Gaming Mouse and Keyboard Questions

[amythompson172]

I was on Amazon.com looking at the Logitech gaming mice and keyboards. In particular, this keyboard:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-920-0022 ... CNQ4RANJ32

And this mouse:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002J9 ... B002J9GDXI

I've never owned a gaming mouse or keyboard before. So I am wondering what the benefits really are in gameplay. Starting off with the mouse, I can't recall what my Microsoft laser mouse DPI is but I'm sure it's nowhere near the 5700 of the Logitech gaming mouse above. How much difference does that really make say when playing a shooter? How does it affect gameplay? Is it easier to aim quickly and accurately? Does it help you to play better? There must be some reason people like them. I'd like to understand how beneficial they are. As for all the extra buttons I don't honestly see myself using them. Do people really find all those buttons on a mouse helpful? What for? What do people activate with them?

On to the Logitech gaming keyboards. The one I linked above I think is their entry level model. I like the backlit keys feature. That is pretty cool. Some of the other stuff seems pretty useless to me personally. The defining feature of this keyboard really seems to be the macro keys. So the question is, what are they good for? I'm trying to imagine what I'd want to macro in a shooter for example. What would I want to macro playing some RPG? What would I want to macro playing World of Warcraft? Once again, people like these a lot for some reason but I am honestly clueless about what specifically it is. So please enlighten the clueless!

Thanks a lot for any feedback on this stuff. I appreciate it.

[Sttm]

I have the G500 mouse. After some substantial fiddling with the included software I was able to get it to the point that it feels absolutely perfect.

For me there is a gigantic difference in how well the G500 feels and works compared to a cheap mouse. I had a G5 before, and I broke the cord on it and while I waited for this G500 to come in the mail I used a cheap $20 logitech optical mouse and the difference was maddening. It was slow, it was unresponsive, it was inaccurate.

The feel of the G500, or G5 I had before it, going across the desk is substantially better. The weight of it is fined tuned to your liking, so you can move it fast but be controlled. Then you can set the dpi using the included software to match how fast it moves on screen to how fast you move the mouse making it feel very natural. Which gives me a much easier time being able to twitch snipe in TF2 or swap targets in WoW or to be able to rapidly adjust a model I am working on in Maya.

As for the extra buttons, there really is only 1. The 2 buttons on the top left mouse button are there to control the dpi while playing allowing you to increase it or decrease it, I dont use them and actually disabled them in the software since I like just finding the perfect dpi for all around use. The button below the scroll wheel is not really a button, its for changing the scroll wheel from normal to infinity scroll, which lets it spin on and on and on, which I guess you might use for large documents. Then on the left side you have 3 buttons, the front and back I use all the time, as its forward and back in any web browser, and I can bind them in any game. The middle button I set up as being the ALT key using the logitech software and its really the only button thats extra since the other 2 side buttons are pretty standard now since they used in web browsing.

The problems I have with it is that the software screws it up a bit when its installed on the computer, I have no idea why but the feel of it gets messed up if the software is installed. But the mouse has onboard memory, so I installed the software set the DPI and button config to my liking, then uninstalled the software, and it works great.

The other issue I initially had with it is that it has a gritty texture on the sides of the mouse which was really unnerving for the first couple months. Now I dont even notice it, and I assume it helps a bit with grip, but it still felt weird for awhile.



As for the keyboard I used to have a logitech g15, I broke the stands and the palm rest and a couple keys after 3 years of use, but it was a solid keyboard. After that I tried a Razer keyboard since it uses mechanical switches instead of membranes, which are supposedly more responsive and they do have a great feel to them, but that thing was a piece of **** that literally had pieces breaking off of it in a couple weeks. I now use a $40 Microsoft Sidewinder X4 keyboard and Im quite happy with it.

The reason I did not go back to logitech was because I didnt see the point in spending more for it. My g15 has those G keys on the left like the keyboard you are looking at, but in 3 years I never ever used any of them since I could not comfortably hit those keys while keeping my left hand on top of WASD; and no matter what game I am playing I am constantly using WASD to keep moving and to stop moving, even for a fraction of a second, seems terrible. The Sidewinder I have now has the back lighting, it's heavy duty, it does have a few extra keys on the left, but I cant really hit those either, and it does macro function, but really at the time it cost half as much as a logitech keyboard and after wasting $130 on a Razer keyboard I couldnt reason it.

[Major_A]

I see you're looking at Logitech. Good choice. I had a Razer mouse die last week and that's the last Razer product I'll buy. I liked the way it felt in my hand but at the same time the brand feels cheap.
See here:
about39689.html

I picked up the G500 mouse but I don't have much time playing with it. The software for the mouse though is infinitely better than the software Razer supplies. I can't comment on the keyboard but only to reiterate what Sttm already said. Sure those macro keys look appealing but I doubt you'd really use them all that much. Unless you map them to open up programs (i.e. Firefox, Outlook, etc...).