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I need to replace my mouse. It's an old Logitech and while good, not gaming-oriented.

I am looking at four mice.

The Razer DeathAdder Chroma, the Logitech G502 Proteus Core, the Corsair Sabre RGB, and an honorable mention to the Corsair Harpoon.

Anyone have any thoughts? Specifically about the Sabre.

Here's the pros and cons as I see them.

DA pros: looks nicest of the bunch. has best software including better lighting and particularly a feature to tune your mouse to your mousepad. don't know how useful that is.

DA cons: I worry about durability, especially after the nonsense with the myriad problems on the 2013 DA. tiny mouse feet.

G502 pros: logitech reliability and quality. darling mouse sensor everybody has praise for. edit: also has mousepad tuning ability.

G502 cons: no RGB lighting (RGB model, identical but for RGB lights, significantly more expensive). larger size bad for claw grips and smaller hands? heavier weight.

Sabre pros: $20 cheaper. different areas of the mouse are configurable for different colours. lighter weight. large mouse feet. shape is good smaller hands and claw grips which both apply to me.

Sabre cons: uses avago s3988 as opposed to s3989 on the deathadder and the even better one (model?) on the logitech (see edit). rgb lighting isn't as good as deathadder. software isn't as good as deathadder.

edit: actually, the current version of the Sabre RGB has an Avago S3989, the same one as on the DA Chroma. this mouse was actually launched in three variants. the original two, which were launched simultaneously, were separated with a different sensor, one being optical and the other, laser. the optical version was the S3988 (6400 DPI), and while I do not know what the laser version was specifically using, it seems very likely to me that it was the Avago ADNS-9800 used in the now-superseded version of the M65 available around the same time as these mice. you can tell them apart by the logo present. Corsair shipped the older pair with a new-at-the-time "tribal" styled logo. it must not have been a big hit. the new version with the S3989 has Corsair's current stylized take on their classical logo.

and it would seem that Corsair followed a comment on their blog announcement for this mouse to the very letter when designing their current logo which is used across all of their items now. take a look

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2014/ ... abre%20rgb

edit done


so do gerbils have anything to say? where am I on all of that? I like the look of both the deathadder and the sabre. I'm worried about shell durability on the sabre and just in general on the deathadder. Is the Logitech too big for claw grip and smaller girly-man hands? I read in one place someone said that the DeathAdder is worse than the G502 in terms of fit. The dimensions on the DeathAdder are smaller so I assume it's the shape and increased height, if it's true. Is that true?

Anybody have experience with two or more of these mice? Anyone have anything to say on the harpoon.

I'd go with Logitech, both because I've been very happy with their product quality so far, and because they've offered phenomenal customer service the one time I called. I broke the receiver for an older mouse that they no longer manufactured or stocked, and it was out of warranty. Because they couldn't replace the receiver, they instead shipped me a brand new Performance MX free of charge.

So yeah, that earned a lot of customer loyalty.

I have an older Corsair  M-60 mouse that has served me well. I used to use the Deathadder but switched because I wanted adjustable dpi on the fly and thought the sniper button might be worth looking at. The mouse seemed smoother than my Deathadder and tracked better for me. The sniper button I never liked for sniping but it works well to set it high and really spin a turret around fast in Battlefield. It's been a good mouse and has lasted longer than both of my Deathadders combined.

After my G502 broke down, I purchased a DeathAdder. Unfortunately even though it felt nice, the shape of it made it hard for me to spam click in games. I kept holding the button down accidently during frentic mashing periods, until I got sick of it and got a R.A.T 8. The R.A.T was even worse, and while it felt good initially, I quickly realized it was too wise and my hands were aching after a few hours use. After 1 day of using it, I just ended up buying a new G502, which has been wonderful so far. If you dont game, then Razer felt better, but G502 is a pretty good and safe bet IMO.

Razer products have great ergonomics but their software pisses me off on multiple levels and reliability can be spotty. Logitech has done some dubious stuff with recent iterations of their gaming product line, but they're starting to get things back on track now and the G502 looks to be a solid mouse. The last version of their software was trying to force some crummy third party application bundle, though; not sure if they've come to their senses in the meantime. I don't know anything about the Corsair mouse, though the Harpoon is the only one of the bunch that advertises having onboard memory.

Have you looked at Mionix and Steelseries mice? Both of them offer RGB products with onboard smarts and a reputation for good performance.

edit: This being the week after CES, I feel compelled to point out that Razer is one of the few PC companies that still has the courage to have a normal show booth like a normal company rather than playing make-believe with their special media friends at an offsite location without so much as a banner at the actual show itself. I respect that even if I'm not down with Synapse 2.0's connectivity requirements, and it's one of the reasons I cut them some slack in discussions like this. Logitech does usually still have a tiny one in one of the public areas, so I'll give them an honorable mention as well.

Just bought the Razer Deathadder Chroma and I like it, but I also owned the original Deathadder as well. I give it about a 7 out of 10 because I find it a bit slippery in my hand. Getting a mouse to an 8 or 9 out of 10 is very tricky.

Just a quick update. I've gotten my hands on the G502 and the Sabre RGB. The mice are very consistent with the information about them on the internet.

The G502 is nice. It has a lot of buttons, a great scroll wheel, and gives an overall impression of good build construction despite having a million different parts and buttons. It does rattle a little, but most of that is the scroll wheel having a little lateral play to it even in lock mode, but it's not all the scroll wheel (edit:only on taps, not shake). It's a bit long for smaller hands especially with a claw grip. It's a bit heavier than it should be for fast movements. One final note about the weight. I didn't think I would want to make this mouse any heavier, but I found after 5 or so tries of changing the weights, that adding two weights in a certain position really balanced the mouse well. It's not perfect, but I think it's good as I can make it without adding more weight. The mouse is heavier, but it no longer feels weird in lateral movement, and feels more natural. Without any weights, the mouse has a decidedly odd weight distribution, due in no small part to the metal scroll wheel. Still, with the tweaks, it's pretty good. The sensor is top-notch, and slightly better than the Sabre RGB's. I found I had the common problem with traction on the mouse wheel at first, but I find it's not an issue anymore. Whether that's something natural happening to the finish of the wheel, just finger gunk making it easier, or subconscious adjustment, I dunno. But the wheel is grippable enough.

The Sabre RGB is also nice. The size and weight are perfect for claw grips and fast movements. This is a claw gripper's mouse. Or a mouse if you prefer smaller mice. Some people dislike the wings but I don't mind them. It is true that the texture on the outside of this mouse really is pleasant. No complaints overall. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the G502, but it has a great shape, and size profile, especially for smaller hands or claw grips. The wheel is well defined, has a rubber strip for gripping, perfectly usable. There is a bug in the current version of the corsair software. It doesn't save your color settings to the mouse (works fine when CUE is running) if you have toggled the program to be in "Advanced Mode". They also don't show up correctly in the software when you click the Lighting panel. Putting the software in Basic mode solves this. It still applies DPI profiles and other settings as would expect when working from "Advanced mode". Lighting can be saved to the mouse's on-board only in static format (no fade, etc), but you can save for each region. It is also built well. The sensor is not as good as the Logitech's (pixart 3366), as I was able to confuse it a couple times, but it's still very good. Sabre RGB is the Avago S3989 (same one on the DeathAdder Chroma).

All in all, they're both pretty good. Better at different stuff.

edit: and thanks everybody for replies, they were helpful.