Customer Reviews

Microsoft SideWinder X5 Mouse

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have very big hands so I was happy to read other reviews on how huge this mouse is. It fits like a glove for me and couldnt get any better. Perfect button placement and very high quality design. I thought this was made of cheap plastic but it is very well designed and crafted. My only problem Ihave to get used to is how sensitive the buttons are. That i my fault though for using a cheap dell mouse that came with the computer. If you have at least medium sized hands this will be great for you.

I went from a wireless six-button mouse to this wired gaming mouse, and I have to say the difference is significant. Where my wireless would do weird things like not recognizing clicks until I moved the mouse, and dropping out every once in a while, this wired mouse with increased resolution never does either of those things. It's incredibly responsive, and makes me glad I decided I could "live with" having a cord on my mouse.

The buttons are handy, and easy to reach. The feel is a little more blocky than I'm used to, but it's still comfortable. The mouse just feels like it's tracking far better than any I've used in a long time-- There's no "jumpy" feel to it in lower DPI settings, and less of one in the high setting than on my wireless mouse. It's kind of cool that I can switch DPI on the fly with a button.

In games, I noticed my response time was better, especially for circle-strafing and mouse-looking. While I'm not a huge FPS gamer, I did get some better control with this mouse in Team Fortress 2, and I felt a HUGE improvement in the way the mouse felt for Oblivion. Clicking on small icons and buttons on the in-game GUI isn't as tedious with the Sidewinder X5.

I use it in both OS X and Windows XP. Despite what the package says, the mouse does, indeed, come with drivers and control panels for OS X (not that OS X needs drivers, but the control panels are handy to assign buttons).

There's one button that I find sort of stupid and useless on this mouse. It's near the back (under your palm, when the mouse is being used) and its purpose varies depending on what OS you're using. It's not reassignable, either. It does what it does, and that is all. In Windows XP, all it does is launch the Intellimouse software; That's the mouse control panel, which you can normally reach two other ways (click the desktop/Start menu icon, or go to Control Panel). That's all it does. I hardly see why a button was needed for this function. In OS X, the button just pops your pointer up to the top left corner of the screen, and again, you can't reassign this button. It's just sort of a waste of moving parts, if you ask me.

However, stupid button aside, I dig this mouse. I think I may stick with it, despite losing wireless freedom compared to my old mouse. This mouse just works better!

Oh, I should mention that this mouse has two red lights on the bottom, near the back, and one on top. They remain on as long as your computer is sending power to the mouse, and this might be annoying for some people who don't want their mouse to be all lit up. It doesn't bother me much, but it is curious that Microsoft would put bright red lights on the mouse when the laser tracking emits light that is invisible to the human eye. These lights aren't part of the tracking hardware: They're just decoration. I guess it's supposed to look cool or something. I just think it's sort of a waste of power.

A good mouse, but not for the office or conservative desktop. Definitely a step up for gamers, though.

Shipping: 5/5
It came in a small box that was easy to open, and came with the mouse, instructions, and software CD. Everything was well packaged and arrived quickly.

Setup: 5/5
I have Windows 7, and as soon as I plugged it in, it was recognized, I didn't even need the CD.

The mouse itself: 5/5
First off, the mouse is huge. Larger than any other mouse I've ever used. Now that may be because I don't have extremely large hands, but even my friend with giant hands said it was big. Odd at first, but within a few hours, I got used to it. There are 2 buttons on the side that can be used for macros, and they are nice and easy to use and make a satisfying click. There are 3 buttons on top, that adjust DPI (dots per inch), in other words, mouse sensitivity. There's one weird button to the rear of the mouse, right around where your palm is, that opens the Microsoft Mouse settings. It is in an odd position on the mouse, but it is not something that you might accidentally push during a game. The mouse wheel, in its normal location, clicks very easily, and when turned, makes a nice clicking noise and is very simple to use, and is great for FPS games where scrolling the mouse wheel changes weapons, and trust me, that can decide the outcome of a game when you need to switch to your pistol when you are out of ammo.

Key Points:
Large, but not uncomfortable
Nice DPI buttons
2 side macro buttons
Smoothly clicking mouse wheel.

For $25, this is an excellent deal and I recommend purchasing this mouse.

The Sidewinder X5 appears to be a somewhat cheaper Sidewinder version with a few less features to lower the price. If you need a cheap gaming mouse, this may be one to look at. If like me, you not only do gaming at your computer, but extensive internet browsing and other activities, you may want to look at some other mice. The biggest issue for me with this mouse was that the size and length of it was not at all comfortable and made the button placement difficult for my hands...having about normal-sized hands for a woman. In particular the two buttons on the side were regularly slightly in front of my thumb, so I had to adjust my hand and/or reach to use them. Not good, and the type of thing that causes tendinitis or RSI over time.

The mouse itself has a very cheap, plastic feel to it. Having previously used the very nice Logitech G9 Mouse I found it hard to go back to scrolling that was jerky and required a lot of tweaking to work anything near to acceptable. The turbo scroll on the Logitech mice is just so much more pleasant to work with when you are at the computer for hours at a time. I'm also never happy to get a mouse with buttons that I can't customize. In this case, there is a button on the top that might be nice to use as a quick-launch button, but it only opens up Intellitype in XP, (Games in Vista) you have no option to customize the action for it.

I bought one of these to test before requisitioning some for image editing use at work. I checked it out at a retailer and found its size comfortable so I odered one from Amazon for $25 less than the retail price. I hooked it up at home and started playing Battlefied 2. After a few minutes of real use I discovered that I couldn't reach buttons 4 or 5 on the side of the mouse, and I don't have abnormally short thumbs. I positioned the mouse next to my Logitech MX518 mouse and behold, the mouses are the same size but the location of the side buttons on the Sidewinder X5 is a full inch further away. BAD ERGONOMICS! The only thing I liked about the mouse is the three led buttons on top that let you know what the DPI settings are, a plus for image editing work. I gave this mouse away, it was a waste of money for me.

My old mouse was the Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000, and I just couldn't take it anymore with wireless mice and gaming. So I set out to look for a nice gaming mouse within $20-$50 that looked nice, and was laser. I stumbled upon the Sidewinder X3, but then I saw that Amazon had a deal on the X5 for the same price as an X3. So I figured why the hell not? Man am I glad I got this mouse.

The first test run I used it in was Bad Company 2. In most FPS's, I was fine with the wireless mouse, but when it can to situations where the reaction mattered, I would lose. With the X5, when you click the button, the button is clicked. No slight delay, no aggravations of wireless, just a quick response. What is useful in Bad Company 2 with this mouse is the DPI switch. When you jump into tanks, the movement becomes very slow even when you turn up the sensitivity. With the sniper rifle, sometimes the mouse would be too sensitive while scoped. Some people would go back and forth on the game settings or other mouse settings, but with the DPI buttons, this makes the process seamless and "on-the-fly." When I am in a tank, I hit the high DPI button. If I am on foot, I use the middle DPI. Using the scope of a sniper rifle, I use the low DPI. This makes it so much easier to transition from different weapons in the game. All 3 buttons are easily programmable to the DPI that you want it set to.

As far as the "side" buttons, I like them in the position that they are on this mouse. My old one had them on the top edges off to the side. One of the buttons was easy to hit, the other one not so easy. Since I can use my thumb on the two side buttons on the X5, it makes it much easier for me to use them. One of them I use to talk on Ventrilo, the other I use for voice chat inside certain games.

The wheel is much better than my old mouse. My old mouse wheel was made out of silicone and had a smooth motion to it. The smooth motion was fine until the wheel would need oiled every couple of years, and the silicone lost its grip over time. The X5 wheel is made out of a rubber, and makes a quiet clicking motion when you use it. This makes it has more grip, and it should last longer than a smooth action wheel.

A couple things I do not like about the mouse are the orientation of the mouse, and the "sidewinder button." The Sidewinder button opens up the Games menu in Windows 7, and that is it. You can not program it. I would not have a use for that button, but someone looking for as many programmable buttons as possible would be disappointed with this. The other is the orientation. I am a right handed mouse user, so it does not bother me. However, some people are left handed, and I believe the X5 and X8 mice are right handed oriented which makes it almost impossible to use for left handed users. Other than that, it is very comfortable for any right handed user, providing you are holding a mouse properly.

If you are looking for a budget mouse, the X5 is the mouse to get. I would have gone with Logitech, but I have had too many friends having to replace their Logitech gaming mice every couple of years. Get this mouse, you won't be disappointed.

I've owned this mouse along with the Sidewinder X6 Keyboard for about a year. The mouse was easy to use, had a good UI to set the buttons, and was comfortable.

The only problem I ran into is it totally died and became unresponsive and not recognized by my PC just after a year of use. My keyboard is still going strong.

I really liked this mouse for everything it did, just wish it could hold up for longer.

I bought this for use at work. For the price, its an excellent mouse. Feels great, really surprised me, exceeded expectations. Has a nice click to it, good weight, very comfortable, and easy to use. Very quick and precise movement. Installed very quickly. Recommended.

Great product. Fits naturally into my hand, the extra buttons are well placed for gaming. Everything on the mouse feels very well put together. If you don't mind using a wired mouse, this is about as good as it gets for the price. The only negative I can think of is that the scroll mouse clicks each time that you move it. This doesn't really bother me, but some people may like a smoother scroll wheel.

purchased this mouse as a replacement for another microsoft mouse i had that quit on me. strangely later i hooked old mouse to laptop and it worked. o well. do like the sidewinder not quite as comfortable but not uncomfortable to use. do like the added buttons and speed adjustment for it. everybody that used my old mouse complained on how i had it set for. told them it was set the way i like it and if they werent so sketchy they could control its movement. lol. sidewinder has 3 dedicated buttons to switch speed on the fly. cool! also ordered keyboard to match, like it as well.