Ollie Green · November 18, 2019 · 5 min read There has been a rise of support for switching to a wireless mouse for gaming. After thousands of hours of gameplay on a wired mouse myself, I thought I’d try to make the switch too, from a Steelseries Rival 700 to a Logitech G305. Here are the results from my experience.
Why should you listen to my opinion? I’ve been playing PC games, primarily First Person Shooter (FPS) titles, for as long as I can remember. I have played Counter-Strike: Global Offensive semi-competitively and currently create content for high level Apex Legends gameplay.
So with my introduction out of the way, here’s what I think about making the switch to a wireless mouse for gaming.
The Technical Improvements From Moving To Wireless
Let’s first look at the technical improvements and potential downfalls from moving to a wireless mouse. If you’re a competitive player or want the best advantages in gaming, this section is going to be the most important to you.
Using a cable adds drag. When you move your mouse, you’re forced to move that cable too. By removing the cable, you’re freeing up that friction and surprisingly that can do wonders to your aim. That, primarily is the main benefit for using wireless.
Next, let’s talk about latency. From my experience, at least with the Logitech G305, I couldn’t feel any noticeable latency. Logitech claim a 1 ms report rate. It’s hard to distinguish how fast that is in real life. However, that’s an interesting number because that’s the supposed response rate for a mechanical keyboard, as opposed to a standard membrane keyboard.
Obviously, you are adding 1 ms on top of actually pressing the button itself, but even still, 1 ms is almost nothing. Unless you’re some kind of top level pro gamer, I’d highly doubt you’d be able to gain any benefit from using a wired mouse.
Wireless sensors have clearly become a lot more powerful in recent years. Wireless mice weren’t always like this, and that’s why they’ve built quite a bad reputation.
Just make sure that when you do purchase a wireless mouse, you go for a reputable brand like Logitech or Razer. Read the product description and check any details about the response time so that you don’t end up with a mouse that really does have a bad sensor. Ultimately this is only from my personal experience, but I feel like I’ve played enough to know how the average gamer may feel.
The Comfort Benefits For Using a Wireless Mouse
There is another side to this story. If you care more for comfort and convenience, this is where a wireless gaming mouse can truly be beneficial. The biggest thing for some may simply be that you have one less cable to deal with on your desk. But it also opens up more room for a more portable setup.
What if you don’t always want to sit at your desk to play your games? With a wireless mouse, you can sit down from a distance on a couch and still have great latency to your computer. The G305 I have can get a flawless connection up to 10 feet away. The couch based PC gamer is a growing audience and there is growing interest in peripherals known as lapboards.
Lapboards come with a built in mouse pad and a slot for your keyboard so that you can play comfortably from a distance. The only negative convenience aspect for owning a wireless mouse is the limited battery life. If your mouse is powered by removable batteries, you’ll need to charge them up or buy new batteries from time to time.
Wireless & Wired Mouse Pricing Comparison
If you care about pricing, you may be curious to see how the price ranges differ between wired and wireless gaming mice. To do this, we paired some options from the biggest gaming mouse manufacturers and compared their pricing. Please note that these prices are based on the RRP on Amazon.com.
Razer Wireless vs Wired Mouse
Razer’s current best offering in terms of performance is the Razer Viper. The wired version costs $79.99, whilst the wireless Viper Ultimate costs $149.99. There isn’t a standard wireless version, so you are paying for some extras like more DPI and a fancy RGB charging dock.
Steelseries Wireless vs Wired Mouse
The Steelseries Rival 600 is a great mouse and Steelseries sells it for $79.99. The wireless version, dubbed the Rival 650 Wireless jumps up in price to $119.99. This time around, Steelseries keeps the hardware very similar across both versions, so there’s a significant uptick in price to cut the cable.
Corsair Harpoon Wired Pro vs Wireless Mouse
Whilst the sensor is a little different in the Corsair Harpoon Wireless, the hardware is mostly the same. Despite this, the pricing for the Corsair Harpoon Wireless sits at $49.98, whilst the Corsair Harpoon Wired Pro is just $19.99.
Verdict
In all cases, wireless mouse in the same generation or range are more expensive.
Summary
It should be quite clear now who will benefit from a wireless mouse the most. A wireless mouse will be most valued by those who care about comfort and convenience. A wireless mouse will offer the least value to somebody who cares a lot about the best possible latency times and peak performance.
If you’re the average gamer, you most likely fall towards the comfort and convenience side. If you’re slightly more competitive at heart, you may want to test out a wireless mouse before committing to it.
If you do plan to purchase a wireless mouse, make sure you read up on any model that takes your interest and check reviews for latency and response times. Also, check out our other article on the best vertical mice to reduce wrist strain.
