Microsoft SideWinder Gaming Mouse
by Microsoft
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List Price: Our Price: $69.95 You Save: $10.04 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Microsoft SideWinder Gaming Mouse
Customer Review: It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.
Summary: 4 Stars
First the cons so you know what to beware of:
- The programmable buttons don't have the option of just being extra mouse buttons, like button 4 and 5. Instead the software gives you the option of reprogramming them to be other keyboard bindings like alt, backspace, and a few other slightly gimmickey buttons. I programmed mine to alt and middle-mouse so I don't have to click the scroll wheel.
- The 'Macro' button, lets you program in a series of button-clicks that can be launched, but it's located in a very awkward position. I just ignore it.
- The mouse IS pretty big. I have big hands, I thought this would be no problem. It's not, but I think if this mouse were any larger it would be unusable. It's taken me awhile to get used to.
- There are two pointless red LED's on the back of the mouse that serve no function. Not a big con, but it's silly that the laser it uses emits no light, but they slap two red LED's on the bottom anyway.
Pros:
- Despite the drawbacks of the extra buttons, I do find myself using them when I play games.
- It comes with three sets of mouse feet, black is the slickest, while white drags a little, and grey is in between. Very nice feature
- The weights. I like my mouse pretty light, I've been gradually increasing the weight to see how I like it. The customization is nice.
- The cable holder. At first I almost just chucked it, but it's actually been very useful for holding my mouse cable away from my keyboard. It's definitely a keeper and it stores the other weights and mouse feet.
- The DPI switches. I don't use the other two. 2000 DPS is just fine for me, but clicking the other will instantly slow the mouse down. Not bad for very careful sniping.
Customer Review: Not a bad gaming mouse
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a reasonable gaming mouse, but has some problems which may be dealbreakers for you.
Pro:
-adjustable weight (I like mine heavy)
-adjustable sensitivity, whether you like to twitch your wrist or engage the whole arm, you can create settings that feel good to you.
-BIG, It's massive, one thing that always bugged me about the Logitech G5 was that my hand wrapped around it, the Sidewinder is enormous, and my hand rests atop it, quite comfortably I might add.
-Detent scrolling, many mice have switched to smooth scrolling which is much less useful for weapon selection in FPS games.
-Macro button allows you to create macros in game, on the fly
Con:
-detents in the scroll wheel don't have as much resistance as I would like
-would like more weight (included weights allow addition of 30g max.)
-no tilting scroll wheel, my previous mouse had a tilting wheel which I used for leaning left and right in F.E.A.R. , however, as few games implement this feature, this isn't a major issue. However, I also used wheel tilting to switch between tabs in my browser (Opera), so I still use that G5 for general use and browsing, and have the Sidewinder strictly for gaming.
The addition of a tilting wheel would have easily boosted this to 5 stars. If you like tilting wheel mice for browsing, as I do, consider a logitech G9, which has an almost identical feature set, minus the macro button.
Customer Review: It's pretty good, but nothing incredible...
Summary: 4 Stars
It took me about a solid month to get used to this mouse. It took me a couple of work days to get used to what weights I'm comfortable with, what feet work.
I found this corded gaming mouse comes in handy for a couple reasons:
*I don't get the wake-up lag of a cordless mouse.
*I can have other people use my computer, at the touch of a button it goes from "gamer" to "regular person" sensitivity.
*It is a requirement for multiple-dpi mice to have some visual representation of what level of sensitivity we're running with.
Other than that, I have some pretty big hands, and coming from a wireless laser mouse 2000 from Microsoft, I didn't like the ergonomics. It wasn't that it was too big, I just found parts of my hand making contact with the mouse that hadn't made contact with the mouse before.
Gaming-wise, I really haven't made use of the macro features, nor have I needed to. I normally find two DPI settings worthwhile, and most of the games let you adjust the sensitivity somewhere in 'options'.
My only solid problems are
*the drivers support 800, 1000, 1600, and 2000 DPI settings. I would like a 1200 or something like that in between 1000 and 1600.
*for being a gaming mouse, having only two programmable buttons is kind of weak.
Customer Review: Great Mouse 4.5 out 5
Summary: 4 Stars
Ive done a lot research and trial and error with other mice, and this is the one that fit my hand and budget. I was a little skeptical at first thinking that Microsoft made a peace of crap and slapped their name on it but the mouse really performs. Prior to this I was using the Razer Diamond Back, and the right click had died on that one so I purchased the Razer (Lechnis?) and found that it was just to small and the left side buttons were to awkward to push consistently, and the right side buttons were next to impossible to use.
When I first used the Sidewinder I was instantly at home with its Ergos, it fit very well in my hand (big mitts) and the side buttons were very accesable. Being built with stainless steel components I have doubts in its ability to take a punishment. The weight system is very nice as well allowing for lots of customization in weight distribution.
I didn't give it a perfect 5 because of the mouse feet. They have 3 different types of mouse feet that claim to have different menueverability along the mouse pad surface but they all seemed very much the same with a very plastic like feel. They also seemed to collect depris easily. However if you can keep them clean the feet aren't really a problem.
Customer Review: Good gaming mouse
Summary: 4 Stars
This mouse is pretty good but I found that the software that came with it interfered with one of the games I played (League of Legends). Basically, while the software was installed, my character would move wherever the mouse was since the mouse was automatically clicking for movement even though I wasn't clicking it at all?
I would recommend installing the software, however, to do so only for changing the DPI options you want for the 3 buttons. Afterward, you don't really need the software unless you really plan on changing mouse settings constantly. After uninstalling the software, the mouse should still work and with all the settings you placed for the mouse prior to uninstalling the software. I think the only thing that doesn't work is the button to bring up the software menu and the button that assigns certain macros to certain games. Honestly though, it's more reliable to use the 3 macro buttons to change your DPI settings.
The mouse is also a little on the large side. I don't really mind it since my hands are pretty big, but for those with smaller hands, you may find it a bit uncomfortable. I would highly recommend checking out the mouse at an electronics store or something before buying.