Review of the best gaming devices. Part One: Game mice

Almost all the "iron" companies are now being produced now, from Thermaltake to Cooler Master and dreams. We will talk about the most common devices among e-sportsmen, and we will make the main emphasis on choosing a high-quality rodent for FPS shutters, based on our own observations and reviews of players in Counter-STRIKE. It is generally accepted that it is the players in CS who are more scrupulously approached by the "mouse question".

But first, we will determine what a high -quality gaming device should be in general. With this question, we turned to the champion WCG Ukraine 2004 , ex-game teams GSC Gameworld And Explosive – Alexei Maletsky : “As for me, the mouse should be ergonomic, it should have no more than five buttons, not too many abstruse settings that would be distracted from the game itself, and it should also be tested by time”. We add from ourselves: it would be nice if there was no acceleration in the rodent and the price did not bite too much.

Our review will affect products Razer , Steelseries , Microsoft And Logitech , And also Zowie. We will not tire you with technical parameters, since they can always look at the manufacturers' sites ( www.Razerzone.Com, www.Steelseries.Com, www.Logitech.Com and t.D.), but let's go through each of the mice fluently.

In that distant time, when I was just starting to play in Counter-Strike, and it was eight years ago, our market was by and large only two worthy attention of the manufacturer- Logitech And Microsoft. True, some old school players preferred ball mice from Mitsumi.

Logitech MX300. One of the first playing mice of this company was superpowered and high -quality.

But ahead of the planet rode the MX line from Logitech- Logitech MX300 , Logitech MX500 , Logitech MX510 etc. Swiss mice costed like half a sample, but they were very high quality and served the owners of five to six, or even more than years. Agree, it was nice, buying a mouse from Logitech, get a five -year guarantee. Two years ago weighty MX500 As part of the experiment of my acquaintance fell from the second floor, but after that she continued to work as if nothing had happened (any modern mouse would hardly repeat such a trick).

The legendary ones breathed in the back of the Swiss Microsoft Intellimuse Explorer 3.0 And Microsoft Intellimouse Optical , Or simply Microsoft 1.1a. It is these seemingly simple mice that will continue to become lovers of professional players.

Actually, Microsoft mice among players and now successfully compete with sophisticated models of 2011 thanks to a low price, excellent sensor and optics. But they have one minor drawback – the scrolling wheel. Most of the players in CS puts a jump on the scroll, and many owners of Mikes after some time the fighters began to jump spontaneously. This infection, of course, can be cured by direct surgical intervention, but to disassemble for this mouse frankly shame.

Great optical Microsoft Intellimouse Optical 1.1a has long been discontinued, but still uses among players frantic popularity.

These models have already been discontinued, and find Microsoft 1 Orion Spins Casino.1a or 3.0 Every day is more and more difficult. It is completely incomprehensible why, having “giving birth” to such popular mice, the Microsoft Hardware division hit the game ruler Sidewinder , which has sunk into oblivion almost unnoticed.

Now most of the mouse market has been captured Razer And the Danish company Steelseries. The Danes began their long way with the production of rugs Steelpad , But by buying a company Icemat , They decided to expand their assortment – and now, in addition to game surfaces, manipulators, "ears", devices for Xbox And so on. And Steelseries mice are used by players of such teams as SK Gaming , Natus Vincere , Fnatic , Evil Geniuses.

Steelseries Kinzu is the most budgetary and smallest mouse from Danish company.

The most popular models of this company – Steelseries Kinzu And Steelseries Xai. Since Microsoft 1.1a was gradually discontinued from production, which did not prevent players around the world with fieryly adore it, Steelseries first released the modified 1.1a, called IMO Steelseries Edition , with improved coating and your Teflon glands (legs).

From the shelves of stores, she was just daring. The Danes appreciated the demand for mice of such a form factor and decided to release their own analogues 1.1a. So the optical mouse were born Kinzu And laser Xai. Both of them are very reminiscent of the old Microsoft 1.1.

The youngest in the ruler – Kinzu , A small mouse with standard two buttons and wheel. Available price and a promoted brand allowed it to become one of the most popular today. The mouse has more CPI (up to 3200 versus 400 in MS1.1), a thinner wire and the best coating. Kinzu scrolling wheel is also much better than 1.1a. There are three colors: standard dark gray, white and red. White is focused on the Asian market, and you will not find it with fire in the afternoon.

The main color of Steelseries Kinzu is gray, but it is also red and white.

In the reviews of the owners of this device, the mention of acceleration often slips (and for e -sportsmen this is a very bad sign). Many complain on bad quality factory legs; Most likely, after the purchase, you will have to stick others. Note problems with click, periodically slips a double click. But perhaps the most unpleasant is the fragility of the rodent. Rare Kinzu lives a year without breakdown.

Things are a little better with Xai. As Steelseries said, professional players of such teams as were attracted to development Evil Geniuses And SK Gaming. Many were waiting for this mouse.

SteelSeries XII offers the player a very subtle setting-from the number of CPI to game sensitivity and Herz frequency at a USB port.

The senior sister of Kinzu has a sophisticated laser sensor with five thousand CPIs, setting screen and a lot of other buns. But it costs much more. Family similarities are obvious – mice have general disadvantages. XII owners note that its laser sensor is quickly clogged, you have to constantly clean the rug.

More recently, the Danes released the new Steelseries Sensei , which is very similar to Xai. In fact, this is its improved version, more beautiful and technological. According to manufacturers, when developing Sensei, they took into account all the wishes of the XII holders, made the mouse more reliable and accurate. The device has its own 32-bit processor, but I personally do not quite understand why it is needed at all.

Sensei became the first mouse from Steelseries, which is configured by the backlight of the logo and wheel. As you can see, the glory of the Razrovsky illuminated mice does not give rest to the dates.

Steelseries Sensei is a hot novelty and, of course, the most anticipated mouse this year.

In 1998, a company appeared in the USA Razer – The future leader and, perhaps, the first manufacturer, whose products are focused exclusively on the game sector. The first truly successful mouse was the optical Razer Viper with beautiful red backlight. After it were no less popular Razer Diamondback , Razer Copperhead , Razer Krait , Razer Salmosa And others. The favorite feature of this company is to use the names of lizards, birds and spiders in the names of their products.

In the mouse in the field, Razer is today the main competitor of SteelSeries. Although the Americans have more than a dozen models and their modifications, we will only dwell on our attention at two: Razer Deathadder And Razer Abyssus.

First Razer Deathadder , A couple of years ago, in shape vaguely resembled Microsoft 3.0, I had an infrared 3G-sensor with 1800 dpi, three modes for preserving profiles and silent Teflon legs. Great ergonomics and bright design (a flickering snake logo plus a luminous scroll) almost immediately made it a sales hit. The model is focused on players who, when playing, hold the mouse with the whole palm (the so -called Palm Grip style). At the time of the release, it was a truly revolutionary rodent, in which there seemed to be everything that a professional player needed. Even a special version for left -handed people was released.

Razer Deathadder Black Edition. In this version, unlike the classic Deathadder, there is no backlight and glossy sides.

Now the model from 1800 dpi is practically no longer found on sale, it was gradually replaced with an updated version from 3.3500 dpi 5G sensor. "Fashion" began to appear Razer Deathadder For popular games like Guild Wars , Dragon Age 2 And Transformers.

At one time, I was the owner of Razer Deathadder and saw only two drawbacks in this mouse: backlight and glossy sides. Apparently, a little miracle happened – just recently, the razers, having heard reviews, released it Razer Deathadder Black Edition , in which there is no longer backlight, and plastic is more matte.

Razer Abyssus In his segment is the heiress Razer Salmosa, and technically a complete analogue of Deathadder 3.5G. This rodent is much smaller and made under those who control the mouse with fingers (Fingertip Grip). If you aimed precisely on him, before buying, you will certainly hold it in your hands – the shape of the mouse is quite specific and is not suitable for everyone.

Razer Abyssus – A great mouse for owners of a small palm.

Logitech Over the past couple of years, I have lost a leading position in the mouse market, although I also did not forget about new products. However, the first models of their game G-Series – G3 , G5 , G9 – Great glory was not wound up. The Swiss bet on laser sensors, and at that time they could not successfully compete with optics in terms of stable work. The whole G-series was only an optical G1 , The granddaughter of the legendary Logitech MX300.

Now the Swiss are trying to return their former positions, and recently the light was seen by the updated version Mx518 – Logitech G400. In principle, the mouse has everything (optical sensor, familiar shape and high -quality assembly) to compete with the popularity of Logitech MX518.

Logitech G400. The new model of Swiss engineers is being replaced by Logitech MX518.

And we finish our brief overview on mice from Zowie. Freshly built American company, in which the legendary team players work SK on CS 1.6 – Emil Kristensen (Heaton) And Abdisamad Mohamed (Spawn) , There is nothing to brag about it for now. Like Steelseries, at first Zowie launched on sale her version of Microsoft 1.1a and only then decided to present my own developments.

Zowie entered the market with game models EC-1 And EC-2. Mice in shape are absolutely similar to Razer Deathadder; One, however, is slightly smaller than the other. Unlike Razer Deathadder itself, they have a different optics and there is no backlight. In our area, these rodents are rare, but judging by the reviews of Western players, they do not cause special complaints.

A rare guest on Russian rugs, zowie mice are similar to the Razrovsky, but they have another filling.

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One of the main factors when choosing a mouse is the comments of the owners (and certainly not marketing advertising from manufacturers). And be sure to hold a tea new new thing in your hands so as not to buy … um, mouse in a bag. In the following issues, perhaps we will consider the best gaming headphones and rugs today.