The Best Gaming Mice: Here’s What to Buy in 2021

Niels Broekhuijsen, Digital Trends

Why you should buy this: It’s the best overall gaming mouse you can buy.

Who it’s for: First-person shooter gamers looking for the best

Why we chose the G Pro X Superlight:

The Logitech G Pro X Superlight is a simple mouse that doesn’t appear to be all too special, but don’t let its minimalist appearance throw you off: This mouse goes by the motto “less is more.” It weighs just 63 grams, and I can tell you, that’s stunningly light for any mouse and will certainly give you an advantage in FPS games.

For buttons, it also has only the bare essentials — left and right-click, a good notchy scroll wheel, and forward and backward navigation buttons. There’s no DPI switcher to be found here, but most gamers just use a fixed setting anyway. Under the hood is Logitech’s excellent Hero 25K sensor.

But despite its light weight, the G Pro X Superlight is also wireless, with a Logitech Lightspeed connection, and the combination of all its features makes it the most effortless, naturally intuitive gaming mouse I’ve ever played on. It’s a little costly at $150, but if you’re serious about your first-person shooters, this is a mouse you cannot miss. In the name of weight savings though, there’s no RGB, so that’s something to keep in mind if that’s important to you.

Niels Broekhuijsen, Digital Trends

Why you should buy this: It’s a highly tactile, feel-good FPS mouse.

Who it’s for: Gamers who like SteelSeries or a more tactile feel

Why we chose the SteelSeries Prime: 

The SteelSeries Prime gaming mice come in three variants — Prime, Prime+, and Prime Wireless — but our top pick goes to the entry-level Prime mouse for its excellent value for money.

This mouse has an ergo-ish shape, packing a great sensor, optical switches, and possibly the most distinct notches in a scroll wheel we’ve ever felt. Thanks to the light weight of 71 grams (or 80 for the wireless variant), this mouse is excellent for FPS games or gaming in general.

It doesn’t come with a lot of buttons, but it’s a very comfortable mouse that feels sturdy and has an excellent tactile feel, constantly reminding you of why SteelSeries remains so good at making gaming peripherals.

With pricing at $60 for the entry-level variant, it takes our top pick, but the Prime Wireless is also seriously worth considering despite its steep $140 price tag.

Niels Broekhuijsen, Digital Trends

Why you should buy this: It’s a high-quality wired mouse for FPS shooting.

Who it’s for: Gamers who prefer to rely on a tether for reliable FPS gaming

Why we chose the Corsair M65 RGB Elite: 

Corsair’s M65 is a classic mouse at this point, but the company is still updating it bit by bit. By now, it packs RGB, a better 18K sensor, weight tuning, and more.

But underneath, it still features the same classic aluminum shell with tunable weights, cladding the outside in thick and strong plastics. The side is grippy, the DPI-shift button helps when sniping, and everything about the M65 just feels right. This is a strong mouse that doesn’t feel like it will implode if you claw it with too much force.

It doesn’t try to set any records with low weight, but it doesn’t need to. With pricing at about $60, and often found for as little as $50, this is a gaming mouse that you’ll find plenty comfortable and it will last a long time.

Niels Broekhuijsen, Digital Trends

Why you should buy this: You need a reliable, ultralight mobile gaming mouse.

Who it’s for: Laptop gamers, or gamers who like small mice

Why we chose the Razer Orochi V2: 

The Razer Orochi V2 is the company’s latest addition to its gaming mice, packing all of its greatest tech into a tiny, portable package with absurdly good battery life.

Generally, you’d look at Logitech’s MX Anywhere mouse when you need a mouse for on the go, but it’s no good for gaming. Razer’s Orochi V2, on the other hand, features very similar dimensions, but with lighter weight, a better sensor, and 1000 Hz polling for faster responses.

Premium materials are absent here, but it’s important to keep the Orochi V2’s weight in mind: With a lithium battery, it weighs 74 grams, and using a standard alkaline AAA battery drops this to just 69 grams with a power source — and that’s not a lot.

Why you should buy this: It’s a comfortable, well-featured gaming mouse with excellent performance.

Who it’s for: Gamers looking for more customizable buttons and hand-friendly shapes

Why we chose the G502 Hero:

Logitech’s G502 Hero is a long-running classic at this point, but that’s not stopping us from putting it on this list. Featuring 11 programmable buttons, a DPI Shift button, an unlockable scroll wheel, great materials quality, a bit of RGB, and a shape to die for, there’s no way we couldn’t mention this mouse.

But those points aren’t even the best about it — that honor goes to the 25K Hero sensor that’s inside, which is considered one of the industry’s best gaming mouse sensors. Logitech puts a lot of money into R&D for its sensor tech, and it shows. Additionally, the mouse can be tuned exactly to your liking with adjustable lift-off distance, macro programming, and weights to get it feeling exactly how you want it.

The retail price is set at $80, but it’s been on the market for so long that it’s often priced at $50, making it a hard deal to pass up.

Niels Broekhuijsen, Digital Trends

Why you should buy this: It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing: A gaming mouse marketed as an office mouse.

Who it’s for: Gamers who need a comfortable, ergonomic gaming mouse

Why we chose the Razer Pro Click:

Razer’s Pro Click is a bit of a confusing mouse. Propositioned as an ergonomic office mouse as a competitor to Logitech’s MX Master 3, I found that it didn’t really do that job quite so well. Rather, my experience with it showed that it’s actually a brilliant gaming mouse with an excellent ergonomic design, kind of like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Indeed, the Pro Click is better seen as a gaming mouse that doesn’t draw too much attention to itself, featuring neat minimalistic styling and excellent sensor and button performance, along with great materials quality, wireless connectivity, and superb comfort.

Priced at $100, it’s also surprisingly affordable compared to many other options out there nowadays, which may be in part due to its office-focused marketing. But don’t let that hold you back — if you’re a gamer who has wrist and joint issues, this mouse may just be big and comfortable enough for you to avoid having to make the swap to a full vertical mouse.

Why you should buy this: It’s a great budget gaming mouse.

Who it’s for: Budget shoppers who still want good performance and RGB

Why we chose the Logitech G203 Lightsync:

Logitech’s G203 Lightsync is a bit of a funny mouse, not because it’s available in a lilac color scheme, but because it offers a ton of value with an MSRP of $30, often costing less than $20 if you shop around a little. Don’t worry, you can get it in black and white too.

And although it doesn’t feel like a premium mouse by any stretch of the imagination, it most certainly doesn’t feel like a $30 mouse either, as it has a good sensor aboard, great switches, and a fair amount of RGB illumination.

Sure, the cable isn’t braided, it’s not very grippy, nor does it have a high-DPI sensor, but its 8K sensor is plenty for all but the most demanding gamers, and it offers impressively good gaming performance for the money. If you’re on a budget, just getting into gaming, or need a mouse for your kid, the G203 Lightsync is a great option to consider that won’t break the bank.

 What DPI should I play at?

Although many gaming mice tout sensors with extremely high DPI figures, we’re telling you now: You’ll never use anything above 6,400 DPI. In fact, most pro gamers play at 400 to 800 DPI, with the aim being longer swoops for the same in-game movement, allowing you to take aim with much higher accuracy. This is also why 60% and 65% keyboards are so popular among gamers: They give the player much more space for mousing around without a numpad in the way.

But don’t take that to mean you should ignore all these high-DPI mice. Rather, take the high DPI number as the maker vouching for its sensor’s performance, as high-DPI mice generally have better tracking, zero pointer acceleration, adjustable or pre-optimized lift-off distance, and most importantly, are capable of high-speed sweeps while maintaining accurate tracking, something that’s important when playing at much lower DPI settings.

Wireless or wired?

This one’s really a matter of cost, but generally, our preference goes to wireless mice. It used to be that wireless gaming mice suffered in performance compared to their tethered counterparts due to slow communications and interference, but that’s no longer the case with radio developments over the last few years. Wireless mice today perform as well as if not better than their wired counterparts due to not having to drag a cable around. The flip side is that they cost more, need to be charged (especially if they have RGB), and tend to weigh a little more, but we believe the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Do I need a ton of buttons?

If you’re an MMORPG gamer, then the answer to this is a resounding yes. But other than that, most gamers should focus on finding a mouse with a comfortable shape, excellent sensor, and light weight, as these will help better your performance more than having buttons that you don’t use. Because, remember, those buttons add complexity and weight, which will slow you down when aiming down sights.

Any other tips?

Yes, also make sure you invest in a good mouse pad for smooth gliding, and if you’re serious about gaming performance, look into a smaller keyboard with no more than a TKL layout and a high-refresh-rate gaming monitor.

Pair that with a PC that’s powerful enough to run your games at higher frame rates (do yourself a favor and prioritize frame rates over eye candy in competitive games), and you’ll suddenly find that you have a significant advantage on the battlefield.

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