I’ve been going over almost every article there is on the internet, (kk, more like 2000 or so articles) searching for my next mouse and finally after some dissapointing and rather poor reviews, articles etc. I FOUND this life saving article!!!! :]

That brings me to the actual point I’d be compelled to make. After reading this article, watching the well constructed video and having a look at some awesome pics of the X8, I’d have to be a fool not to buy this mouse…..

I just wanna say, thanks to all of you for your inputs and discussions on the pros and cons of the X8. This really helped me decide which allroud gaming mouse I’d be buying next, since my Logitech G7 mouse started giving some problems. (The right click works 8 out of 10 times, not that nice whilst playing FPS games anymore.)

If it weren’t for your inputs I wouldn’t have bought myself this awesome mouse…
After using it for a while, one becomes attached too it as if it’s become part of you. This was the best bang for buck ever. Trust in MS and they won’t dissapoint.

Wireless is the way of the future, you could either accept it or live a life full of pointless and useless issues with wired “stuff”.
Going wireless = Absolute Freedom!!!!!!

Haaahahahahaa, hope you guys enjoyed the article as much as I did!!!
Thanx again

Johann “Ginger_Ninja” Wolfaardt

I play a lot of games, and never used all the buttons on my 518, mostly because they weren’t that easily accessible. However, the placement of the “forward and back” buttons on the sidewinder is significantly better and made me want to use these buttons.

The mouse is comfortable in my hand, and was easy to adjust from the 518. If anything it could even be slightly larger and I wouldn’t have a problem.

The location and style of the DPI buttons is far better as well. While there is one less profile, i have not found myself accidentally pressing the buttons while scrolling. This was a problem for me with the 518, and having dedicated buttons for each DPI is also a huge bonus.

I have noticed no lag, and I play in some Counterstrike tournaments, this is a great mouse and I recommend it to anyone.

+ Since it only uses 1 AA NiMH battery, it charges incredibly fast. Microsoft recommends 5 minutes for every hour of game play, but I let it charge for an hour and it goes all day.
+ The battery can be replaced with another AA NiMH battery. This is a big plus, especially coming from a G7′s battery packs.
+ I read on other reviews where people were having tracking issues and wheel issues. Both seem to be fixed in the version that I have.
+ Covered by Microsoft’s 3 year warranty. If you’ve ever had to use it, this is a big plus. MS is very easy to work with for warranty replacement. For reference, Logitech is 3-5 years, Steel Series 1 year, Razer 6 months – 2 years.
+ The charging cable is fast. I leave it flat on my mousepad and just slide the mouse over it, takes all of 1 second.
+ I like the design / functionality of the puck.

- It does take some getting used to the shape of the mouse. Some people may never get used to it.
- LEDs are red, which is fine, but I’d prefer an RGB system like the Steel Series MMO mouse had. It was cool that you could set that mouse to pulse speed / etc. It would be nice if you could set that on this mouse.
- No weights. I find the weight fine, but some might argue that.

One thing I see a lot of people commenting on is the LCD not coming on unless you change the DPI. On mine, if you have it connected to the USB charging cable then it pulses along with the LEDs.

Overall 93%. Really wonderful mouse.

So, some issues with the MX Revolution – Battery is encased, and not easily swappable, you basically have to ruin the glide pads to get at it. I think this is fixed in the newer version, the Performance MX. The Performance MX also adds charge and play but loses the thumb wheel (which I won’t miss myself). I absolutely love the look, feel and Free Spin wheel on the Revolution, however, it’s not enough to be paying $80 for a new mouse every year or so, I need a mouse that can last quite a few year for the price that’s being asked for these.

There are 7 mappable buttons on the X8. You have the Left, Right and Middle (scroll wheel) buttons, as well as the thumb buttons. You can also map the left and right tilt to whatever you want as well, including Macros.

The play and charge deal, is what got me excited about the X8 mouse in the first place, the puck is a fantastic design for desktop use (not so much for Laptops). However, when I first started using the Revolution MX, the mouse was very easy to use and get accustomed to. The X8, is not like that. I’ve accidently hit the thumb button a couple times now, and holding is will indeed take some getting used to, but I’ve only been using it for a few hours now.

Svenji, I have no idea what you mean by limited configuration either, you can set the buttons to Macro’s and to act as any keystroke, AND you can EASILY set it to a modifier key, like Alt, Ctrl, and Shift (very useful to me in WoW).

I say easily, because in order to set a Thumb button to act as the Alt key in WoW for the MX Revolution, I had to setup a profile for WoW by manually finding the exe. Then setting the key for that Application as Alt+. However, doing this has some conflict in the application, and breaks the Generic Button functionality for other programs. So, what I had to do was then to set a profile for Firefox and IE to set the key to Alt+Left Arrow (which commands the browsers to go back). Also, by default, the back thumb button doesn’t work in Firefox with the Logitech SetPoint software installed.

With the X8 mouse, all I had to do was run WoW. After it was run once (after the Setpoint software was installed), then it appeared in a list of applications I could customize settings for, and I selected it and set it to Alt. No fuss, no muss. The program has a configuration setting for all other programs (not configured specifically), and with the software installed, the Forward and Back buttons work without any extra adjustments needed in Firefox.

Now, all of that may of not been true when Svenji posted his response, but that’s the state of both Logitech and Microsoft drivers as of now.

The X8 feels a bit weird in my hand right now, but I’ll give it some breaking in time. Also, the scroll wheel on the X8 is too stiff, and all metal, so, it’s not as grippy on my finger as I’d like, and just doesn’t compare to Free Spin… at all.

If I could choose, I’d love a combination of the two. Microsoft hardware (I don’t recall seeing a Microsoft mouse fail, however, I’ve had many Logitech mice fail), and it’s IntelliPoint control panel, with the MX’s Revolution Wheel, the 3 bar battery indicator (although Microsoft’s LED could be more useful if it came on every so often to show me battery status, or I could hit a button to see it), MX’s Ergonomics, and the X8′s Puck and swappable skid plates and ability to do Macro’s. While the Performance MX does have a useful charging cable, that’s useful for other devices as well (cell phones), and easy to replace, the magnetic wrap-uppable cable does have an element of coolness to it that I like.

Don’t get me wrong, I like my Sidewinder, which is clearly superior to any other mouse I’ve had — with the exception of the Revolution. Sorry Sidewinder, you lose.

Hopefully someone will come up with a custom driver, a la setpoint uberoptions…