Widescreen Gaming Forum

What are people's experience and knowledge on the use of Cordless mouse in games? Is there lag? Is there less repsone?

I am a twitch gamer (UT2004) and any lag or slowdown of the signal getting from mouse to PC is not good.

That is why I have refrained from going to cordless, but I think that technology should be better by now.

What do you think?

Has anyone got any links to reviews and such?

_________________
moboP8P67-M-PRO-V3 cpuI5-2500K-3.3GHZ ramOCZ8GB gpu260GTX hddOCZ-VERTEX II-SSD psuNEOHE550W hudBENQ20"

The main problem that I have run across when using cordless mice was the battery. Sometimes in an intense multiplayer match that requires all team efforts to be maximized can be undermined by a dying mouse or popup dialog that warns you of low battery levels.

As for lag and response time, I used to use an old 400 dpi microsoft mouse, which is nothing compared to a logitech g5 now. It wasn't very smooth though, kinda like it was slightly spazzing out every time I moved it. It was very minimal though. Other than that, the transition can feel a little weird, but it's not hard to get used to.

Since then I have always valued wired mice for gaming over wireless.

It should also be noted that you might get interference from other devices such as phones. I'm not sure if newer devices are still affected by this.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,624071,00.asp

Cordless mice have traditionally been lousy for gaming -- particularly fast action or real-time strategy gaming. That's because most cordless mice transmit 50-60 samples per second over the radio frequency link that connects them to the base station, which is in turn plugged into the PC. Then there's the whole battery issue -- while you only need to replace the batteries every few months, the timing is often awkward. After all, batteries are never around when you need them.
But the main issue for gamers is the sampling rate. At 50Hz, the sampling rate just isn't fast enough to work with the high frame rate of most modern 3D games, particularly if you have a fast PC and 3D card. So gamers have stuck with tethered mice, with all their annoyances.

Now, with the MX700 (check prices), Logitech hopes to bring cordless mice on par with the tethered variety. Did they do it? Read on and find out.

The radio link operates at 125 samples per second -- roughly the same speed as the standard USB sampling rate. This accounts for the excellent 3D gaming performance, since this cordless mouse makes no compromises in sampling rate versus cordless mice.

So it seems 125 samples per second is what is needed in a cordless mouse.

_________________
moboP8P67-M-PRO-V3 cpuI5-2500K-3.3GHZ ramOCZ8GB gpu260GTX hddOCZ-VERTEX II-SSD psuNEOHE550W hudBENQ20"

Yeah, the battery thing can be annoying I would imagine. What if you charges the Ion Lithium Battery every time you switches the PC off, as some are plugged into the mains power, not just through USB.
[EDIT]

MX

http://www.hardware-pacers.com/pages.php?pid=357&catType=r

Technical Specifications:

Mouse Tracking System: Class 1 848nm performance laser
Weight: 5.3 Ounces
Resolution: 800 dots per inch
Tracking Speed: Up to 20 inches per second
Range: 30 feet
Power: Rechargeable Li-ion battery
Wireless Platform: 2.4Ghz Radio Frequency

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2135,CONTENTID=12134

OR

G7

The G7´s full-speed, bi-directional USB connection sends a blazing 500 reports/second* over 2.4 GHz wireless

http://www.logitech.com/lang/images/0/12668.jpg

I wonder how many reports the MX sends, because that one is the BOMB! Looks awsome, more buttons, stuff the G7!

I really need to know if the MX Revolution reports the same as the G7, it seems the G7 is very good for gaming, so if i can get an idea of the MX Revolution I will be chuft! I know both have a 2.4ghz Radio frequency, so I can only imaging that Logitech would have given the MX revolution the same reporiting firmware. Any thoughts?

The MX Revolution is making my mouth water.

_________________
moboP8P67-M-PRO-V3 cpuI5-2500K-3.3GHZ ramOCZ8GB gpu260GTX hddOCZ-VERTEX II-SSD psuNEOHE550W hudBENQ20"

This review says for hardcore FPS the MX is not so good:

http://www.everythingusb.com/logitech_mx_revolution_mouse.html

Gaming with the MX Revolution
As a pretty hardcore PC gamer, short of the Logitech G7, I am hesitant to use a wireless mouse for gaming due to the lag. However, I played several games with the MX Revolution and it worked decently. In Oblivion and World of Warcraft, the MX Revolution performed well with no surprises. I noticed no lag or other problems in either of those games. I also used the MX to play Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter as well where accuracy is much more important and found sensitivity was too low for my tastes.

For FPS games the sensitivity is too low and the inability to map the buttons to game controls is not good. The free-wheel scroll mode was a detriment to gameplay in my opinion, it scrolled too fast to allow the selection of weapons to be functional.

Hmmmm.

Another review:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/mx_revo/3.htm

For gaming, I played mostly FarCry. The mouse worked as I have come to expect with Logitech laser mice; that is, quite precise, with good solid button clicks and smooth motion. However, I did have an issue that I seem to have with every cordless mouse I have ever used, which is a loss of signal. While using the internet or a word processor, losing the signal to your mouse, giving you effectively a dead pointer, is a nuisance. Most gamers know, however, that losing that signal at the wrong time of a game can be the most frustrating thing ever experienced, causing one to want to throw items in a fit of rage. This was not a regular occurrence (the loss of signal or the throwing things), but it happened enough to be noticeable. I had the receiver plugged into the back of the PC, about 3-4 feet from the mouse. There was no difference when I had it plugged into the USB ports on the top side of the case, lessening that distance to 2 feet.

_________________
moboP8P67-M-PRO-V3 cpuI5-2500K-3.3GHZ ramOCZ8GB gpu260GTX hddOCZ-VERTEX II-SSD psuNEOHE550W hudBENQ20"

I've heard GREAT things about the G7. A friend of mine has it and he loves it. However, I did read something on a forum somewhere, possibly here, that the battery was irreplaceable. But if the battery is rechargeable, that would be just great. The G5 is virtually the same mouse, just wired, and I have got to say that it is the most impressive mouse that I have ever used.

I guess the only problem with the G7 would be the price, however that may or may not affect you.

If you do decide to get a g7 though, I should tell you that my g5 doesn't directly map buttons correctly to ventrilo. I'm not sure if i'm being entirely clear here. If I want to use a mouse button as a push to talk key for ventrilo, I have to first assign that button to a particular key, then use that key as the push to talk key, rather than using a one-step process. That's the only problem that I have with this mouse, but I could be missing something here. If you happen to use ventrilo a lot it may be an issue to consider.

Hope that helps. Sorry I couldn't be of further assistance.

yeah thanks Shadow. Your key mapping issue is the same with most Logitech mice. My current one has the keys [ ] p o mapped to certain buttons as the normal maps are not recognised in game.

The G7 sounds good, but it just doens't have enought buttons! Its that simple really. I know it has a great signal and reporting speed. If I can confirm that the MXRevolution has the same reporting speed then i will buy it in a flash!!!


http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Input-Devices/Logitech-G7-Gaming-Mouse/3/

What the documentation does say is that the mouse (G7) delivers 500 reports per second to the computer, which when compared to the standard of around 125 reports that normal USB mice are capable of, begins to sound a lot more impressive.

So all I gotta do is find out how many reports per second are on the MX Rev and I am rocking! I will see if I can ask Logitech.

I don't care for Dots per inch really, just that signal is fast, and recieved often so no lag

_________________
moboP8P67-M-PRO-V3 cpuI5-2500K-3.3GHZ ramOCZ8GB gpu260GTX hddOCZ-VERTEX II-SSD psuNEOHE550W hudBENQ20"

For gaming I don't like cordless mice because they are simply too heavy to move easilly.
I used my Revolution for gaming a couple of time at lanpartys and it just didn't work well.
I found myself switching too my G5 really soon. :)

I would not get a wireless mouse for gaming, I would not get a MX Revolution At all, Especially for gaming.

My mouse of choice is the mx518, the only thing its missing is 2000 DPI.

Another thing I'm not a huge fan of is lasers, I know i know it has a freaking laser on its freaking underside but as soon as you lift that mouse up the laser turns off, and it could take half a second to turn back on when it touches the pad again in that half a second you could be dead in fast paced games. (where your most likely to lift your mouse up as it gets to the edge of the mousepad)

First I used an optical mouse but it had a freakin' red light on it.
Now I use a "laser" on my mouse allowing me to control games with ease.
I'm Dr. Evil, and I'm aspiring to take over all games.