I always thought about choosing the best gaming mouse to me it seemed simple enough. I’ve spent hours studying graphics cards or processors, but mice? Not really. I always treated them as an easy choice and never spent too much time reading reviews. It helps that in the games I play, even an average mouse can perform just fine.

At least that’s what I thought.

It wasn’t until I got a high-end mouse that suited my needs that I realized what I was missing. Below, I’ll walk you through the three most recent mice I had to buy, why I no longer use them, and finally, the one mouse that stuck around for the long haul.

Logitech G703 light speed

Of the first three mice on this list, two of them broke within a few months. The Logitech G703 was the first to launch, and it failed me in two ways – but before it came to that, it was probably my favorite of the three.

The Logitech G703 Lightspeed is a wireless gaming mouse. It has a sleek design, but it’s quite large, with minor RGB lighting to add some extra bling (and eat up your battery life). I use a palm grip and have found it comfortable, especially once I remove the extra weight that comes with it – I prefer a lighter mouse (which is funny, given that the mouse with which I finally found myself Really heavy). It comes with a charging cable and the battery life was perfectly adequate at first, but, naturally, it deteriorated over time. I ended up charging it once every other day shortly before replacing it.

In terms of other specifications, it has a maximum sensitivity of 25,600 dots per inch (DPI), an acceleration of 40 grams and a polling rate of 1000 Hz. At that time, it was probably the gaming mouse the fastest one I’ve ever owned, and I loved most things about it. The only thing I missed from previous mice was the ability to configure the scroll wheel; This one only comes with one configuration, with no free scrolling option, which is nice to have.

I bought this mouse without much research because it had been recommended to me. After all, if a friend of mine managed to use it for two years without failure, then surely it would be useful to me, right?

That’s not the case, or at least not for long.

Just a few months after purchasing it – between seven and nine hours – I had started to notice a problem that, while annoying in all situations, was a deal breaker in gaming: dead clicks. At first I thought it was just me, but testing from different angles showed that a certain part of the left mouse button just wasn’t registering inputs. I guess the switch must have been faulty, because I can’t believe I broke it in such a short time.

Looking through Reddit tells me this is a fairly common problem with this particular mouse, although apparently Logitech replaces faulty mice without much hassle.

Once the dead clicks became too annoying, I decided to cut my losses and moved on to my next mouse. Maybe I should have gone through the return process on this one, but I bought it on sale and should have gone through Logitech, so I left it for later and never got there received before the expiration of the warranty.

Razer Orochi V2

The Razer Orochi V2 is a lightweight wireless gaming mouse. It fits different grip types and I found it to fit a small hand well. It’s pretty simple, with no special bells and whistles, but mostly what I thought I’d expect from a gaming mouse.

It comes with a much more modest DPI than the mouse above, reaching 18,000 and a maximum polling rate of 1000 Hz. Honestly, I found it perfectly suited to my needs. I loved how light and responsive it was, but there were a few things I didn’t like right off the bat.

For starters, having to use batteries. I’m not a fan of batteries in peripherals for a number of reasons, from unnecessary electronic waste to constantly having to spend money and running out at the worst possible time. Give me a charging cable any day of the week.

Another thing is that I didn’t like the feeling of using this mouse. The clicks are rather stiff, and while the mouse is very responsive, it’s still strange compared to the Logitech I’ve used before. Still, I liked it more than I didn’t like it, and I would have stuck with it if it hadn’t failed me.

I bought this one on a whim. The $50 price tag seemed like a happy medium between “expensive” and “likely to break within a week.” I’ve owned Razer products before and found them to be quite durable – my keyboard is still going strong three years later (and believe me, I use it a lot), and an old Razer headset I owned survived for over six years, although the sound quality was still pretty average. What could go wrong?

Well, unfortunately something did to be wrong. The mouse started registering left clicks twice instead of once. I was double-clicking everywhere, which quickly became a considerable nuisance, not only during games, but also during daily work.

In a hurry to get a mouse that actually worked, I purchased my next choice.

Logitech G305 light speed

This mouse was also a spontaneous purchase based on two criteria: next day delivery and its looks. Yes, I like colorful devices, and no, I’m not ashamed of them at all.

I didn’t expect miracles. The G305 Lightspeed is a $30 wireless mouse aimed at portable gaming. Much like the Orochi V2, I thought this one was well suited to my grip style. In fact, I think its shape would make it comfortable for all grip types, although I’m not sure how nice it would feel to use with larger hands.

The 12,000 DPI isn’t impressive compared to my previous two mice, but it has good click latency and the DPI can be configured with a high degree of precision. I also liked that it has six programmable buttons.

On the other hand, the Logitech G305 Lightspeed was noticeably heavier than the Orochi V2, and having just ditched the Razer mouse, I really felt that coming back to Logitech. Plus, I still had the same problem: I didn’t like having to use batteries. Those two complaints aside, I was honestly quite happy with the G305.

The best part? Although the most affordable of the three, this mouse did not fail me. I’ve been using it for about a year with no issues, and the only reason I finally decided to trade in was because I wanted more of a gaming mouse.

This brings me to my current daily driver: the Razer Naga V2 Pro.

Not bad, but I found better

I don’t consider myself a “hardcore gamer” in the conventional sense. Don’t get me wrong, I game a lot, but I almost never play titles that rely heavily on a fast mouse. But I use my mouse a lot more than the average person. I not only work on the same PC all day, but I often also spend time gaming after the workday is over on that same PC. As a result, my main criteria for mice in the past was that they either had to be affordable enough to replace frequently or sturdy enough to last a long time.

It was only this year that I decided to get the most out of my mouse. I didn’t want to keep buying the first mouse I came across on a whim; I wanted to make an informed decision the same way I do with every other peripheral or component on my PC.

I also thought a little more about the types of things I used my mouse for. I will never play first-person shooter games; it’s not just that I’m hopeless about them (although I am), but also that I don’t like them. I’m also not a big fan of games like League of Legends. I mainly play MMOs, RPGs and roguelikes. Since I spend hours in MMOs every week, buying a mouse suitable for this type of gaming made sense.

That’s how I came across the Razer Naga V2 Pro — a mouse with up to 20 programmable buttons. Expensive, heavy, big and intimidating, this mouse didn’t seem like an obvious choice to me, but I’ve had my eyes on the Razer Naga series since its release in 2009, so I was tempted. Dozens of reviews and Reddit threads later, I splurged and bought it.

I can’t say I didn’t regret my decision at first, mainly because this mouse is a chore to set up and it weighs a ton. But now, almost two months later, I finally see the difference between using a random mouse and buying one that truly meets your needs. It was an expensive lesson to learn, with the three (or more) gaming mice I tried at first, but I’m glad I went the extra mile here.

There is no such thing as a no-consequence purchase when it comes to things you use every day. If you’re in the same boat as me, I recommend you do what I did: read reviews from reliable sources and take some time to make your choice. Impulsive decisions are often not worth it.

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