this year. Take the battery out (more on that later), use it wired, and it can even go down to 39 g.

That lightness doesn't come at the cost of durability, either. The AM Infinity.97 is made of a magnesium-aluminium alloy chassis that feels sturdy to the touch, while the chassis is slightly contoured to fit well in hand and the cool sensation from the metal finish helps with comfort for long-term play sessions.

The button placement here makes sense, with two main options and a scroll wheel on top, and navigation buttons on the side. On the underside is a selector switch between Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity modes. There isn't a dedicated DPI switch button, which is a bit of a shame, nor is there anything like a DPI clutch on the side. It's functional, but a little minimal.

Nonetheless, I'm a fan of the custom TTC Orange Dot Optical V2 switches the brand has opted for for the AM Infinity.97's main mouse buttons. They've got a very snappy and positive feel under finger, plus have the benefit of being optical, so they're much faster than standard mechanical buttons.

Software duties are handled by a web-based UI and an associated downloadable executable that has the nasty habit of running in the background, potentially sapping away vital system resources. Otherwise, it's lightweight and easy to use, but is quite basic for duties such as setting DPI and polling rate, rebinding buttons, creating macros and profiles, setting parameters such as lift-off distance and acceleration, and that's about it. You get deeper customisation from rivals.

And now to where things matter: performance. AngryMiao has put a 30,000 DPI PixArt PAW3950 sensor inside the AM Infinity.97, which I've tested in other gaming mice over the years, and it provides ample sensitivity and responsiveness to make my usual test runs of Counter-Strike 2 a breeze.

Admittedly, using the full 30,000 DPI on offer all the time is likely to be especially jittery, but you can move it down in software between 100 and the full 30,000 to get a more comfortable level. In my instance, that was between 1600 and 3200 DPI for more accurate aiming in Counter-Strike 2, and for more comfortable navigation in Windows.

Connectivity is handled either by Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz, with the latter supporting the 8000 Hz wireless polling rate. The fact that this mouse also comes with Bluetooth adds some versatility against the competition from the likes of Corsair, which eschews that in favour of outright performance in one device. I found the mouse's connection over either method to be reliable and stable, using Bluetooth on my MacBook Pro and the bundled receiver on my Windows gaming PC.

8000 Hz wireless polling is becoming more of a given at this higher end of the market, rather than just a nice-to-have, and it's present over both wired and 2.4 GHz use. It can be controlled in software for balancing endurance and potency, especially for pro players who are more likely to feel the benefit than us normal folk. It translates to added responsiveness and potentially lower latency, as a higher polling rate means a device reports its position and inputs more frequently (hence Hz as the measurement).

The combination of the lightweight, compact chassis and potent internals makes the AM Infinity.97 easily one of the most responsive gaming mice I've ever tested, alongside Razer's Viper V4 Pro and the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike. It sticks with Razer's idea of doing the basics well, rather than adding haptics and rapid trigger as Logitech does, but makes a fantastic first impression.

Its flagship PixArt sensor feels accurate, while its low mass makes wrist flicks and sweeping movements in CS:2 very easy, plus the optical switches translate to very brisk inputs even without any of the other tech Logitech has packed into its option. This is a rodent that nails the basics to make it a very potent all-rounder.

I realise I've gotten all the way through this copy and have failed to mention the coolest aspect of the AM Infinity.97, which is its swappable batteries. Okay, we've seen this before in headsets and more recently in mice such as the Glorious Model O3 Wireless, but the way AngryMiao does it is a little different.

The batteries are magnetically attached to the underside of the chassis and clip off when needed—it can then be replaced with a spare that's found inside the 8000 Hz USB-C wireless receiver box. Plus, this mouse can also work wired, so you aren't left in the lurch when a battery dies. Unfortunately. I don't think there's a spare backup internal cell, which would allow you to keep playing even if both batteries are dead, which is one area where Glorious wins.

As for battery life, AngryMiao quotes the AM Infinity.97 to last for up to an 'infinite' amount of time, given the swappable battery system, although that is marketing optimism at its finest. Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, I was getting between 20 and 30 hours on a single battery with 8000 Hz polling enabled, leading to an effective endurance of between 40 and 60 hours with this rodent at full pelt. Drop down to 1000 Hz, and AngryMiao says you'll get up to 165 hours of use, proving how demanding 8000 Hz can be for the 340 mAh cells inside.

And now we come to the interesting bit: price. The AM Infinity.97 retails for $189, putting it well towards the top end of the ultralight gaming rodent market against some of the best gaming mice m'colleagues have tested. For reference, the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike costs $180, and the Razer Viper V4 Pro costs $160 in freedom eagle currency, making this boutique option the dearest of the lot.

That makes it a tougher sell on value alone. But if you want a mouse that looks and feels like nothing else on the market, backed by genuinely excellent core performance, AngryMiao has built something worth the premium—you're just paying for the privilege of being different.

Razer's Naga series has always been a bit eye-catching. Slapping tens of buttons on a gaming mouse will naturally make it stand out in the looks department, but having owned two Nagas in my lifetime, I can see it only really takes an evening to get why people love 'em.

MMOs are notorious for demanding lots of shortcuts and macros, and it's just not feasible on most keyboards to reach over to the nine key every thirty seconds. When considering the hundreds of hours MMOs tend to eat up, that's an awful lot of stretching time. You can make do with custom controls, but MMO mice offer not only out-of-the-box usability, but specifically crafted ergonomics.

The Naga V3 Pro follows on pretty routinely from its predecessor with the exact same dimensions, but a lighter weight and different internals. As such, it's a pretty by-the-numbers upgrade and will fit at home in the palms of a Naga V2 Pro owner. But is it really worth $180 just to get a better sensor, cleaner clicks, and doubleshot moulded keycaps? The answer for anyone but the most hardcore (and well-off) MMO gamers is 'probably not, but it's pretty neat anyway'.

And still, I'd say it's the nicest MMO mouse I've ever used. Thanks to the addition of a love-it-or-hate-it switch sound (I personally quite dislike the noise), it's not the best in every single compartment, but taking it for a spin in all manner of games shows it's no slouch in even non-MMO use cases, and for its price, it's gotta be.

Features

Being very similar to the Naga V2 Pro, you likely won't be shocked by the V3 Pro's solid feature set. It comes with three faceplates with different button layouts: twelve, six, and two. Being magnetic and super easy to swap out, the point is to flit between button layouts depending on your game.

The 12 button layout is perfect for Final Fantasy 14, making it easy to control all major skills, plus a few extra from the mouse. Elder Scrolls Online, with its smaller pool of skills, is best fitted for the six button layout. Then, for shooters and everyday use, the two button setup is king.

Its raw specs are super solid, with a max DPI of 50,000, speed of 930 IPS, and both an optical sensor and optical switches. It only comes with 1,000 Hz polling out of the box (though you can pay extra, via the Mouse Dock Pro or HyperPolling dongle, for 8,000 Hz), and though 8,000 Hz is unnecessary for most people, I still would have expected the option at this price point.

Even without the 12-button faceplate, the V3 Pro is loaded with extra buttons: two DPI switches on the left click, two under the scroll wheel, and one on the right-hand side. Even with just the two-button faceplate, you have 13 different buttons to play with overall.

The Naga V3 Pro is kitted with some other neat features, too, like its Hyperscroll Tilt Wheel Gen 2, which is one of the best scroll wheels I've used. You can scroll it without any nasty notching, or you can set nice notches for better precision in Razer's Synapse software. I like a little bit of both. Notches, but it'll spin freely if I go HAM. The wheel can be pushed to the left and right, which is neat for scrolling particularly big webpages, or, in my case, scrolling the timeline in DaVinci Resolve.

It's probably no surprise to you that the mouse with 23 buttons has a dedicated AI button, it being 2026 and all, but I swiftly swapped that out for a different control and never looked back.

Also, being 2026, you are getting the option to swap between wired and wireless (Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz), and the box comes with a USB Type-A to USB Type-C connector, which is a solid extra. The dongle, without the adapter, plugs in via USB Type-A. You aren't getting a wireless charger or charging dock with the Naga V3 Pro, but the 155 hours of battery life is enough that most users would only need to charge it every month or so.

If that battery life is more than you were expecting, you have Razer's FrameSync technology to thank. As we've explained before, think of it sort of like what G-Sync or any variable refresh rate tech does. It synchronises the hardware with the polling from your system, which means it only captures as much as is necessary for low latency. In turn, it becomes more efficient and drains the battery less. In case you're worried (and spoilers for the performance section), I found the sensor to perform very well.

Ergonomics

The Naga V3 Pro is a rather heavy beast (though lighter than its predecessor), being 112 g at its very lightest. It balances the weight well. With a very slight curve in the faceplate, it's easy to pick up with my thumb, and a groove for the ring finger on the right-hand side makes it a very accommodating shape for my rather large hands. The faceplates are well designed too, with the 12-button one curving inwards around the middle of the numberpad to give a natural groove to place the thumb. This groove also allows me to find my place without having to look at the mouse.

Importantly, that weight actually gives the Naga V3 Pro a great sense of comfort. Given you will be spending a lot of time hitting the left-hand side with your thumb, it has to be steady to avoid misclicks and poor aim in the middle of a game, and it does it well. The mouse feet are plenty smooth, and all buttons are easy to hit.

Thanks likely in part to its weight, the V3 Pro is a very sturdy mouse too, and one I wasn't afraid of breaking if it dropped off my desk. In fact, with a small compartment under the faceplate for the 2.4 GHz receiver, it's a decent mouse to throw in a backpack and use on the go too.

Though it takes a little time to get used to, the 12-button plate is far easier to use than you might otherwise think. With it counting up in threes, it's pretty easy to remember which number is which if you know your times tables, and muscle memory started to form for me very quickly.

The six-button and two-button faceplates are a little high for my liking, being near the top of the faceplate, but both have clearly defined buttons. The six-button layout also has a curve into the middle, which is great for finding a position for your thumb.

Given the button for the ring finger on the right-hand side, there's a specific way that you should hold the Naga V3 Pro to take advantage of its shape. The claw grip and fingertip grip both feel a tad awkward, but the palm grip feels perfect to me. The mouse holds the fingers well, and is well balanced to allow me to easily hit all of its buttons.

Performance

One of the biggest differences between the Naga V2 Pro and V3 Pro is in the 50,000 DPI optical sensor, and it performs really well. It's snappy, smooth, accurate, and is the same sensor used in the incredible Viper V4 Pro. Naturally, the added weight means you aren't getting competitive-level speed from physically moving the mouse, but its sensor is top-notch.

One place it does fall significantly under the Viper V4 Pro is in its polling rate, with the Naga V3 Pro reaching a max 1,000 Hz polling out of the box. You can pay extra to get 8,000 Hz via the Mouse Dock Pro or HyperPolling dongle, but I'd argue it's not worth the extra price and hit to battery life for that polling rate, especially when the Naga V3 Pro is already plenty expensive.

In Final Fantasy 14, I found the Naga V3 Pro to be a genuine boon to gameplay, allowing me to hit almost every key I want without having to stretch, and without even customising the mouse. With some smart custom controls, I managed to make the mouse even more useful in-game, with the ring finger button opening the map, and the click under the scroll wheel opening inventory.

Given its weight, I was concerned it would feel a tad sluggish in Counter-Strike 2, but I was happily proven wrong. It certainly requires a bit more effort than a super light mouse, but I found myself more accurate holding down lines of sight.

The optical switches in the Naga V3 Pro are immense, being both accurate and feeling great under the finger. In fact, all of the buttons on the mouse perform really well, and it's clear how much thought has been put into feel and function.

But my biggest gripe with the Gen 4 optical switches under the left and right click is that I really dislike their sound. Both of them have a high-pitched, plastic-sounding ping that is near shrill to my ears. At a distance, it's fine, though a little loud, but clicking away at them all day for both games and work has driven home how much I dislike the sound of Razer's latest switch tech.

In fact, I had the chance to mess around with the Basilisk V3 Pro and its older Gen 3 switches, and I think the sound is so annoying that I'd almost pick those switches instead.

Aesthetics

It might seem like a tough challenge to make a 23-button mouse look good, but actually I think Razer has nailed it with the Naga V3 Pro, much like it nailed it with the Naga V2 Pro. There are better-looking, sleeker mice out there, but none that hold so many buttons, and visually, I think it's leagues ahead of Corsair's blocky Scimitar Elite Wireless SE (which is also an MMO mouse).

The side buttons, plus scroll wheel and base, have RGB lighting in them, which is customisable in Razer's software. They do a good job complementing the black of the rest of the mouse, and even look decent when turned off.

Software

Razer's software, like software from most major hardware brands, has always been inconsistent for me, but Synapse has worked almost perfectly in my time with the mouse. In the first hour or so, the profile system did fail (with it taking forever to save a profile), but after a reset, it has not had any problems since.

You can use it to customise RGB, swap between polling rates and DPI, and most importantly, you can swap what all of those buttons do. It's all rather intuitive and easy-to-use, and my only other complaint is that the web software doesn't yet support the Naga V3 Pro (or most of Razer's mice, for what it's worth).

Thanks to the breadth of buttons, I finally found a use for profiles. Though I'm happy to have them, I rarely use multiple profiles on my gaming mouse, but one profile is my everyday profile, another is for MMOs, and the last is for shooters. For the most part, swapping profiles mostly just changes what the 12 buttons on the faceplate do, but they also change the sensitivity of the scroll wheel's free scroll function.

Value

The first time I heard the Naga V3 Pro's price point, I heard myself exhale a little too loudly. $180 is so much money, and though it is using the latest Razer sensor, it is at just a standard polling rate. And the Viper V4 Pro has the latest sensor and switches, plus it's a lot lighter, offers 8,000 Hz polling out of the box. And is still $20 cheaper.

Then, if you're looking for an MMO mouse, Corsair's Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is $40 less at MSRP, but is regularly less than half the price of the Naga V3 Pro. Giving it 89% in our review, it is currently our pick for the best MMO gaming mouse. It doesn't have a swappable faceplate, but it has chunkier side buttons that are designed to work as a mini Stream Deck.

And if you're willing to go more budget, the likes of the Naga V2 Hyperspeed is often under half the price of the Naga V3 Pro, and comes with the same scroll wheel technology (though last gen), Razer's 30K optical sensor, and 250 hours of battery life (though it uses swappable batteries). You aren't getting the swappable faceplates and the latest sensor, but for all intents and purposes, it's still a very solid MMO mouse.

So, for the same price, you could pick up a Naga V3 Pro alongside Corsair's uber lightweight Sabre V2 Pro, four and a half Mchose G3 V2 Pros, or just under 14 months of Final Fantasy 14. And that is a heavy price to stomach for any gaming mouse, even though the Naga V3 Pro is genuinely great.

If you are someone who occasionally plays MMOs, I don't think the Naga V3 Pro is necessarily for you, but if you want the best and play Final Fantasy 14 like it's your second job, I don't think I'd be recommending anything else. Though I would probably recommend cranking the speakers loud enough to drown out the clicks.

Asus's ROG 20th anniversary edition gear is pretty much all about extravagance. Just look at the $600 Azoth Extreme Edition 20. The Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is much the same, with gold plating and a whopping 65,000 DPI. It is bougie in feel, look, and price.

I couldn't possibly call it a bad gaming mouse, because taste aside, it's a bit of a beast. It's just not a feasible buy for someone only looking for a competitive-level gaming mouse, and that's before mentioning the weight increase that comes with shoving gold inside it.

Feeling like it's ripped straight out of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I think its smattering of blacks and golds looks super clean. I'm normally pretty cynical about gold, aesthetically speaking, but in this mouse, it feels like the appearance is really considered among the black and transparent sides. The 24K gold detailing is part of the ensemble, and not the centrepiece itself.

The scroll wheel and side buttons aren't actual gold (though they look it), but the internals are. That's why it has a transparent shell. The body of the mouse also hides an ROG 20th anniversary logo, which the RGB shines through when turned on. The whole thing looks great, be it turned on or not.

You can even argue the mouse's flair has utility too. The glass skates are super smooth, and the metal scroll wheel and side buttons are both satisfying to hit. In fact, I'd say the scroll wheel and side buttons are among the nicest I've used.

The mouse is sleek to the touch too, with a super smooth shell, and it feels great in the palm. Unfortunately though, that does make it a fingerprint magnet. The idea of getting a $250 gold-plated gaming mouse grubby makes me feel a bit nauseous, so it needs a quick wipe-down every few days.

It might get grubby, but strong materials make me feel confident that throwing it in a backpack won't do damage to it. The side walls don't bend under pressure, and as a result, it feels very sturdy.

Like the Azoth Extreme, it comes in packaging that is itself a statement. The box is a puzzle box-like triangle, with a smaller transparent display case in it, and that makes it easy to show off on a desk or shelf. The box comes with the wireless receiver, a USB extender, glass mouse feet, the cord, a thank you card, and a cleaning kit.

The Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is pretty killer in the specs department and feels great in game. The AimPoint Pro sensor is snappy and fast, and though I'd never need a 65,000 DPI, and likely won't get much benefit from the 8,000 Hz polling, it's nice to have it in such an expensive mouse.

In fairness, I'd advise turning the mouse down to 1,000 Hz for anyone but the most competitive gamer, as the 70 or so hours of battery life take a hit as a result. And 70 hours is right around the middle of the pack, as it stands.

Though its specs make it a competitive-level mouse, the weight doesn't. 82 g is nearly double the 49 g in the Razer Viper V4 Pro, which is our current pick for the best gaming mouse, and Asus' offering is $90 more. Even the standard Harpe II Ace, which is a pretty similar mouse in looks and feel, weighs in at 48 g and is currently half the price of the Extreme Edition.

In-game, the Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 performs very well in my hands. The fast-paced, precise shooting of Counter-Strike 2 is a breeze, and the mouse clicks are not only well defined but very responsive too. I could see some not liking just how much the glass feet and smooth top slide, but for me, I find it to be just what I need to spring around quickly or snap onto heads.

That does mean it feels a tad overengineered for the likes of Slay the Spire 2, or other similarly slow games, but I wouldn't call that experience bad either. It feels like shooting a bullet at an ant. It will get the job done, but it's a bit flashy, isn't it?

Painting simulator Such Art is a classic mouse testing game for me, as it requires fine movement and has a slower pace. The mouse needs to feel comfortable; it needs to slide smoothly, and the sensor needs to send data to the computer at a consistent rate to perfectly draw, well, whatever my meagre art skills are capable of. I'm happy to report the Asus passed with flying colours here, proving the only obstacle to me making good art is myself.

The actual design of the mouse feels a bit more plain than I would expect for such a flashy mouse. You aren't getting extra functions here, or even anything like the Hyperscroll wheel Razer shoves into the Razer Naga V3 Pro. It has a DPI and pair button on the bottom, plus the option to swap from wired to wireless, and that's it. But as such, other than the smooth feel, there's not much to get used to. It's a typical gaming mouse, just one that's luxuriously built and luxuriously priced.

But let's be honest, the Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is not a gaming mouse you buy simply because you wanted something with competitive specs. You can get equally competitive or even better choices for cheaper. For the same price, you can get one and a half Razer Viper V4 Pros or just under eight Mchose G3 V2s. In fact, as we noted recently, you can pick up an entire desk setup for less money than this mouse alone.

But if you have the cash to spare and want something to celebrate Asus ROG's 20th anniversary, the Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 does not rest on the laurels that are its gold trimmings. It's a very solidly made gaming mouse, and viable in both competitive and non-competitive games. It looks great, feels great in the hand, and comes with tons of little extras in the box. And should you want to put it away, the display case looks great too.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give Asus on its Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is that I don't dislike the mouse nearly as much as I thought I might, based on the price and look. The notion of paying over $200 for something that has gold in it certainly makes my wallet retch, but boy does Asus do a lot to justify that price tag.

It's simply infeasible for the average gamer, but that's not who this is for. Like the Azoth Extreme Edition 20, Melgeek's Centauri 80, or MSI's Godlike X motherboard, it being over the top is the point here. But if your blood is a bit richer than mine, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Last month, I reported that a leaker suggested we'll see another iteration of the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike announced during the Logitech G Play event in September. Now, peripheral reviewer Jakeu has apparently got their hands on actual photos of the new mouse: the Logitech X3 Superstrike, in all-black apart from some smaller white stylings.

I should say the phrase "actual photos" is quite loose, though, because even if these are legit, they are product photos on a white background rather than something a little more 'in the flesh.' Saying that, Jakeu also links to a picture of a supposed pink 'in the flesh' version posted on Reddit.

The original leak said the new mouse will have no new Hero 3 sensor, but will have an upgraded controller and tweaks to the HITS system. That's Logitech's 'haptic-inductive trigger system' which gives the Superstrike analogue clicks that no other mouse has replicated.

We can't say anything for certain, of course—far from it—so the following is speculation, but based on the claimed images, it looks like the same design, shape, side buttons, and even skates as the first Superstrike, the X2. Except all-black. The main hope on my end is that the weight distribution is improved to be more central and the overall weight is lowered, preferably closer to 50 g than 60 g.

At any rate, if this is indeed what is announced at G Play in September then we should know before long, and I'll hopefully be able to get hands-on with it as I'll be attending (I've not been told what Logi will be showing off, so I'm just as in the dark as you).

I do hope there are more significant changes than a re-skin, though, because as nice as the all-black version looks—with what looks like a more textured coating, too—I'm not sure that will be much for anyone to get excited over. New side buttons, an improved scroll wheel, and a lighter or more centrally balanced mouse, on the other hand, would do wonders.

Even some of these changes might justify the supposedly leaked price tag of, err, €190. That's €10 more than the X2. It would eliminate the main downsides of the mouse while maintaining the genuinely revolutionary and performance-enhancing HITS system. Fingers crossed.

MMO gaming mice look a bit funky. You probably knew that already. With sometimes dozens of buttons for all the different controls, they're niche by nature. Yet the newly unveiled Razer Naga V3 Pro looks to get around that, claiming to be both easy to use and button-heavy at the same time.

In a sense, it seems like a pretty safe upgrade from the Naga V2 Pro from back in 2022. Like that model, it ships with three swappable plates by your thumb. The standard layout has a dozen buttons, but you can replace them with a mere six (or just two) for ease of use. With two further buttons besides the left click, and two more under the scroll wheel, the Naga V3 Pro can have 23, 17 or 13 buttons total.

Razer says these plates snap into place in seconds without any tools. The idea being you can flip between them when you load up different games. It envisions players using the dozen buttons for MMOs, six buttons for MOBA and battle royales, then the two buttons for FPS games or everyday use.

Head of PC gaming at Razer, Barrie Ooi, says, “The Naga has led multi-button gaming for 17 years, and the V3 Pro is our answer to a community that wanted one mouse to adapt to every genre they play.”

Where it does differ from the Naga V2 Pro is the inclusion of Razer's Focus Pro 3rd generation optical sensor with 50,000 DPI, plus fourth generation optical switches. It's also a bit lighter, at 97 g without a plate installed, or around 112–117 grams with. At its lightest, the Naga V3 Pro is a whopping 112 g, which makes it a bit of a thicc boi.

If you are interested in the upgrade, you can pick it up from Razer right now for $180 / £180 / €200. That is a hefty 'ol fee that matches the MSRP of the Naga V2 Pro.

And if you're thinking of spending that amount of money on a gaming mouse, you should also consider the Razer Viper V4 Pro, with its top-notch specs and low weight, or the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike, with its incredible click technology. Both of these are among the best gaming mice you can buy today. The Superstrike will fetch the same price as the Naga V3 Pro, but the Viper V4 Pro is cheaper. Either way, the competition is super fierce at this price point.

And that's before mentioning that the Naga V3 Pro only comes with a 1,000 Hz polling rate (though it can get up to 8,000 Hz with the Mouse Dock Pro or HyperPolling Wireless Dongle). Still, the Naga V3 Pro is unique with the sheer volume of buttons available, and it's a sweet upgrade on the Naga V2 Pro for the same base price. Whether or not it's actually worth all that cash will be largely dependent on how it feels in the hand or your actual need for all those buttons.

Luckily, one is on its way to the PC Gamer offices—so you can expect our full review soon.

Would you believe me if I told you the Pulsar Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition is actually the second gaming mouse with a fan I've tried? Back in 2021, I had the unique experience of getting my clammy mitts on the Marsback Zephyr Pro, and I was… a fan.

But I can comfortably say that Pulsar's Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition is the most luxurious gaming mouse with a fan I've tried—a prestigious award, I know. It's loaded with great specs, like a Pulsar XS-2 sensor with up to 42,000 DPI and up to an 8,000 Hz polling rate. As such, it's not just a gaming mouse with a fan; it's a full-on competitive device.

I suspect the most 'love it or hate it' aspect of Pulsar and Noctua's Frankenstein gaming mouse won't actually have anything to do with the aforementioned fan but will instead be its honeycomb shell. In order for the fan to actually blow cold air on your palm, it needs room to do so, and the spaces in the shell are plenty. They also come with the added benefit of taking some weight off, which is needed because the F01 Noctua Edition is pretty heavy at 73 g.

Then again, Pulsar's fanless Feinmann F01 has all the same holes (though at almost 30 g lighter), so maybe Pulsar just likes the 'this thing took a couple of bullets, but it still works' look. I personally think Noctua's iconic beige and brown colour scheme makes the mouse look pretty decent despite all the gaps, but a trypophobe (warning, don't click on that link if you have trypophobia) may want to look for something a bit less holey.

Despite the holes, the F01 is no slouch in durability. I have intentionally tried to place pressure on the thinnest parts of its carbon composite shell, and it barely flexes. The same is true of the sides of the mouse, which hold in place despite me squeezing far harder than one would traditionally with a gaming mouse. Noctua made a series of "custom-built torture-test rigs" for testing the fan in the mouse, and I'm happy to say that despite my flailing around, it too holds up incredibly well.

Throwing the mouse from side to side or up and down doesn't catch the fan at all, making it a pretty smooth experience. This is not something that bothered me, but you can feel the fan humming just a little when off the pad. I can't feel the fan rumble on the highest mode when grounded on a mouse pad, but when picking it up to move across the pad, I feel a slight movement.

The fan is super easy to adjust too. Simply hold both of the buttons on the left-hand side, and push the scroll wheel up or down to cycle through the four fan intensities (plus one mode for it being off entirely). On the highest intensity (four), you can certainly hear the fan spin, but it roughly matches the noise of my rig, and I tend to play games and work with headphones anyway. It becomes near silent on intensity one and two, with three being notable, but only in a quiet room.

One thing that surprised me after a couple of days of using the mouse is that I genuinely missed the fan when I briefly swapped to a different mouse. This elevates it in my mind from a gimmick to a niche feature. But it's a niche feature you are paying nearly $200 for, and that's a hefty cost when you can get lighter competitive mouse for less.

Pulsar calls it the "mouse that breathes", which is far less appealing than I assume Pulsar thought it is. But that does feel like an accurate description of how the fan works. It doesn't blast your hand with air; instead, it feels like a cool breeze gently caressing your palm. Or maybe a less gross visual metaphor. A draft coming in through a window? Yeah, that doesn't sound as striking as 'mouse that breathes'.

One place I really benefited from the mouse is while I was playing Counter-Strike 2. When strafing through rooms, snapping sights on enemies, the game just has a capacity to make my palms sweat (Knees weak, arms heavy?), and yet I finished a game with my right hand feeling fresh.

The mouse's ability to battle palm sweat helps in horror games like Crisol: Theater of Idols and in the Call of Duty Zombies-like Sker Ritual. It's also a super snappy mouse, and its optical switches are not only fast and efficient, but also offer a decent sound too. They produce a high ping that is satisfying without being too nasally in sound. Given the amount of open space in the mouse, I was concerned there would be a reverb of some kind, but the sound is well engineered.

The over 70-gram mouse is a tad heavy, and you notice that when rapidly sliding it around the mousepad, but it's well balanced in the hand, which makes picking it up easy, and the PTFE feet are plenty smooth too. My preference would be to knock 15 or so grams off the mouse, but it doesn't handle the weight poorly.

And it's not just solid for competitive play either. In everyday use, the mouse is super comfortable to place the palm on, and the four different fan modes offer a decent degree of thermal customisation. Even with the fan off, it's a solid gaming mouse.

In paint simulator SuchArt, I found the sensor to be super responsive and accurate, and the fan helped sustain my painting sessions. The weight of the mouse is downright comforting in SuchArt's more relaxed environment, and makes slow, smooth movement a breeze.

Unfortunately, though, in addition to the weight, there are other compromises to make such a mouse, and one of the big ones is battery life. The 500mAh battery drains super quickly, with it losing just under half of its charge in just over two hours in 8,000 Hz polling with the fan set to max. Even in 1,000 Hz polling mode, it drains quite quickly, with it going down by 20% in just under two hours. That means, with the fan set to max, you can expect to charge it every day or two if you work from home or game a lot.

With a charging dock or smart battery system (like the Glorious Model O 3 wireless has), that could be okay, but going without means you either plug it into a USB Type-C every night before bed, or don't bother with the wireless mode.

And speaking of its wireless mode, the F01 Noctua Edition comes with a neat dongle, which not only connects the mouse to your rig, but also has two buttons. The right side changes DPI, and the left side is a function button, which initially flits through profiles, but it can change the fan in the mouse, swap polling rate, change liftoff distance and more.

I wouldn't set the left side of the dongle to DPI, as you can swap that from under the mouse, and I wouldn't set it to adjust fan speed, as you can change that from the mouse too. I think my choice for the left button would maybe be polling rate, so you can crank it up in competitive games for quicker responses and bring it back down in more casual games to save battery life, but this is admittedly a pretty niche use case. I like the dongle a good bit, and my only critique is that having it feature USB passthrough or some sort of charging system would really make up for the pretty poor battery life.

Another thing to consider here is the price. Many of the best gaming mice, like the Razer Viper V4 Pro, are cheaper, with better battery life, and a lighter weight. Even the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike, and its revolutionary clicks, fetch the same price as the F01 Noctua edition.

As such, I'm left in a difficult space trying to sum up this breezy gaming mouse. On the one hand, it's got a super solid build, and some smart engineering in how its fan works, and with a great sensor and high polling, it even offers competitive-level play. Yet on the other hand, it's giving up weight and battery life for that fan, and putting a bigger battery in it would only increase that weight. And therefore, it sits just under competitive mice for performance, yet costs more money.

And it's far too expensive to justify buying for the fan alone. It feels like a niche on a niche, and though it's smartly made, you really need to want exactly what it offers to justify that asking price. It is, though, one of the most unique gaming mice I've used in a few years, and a great but hard-to-recommend bit of hardware as a result.

How do you create a gaming mouse that sits comfortably in the palm of most gamers? With science, that's how. As such, Pulsar Gaming is taking matters into its own hands with a research study—and nine survey participants will get a gaming mouse for their trouble.

In collaboration with the High-Performance Human-Computer Interaction Lab at Yonsei University, Pulsar Gaming is setting out "to establish empirical design standards based on quantitative user data and actual behavioral patterns." In order to collect enough data, Pulsar has invited the "global gamer community" via X to fill out an academic survey.

You can find the survey in question here, and the response period is from August 5 until August 24. The survey is about 19 pages long, with questions available in English, Japanese, and Korean. Pulsar writes that responses will be used to create a "foundational baseline for engineering the next generation of gaming mice."

It's a fairly in-depth survey, with even just the first page asking everything from what sorts of games you play and how many gaming mice you've "meaningfully" used, to how long your phalanges are. Those are your fingers, not your toes, for those wondering.

If you fill out the 19-page survey, you'll be in with a chance of winning a random Pulsar Gaming mouse. Nine survey participants in total will be randomly selected, and these winners will then be contacted on August 26.

A survey is definitely one way to approach designing a fresh gaming mouse. The dedicated Logitech lab our Jacob visited in Switzerland is another. There, designers consider ideas such as 'making a lightweight mouse that is nothing but strands of plastic inside,' and use electrode pads to measure how different hand muscles interact with different mouse shapes.

Speaking of mouse maestro Jacob and Pulsar, it's worth noting he also highly rated the X3 CrazyLight Mini gaming mouse earlier this year—not to mention the many paragraphs he dedicated to his 'gaming mouse heaven', the Pulsar Playstore.

There's just one small problem: Our Jacob is based in the UK, and the Pulsar Playstore can only be found in Tokyo, Japan. Ah, well.

Noctua is one of the very best fan makers on the market, but introducing its fan into the Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition gaming mouse seemed to involve a truly horrible sequence of fan tests.

Noctua has "custom-built torture-test rigs", all designed to put fans through their paces to see if they can withstand how the average gamer treats their mice. One video of six fans getting rapidly from left to right says, "This is what 30 sideways movements per second look like."

Effectively, the new Noctua mouse has a fan inside, which then blows air on your palm as you play. I've had the chance to try it out in the PC Gamer office, and so far, it's surprisingly pleasant. But ultimately, if you are gaming, you will do a lot of sideways movement and will often pick the mouse up and tap the top of the table. Noctua wouldn't want its fan to break down in a game, and it has taken to its blog to go over its testing methodology.

One test, conveniently named the 'drop test', has a series of fans on a motor that is picked up by a wheel and then dropped rapidly. You can see a video of that particular test in action below.

The results, according to Noctua, are positive for both tests. It says, "The answer to the question of how long NF-A4x10 fans can survive this type of torture is simple: surprisingly long!"

The horizontal test, pushing 12 fans back and forth rapidly, stopped after 280,000 cycles as one of the fans had failed. However, that turned out to be a bearing issue with the tape that fixed the fan coming loose.

In the vertical drop test, all eight fans were still functional after 20,000 drops. "After another 5000 drops, all the fans had their impellers pop out due to failures of the bearing lock-ring, but by this time, the foam padding at the base of the test setup that we used to soften the impact was completely shattered, so the impact force had become much higher than our accelerometer could measure."

So it seems like the gaming mouse is ready for the big league (ie gamers throwing their mice around because a monster has popped up on-screen). We'll just have to see how it fares for gaming in its other aspects. I have my hands on one, so you can expect my thoughts soon, though I don't anticipate dropping it 20,000 times.

I've been a very happy chappy ever since discovering the wonders of the Chinese 'clone' mouse market. Brands in this market attempt to deliver quality gaming mice that take after popular shapes by mainstream brands, but for a lot less money. I was sceptical at first, but my experience with Mchose mice has squashed my scepticism, and this K7 V2 Ultra+ is a fine example.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a Razer Viper V3/V4 Pro clone, and the latter is currently the absolute best gaming mouse on the market today. I say V3/V4 Pro because it sits between the two, using an overclocked PixArt PAW3955 TI sensor that hits up to 50,000 DPI. That's PixArt's flagship market-available sensor, and the Razer Viper V4 Pro has its own top-of-the-line, custom PixArt sensor that has the same DPI as this but higher IPS capability and so on. Still, the K7 V2's sensor is flagship as far as what is actually on the market.

Regarding just the shape, I notice no difference between this and the Viper V4 Pro, which tracks, given EloShapes shows no difference either. There is, of course, a difference in build quality (and no optical switches), but that's less to do with the Mchose and more to do with the Viper being practically flawless—the best build quality I've seen in any mouse. The K7 V2 Ultra+ doesn't match that, but it does match other premium mice in terms of build quality.

To be more specific, it feels lovely under the palm, is sturdy, and I have zero complaints when actually using it in-game, but if I'm pulling out my metaphorical magnifying glass for inspection, it's not completely perfect. I've noticed there's a slight amount of friction to the left mouse button before it actuates depending on where I press it. Plus it is, of course, heavier than the Viper V3 Pro and V4 Pro as it weighs 59 g, whereas the former are 54 g and 49 g respectively.

But those are pretty small sacrifices to make for getting the same Viper shape and a very performant sensor for a little over half the price of a bona fide V3 Pro or V4 Pro. It's not as cheap as some of Mchose's other options—in fact, not even some rather premium-feeling ones—but for a flagship sensor and a Viper shape, it sits right with me.

There's another thing to note, which is that you're getting a wireless charger in the 2.4 GHz receiver, which is a fantastic choice and works really well. We've seen similar from the 8BitDo Retro R8, but this one connects and charges magnetically and wirelessly rather than via some pins. Both are good, but the magnetic system might have the edge for longevity (no pins to damage) and how easy it is to just slap on top. It's super convenient and has the added benefit of keeping the receiver weighty enough to stay put, in combination with its sticky base lining.

It charges pretty quickly when on the stand: about 1% every minute, if not a little faster. Not that that matters much, because after using this thing for three or four days of pretty extensive work and gaming it only dropped to about 80%. And chucking it on top of the charging stand is effortless, provided you remember to do so.

The lighting on the receiver looks gorgeous too, primarily because it runs around the bottom so it looks a lot like a more subtle underglow than anything too garish. Though it would be more useful if it changed colour based on the mouse's battery life rather than whatever colour(s) you set it to.

These colours and effects can be changed in the software, which is available either locally or online. It is of course great that there's a web-based version; however it does take a while to load. But once you're in, you get access to every setting you might want, including things like lift-off distance (LOD) and even sensor rotation.

Getting to the meat and potatoes of competitive gaming, which is the use case this mouse is aimed at given the Viper inspo, everything is flawless. Playing Counter-Strike 2, I've had zero problems with connectivity or tracking.

The Viper shape is wonderful too, keeping my hand nice and steady when holding angles, so I can say it's at the very least pleasant for a relaxed palm grip. And given it's the most-used mouse by Valorant pros and close to that for Counter-Strike pros, I think many others would agree.

The Viper shape is also good for claw and fingertip grips, making it pretty versatile, just like Logitech's G Pro/Superlight shape. In fact, it's often considered better for these than for palm grip, but I use a hybrid palm grip and do enjoy it.

The last two sprinkles of icing on the cake are its connectivity options and its aesthetic. Some competitive gaming mice don't bother including Bluetooth, but this one does and I found it to work very well. It connects to my laptop instantly and I can now immediately switch between laptop and PC by a flick of the underside switch from Bluetooth to 2.4 GHz.

Finally, although it's still a pretty plain mouse in black, it does have a little golden flair to it on the logo, side buttons, and scroll wheel. I think it looks rather classy, which isn't always the case with golden trimmings. The blue version also looks gorgeous just judging from the product photos, though I've not seen that one in person.

In all, I really can't complain about anything in this mouse for the price. It would be nice if there was that extra tidbit of attention paid to things like button click quality, and of course it would have been nice to see this closer to 50 g. But I don't think I can expect to get that without stepping up into the $100+ range, especially given the included charging stand and wireless charging internals.

Mchose has stayed on the right side of the mark here, and I'm especially looking forward to any potential discounts in future which sweeten the deal even further. Though even without that sweetening, it's got my approval.

Keychron, the gaming peripheral creator, has developed a name for itself as a defender of open-source software over the last few years. It has an entire 'Open Source Design Project', where it posts access to files to customise its keyboards, and it even uses ZMK and QMK, which are open-source software for keyboards. Open-source mouse firmware has gone unloved by the company, until now.

Keychron announced on X that it's currently developing ZGM, an open-source gaming mouse software for use with its mice. The company plans to launch ZGM at the start of 2027. Keychron says in the announcement, "Every gaming mouse on the market runs firmware you can't read, can't audit, can't change. So we built it ourselves."

Alongside this, the company has published a new website, explaining the benefits of open-source gaming mouse firmware and how it came about. The new software is built on Zephyr ROTS and designed to be scalable and modular, meaning it can support multiple hardware variants and can work with unique sensors, buttons, and scroll wheels without rewriting.

It's also designed with low-latency input in mind, and will support both wired and wireless mice. The benefit of it being open-source is that other users can contribute to it or fork it to make their own build.

Keychron points out that the software will work with the newly unveiled G6 HE, which is its 46 g wireless gaming mouse with a swappable battery, hybrid optical/magnetic switches, and a pretty neat charging puck too. Naturally, though open-source software is good to have, it won't work with just anything out of the digital box. It often needs fine-tuning for specific hardware, which is why Keychron clarifies it will work with the G6 HE. But because it's open-source, one could technically refine it for non-compatible hardware.

If you want to keep an eye on the project, it currently has a public GitHub repository, but Keychron notes it is "currently in its early setup phase." The project mostly contains "project scaffolding, policy files, and the initial project direction" as of right now.

Still, with the likes of GMK already out there, open-source mouse firmware should bridge a gap between hardware and should give you unified language for both your Keychron mouse and keyboard. And an added benefit is that the more open-source projects that are out there, the more likely other companies are to follow suit.

The best gaming mouse on the market right now is the Razer Viper V4 Pro. It's the best because it's light, very well-built, performant, and has great battery life. This last quality—its battery life—is largely thanks to Razer's new FrameSync tech, which is kind of like G-Sync but for a mouse sensor rather than a monitor's refresh rate. And now we have independent testing confirming that the new and innovative tech works as Razer describes it.

We had indirect confirmation of it before just from the fact that the Viper V4 Pro's battery life is so good (180 hours at 1 kHz polling), but it's reassuring and, frankly, just cool to see it confirmed regardless.

With any gaming mouse, there are two main things going on: optical scanning and polling. In the first case, the sensor scans for movement across your mouse pad in many snapshots per second. In the latter, the PC polls for (requests) that movement data from the mouse.

Well, actually, there are three things going on, because in between those two lies the microcontroller unit (MCU), which prepares the sensor data to hand off to the PC when it polls. Razer's innovation with FrameSync is to get all three of these aligned by making the sensor only scan at the same time it's polled for, meaning it can keep things responsive but also keep the sensor scan-outs low and save power.

Anyways, all this is great on paper, but how could we even confirm it? Well, X user and peripheral YouTuber piaknow has figured it out and put FrameSync to the test. Using a cornucopia of wires and a Rigol DS1102Z-E oscilloscope, they confirm that "Razer's FrameSync is REAL."

They explain: "Yellow line shows the USB signal and blue line shows the sensor light source. The phase between them being fixed shows that they are actually synchronized, as advertised."

So yep, it seems it's true: Razer FrameSync does, in fact, sync the sensor to the polling rate. Although it's worth noting that one commenter claims they get some small deltas, and piaknow confirms "I do get 0.25 ms intervals periodically... but because the counts are doubled at the same time, maybe it's simply packet loss due to some type of periodical extra process?"

I'm not the one with the oscilloscope, so I certainly can't say, but at any rate the periodical deltas don't seem too big, and certainly not enough to throw off the overall oscilloscope picture and the fact that FrameSync is seemingly doing what it says on the tin, just perhaps not absolutely perfectly.

That being said, there's apparently still a DPI downshift problem, which I've explained previously. Sensors, eh, there's more to them than we might think! For my part, I haven't noticed any issues with the Viper V4 Pro's sensor, and it's great to see some genuinely new tech confirmed independently.

Wallhack (previously SkyPad, if you weren't aware) has teased a gaming mouse that will be announced on July 24. This will be the company's first gaming mouse, having previously stuck to high-performance mouse pads, sleeves, and skates.

There must just be something irresistible about hot swappable batteries. This mouse looks to have them, as from the teaser trailer, we see a separate battery zooming into place. This also matches what peripheral reviewer mel0nFPS noted about a previous image-only teaser, as they predicted a "hot-swap battery system (250-300 mAh)."

I first saw a hot swappable mouse at Gamescom last year, when I was granted an early look at the Glorious Model O3. Unfortunately that mouse failed to massively impress me for other reasons when I reviewed it (mostly mediocre tracking over wireless and stiff competition at such a high price), but I did like the battery system.

Since then, we've seen other companies are having a go at it. There's the AM Infinity Mouse, which has a recent PixArt PAW3950 sensor and weighs just 49 g. And there's the as-yet unreleased Steelseries Rival Pro Mini, if the rumours are correct.

I know things like hot swappable batteries can seem like a bit of a gimmick, but I really don't think they are for a gaming mouse. Unless you're particularly bad at keeping on top of your mouse charge, it's unlikely that you'll run completely out of battery in your wireless mouse while gaming, but that's not really the point.

The point is you'll never have to take a break from wireless to plug it in if you forget to charge it, which can be important if you're playing competitive online games, for instance (which will surely be the target market for a Wallhack mouse).

It doesn't happen often, but there have definitely been times when I've noticed my battery is running low in the middle of a planned Counter-Strike session. I've had to take an unwanted break while it charges because I don't want to play with a cable now I'm used to wireless (woe is me, I know).

These removeable batteries are also more easily replaced than some, which is good for longevity.

The wireless dongle/puck also looks great, judging from its silhouette and another teaser post. I'm a big fan of the bigger pucks for mice, given they stop the little flimsy ones from falling all around. Often off the desk. And this one looks fancy, like a DAC, with a scroller for DPI and polling rate, along with a 'status' button and another element I'm nonplussed over.

If mel0nFPS's other predictions based on the PCB are correct, then we could be looking at a top-end PAW3955 sensor and optical clicks. The bottom also looks somewhat hollowed, though not in the usual way, so hopefully it'll be nice and lightweight. Given Wallhack's usual genuinely premium quality products for competitive gaming (I like its SP glass pads and gamer sleeve) I'm certainly hopeful.

We'll have to wait until July 24 to find out more, including its price tag, which I'm not exactly holding my breath for. I'll be surprised if it's any cheaper than $140, given the brand and other high-end options on the market like the Superstrike and Viper V4 Pro.

I'm known around the PC Gamer streets as a bit of a mouse pad nerd. Though that's just because I take the surface my little rodent skates across seriously, as you should. If you're playing a game that requires good aim, a good pad can be just as important for your gameplay experience as high fps, up to a certain point.

Naturally, then, I fell under the spell of glass mouse pads for a while. With glass, there's the promise of a very slippery glide, if that's your thing, but more important is the promise of consistency and longevity. Cloth pads collect dust and dirt that can't just be wiped away, and the fibres change over time. That's why pros switch them out so often.

Glass pads aren't like this, though. They do have irregularities etched into their surface to help with friction and sensor tracking, but these don't wear down because they're harder than your mouse skates. Your skates, on the other hand, do wear down quicker, but these are easily replaceable, and a cheap pack of dot skates can last a very long time.

Glass pads do require more maintenance, but not as much as I initially thought. When I first started using one—a QPAD Obsidian—I would wipe it down with a microfibre cloth between almost every two-minute Counter-Strike round, just in case something had gotten on it that could cause the skates to feel horribly scratchy when they ran over it. This does happen, but nowhere near as frequently as I initially thought. But eventually, when using a glass pad, I just wiped it down once or twice every 45-minute game, or if I noticed scratchiness.

There's one other bit of maintenance required, too. Unless you're in a cold climate and have dry skin all the time, you'll probably want to use a gamer sleeve so your arm glides consistently over the pad while you aim, whatever the conditions.

I got used to this maintenance and started using a glass pad, and for a while I was hooked. There's just something about having very little static or dynamic friction and having an incredibly consistent glide that makes you feel like you're in the driver's seat. Every little movement is in your control, as is how smoothly you make those movements.

That seemed fantastic at first, but over time I've found I often don't want that much control. Somewhat paradoxically, I gain control over my aim by giving up some control of my mouse. That shouldn't really be a surprise, though, because 'control' pads are designed to be slower, i.e., providing more resistance to your movements, giving you less free control over your mouse movements. That's the opposite of a glide-y glass pad.

There's definitely a place for glass pads, but I just don't think I'm the target market. They're great if you don't need pinpoint aim and love a smooth glide, or if you need the kind of pinpoint aim that benefits from smooth, consistent tracking with a long time-to-kill (TTK). Games such as Quake Champions or The Finals, for instance.

However, in tactical shooters like Counter-Strike 2 (my go-to game), I find I play much better when using a control cloth pad. I'm able to hold angles better and keep my gun very still, and I can make the small adjustments needed when peeking or occasionally flicking thanks to the increased stopping power and static friction.

I know that over time I could develop finer control over my aim with a glass pad, and maybe then I'd find them to be better. But I did try. I've put dozens of hours in on different glass pads, and I still feel a little relief when going back to a control pad like the Razer Gigantus V2 Pro or Zowie HSR-III, or even a smooth cloth pad like the SteelSeries QcK Performance Speed.

I've even tried a glass mouse pad that's designed to offer a bit more control: the Wallhack CR-005. And this did feel better to begin with, to the extent that I wondered whether it could be my endgame pad. But that control feeling seemed to wear off a little over many hours of gameplay (perhaps, very speculatively, due to skate debris getting stuck between the micro surface bumps), and regardless I still felt on more solid ground, so to speak, when I whapped a cloth pad back on the desk.

I could have stuck it out with glass, but I ask myself: why? If pro players are able to reach their heights on cloth, then I see little incentive to switch to glass over the long-term, and there's little incentive to try and stick it out when I'm not getting the benefit in the short-term, either.

So, unless I ditch Counter-Strike and pick up Quake Champions once again (I'll be holding out for that fabled arena shooter genre comeback until the day I die), I'll be sticking with cloth, I think.

There is one thing that using glass pads has given me which I will continue to use, however: the gamer sleeve.

As I mentioned earlier, in most cases, using a sleeve with a glass pad is essential if you want to keep your arm moving across its surface consistently every time. But a couple of months ago, I heard someone say somewhere (I can't remember where) that a gamer sleeve can even be of benefit when using a cloth pad. So I tried it, and now I can't go back.

Yes, whenever I boot up Counter-Strike, I sleeve up too. Even though I play on cloth. I felt a little sheepish the first few times, but I kept reminding myself that some pro players use them and that nobody is here watching me anyway. But now, it feels as natural as putting on my coat before I go outside in the winter.

And if I forget? It's just as noticeable as forgetting my coat. Without my gamer sleeve on, moving my arm around the mouse pad—aiming with low sensitivity, as you do in Counter-Strike—feels inconsistent at best, and downright slow at worst. But with my trusty half-palm-and-forearm sheath properly donned, my arm scoots around deftly, in exactly the same way every time I boot up the game, whatever the weather.

So thank you, glass pads, for opening my eyes to the wonders of the humble sleeve. You might not have won me over for playing my tactical shooters on your slippery surfaces, but you've given me that.

When it comes to gaming mice, big innovations don't come around that often. Earlier this year there was one, though, as Logitech was the first to put proper analogue clicks in a mouse using a mix of haptics and induction in the G Pro X2 Superstrike. And now, rumour has it we'll be seeing a second version very soon.

That's according to someone the peripheral reviewer Jakeu calls a "highly trusted leaker", who revealed it on the reviewer's Discord server. What will it be like? "No Hero 3. Upgrade main-controller. Further tweaks for HITS."

Apparently we'll be seeing the new Superstrike at Logitech G Play this September.

That's all the unnamed leaker gives us, which isn't a lot to go on. "No Hero 3" means no next-gen sensor, which is fine in my books because the Superstrike's Hero 2 sensor is just fine. Upgrades to the controller and HITS tweaks sound good too, but again, I find HITS on the Superstrike to be just fine as-is, personally.

There's the slim possibility that Logitech is updating the mouse with what we've seen the likes of Keychron and even lesser-known manufacturers working on: hybrid traditional and analogue switches. Except I doubt Logitech will want to have a physical click in there when they worked so hard on the haptics system to replicate the feeling of a real click but have it trigger whenever the analogue click does—very successfully, I might add.

More likely is that there could be a new shell for the Superstrike, fixing things like weighting, as the new internals make it quite front-heavy. There could also be improvements to things like the side buttons and so on.

It would make sense for Logi to release an iteration like this given the company essentially slapped the new internals in a Superlight 2 (with some weight reductions) to get it to market as quickly as possible.

Assuming the rumour is correct, it might be a shame for anyone that already bought a Superstrike. But then again, I doubt such people didn't know they were getting bleeding edge tech that could be superseded before long, even if that does end up being a little quicker than we expected.