ChromeBro's Official Gaming Mouse Purchase Guide

By: Andrew Cross, "The ChromeBro"

This guide is the first one in a series that I, the ChromeBro, shall be writing. Each guide will be about starting your first gaming setup. The first few will be focused on peripherals like mice, keyboards, etc. XBox is now offering mouse and keyboard support, so the first few articles will also apply to console users. After covering peripherals, the guides will shift towards learning how to build your first computer.

ChromeBro’s Gaming Mouse GuideShape

• Shape
  • Ambidextrous - These mice usually have a safe flatter shape and are suitable for both left and right handed users.
  • Ergonomic - Typically these mice are slanted for your hand to be able to rest in a more natural and comfortable position.
  • Size - It is recommended to find a mouse that is around ⅔ of your hand length.
• Style
  • MMO, RPG, RTS, and MOBA mice typically have a larger amount of of side buttons to allow for you to keybind plenty of commands.¹

• FPS (First Person Shooter) - These mice typically have less buttons so the mouse can be lighter and have a more fine tuned shape for more precise aiming ability.

• Weight
  • Heavy - A heavy mouse is easier to control, but it takes more effort to move it.
  • Light - A light mouse is easier to move, but it takes more effort to control it.
  • Below 125g is recommended.

• Wireless/Wired
  • Wired - Doesn’t need charging, but the cord can get in the way depending on what cord the mouse has.
  • Wireless - No cable, but needs charging. Older wireless mice might have connection issues.
  • Check reviews when buying a wireless mouse to make sure that there are no issues with the wireless connection on the mouse.
• Polling Rate (Refresh Rate of Your Mouse’s Optical Sensor)
  • To put it simply, a polling rate of 125hz and 250hz are not recommended, 500hz is perfectly fine, but 1000hz is the best. If you have a 240hz display then a 500hz sensor will cause your cursor to seem laggy, so 1000hz is recommended.*
• Sensor Terminology (Check out Sensor.Fyi for a more in depth explanation of sensors.
  • IPS - Inches per second. This stands for how many inches per second of linear movement the sensor can register accurately.* Recommended Speed - 150
  • Pointer Acceleration - A mouse with acceleration means that the faster you move the mouse the further your pointer moves on screen and vise versa.
  • Acceleration (g’s) - This value stands for the maximum acceleration the sensor can register and stay accurate. Recommended Acceleration - 30g+
  • Pointer acceleration prevents the building up of muscle memory due to the cursor ending up at different locations every time you move the mouse.
  • Zero acceleration means you can move the mouse at any speed and have the pointer end up at the same location. Aka raw input. This is recommended.
  • DPI (Dots per Inch) - If your mouse is set to 400 dpi then your cursor moves 400 pixels per inch (PPI). It pretty much measures the mouse’s sensitivity.
• Recommended Sensors (Best to Worse)

• PMW 3391
  • 18000 dpi, ?, ?
• PMW 3389

• 16000 dpi, 400 ips, 50g acceleration
• Logitech Hero
  • 12000 dpi, 400 ips, 40g acceleration
• PMW 3360 and Variants: Logitech PMW 3366, Steelseries TrueMove 3,  Roccat Owl Eye / 3361, Corsair 3367
  • 12000 dpi, 250 ips, 50g acceleration
• SDNS 3988 and Variant: Razer SDNS 3389
  • 6400 dpi, 200 ips, 50g acceleration
• PMW 3330
  • 7200 dpi, 150 ips, 30g acceleration
• PMW 3310 (Sensor Sometimes Spins Out)
  • 5000 dpi, 130 ips, 30g acceleration
• Grip

• Recommendations
  • Check out Rocket Jump Ninja on youtube and see if he has reviewed the mouse you want to get. RJN has reviewed over 80 mice giving a full detailed review for each mouse with hand size guides being included in each review. Rocket Jump Ninja
  • Also check out his top 40 list for his top recommended mice, RJN Top 40. This list is updated whenever a new contender for the top 40 makes it in.
  • Remember that his videos are still based on his opinion, so while he might not recommend a certain mouse, look into it on your own. Check reviews, and ultimately decide for yourself.
  • You will never know for certain if a mouse is good for you until you use it in person.
• My Recommended Mice

• Fps
  • Wireless
    • G305, G703/G403
    • G Pro (Wireless)
    • Rival 650 (heavier mouse)
  • Wired
    • Zowie DIVINA S2/S1 or DIVINA EC2-B/EC1-B for small hands.
    • Finalmouse Ultralight (If it is ever back in stock) for a light mouse.
    • Logitech GPro (Wired)
    • Rival 600, Rival 310
    • Sensei 310
• Games Where You Want a Lot of Buttons
  • Corsair Scimitar
  • G600
  • Rival 500
• Companies to Check Out (Best to Worst in My Opinion)
  • #1 Zowie and Logitech
  • #2 Steelseries
  • #3 Razer
  • #4 Corsair
  • #5 Asus

As always if I got anything wrong in this article, go ahead and comment and I will look into fixing it.

-Title Picture provided by t3.com