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Mouse with TONS of buttons?

nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
Original poster
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
Any suggestions on getting the MOST mouse buttons? Logitech seems to have the most that I've found, and I already know about:

• MX Revolution (don't like the battery situation)

• G5 and MX-518 (too few buttons)

Any other recommendations?


I'm planning a keyboardless Quake Wars setup, and what I have in mind requires 13 mouse "buttons"--but I do include scroll directions in that total. The Revolution has exactly 13 functions. I'd prefer corded, but the G5 has only 9 (+/- can't be configured) functions and the MX-518* has only 10 of that. (Saitek Cyborg has 11 or 12 buttons, since I do count the 4-way hat, but Mac support is questionable.)

Driver support doesn't worry me--I'll use ControllerMate, and will check with their forums before I buy.

Accuracy is important, but most high-end mice seem to have good tracking anyway.


*Some sites say the Logitech MX 518 has horizontal scroll. But in pictures it has no arrows next to the wheel, so I'm suspicious. Can the 518's wheel be tilted left/right?

Thanks in advance!
 
No I'm pretty sure it doesn't. (I'm using one now).

You can hold the shift key down on Mac's though and scroll horizontally.
 
Thanks! I was afraid of that. (I like left/right as additional assignable "buttons" for complex games.)
 
Sorry to interject but when you say that you're using ControllerMate as a driver, does that mean that I could use a MacOS-non-compatible mouse on my Mac using ControllerMate ?
 
Update to an old thread: I got a Logitech VX Revolution, which has 12 buttons (if you count the 4 scroll directions and 2-function “zoom” slider).

For Quake Wars, I’ve settled on assigning 24 functions to the mouse (by choosing one button as a Shift function) plus another 24 functions on the left half of a RumblePad 2 PlayStation-style gamepad, which I hold in my left hand in my lap. (24 functions on the gamepad means some buttons have an extra function when I do a long press instead of a short tap.) Very comfortable, and I can play QW just great without using the keyboard. I even have about a dozen communication functions bound, such as “Enemy in Disguise” and “Charge planted - partially armed.” And ControllerMate let me assign keys to the gamepad analog stick, so if I tilt a little bit I get Run, but if I tilt farther I get Sprint.

The VX is in between full-size and notebook-size and I like it a lot. The only other mouse I found with that many buttons was a white mouse-and-keyboard Mac wireless set, also from Logitech. (Like my VX, it uses a non-BT wireless dongle. I couldn’t find anything with a cord that had enough buttons, so I settled for rechargeable AAs.) Actually my first VX was defective, and I’m told the scroll wheels can wear out quickly, but so far so good: my second VX was fine and continues to work well a year and a half later. It makes a nice gaming mouse for me, and the dongle stores inside the mouse. I don’t know if they still make it or not.

The ORly owl said:
Sorry to interject but when you say that you're using ControllerMate as a driver, does that mean that I could use a MacOS-non-compatible mouse on my Mac using ControllerMate ?
Click to expand...

Which mouse? I’ve actually never run into a USB mouse that is not Mac compatible, even if some don’t list Mac in the specs—but some may have driver software required to use specific buttons/features. If that software is Windows-only, ControllerMate may make a nice alternative. It can probably program the buttons and scrollers of just about anything. Other functions (like motorized mice that change shape, or motorized enable/disable of scroll-notches) I wouldn’t be so sure of. You might want to check the ControllerMate compatibility list or ask in their forums.

And some mice, like the blue Logitech G5 I tried, ship with a known bug that makes the tracking inaccurate. VERY annoying, and some people may just accept it, not realizing the mouse has a problem unless they try drawing little circles as a test. That G5 worked fine on my Mac EXCEPT that the tracking bug is fixed via a firmware update. And that firmware update can only be installed on the mouse via Windows-only Logitech software. I wasn’t going to ask a friend to install special driver software their Windows machine just to update my mouse, so I returned it. (And it can’t be done via VMWare.) Hard to believe Logitech found the bug and just kept shipping buggy mice instead of patching them before sale, but they did. As a result, I now Google “tracking bug” and similar terms with any Logitech mouse I consider.


MattZani said:
http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-naga/

Has 12 thumb buttons, and usual mouse buttons.
Click to expand...

Neat! Thanks—that’s an interesting option next time I’m mouse shopping! (Although I don’t like how so many of the buttons are jammed together into one pad—I like more variety in the placement and feel, to help me find the right button and remember its function. And I do use horizontal-scroll a lot when not gaming, so I’d hate to give that up.)
 
robbieduncan said:
The OpenOffice Mouse must win.

Note: I don't think this is/was ever a real product...
Click to expand...

Ha ha - yes. Imagine having such tiny left/right mouse buttons, surrounded by other stuff so you must hold your hand just right for normal usage :eek: Still, for the right game (?) I might be tempted!

I have the sneaking suspicion that this may have been a PLANNED real product, but when it became an icon of the pitfalls of open source, maybe they thought better of it! :)
 
The ORly owl said:
In fact, I keep drooling over this :

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/mad-catz-cyborg-rat-hands-on-true-customizable-mouse-madness/

But I don't see Mac OS in the list of compatible OSes, so I was wondering if there would be a solution for using it on a Mac anyway.
Click to expand...

It might just work with nothing needed: plug and go. Best to buy from somewhere with a nice return policy, I suppose.

(It looks like the shape is very customizable, but buttons/functions are more the important kind of customization for me.)
 
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