G23 Gaming Mouse

The G305 was my first modern gaming mouse, so it deeply influenced my mouse grip. In practice, this means I hate normal mouse shapes that widen at the back, because it makes it nearly impossible to move the mouse between your fingers. It also forces you to keep your fingers further in front compared to what I had done with the G305, changing the relation between the fingers and sensor position, causing further annoyance. My frame of reference for a "normal" mouse is the incott G23. No complaints about it whatsoever other than the shape. Unfortunately, the G305 isn't a great device. The clicks are a bit stiff and inconsistent as you move away from the front of the mouse, the mouse wheel is mushy and annoying to click, and the weight can feel off after you've used proper mice with built in batteries instead of heavy AAs. My first stop was the Razer Orochi V2. Verdict: awful. The shape is similar from the top down, but includes an awkward flaring on the bottom of the left wall, forcing your thumb to either sit awkwardly high above it, or even more awkwardly, on it. More over, the clicks are the stiffest I've seen on any mouse and the shell design makes things even worse. I put a mouse skate underneath the top shell to try and make them at least usable, but they were still the worst I've experienced and certainly not good enough for gaming. Next up was the Corsair Katar Elite. This one may have been my go-to, if not for one issue. Before that though, the good - the mouse shape is actually better than the G305. It's not as eggy and feels more consistent when you shift your grip along it. The flat sides are also an improvement, though they do slope inward a too aggressively, making the mouse oddly slim at the bottom. The front of the shell is also really tall, which feels great for control, but it's tall enough to actually cause some minor discomfort over time, though it mostly seemed like a temporary problem. Something else that was temporary was the scroll wheel. The scroll wheel click is nice enough, but the actual scrolling part broke very quickly. Missed inputs, opposite inputs, ghost inputs, delayed inputs, every possible issue. I considered buying another unit, but it seems like every one of these mice ends up this way, making it an overall no-go. Shame. The battery life is good, the clicks are light and very consistent across the surface, their flat angle means you don't put pressure "down" (in a sensor movement sense), which is good for aiming as well. Highly recommended for people without the need for a scroll wheel. After that I settled for the incott for a while, before finding the Mchose G3A. It's heavier than the incott and Corsair, but still reasonable. Feels incredibly rigid and doesn't sound hollow like most others do. Clicks are consistent, shape is pretty much bang on with the G305, battery life seems decent. Scroll wheel is mediocre, but no worse than Logitech's, so I can live with it. Side buttons are incredibly soft though, so get ready to treat them as if they were touch sensitive. The DPI button also isn't remappable in the software directly, but some people recently said they've found a way to do it with editing config files. The big issue with this one: the wireless signal. I keep the dongle fairly close to on my desk and no other mouse has had problems. The Mchose completely drops out periodically when I plug a controller dongle in next to it, but seems to be inconsistent with my mainstay wireless keyboard next to it as well. I'll test it more, but it's a disqualifier for me as it stands. Today I got my VXE Dragonfly V3 in the mail as well. So far, it seems like a downgrade. The clicks are stiffer and inconsistent across their length like the G305's. The scroll is mushier and the wheel click is very stiff. The side buttons have a very long throw. The body also seems to be a bit shorter. It took me a while to notice, but it has a surprisingly big effect on how the mouse handles for me. The mouse feels oddly hard to control overall. Idk if it's because of a combination of shape, lighter weight and factory skates or the actual tracking, but it's much tougher for me to avoid overshooting small adjustments. So for now, the Corsair is worth a recommend if you don't need a scroll wheel. If you do, maybe the Mchose fares better with no other wireless devices around, but I'm still on the lookout. I'm curious about the G305 superlight, but it's very pricey, so that's probably not happening any time soon.