With 20 years of high-level competitive console gaming under my belt, I decided it was finally time to dip my toes into the world of buttery smooth, high fps, blinding refresh rate, pcmasterrace gaming.
After spending months trying to source parts during the great PC part shortage of 2020 (thanks Covid), my new dual-purpose PC was finally born. Although I had a brand-new PC, I still had the same lack luster mouse and keyboard pre-built peasants are accustomed to receiving in the packages they pick up at their local big box retailer.
It quickly became apparent that my 10 year old basic mouse was not up to the task of fast paced quick flick gaming. I needed a mouse built for speed and something with a few extra buttons for those custom fragging keybinds.
Enter the Logitech G MX518.
The MX518 is a remastered classic of an old tried and true design updated with the latest in sensor technology. As someone with no experience in the space, this is exactly what I needed. Something that so many people loved, and was so great, they had to do it again – it had to be for me, and it was.
In my search for the perfect mouse it seemed clear there has been a recent shift towards smaller, lighter mice. Which may be great for some but, at 6’3”, my hands are big. I needed something substantial and at 5.16 inches (131mm), the MX518 fits my hand perfectly.
In addition to an extremely comfortable ergonomic right-handed shape design (sorry lefty’s), this beast has all the fancy specs you need to play and compete at a high level. The HERO sensor boasts pixel level precise tracking at up to 400+ IPS max, 16,000 max DPI, 1ms report rate, and does it all pulling 10x less power than the previous generation.
The included G Hub software makes customizing your DPI settings and the 8 programmable buttons, a snap. Simply drag and drop a command, key, action, macro, or system setting right onto the button and viola.
Although people love to complain about peripheral software, I found it to be extremely intuitive and easy to use.
The additional programmable profiles make this mouse not only perfect for gaming but, also amazing for productivity. This was, by far, my biggest surprise.
I thought I needed a new mouse for gaming, it turns out, I just needed a new mouse.
How could this have happened? How did I ignore one of my most used tools?
When I stopped to realize I had wasted my life using a basic and relatively uncomfortable “free” mouse for the better part of my 20 year development career, it made me want to repeatedly punch holes in my drywall with all the fury of an angst filled teenager who has yet to fully comprehend how incredibly stupid and expensive punching holes in your own walls is.
All I can do now is be happy that I finally found it and help you from making the same mistake I did.
To anyone not interested in gaming, who made it this far, this is a great mouse… period. You don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy just how comfortable it is, and at $30 on Amazon, you really can’t go wrong.
For all of you first-time gamers out there, you don’t need to spend $100+ on a mouse to be competitive right out of the gate. Save that extra $70+ and finish off your new setup with a nice cheap mechanical keyboard instead.
