The best gaming mice to buy right now
Finding the right gaming mouse among all the options can be a struggle. There is a dizzying array of mice available, from stripped-down, lightweight five-button mice for shooters to 17-button mice for MMOs. There are a lot of factors to consider: looks, grip style, comfort, sensor quality, wired versus wireless, button selection and arrangement, onboard settings storage, and RGB lighting (obviously), to name a few. These details can have a major impact on your gaming experience. On the other hand, sometimes mice have features that are overhyped and not worth the extra cost for most people.
This is how often the mouse reports its position to the computer. It’s mostly a function of connection type and a major differentiator for gaming mice. Wired gaming mice are usually at least 1,000Hz. Corsair, Logitech, Razer, and others all sell wireless mice with 1,000Hz polling rates via proprietary 2.4GHz dongles. Bluetooth and most non-gaming 2.4GHz dongles, like Logitech Unifying, top out at about 125Hz, which is generally too slow for shooters or other games that require fast, precise mousing. Some mice support 4,000Hz or even 8,000Hz polling, but this is unnecessary. You’re not that fast.
Wired mice are less expensive than wireless ones and never run out of battery. But wireless ones are wireless, which is neat, and many can now compete with wired mice thanks to those 1,000Hz dongles. But they do tend to run out of charge at the worst time, so for wireless mice, we looked at battery life as well as how and how quickly the wireless ones recharge.
How many buttons does it have? Are they recognized in games? How flexible is remapping? Can you bind macros and complex actions? Can you adjust DPI on the fly? How does the scroll wheel feel?
How big is it? What grip styles is it best suited for? Are the buttons easy to reach? Is it heavy for precise movement? Is it light for whipping across your mousepad? Is it adjustable? How does it feel to touch?
These are very important for gaming, obviously. Does the mouse light up? How many lighting zones does it have? How customizable are they? Can you sync them with your keyboard or case lights or specific games? (This has no bearing on performance but, hey, aesthetics.)
Between the folks that contributed to this version of our gaming mouse guide, we’ve tested hundreds of gaming mice. As with keyboards, you can technically game with any mouse. But for any game where reaction time and accuracy are factors, there’s a bigger gap between gaming and non-gaming mice than there is between a good gaming keyboard and a good general-purpose mechanical keyboard.
The Razer Basilisk V3 Pro has 11 programmable inputs, a hyperfast scroll wheel, optical switches, and a ridiculous 30K sensor. It works over Bluetooth, USB-C, or 1,000Hz HyperSpeed Wireless — which bumps up to 4,000Hz if you pair it with the Mouse Dock Pro, which also adds magnetic Qi charging.
The Razer Basilisk V3 Pro has 11 programmable inputs, a hyperfast scroll wheel, optical switches, and a ridiculous 30K sensor. It works over Bluetooth, USB-C, or 1,000Hz HyperSpeed Wireless — which bumps up to 4,000Hz if you pair it with the Mouse Dock Pro, which also adds magnetic Qi charging.
