Best gaming mouse 2018: T3's top picks of the best gaming mice available today

Welcome to T3's best gaming mouse guide. This guide has been carefully constructed to help you find the perfect gaming mouse for you, with a wide variety of the very best gaming mice on the market picked at a variety of price points, styles, and intended usage scenarios.

Whether you are looking for a top multi-purpose gaming mouse, or a unit that specialises in one genre, such as FPS or MOBA, these are the absolute best gaming mice on the market today, so you can be sure that whatever you choose it will be top, top quality.

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We've not only just presented you with the best gaming mice on the market today either, with zero context, but also supplied some useful information about what you should be looking for when shopping for one of the best gaming mice available, as well as savvy buying tips for when you decide to pull the trigger.

How to choose the best gaming mouse for you: what you should be looking for in a gaming mouse

There are many factors to consider when buying a gaming mouse. In terms of specs the big one is DPI (dots per inch) and you should be looking for something in the 8,000-16,000 range. Acceleration and tracking are also important factors, as too whether the mouse has mechanically switched buttons. 

Obviously, button quantity is also important, as too design and grip type (remember, there are different ways to grip a mouse - claw, palm, fingertip etc - and you should determine what your grip is before coughing up as specific mice are designed, primarily, for specific grips).

Also, you need to factor in whether the mouse is ambidextrous in design or not, as some are designed for right or left hand users only, as well as if the mouse allows weight alteration. Penultimately, you should also take a look at if the mouse has any programmable buttons and which genres it is best for, as certain gaming mice are geared toward first person shooter use and others real-time strategy titles.

Lastly, price should be a major factor in which mouse you buy. Here at T3 we feel you should be able to get a top tier gaming mouse for less than £80, so don't pay more unless you are stretching to added wireless capabilities.

The best gaming mice available today: get the best gaming mouse for you

HyperX continues its impressive entry into the high-end gaming peripherals market with this well-specced, RGB lit gaming mouse.

The HyperX Pulsefire Surge sports a 16,000 DPI sensor, buttons backed by 50 million click rated Omron switches, on-board memory to store user profiles, and a "Light Ring" lighting system that provides 360-degree RGB effects.

All the mouse's settings can be easily tweaked and customised through HyperX's NGenuity software, too.

At £130 the ROG Spatha mouse has a serious price tag, but then it’s a serious bit of hardware from Asus’s elite Republic of Gamers range.

Made from magnesium alloy and boosting an 8,200dpi sensor with 2000Hz polling in wired mode (1000Hz in wireless), 16 million possibly lighting colours and 12 programmable buttons, it’s designed specifically for MMORPG players.

It’s big and it’s heavy, clocking in at a whopping 179g, but it’s comfortable in the hand provided you use a palm grip rather than a claw grip. The side buttons are oddly shaped compared to other mice – they’re laid out in the shape of the ROG logo – and take a bit of getting used to, but the odd shape does mean they’re easy to identify by touch. The main left and right buttons are independent of the chassis for soft-touch clicks, and you can swap them for heavier switches if you prefer.

It’s a lot of money, but it’s a lot of mouse. If you’re serious about MMORPGs it’s definitely one for your shortlist along with Logitech’s G502.

If you are rather picky about the weight of your mouse then you should definitely check out the Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum as it can be customised with up to six 3.6-gram weights. As such, if you want a heavier mouse to wield on the virtual battlefield then here you are well served.

Other nifty features include a free-spinning scroll wheel option (initiated by clicking in a middle mouse button), which makes scrolling a dream, as well as a whopping 11 customisable buttons.

And, talking of customisation, Logitech has its own RGB backlighting tech with the traditional 16.8 million colours available to choose from.

Sitting well below our recommended price for a great gaming mouse, the Corsair Sabre RGB delivers super budget friendly performance.

The Sabre's optical sensor is only 10,000 DPI, however, it has a super comfortable and light weight design (only 100 grams), and features a 1,000 Hz refresh rate and 8 programmable buttons too.

Corsair don't skimp on the lighting options either, with its Corsair Utility Engine (CUE) allowing you define the hue and brightness level of multiple lighting zones around the mouse. 

Overall, a quality gaming mouse for a very attractive price.

Next up is the futuristic looking G.Skill Ripjaws MX780, which is one of the most feature-packed and customisable gaming mice in this rodent roundup. That customisability comes in the form of a height-adjustable palm rest, ambidextrous and interchangeable side grips and, naturally, adjustable weights.

In terms of internal tech, the MX780 comes packing an 8,200 DPI laser sensor that supports on-the-fly DPI switching, 8 programmable buttons, on-board memory storage for profiles, and a 1,000 Hz polling rate.

And the best thing is that you get all that for just 70 quid. One of the best gaming mice on the market today, and one that rocks a very stand-out design.

A curvaceous beauty, the Asus ROG Gladius II gaming mouse is one hell of a looker. It also doesn't skimp on features or hardware, with a very competitive 12,000 DPI sensor, 50g acceleration, and removable left and right buttons.

There's no fancy swappable weight system in the Gladius II, however, a clickable scroll wheel, Omron switches, and a sensitivity toggle make this mouse well-suited to a host of genres.

Oh, and if you dig gaming mice that can deliver ridiculous levels of RGB lighting, then the Gladius II will certainly not disappoint, with colours and patterns also capable of being synced across other Asus peripherals, too.

While the SteelSeries Sensei 310 has its shortcomings, such as a lack of weight adjustment and slightly plasticky finish, those sacrifices are there to raise the bar everywhere else. And raise it spectacularly!

With its ambidextrous design (which suit both left and right-handed users), super-precise 12,000 DPI sensor, and lightweight build (weight just 92g), it’s one of the best gaming mice of the year - especially when you factor in its very affordable price point.

If you're a fan of light, no-frills but high-performing rodents, this could be the best gaming mouse for you.

Roccat’s latest gaming mouse, the Roccat Kone AIMO, is an absolute beast in every sense of the word.

Not only is it one of the chunkiest mice on the market, but it also boasts an impressive set of customisable features including Easy-Shift (which gives each of its 12 buttons a second function), five individual profiles, glorious RGB lighting and plenty more besides. 

A fantastic peripheral, but one that’s only available in right-hand form.

Logitech has given its venerable G900 gaming mouse design a bit of a makeover, and while those changes are subtle, they simply serve to elevate an already impressive PC peripheral.

The Logitech G903 features a '1 ms report rate for competition-level twitch targeting' which basically means next to no latency when playing competitively. It also boasts myriad DPI levels (from 200 all the way up to 12,000) and mechanical buttons for that all-important sense of feedback.

Expensive, yes, but worth it.

SteelSeries continues to show its one of the leading manufacturers in gaming mice with the latest addition to its Rival range - the updated and retooled SteelSeries Rival 600.

This new model comes with two optical sensors, one for detecting normal movement, and another for clocking when you lift the mouse off the pad/desk. It features a rubberised grip for extra control and comfort, and a set of mechanical buttons of extra precision.

Oh, and it features all the RGB lighting you could wish for.

Corsair’s new gaming mouse model aims to break the stigma surrounding wireless gaming mouse, its use of Qi charging helping fix the long-running latency and response issues that have made non-wired rodents so unpopular in gaming circles. 

The Corsair Dark Core RGB SE has 1ms latency and a max DPI of 16,000 so you can be sure this wireless beauty won’t let you down in a competitive match.

The only caveat is you can’t use it while it's charging on a normal Qi charger, so you’ll need to invest in a Corsair MM1000 Qi mouse pad in order to use it while its refilling on power.

Corsair is really committing to the gaming mouse market, and one of its latest additions - the Glaive RGB - aims to set itself apart with both RBG lighting and a set of interchangeable thumb grips. That element alone makes it one of the most ergonomic designs you can get, but thankfully it makes for a really slick gaming mouse, too. 

Its tracking system offers 16,000 DPI so you’re never going to be left wanting when it comes to response times, while its Omron switches offer 50 million clicks per model. It’s a tad pricey, but you get a lot for your money.

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