Mini mouse review – Microsoft Sidewinder X8

My old stalwart Logitech cordless mouse has been slowly getting worse over the last few months. It was struggling with the wood grain on my desk, and even on a better surface the pointer would occasionally jump.

Looking around at mice I wanted something with super high DPI for accuracy, a couple of buttons for doing ‘other things’ and it needed to be cordless. Getting the wire wrapped around your keyboard is so 1990s

Seemingly, the problem with wireless mice is a vast majority now seem to be aimed at laptop users, so there’s no charge cradle, they just run on an AA battery or two and have an off switch. Great until you leave it on overnight and have a flat mouse in the morning.

On the DPI front, most regular mice seem to top out at 2000DPI or so, but who do we know that always need vastly over the top kit? Yes… gamers!

After a hasty 10 minutes research I located this puppy on Amazon:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001DCELH2

 

Yes, it looks ridiculous. The odd styling touches, bizarre logos and occasional lights make it the Citroen DS3 Racing of the mouse world,  but for someone looking for a responsive wireless mouse it’s perfect.

Have used it for a week now and the accuracy over the old Logitech is very useful. Also useful are the adjustable DPI buttons on the top, so I can have Fast/Normal/Slow But Accurate settings direct from the mouse. Designed for gamers doing stupid things in first person shooters, but incredibly useful to be able to slow it right down for masking fiddly details in photo software.

Oh, and the bit I like the most though I’ve not needed it yet, there’s no cradle. Instead, there’s a magnetic puck on the end of a thin cable so you can charge it whilst you use it like a corded mouse. My old Logitech required you to pop it in the cradle and twiddle your thumbs for a few hours if the battery ran out.

All in all, a top product at a reasonable price. I just wish it didn’t look quite so Halfords.