The peripherals you play with can be just as important to your gaming success as actual skill. A suboptimal keyboard or sluggish mouse can open the door to defeat, which is why it's a good idea to pick up equipment specifically made for the job. But like a lot of specialized tools, gaming mice don't come cheap, and you wouldn't want to spend a pretty penny on one only to find it lacking in speed or features. We don't review mice very often here at Engadget, so we've consulted the opinions of trusted critics to find some recent options that can help pave a path to victory.
1 / 8
Mionix Naos 8200
Gaming mice typically have more bells and whistles than standard mice, and the Mionix Naos 8200 is no exception. TweakTown says it offers "full control of all the aspects that will make life easy for various games" and in games, it's "very fast and very responsive," according to Kotaku. Even so, the real star of the show is the 8200's design, which Tech Power Up says "feels great to hold" and Luke Plunkett of Kotaku calls the 8200 "the most comfortable mouse I have ever held." The only thing holding the 8200 back from a higher score is the configuration software, which consistently crashed for Tom's Guide, though other critics, like TweakTown, had a better experience, even complimenting how the software manages to not "intimidate even novice macro programmers."
Price: $77 and up
Frank Spinillo contributed to this report.
![<p>The <a href="http://www.engadget.com/products/roccat/kone/pure/" target="_blank">Kone Pure</a> is intended to be a slimmer, stripped-down alternative to Roccat's bigger and more fully featured <a href="http://www.engadget.com/products/roccat/kone/xtd/" target="_blank">Kone XTD</a> and <a href="http://www.engadget.com/products/roccat/kone-plus/" target="_blank">Kone[+]</a>, but it's not a step back in any way. <em><a href="http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/roccat/kone_pure/554101/" target="_blank">PC World Australia</a></em> says that the smaller size means it "fits better in more palm sizes" and "feels nimbler overall," while <em><a href="http://benchmarkreviews.com/13252/roccat-kone-pure-mouse-review/?cbg_tz=240" target="_blank">Benchmark Reviews</a></em> calls it "solid enough for a mid-sized mouse." Performance-wise <em><a href="http://www.computershopper.com/mice/reviews/roccat-kone-pure" target="_blank">Computer Shopper</a></em> says it's "excellent," though <em>PC World Australia</em> reports the max dpi of 8,200 "may be overkill for some casual games."</p>
<p>Price: <a href="http://www.engadget.com/products/roccat/kone/pure/?buy">$54 and up</a></p>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/uViOCVxHDgytuxTPI2no_Q--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTk2MA--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/p6KF0jd3zVoAZRfer9ozcw--~B/aD04MDA7dz04MDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/304/455/8/S3044558/slug/l/kone-pure-1.jpg)
