Tag Archives: Technology

Of Mice and Men

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Last week I went over the keyboards I’ve used and there was a few ups and downs, but, overall, every keyboard I’ve used has been good.  This week I’d like to talk about all the mice I’ve owned, and boy are you in for a treat.  My mice have been a disaster.

My mouse history starts off benign enough.  The first mouse I used was a Dell mouse.  Just like my Dell keyboard, it came with the Dell computer I owned.  From what I can remember, it was your typical boring mouse.  It was low dpi, had a generic laser sensor, and got the job done.  In fact, I used this mouse on a Windows server I ran not too long ago.  I can’t remember exactly why I stopped using my Dell mouse and bought a new one.  If I had to guess, it was because I wanted something “better”.  I wanted a gaming mouse.

Logitech G5 Mouse

The second mouse I owned was a Logitech G5 and man was it a good mouse.  I don’t have records of when I purchased this mouse, but I believe this is the mouse I used the longest, and arguably the most reliable gaming mouse I have own.  It only had one problem, its scroll wheel.  At times, the scroll wheel would rest between two notches.  When this happened, it would repeatedly scroll up and down randomly until you scrolled and firmly set it into a notch.  Most of the time I could avoid this issue, but eventually I got fed up and stopped using my G5.

Logitech M500 Mouse

On my birthday in 2009 I purchased myself a Logitech M500.  The M500 was a marvelous midlevel gaming mouse.  I can’t remember any problems with this mouse.  The only reason I never bought a second one was that the dpi was too low (1000 while I favor playing at 1600-1800).  This mouse worked flawlessly… until I killed it.  Yep, somehow I killed this mouse.  I knew it was on its last legs when it started randomly disconnecting from my computer.  Then, one day in mid 2010, it rolled over, died, and never communicated with another computer ever again.

Logitech G500 Mouse

With a dead mouse, I was forced to acquire a new one, a Logitech G500.  The G500 was basically a newer version of the G5.  It had some new color styling, a higher dpi sensor, a few buttons were moved around, and they added a frictionless mouse wheel mode, but other than that, it was a G5.  I liked this mouse, I liked it a lot.  At least I did for the five months the cable lasted.  It was manageable at first, but by December of 2010 the cable had frayed in half and I had to hold the cord against the mouse’s body at all times to stop it from disconnecting.

At this point, you’re probably thinking this is the end of the G500.  I won’t blame you for thinking that, but this time around I was smart.  This time, I RMAed the bastard.  Logitech’s costumer service was well done, quick, and easy.  I didn’t even need to mail the defective one in, which was a welcome surprise.  I got my new mouse and everything was great, dandy, and sparkles for a total of 25 days.  You read that correctly, it took 25 days for the second cable to fray and go bad.  By this time, I had made the executive decision to not buy another Logitech mouse.  This cable problem was the last straw.  I had had enough problems with their mice that I was done with Logitech products.  I like to think of this period as the great Logitech exodus.  The G500 was the last Logitech product I bought, and I’d have to think long and hard before buying another product from them ever again.

Razer Imperator Mouse

In late January 2011 I made the switch to Razer and purchased a Razer Imperator.  This mouse looked nice, felt fantastic in your hand, and had an absolutely horrendous sensor.  The sensor on this mouse was just plain crap.  I never quite felt that my Imperator mouse moved exactly where I told it to, and worse still, it would wobble.  At times, I’d stop moving the thing and the cursor onscreen would continue to wobble, jittering away, slowly shaking its way toward the upper right corner.  I thought about RMAing my Imperator, but decided it was more likely a defect with all Imperator sensors.  It had been a short three months, and it was time for a new mouse.

Razer DeathAdder Mouse

Finally, in April 2011, I bought the mouse I am currently using, a Razer DeathAdder.  This mouse is a world better than the Imperator, and has lasted longer than all my Logitech mice, excluding the G5.  I would recommend the DeathAdder to anyone looking for a new mouse.  I even bought a second one for my laptop.  The only complaint I have, and with my luck there’s always something, is that I no longer have a middle click, having worn mine out completely.  One of these days I’ll get around to RMAing the sucker and then, hopefully, the replacement mouse will last just as long as the first.

That’s the end of the disaster that has been my mice.  Most of them barely lasted six months before I had to get a new one, especially the Logitech ones.  In little over a one and a half year period I owned five separate mice.  The only thing I learned from my purchases was that I’m never buying Logitech ever again.  Speaking of Logitech, I realized while writing this that all my Logitech mice have had a “5″ in their name.  The designers at Logitech must worship that number or something.  Maybe it’s a fetish, or, if my luck has been any indication, a curse.  The curse of the Logitech “5″.

Of Keyboards and Men

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Throughout the years I’ve owned three keyboards and a little over half a dozen mice for my computer.  Being a gamer, the mouse I use it very important, and recently, with me doing even more writing, my keyboard has become almost as important.  Next week I’ll be talking about the mice I’ve owned.  This week however, I thought I’d share my keyboard history with you, and give you my thoughts on each of the keyboards I’ve used.

I’ve only used three keyboards in the history of owning my own computers (which would be about the last seven years).  I’ve run the gambit with these three keyboards, first starting with a generic Dell that came with a Dell computer, then moving onto a gaming keyboard by Logitech, finally ending in a recent purchase of a professional mechanical keyboard.  With each purchase I ended up looking for something different.

I started off using a Dell keyboard that came with the Dell I owned.  It had no thrills, just a cheap $15 PS2 keyboard.  This is the keyboard I used the longest and I used it because it was what came with my computer.  It was years before I changed keyboards and the only problem I ever ran into was my computer beeping at me when I hit too many keys at once.  One of the main things I do on my computer is play computer games and I would say at least once a week I would have my computer beep at me as I tried to do to many things at once while playing.  If it wasn’t for this problem, I’m not sure I would have ever looked for a new keyboard.

Logitech G110 Keyboard

With my first true keyboard purchase, I decided to try a gaming keyboard to see if they lived up to their name.  I settled on a Logitech G110 Black Gaming Keyboard, coming in at a whopping $64.  Believe it or not, this is the second most expensive keyboard I’ve bought.  The first thing I should mention is that the G110 solved my too many keys at a time issues.  Unfortunately, that and a volume control wheel are the only two things that were stellar on the G110.  With a distinctive soft touch feel to its keys, you received little to no feedback that you’d actually hit them making it somewhat annoying to type on.  I also remember the keys sometimes registering that I’d released them before I actually had.  This was especially true for spacebar, which gave me a few troubles while skiing in Tribes: Ascend.

The only other thing I learned from the Logitech G110 was that whenever you see the word gaming tacked in front of the word keyboard it only meant unnecessary added features.  For instance, the G110 had backlit keys, which, while nice and somewhat pretty, is unneeded.  It also had media and macro keys, neither of which I ever touched.  The only feature that I consistently used was the volume control, which was very convenient.  It was because of the bloated features, and also the soft touch keys, that I started to look for a new keyboard and eventually purchased the keyboard I’m currently typing on.

Das Keyboard

After hearing about the wonders of mechanical keyboards from people in the Starcraft community, I purchased one in February of this year.  I settled on a Das Keyboard Model S Professional Silent Mechanical Keyboard (what a mouthful).  The Das keyboards are billed as professional typist keyboards and the one I got cost me a remarkable $138.  Surprising, considering the keyboard has no backlighting, no media/macro keys, and no volume control.  It’s just your typical 104-key layout.  Of course, this is what I wanted, just a good, solid keyboard.  I do miss the volume control on the Logitech though.  Thankfully, I was able to make volume up and volume down hotkeys that are a good replacement using AutoHotkey.

The Das keyboard may have no thrills, but it does, in my opinion, have the features that matter.  First off, it has n-key rollover, meaning every key on the keyboard can be hit at the same time and they will all register.  No more computer beeping.  Second, it has mechanical keys, Cherry MX brown mechanical keys to be exact, which are a dream to type on.  They are described as having no click noise (hence the “silent” in the keyboards name) and a slight bump when you press them.  They are silent with no click, but they really don’t have a bump, at least not what I thought a bump would be.  Bump is too strong a word.  They have a hard to describe feedback to them that lets you know they have been hit and the hit has registered.  You can just feel that the key has been hit.  Definitely the best feeling keys I’ve ever typed on.  Thanks to these mechanical keys, I never have to worry about keys not registering. As long as this keyboard lasts for years to come, and with its sturdy construction it should, it was worth the price.

My new keyboard purchases have all been due to me feeling I needed something better and each one has been an upgrade over the last in some way, shape, or form.  I’d recommend both the Dell and Das keyboards to anyone.  The only reason I wouldn’t recommend the Logitech is because of the unnecessary features.  All of my keyboards were good keyboards and they all still work perfectly with no known defects.  This is in vast contrast to my mice, which I do not have a good history with.  If you liked hearing about my keyboard history, wait until next week when I will talk about my disaster of a mouse history.