The Best Gaming Mouse - Summer 2021 Mice Reviews

The best gaming mouse with a wireless connection that we've tested is the Razer Viper Ultimate. It's quite lightweight, durable, and feels remarkably comfortable to use, with a true ambidextrous design with two buttons on each side. It's well suited for a claw grip if your hands are on the smaller side or a fingertip grip with larger hands.

Thanks to its amazingly low click latency and superbly smooth glide, gameplay is fluid and responsive. It comes with an excellent lightweight paracord-like cable to charge the mouse or use it in wired mode if you prefer. You can use the Razer Synapse 3 software to adjust the CPI along a very wide range in increments of 50, change the polling rate, fully program each of its eight buttons, and change RGB lighting effects.

Unfortunately, its low back and short body make it unsuitable for larger hands using a palm grip. Also, the companion software isn't compatible with macOS. All in all, however, this is an amazing gaming mouse and is one of the best wireless mice we've tested.

The best wired gaming mouse we've tested is the Corsair SABRE RGB PRO. It has a right-handed form factor with two side buttons that feels very comfortable, and its body is made of solid plastic with a slight texture for added grip while remaining fairly light. It's good for almost all hand sizes and grip types, though only hands on the larger side should use it with a claw or fingertip grip.

It has two independent RGB-lit zones on the rear logo and mouse wheel, and three subtle LEDs on the left edge that indicate the current CPI. Its sensor has a very wide CPI range that's adjustable in intervals of 1 and low variation between fast and slow movements. Notably, it has a max polling rate of 8000Hz for very smooth tracking, though the average person might not see a difference.

Unfortunately, the feet tend to drag slightly on desks and cloth mousepads. Also, while its cable is excellent, it retains kinks from packaging and lacks the flexibility of a true paracord cable. All in all, this is an excellent gaming mouse and a great wired choice.

The best gaming mouse in the ultra-light category that we've tested is the Glorious Model O. It's an impressively well-built wired mouse with a honeycomb body and RGB lighting along each side, on the scroll wheel, and inside the mouse itself. It's ambidextrous, with two side buttons on the left, and is most comfortable to use in a palm or claw grip for most hand sizes.

It's very lightweight, and its virgin-grade PTFE feet give it an exceptionally smooth glide. It has a wide CPI range adjustable in increments of 100, a high maximum polling rate, and is very consistent between slow and fast movements. Its low click latency is great for responsive gameplay, and the companion software is great and offers a lot of customization options.

Unfortunately, the software isn't compatible with macOS, and the side buttons don't do anything on that operating system. It also isn't suitable for smaller hands for any grip type, though there's a smaller version that should be better, the Glorious Model O-. All in all, it's an excellent choice for ultra-light gaming and is one of the best lightweight mice we've tested.

The best gaming mouse for MMOs that we've tested is the Corsair SCIMITAR RGB ELITE. Like its predecessor, the Corsair SCIMITAR PRO RGB, it feels superbly well built, with a textured grip on its right side and a 12-button side panel on its left. It's suitable for nearly all hand sizes and grip types, and the panel also slides forwards and backward to suit your preferred style.

Corsair's iCUE companion software is fantastic and is compatible with both Windows and macOS. You can use it to customize all its 17 programmable inputs according to your needs, adjust its CPI in increments of one along a very wide range, and change the RGB lighting effects on the buttons, left recess, mouse wheel, and logo. Its great low latency shouldn't be noticeable even for hardcore MMO gamers, and the sensor has low variation between fast and slow movements.

Unfortunately, its braided cable retains kinks from packaging and is quite stiff, and the mouse itself isn't suitable for extra-large hands using a palm grip or small hands using a fingertip grip. However, its onboard memory keeps all your custom profiles saved, even when you switch computers. All in all, this is an outstanding choice if you're looking for a dedicated mouse for MMO games.

The best gaming mouse in the budget category that we've tested is the SteelSeries Rival 3. It's wired and fairly light, and feels excellently well-built and solid for its price. It feels very comfortable to use, with a low profile and higher-bumped back that's well-suited for claw and fingertip grips.

It has an RGB-lit logo and strip around the bottom of the mouse, with effects that can be customized using the SteelSeries Engine 3 companion software. You can also use the software to change the mouse's fairly wide CPI range in increments of 100, and fully customize a total of eight programmable inputs, among other things. Also, the mouse's feet glide impressively well, and latency is very low.

Unfortunately, it isn't suited for palm grips if you have larger hands, and the side buttons feel stiff and are difficult to press. Also, the cable is made of rubber which, while good quality, maintains kinks from packaging. That said, this is a great budget option that offers good value for the price and makes it the best budget gaming mouse we've tested.