26
votes
Recommendation Request: New Mouse
I am looking for a new mouse, and I am overwhelmed by the choices.
I would be grateful for recommendations.
First, will a USB 2 mouse work in a USB 3 port?
What I would like in a mouse:
- wired
- reasonably immune to dirt buildup causing false clicks
Thanks for any input.
Edit: Thanks for all of the replies. I read everyone. I decided to go with something cheap and basic since people told me my current mouse that does unwanted clicks is likely just worn out.
I'm quite happy with my Logitech MX Master 3S. It's wireless but connects over USB-C for both data and charging, so you don't have to use the wireless function.
I had a 2S before and only replaced it because the scroll wheel rubber got gunky. The 3S has a metal wheel so that problem is unlikely to reappear š
I am pretty sure it doesn't do data. Other than that I support your assessment that it is a nice mouse. With a rather big caveat, the rubberized exterior degrades relatively quickly for some people. Basically it will look as if there is dirt on the mouse, but it effectively is part of the rubberized coating that starts to flake (for lack of a better wording).
But, it is the most comfortable mouse I know of by far. There are some knock-offs on the market with a very similar shape, but the software situation for those is much worse (and the logitech software already isn't my favorite).
I might be conflating it with my g.... 700s? Or something that I use on my desktop. It definitely is a wireless mouse that uses the charging cable for data, as I've rebuilt my desktop more than once and never paired anything!
I have a 3S and like it. Or I did until I got a Mac, now it's misbehaving. An ancient crusty Magic Mouse I had from an old Mac does not exhibit the same kinds of pointer stutter and skips. I'm getting a Magic Trackpad tomorrow to see how I get on with that.
I use an MX Master for my work laptop. I discarded the awful Logitech software and use a shareware utility called SteerMouse to adjust pointer settings. It's been set and forget.
https://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/
I have a Magic Trackpad I keep to the left of my keyboard for gestures and itās great, just as good as the integrated ones. They hold up really well too, mine still looks basically new despite having been used for years, which is rare with plastic mice (particularly those with soft touch coatings).
Interesting. They do have a "for Mac" version but I'm regularly swapping mine between my Linux personal laptop and my work Macbook, and I don't have any problems at all.
The pointer stutters, the acceleration is uneven, it doesn't respond to motion for a second then leaps over the screen. If I boot up my Linux desktop or connect it via bluetooth to my corporate Windows laptop, it works fine, same desk, same mouse pad. It's only on the Mac where it behaves in this squirrelly way.
I tried to install the awful Logi+ on the mac and 1) it didn't help, and 2) it sprayed crap all over my system, took ages to deinstall.
I can kind of fix it a bit by tweaking settings in Linear Mouse (third party mouse tweak tool for Mac), but it's still not there.
Sounds to me like Logitech has some tuning to do when it comes to BT sleep behavior interactions on macOS. I wonder how Apple deals with this, I donāt think they use any special sauce on their BT input devices because they work perfectly under Windows too.
I'm not using Bluetooth with it though, this is with the USB receiver. Anyway, I've benched the mouse for the /Magic/ Trackpad. It's going well so far.
I wish there was some competition to this mouse. I like it, but mine's old and ready for an upgrade, and there's really not much out there that even tries. The scroll wheel really is perfect and hard to go without. The side scroll wheel has it's uses but I could go without it. Gestures are also pretty nice but bonus points.
I'd steer away from Logitech. I must have used more than a dozen of Logitech mouse (from MX510 to MX Master 3S) and every single one of them, with no exception, had a double click issue. The only reason I kept buying them was Logitech's support, which has been stellar and replaced my mouses with no question. But there comes a point where it just doesn't worth the hassle anymore. The last one I bought from them was Superlight 2, which is a great mouse and it was working perfectly well but I shelved it as I switched to Zowie (EC1-DW).
I'd take a look at Zowie. As esports started booming, lots of PC peripherals companies popped up. Mouse companies are no exception. You can find plenty of mouse with a ton of frills that you will never need. Zowie makes what I'd call no bullshit mouse. There's a shape for every person (they have a picker here), they work great, and they have all the features you might need.
Their wireless mouse are rather expensive, but they still produce wired mouse, so you can take a look at that. @Trobador recommended FK2, which I know to be a very popular and durable mouse. If you're steering away from wireless mouse because you worry that they might not work as well as a wired ones, you can be rest assured that they work exactly the same. For example, you'd be hard pressed to find a competitive CS2 player who still play on a wired mouse.
I second going with some smaller brands if they have a good track record. I will have to check out Zowie.
Even as much as I liked my MX Masters, I have since stopped using them, they all exhibited some form of issues eventually and some after relatively minor use. Same with practically every Logitech wireless I have owned. I still own one single Logitech wireless and it's only because I repaired it myself with replacement parts from Aliexpress. But I will never buy them again. Same with Razer. Over the years I have had like 3 Razer mice and they all failed in months. I've sworn off Razer as an overpriced garbage-tier (F-tier) brand. Logitech I would give a C+ for wireless and B for wired.
The wired Logitech MX518 I have has out lasted multiple MX Masters, so I will give that one props at least. Not made anymore tho IIRC
I've started to find that other brands seem to be better quality and suit me better than the huge brands:
I have quite a few PCs which is why I have a lot of mice lol, but definitely going with brands other than Logitech/Razer from now on personally. Steelseries makes decent wired mice, inexpensive and good quality IMHO.
Zowie are often referred to as the "grandfather" mouse because they've been around for so long and they don't have the latest tech, which I think is a plus. I care about the shape and the comfort when I'm holding it, not whether it has the useless and taxing 8k polling rate or some ungodly number of DPI.
I have a soft spot for Zowie's EC series, which is what I'm using now, because way back in early 2000s, the legendary Microsoft IntelliMouse 3.0 was the most comfortable mouse I had ever used. It was extremely popular among esport players, which I was one then. EC series is sort of a love letter to that mouse, designed by taking inputs from players of that era (namely HeatoN, aka Emil Christensen), so it was like coming home for me.
I don't know much about Steelseries except for their Aerox 9 model, which I briefly used for playing WoW, but the shape was not for me. I also stopped playing Monk since that's what I needed it for. Anyone who plays WoW can back me up on the button bloat problem that class has, hehe. It was otherwise a good mouse.
Yeah, SteelSeries is an "eSports" hardware brand that has been around awhile now, and what has always surprised me, is I can buy some of their most inexpensive mice (like a $20 SteelSeries Prime wired mouse) and the quality feels like the mouse should be 2-3x that price. It's reliable, quiet, simple, yet powerful (in terms of options for gaming/etc too) but basically a no-frills experience that just lasts a long time. It feels way less "BS" than stuff like Razer which tries to look extra gamer-y/show-y but can't back it up with quality.
I've had SteelSeries mice last 3-5 years and 5x more expensive Logitech mice develop problems in less than 12 months, the wired MX518 being the one exception to that rule
I have good memories of the Intellimouse too from the early days, absolutely solid piece of hardware two decades ago
I'd second this. I'm using SteelSeries Prime Mini in its 3rd year, which is too small (but I bought it because MX Master 2s was too big). The mouse show almost no sign of wear except the shininess and dust buildup in the side buttons.
The rubber (plastic?) feet doesn't seems to wear and it seems to have notch for removing the feet (although idk if they sell replacements). And the button use light sensor so it should be more resistant to double clicking.
The only two things I didn't like it are the size, and it's quite loud even though the mechanism is optical based.
Oh now thatās interesting, I had no idea this existed. To my knowledge, MMO mice had all but gone extinct outside of bargain bin brands like Redragon. Good to know that more respected manufacturers are still in the game.
I have had more issues with other mice brands, but the double click issue is a common issue with the switches that Logitech sources. You can replace them with new switches or even better ones (to taste). I found some compatible switches that were tactile NON-clicky and it was so weird and nice to not hear the mouse clicks. You need to be comfortable soldering and fully disassembling the mouse to do it, but it can be worth the effort f you like everything else about the mouse like I did.
Can't help you with selection but USB is backwards compatible so USB 2 works in a USB 3 connector. Just make sure the connector has the same size/shape.
Thank you!
Yes.
Why? I have a cheap wireless Logitech mouse and it's great. I don't see an advantage on a wired mouse right now. Perhaps it makes a difference if your a pro CS:GO player or something though.
That is not an issue I have ever encountered even on a cheap Logitech or Microsoft mouse.
Respectfully, does it matter why they want a wired mouse? I don't see a reason to suggest a wireless mouse unless it's also alongside a wired one. It's not what they asked for.
That isn't to say you're incorrect. A simple Logitech mouse would probably suffice, be it wired or wireless.
Canāt speak for lou, but I fairly regularly do the āhereās a suggestion, itās not actually what you asked forā thing too - for me itās normally because if Iām bothering to give a recommendation at all itās on something I know more than average about, and if a person is asking itās probably because itās a topic they donāt know so much about, so itās pretty often the case that thereās a really good potential option being excluded by their criteria.
Sometimes asking why uncovers missing context that helps to come up with a better recommendation that does fit the criteria, but more often in my experience itās that the criteria had some assumptions built in that a good recommendation will change. Either way, asking helps.
Related, the X Y Problem
Adding that to the lexicon, thank you! Itās a phenomenon I run into a decent amount, especially at work, and I didnāt know there was a specific term, so thatās going to be a helpful one to deploy in future meetings.
Not the OP, but for what it's worth, the last time I bought a mouse, I had a toddler in the house. I was worried that a fancy wireless mouse might get carried off when I wasn't looking, and I'd never see it again. (And beyond keeping them tethered, I do like never having to worry about batteries on my desktop's mouse and keyboard.)
Because Logitech MX Master is the endgame mouse and it's wireless
That's a palm and not a claw grip mouse, which already changes the target demo and could've been a relevant addition to figure out what OP is looking for specifically.
I mean, the "have you tried something entirely different than what you asked for" is persistently present among tech spaces online. Go to any computer forum, ask a question, and you can bet money that someone will try to sell you Linux when all you asked was why a tab in your browser crashed this one time.
Point being, is that sometimes the ask is specific for a reason and an unrelated answer generally doesn't help.
I mean, you are right if people just recommend something completely different without asking questions.
At the same time it is very valid to at least ask for the reasoning someone might have. Having worked various support jobs in the past and still being a got to person for many people in my current job I can confirm that the XY Problem mentioned here is a real thing.
I'm aware of the XY problem but that's not quite what happened here.
It's becoming more of a thing than I initially intended and I don't want to stress the issue too much, it really isn't that important and I don't want to put Lou on the spot even further, but in order for the XY problem to work you do need to ask probing questions. Just telling the user that their request is invalid is not the right method to figure out their underlying problem. Instead of asking "why not this" an appropriate question would be "what's the reason you are only interested in wired mice?" And go from there.
For me personally it's just to make sure the person isn't choosing a wired mouse because of false or outdated data like "I need to charge it constantly" or "the connection is unreliable".
Things that might've been true when the previous mouse was bought 15 years ago, but not valid today.
Agreed. This comment feels like a little bit of a bait, if I'm being honest, but in good faith I'll assume it's just a misunderstanding. Maybe due to the ambiguity of plain text, maybe lou had a bad day, who knows.
(High end) wireless gaming mouse have gotten so good that they often outperform their wired counterparts in terms of latency.
I'll need to see a citation on this. It doesn't even make sense.
The Razer Viper V3 Pro has 40% higher latency in wired mode than wireless according to testing done by RTINGS. Several other mice they've tested show a similar pattern, others the inverse. Notably, all the wireless mice with this kind of performance are using proprietary dongles rather than Bluetooth.
All that said, we're down to literal fractions of a millisecond in difference across top performing mice so it's kind of moot.
Certainly counterintuitive. Iād speculate that this occurred because latency has long been scrutinized by manufacturers and users alike when it comes to wireless connectivity, but for wired mice itās just assumed that latency is good and not a problem. As a result they worked on bringing down wireless latency but paid no mind to wired.
For sure, manufacturers had to overcome that longstanding stigma. It's been a huge success though. Now that you can expect functionally equivalent performance, the benefits of not having your mouse tethered with a cable are a lot harder to ignore. After Logitech put out their "Lightspeed" wireless solution, mice like the G Pro Superlight quickly took over FPS esport scenes like Overwatch League. Most innovation these days is centered around ergonimics, build materials, and driving down weight.
Your link to rtings.com quite literally shows ALL wired all being faster. Take a look at the chart that shows all the values.
Edit: That graph was clearly not real data, not sure why that included that in there. It still looks like most mice that do both wired and wireless are slightly faster wired (Razer being a weird standout for being the opposite), but I have to admit they have made impressive improvements in wireless latency for mice. It's no longer an issue at all with these numbers.
In that top 10 list, there are 8 wireless mice.
Of those 8, 4 of them are faster wired than wireless: Finalmouse UltralightX, Pwnage Trinity CF, Finalmouse ULX Pro, and Keychron M5.
The other 4 are faster wireless: Endgame Gear XM2w, Finalmouse UltralightX Competition, Scyrox V6, and Razer Viper V3 Pro.
It's a 50/50 split. I also never said wireless is always faster, I said it's often faster. My point being that wired/wireless is no longer a meaningful factor in how fast a mouse is. All these mice are within fractions of a millisecond of eachother.
EDIT: Screenshot for clarity, in case we are somehow seeing different tables
It still feels like you're cherry picking numbers to prove a point. I looked at all of the numbers and of the 93 mice that had both wireless (not bluetooth) and wired latency numbers, 22 were faster wireless, 68 were faster wired, and 3 were tied. That's 23% for wireless, 73% for wired, and 3% tied (all rounded down). That is very far from a 50/50 split. Most of those top 10 are niche, but high end brands I haven't heard of (Razer again being the odd man out), so I thought it is likely they are all using a similar new tech. And after looking into it, I found the answer for the disparity. All the best numbers for both wired and wireless are using new 8000Hz polling tech. And some, Razer for one, only use 8000Hz for wireless. The top Razer models only used 1000Hz for wired mode, which explains the disparity in latency. You'd think for their eye watering prices at the top end, they would use the higher polling for both.
An interesting note for people using these stats as a metric for choosing a mouse is that the specced battery life was almost a direct correlation to the wireless polling rate. For the top Razer model (Razer Viper V3 Pro at $160) it was 95 hours at 1000Hz and 17 hours at 8000Hz.
I wasn't cherry picking anything, I just took the top 10 mice (which is what the page shows by default) and compared their "receiver" and "wired" click latency numbers.
My original comment stated "high end wireless gaming mice often outperform their wired counterparts". I never said wireless is always faster, or even faster most of the time. A data set of the 10 best performing mice seems like plenty of samples for that claim. How are low and mid-range mice even relevant to that statement?
The point I was making is that mice in this category have gotten so fast that wired/wireless doesn't actually actually matter for latency. Remember, even between these obnoxious polling rates, we are only talking about differences in fractions of a millisecond.
The majority of mice on that list are high end mice, hence why I considered it cherry picking. To your main point, you are certainly correct and I never stated otherwise. This is just marketing number chasing and hasn't actually mattered for many years with latency. When 1000Hz polling first came out it was already barely unnoticeable until the ultra high refresh monitors started showing up. The only exception to this bluetooth mice/trackballs due to the annoying tendency of BT devices to sleep for low power and the delay when awakening.
But wireless signals travel at the speed of light. Why should it be inherently slower to send data through the air instead of through a wire?
Because that wireless signal needs to be received by a wireless receiver and decoded. It's the same reason wifi is much slower and has higher latency that wired internet.
Decoding a wireless signal shouldn't take very long. The main reasons for WiFi being slow is probably because the packets are quite large and they get resent on failure.
True enough, and I think that the results we're seeing with the newer propriety wireless mice is showing that with a purpose built wireless protocol you can get very fast results, WiFi is rather bulky and has needed layers of security. I just think that wired devices are skipping this entire step, and no matter how good that get at doing extra steps, it is still extra steps.
Yes, that's true too. I suppose I didn't mean to suggest that wireless can be exactly as low latency as wired. What I do think though is that it can get close enough that no one should really need to care about the difference.
Radio communications aren't perfectly reliable with tons of external factors like solar flares, microwave ovens, other devices using the same band all leading to dropped packets. As such, digital wireless protocols like wifi, bluetooth, etc. have a lot more redundancy built in to maintain data integrity.
Itās not something Iāve personally had a lot of trouble with with my machines either generally being Macs or equipped with Intel Bluetooth chipsets, but Iāve seen and heard of a lot of people struggling with flakiness in BT peripherals. BT also adds enough latency that some people can notice it.
Thereās also the battery concern. Itās inconvenient if the mouse runs out of juice in the midst of usage.
In my experience though, both can be mitigated by selecting the right mouse. While I use a wired mouse on my work/daily driver setup, my gaming box has a G604 Lightspeed hooked up to it, which supports an RF dongle (which I use) in addition to Bluetooth and takes a single AA battery. Latency is extremely low, the connection is rock solid, and with an Eneloop Pro rechargable I get many months of usage out of it. When it gets low itās just a quick swap from the wall charger and itās good to go for another several months.
Wireless doesn't necessarily mean the type of Bluetooth you're talking about though. My gaming PC doesn't have a Bluetooth receiver at all, and I've been annoyed by latency with Bluetooth mice before, but the Logitech mice I've owned connected with their USB receiver have not had the problems you describe -- the latency isn't remotely high enough to bother me and the combination of low energy Bluetooth and other protocols they use doesn't drain the batteries even close to as quickly as normal Bluetooth ime.
Yep, I use one of those RF receiver Logitech mice too (as mentioned in third paragraph). I brought Bluetooth up because to many itās synonymous with wireless PC peripherals, which mightāve made for a poor impression that as you note doesnāt necessarily apply to other types of wireless peripherals.
Ah I see that now, I think my ADHD brain skimmed the third paragraph š
This is useful to know, thank you.
In my experience, it's not really dirt that causes this in mice, but just the gradual wear on the buttons of the mouse itself. Granted, this has only happened to me a couple times in the past 10 years.
Is there anything else you want in a mouse? Is there anything you found frustrating with other mice?
One feature I personally cannot live without is the unlockable scroll wheel (which might have an actual name different from this). A normal scroll wheel usually clicks as you move it up or down. If you need to scroll a lot, you might be moving it down for a while. An unlockable one will let you toggle that click-type behavior and turn it into a free spinning wheel. So you just unlock it, give it a good spin, and you no longer have to move your finger on the scroll wheel over and over.
I think that feature is usually on gaming mice for some reason, but I've had it on one non-gaming mouse before too.
Also consider ergonomics. If your mouse is too small, you may be causing unnecessary strain on your hand. If you're in front of a computer for many hours in a day, this can cause problems over time (like carpal tunnel). Don't rule out gaming mice even if you're not a gamer - I personally find the size of these to fit my hand in a more comfortable way.
Some of the Logitech models (and maybe other brands, but I can't speak to that) will have an auto-sensing unlockable scroll wheel. I thought it would be a gimmick but I love it. Regular scrolling clicks as you'd expect, but if you give it a flick, it spins freely. It's lovely.
The magnetic scroll wheel is honestly the best thing about the MX Master series mice, so nice.
I hate it! Sorry to be that guy, but It always triggers when I'm done with the scrolling and don't expect it, leading to documents swoooshing around, webpages zoomin randomly etc :(
Wish I could turn it off.
That's where the G502 comes in. The freewheeling scroll wheel is a switch toggle.
You can typically adjust the sensitivity, you might consider dialing it down.
I felt happy and dumb after reading your comment ;)
But after reading the manual again - no, I don't think my mouse has that option...
(MX Master 3S)
If I remember correctly, it's a setting in the Logitech software (which I don't even have installed anymore). If you've tried that, I'm all out of ideas.
Thanks for insistently trying to be helpful :)
Will try that tomorrow.
I also have an MX Master 3S, itās definitely an option within the configuration software. I too found that the default was too sensitive for me.
This is the truth. Wear on the switch will cause the contacts to degrade and register extra clicks. Logitech is notoriously bad with this. At this point, I'm convinced logitech keeps using low quality switches as a built-in obsolescence, to force users to buy a new mouse every 2-3 years.
In my opinion, 3 years of heavy use is still a pretty good life for a mouse.
Itās not awful, but much longer lifespans are definitely possible. Iāve got a couple of trackballs from different makers for example that have both clocked around 5 years of daily heavy usage with switches that still function like new.
Can agree with this. I have a Logitech MX Vertical and the switches were worn out less than 2 years of heavy use. I got someone to help me replace the switches and now it works fine again. Other than that, it's a good comfortable mouse.
This is really good to know. I can't remember when I got my current mouse. Maybe I just need any new mouse.
Depends a whole lot on your use case. Is this for gaming or general use?
For general use most anything not super cheap is fine.
For gaming, nowadays most people prefer wireless and as light as possible. If you're firm in wired, then go for one with very flexible paracord. 2000 Hz or higher doesn't matter unless you are very good at FPS games.
Razer is expensive but performs well. I always have problems with their scroll wheels though.
I've heard that Logitech has fallen behind in their mice.
I have been very pro-Logitech in general. I'm still using a G502 (wired) I've owned for well over 5 years. Being able to adjust the weight is also kind of cool.
Their non-gaming wireless stuff will work on a single battery for nearly a year.
I bought a wireless gaming Logitech mouse for my partner, and that battery doesn't last super long. It's a rechargeable at least, but has to be charged every 2 weeks or so. Thankfully it can be used while charging. Someone claimed the higher polling rate may contribute to reduced battery life, which certainly is possible.
I recall seeing, when I was looking for a mouse last year, that the G502 commonly had issues with its switches degrading after 1-2 years and causing double clicks. Is it not something that happened to you?
My G502 is from 2019 and is working flawlessly. That isn't to say the mice don't have a double click problem, they clearly do, but do keep in mind that online you tend to hear from the folks that have problems.. not the ones that don't.
It's a very popular mouse for a very good reason, which means that the sheer number of them will inflate the complaints online by default.
I had a G502 that failed within a year. Sometimes it would double-click, sometimes it would click and hold, sometimes it wouldn't click and hold when I wanted it to. I went back to a cheap Redragon mouse that worked fantastic for several years and only broke because it got caught on something in a box during a move and one of the buttons broke off.
The G502 X uses different switches but is otherwise identical. I recommend getting that if you like the feel and features of the original G502. I know I liked it enough to get the upgrade, it's worth it imo.
My G502 Hero died just after warranty. The double click/not holding click bullshit. So I went back to my G502 Proteus Core from like 2015 and it's still my everyday mouse.
I got the Hero because I thought the Proteus click was dying... But nope. It's outlasted the newer versions for like 5 fold. Incredible. I don't recommend the newer G502.
Heard the MX Master is working out for a number of colleagues though.
I like my Evolution vertical mouse for work, keeps the wrist pain away from being at a computer all day, then gaming/fencing.
Iāve never had an issue with my Logitech G series mouse double clickingā¦but I have had issues now on 2 out of 3 Logitech G series mice Iāve owned where the scroll wheel gets something messed up with it, and now randomly scrolls in the wrong direction when I scroll it. So itāll just kinda jitter its way down the page.
I've been on the same logitech mouse for the past four years, Logitech G MX518 (remake of the original MX518 with the new sensors), so it definitely isn't something that is guaranteed to happen. I love the original MX518 shape, so I bought two when I got mine. I wish they were still in production so I could recommend them to people still.
I've been using Logitech mice for over 20 years. I used to play games professionally and have also used mice from just about every major producer, including the very first Razer mouse back when they made a single laser-read ball mouse (I still have it in my closet, I won it at a tournament).
Just about every manufacturer I've tried, some number of the mice will have the double click issue (including the original Razer mouse I have in my closet). It's just luck of the draw, just like dead pixels on monitors. Keep your receipts and utilize warranties, and simply expect mice to wear out with time. You might get lucky or unlucky and have a mouse that exhibits the behavior shortly after the warranty expires or it might last more than 5 years.
I personally don't think Logitech is any worse than other companies or that they make more defective mice than any other manufacturer I've tried.
Some of the gaming models have good life too. I donāt know about models that are currently being sold, but as mentioned in my other post I get several months out of a single Eneloop Pro AA with my G604 Lightspeed in RF mode.
I kinda gave up finding a mouse thatāll last forever, and just bought a cute pink Razer mouse š itās lasted a while, but I fully expect to need to replace the switches eventually (and the scroll wheel has already failed).
These days I use an eye tracker anyhow, though, so I canāt recommend any mice first hand. The Ploopy folks make one, but Iām not sure if itās reliable.
The cheapest optical mouse from Walmart has worked great for about 4 years now for work. Haven't had issues with dirt build up or false clicks.
I'm generally satisfied with Logitech's bargain bin wired mice and keyboards. They've done the job for me with no nonsense, more than I can say for more expensive peripherals. I've got one or two of these for back-ups
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/shop/p/m100-usb-mouse.910-001601
If you mean USB A and USB C (the different port shapes), you can also get an adapter for A to C if you've only got C ports available.
I've been using a Zowie FK2 since roughly 2018 if not earlier. I have never cleaned the inside of it regularly (though you should, I'm just generally a mess of a human being). Save for the right click sometimes double-clicking, which is rarely an issue in my case, it has worked basically perfectly all this time. Zowie makes good stuff.
I really like the Logitech Trackman Marble--and the wireless M570 to some extent.
After a couple years of use the M570 seems to need more and more frequent "nose grease" and I did have an issue with one of them failing to reliably click and drag after a couple years of use but the one that Logitech sent me as a replacement is working fine and it has been three years
It probably just makes sense to expect to buy a new one every couple years even if you buy more expensive ones
Here are some finger trackballs that are relatively cheap:
edit: for what it's worth--I bought the Nulea to replace my M570 and have been really enjoying it
They may have since fixed it, but I went through multiple of those Trackman Marbles some 14-ish years ago due to the their switches wearing out and erroneously clicking. I havenāt experienced that with any of the other Logitech pointing devices Iāve used, just the Marble.
I guess they fixed it--mine is still going strong even after six years... but Logitech has since discontinued the TrackMan product line; 4 years later they still have stock that they sell on Amazon... but the price is much higher than normal. I guess it is all old stock
Supposedly the Microsoft Trackball Explorer is the holy grail of trackballs but alas it also is discontinued... Elecom also seems somewhat well-regarded. I'd only recommend it if you like to tinker:
The Logitech M500 is inexpensive, wired, has an unlockable scroll wheel, back and forward side buttons and has been long-lasting in my use.
I've got a bunch of other mice of various sorts (Logitech, wireless Unifying and Bluetooth, Microsoft, Razer, Dell & HP freebies) and the M500 is the most adequate wired one of all of them. I like my more adjustable gaming mouse for some things but rarely am I handicapped not having it which almost entirely is a skill issue on my part, not equipment.
I have used 3 M500s across various desks for years with no issues and while I'm generally fairly clean (no food hands on mouse/keyboard) my only switch failures have been in mice dedicated to gaming. The M525, MX500, and one other whose model I forget had nasty plastic degradation failures but those mice are all over ten years old.
Cherry MC 2000 - Basic, cheap (under 15dollars/13euros), does what it says on the tin. No blaring, screaming RGB nonsense. Bought two recently, will buy more if necessary.
Ordered it. Thanks.
enjoying mine. Like them to be a tiny bit smaller but can't have it all. Cherry is known for their key switches but they diversify into other segments too with no frills, it works products. Hope you'll enjoy it!
This may not apply to you specifically, but for pretty much all tech stuff nowadays, especially peripherals, I start by seeing if RTINGS has reviews on them. They perform some of the most in-depth reviews on stuff, including tests and categories you might never even dream of. And they grade them all in great granularity. Meaning that besides having tons of great reviews, they also have a handy table where you can easily compare and filter out items based on what matters to you. Here is their table of mouse reviews.
I used them about two years ago to look for a gaming mouse, filtered/sorted based on the categories that mattered to me, like latency, buttons, sensor, and price, and ended up with a Razer Basilisk (forget which version it was, but total price was like $50 which is fairly cheap for how good it is). Still love it to this day. It's incredibly smooth and responsive, which was exactly what I was looking for and exactly what RTINGS helped me narrow down my search on. I've tried other mice in that time and kept coming back to the Basilisk for how snappy it felt. It may not make sense for you and your needs, but I definitely recommend checking out that table tool and filtering based on stuff that matters to you, like wirelessness, or left-handedness, or ergonomics, or weight, or price, or like a million other things you might like/dislike in a mouse.
One quick aside: I've used the same site to find many different gadgets/peripherals before and have had great experiences with them all. Used them to find a good monitor about 6 years ago and still use it daily with no desire to upgrade. Used it about a year ago to get a printer for our small business and loved it too (as much as one can love a printer, which is probably not much). Great site all around. They have a cap on how many reviews you can read, but it's pretty generous. Plus it refreshes if you clear your cache, or just open up a private browser... which I actually feel bad doing given how much they've helped me in the past.
IMO Logitech MX Master 3/3S is the only mouse worth buying if it's within your budget
I see many recommendations for the Logitech MX Master, and even when I own one, I think it's overrated for the price, the ergonomics are good, but functionality wise I had far cheaper mouses that felt better.
The scroll wheel might be a good point to choose it, but again you can probably live without it.
Do you have any recommendations at a lower price point with a similar/better feel? I love the ergonomics of the one I own but it's not in the best shape (the rubbery outside bit has this kinda dirty gummy texture that I can't seem to get rid of even with cleaning) and I'm looking for a potential replacement.
Unfortunately I don't have any up-to-date recommendations, I use an old Microsoft mouse at work that feels better, but I don't know the model, I have not bought any mouses in a long time.
Having enjoyed my rubbery Steelseries models, I see good things about the Sensei if you're looking for straightforward plastic that doesn't get gunky.
Not sure if that fits with your ergonomics, though - what grip do you prefer?
My instinct is that I use a palm grip, but I'll confess to not ever paying it much attention! I'll try to notice tonight and mention here if I notice it's actually something other than palm grip in practice.
I'll also say that unlike OP, I def want something wireless.
For whatever it's worth, I'm gonna parrot the double click issues with Logitech. I've had a Logitech MX518, a Steelseries Rival 300, a Logitech G403, and a Steelseries Rival 400 in the past decade-ish. The MX518 wheel stopped responding, so I switched off it to the 300 for two years. My wife has been using that 300 sporadically since 2019, so I looked around and I found the G403, which succumbed to double-click issues after two-ish years. Was the microswitch, per many in this thread. Got another Rival and I've been extremely happy with my 400.
Also as others mentioned, make sure to look into what's oriented towards a palm, claw, or fingertip-oriented mouse and think about how you typically hold yours.
EDIT: Steelseries, not Steelcase. Derp.
Have you considered a ploopy? Theyāre well made, repairable, you can 3D print the enclosure or buy it already made, itās programmable if you wish, they have trackballs, touchpads, a copy of the Microsoft mouseā¦ and theyāre Canadian!
I use Logitech MX Anywhere 3 as I wanted smaller mouse (otherwise I would go for Logitech MX Master of current generation). I love that my mouse can have 3 devices paired and stored - I have one position for their Unifying receiver on my desktop, anoher for Steam Deck and third is unused at the monent; you can see what you are connected at the moment right on the bottom side of the mouse (if you pick it up) and there is a switch to cycle through the three devices. The mouse has "infinity" wheel which you can switch to normal clicky behaviour. Overall nice mouse if you want smaller one. Has built-in li-ion battery which might be a nuissance in the future.
About USB2 and 3 compatibility: The USB port has 4 prongs/connections for USB2 and 5 prongs/connections for USB3 and these are two different things. In other words - there may be a port that has USB3 but doesn't work with USB2 devices simply because there are no wires connected to USB2 part of the port (or there are no USB2 prongs/connectors inside the port altogether). This would be very unusual if you came upon such port, but it is possible it exists in some form somewhere. I saw a USB3 extension that specifically said it doesn't work with USB2 devices for this very reason (I even spoke with the manufacturer about it just to confirm the fact).
I'm very pleased with Logitech's cheapest mouse, M90. It'sā¦ simple, reliable, and mine is working after six years of daily usage. Last year I replaced it with the M110 Silent, basically a M90 with silent clicks. (I grew a little annoyed by the M90 click sounds.) Both are wired.
Can't recommend them enough.
TL;DR - Help us help you by narrowing down your preferences more, and if I may be so bold, be open to the idea of wireless mice.
I have no recommendations, but the reason you're feeling overwhelmed by selection is that are a lot of different preferences out there, and there is basically a mouse for every one of them. You will likely get better recommendations if you take some time to think about more aspects that you would prefer. Otherwise recommendations won't be any better than your own searching as far as types.
As for the wired vs. wireless, I would be curious what your reasoning is. I was against wireless for a long time, and when they were relatively new it was justified. I rocked my MX518 into the dirt. But Bluetooth for general stuff and work is easy and great. I charge my mouse once every few months. My wireless Superlight is ridiculously responsive and not having a wire is very freeing. I only plug that one in about once a month to charge. If the charging is a sticking point, you can get mouse/pad combos where the pad has a wireless charging zone.
Thanks for the comprehensive post!
The only advice I could offer would be to search for mice with optical switches and possibly encoders (mouse wheel). They are much more reliable than their mechanical counterparts. It also reduces the number of available options as a side effect.
Good tip! I am basically looking to avoid false clicks and other problems with dirt getting into the mouse.
A little late but there was another topic asking for mouse recommendations and I wrote a comment for it:
https://tildes.net/~tech/1lqp/looking_for_a_new_mouse_maybe#comment-es2o