Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent entry level gaming mouse, but better mice out there for serious use, January 16, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
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.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very responsive mouse not just for gamers, March 18, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
When it comes to mice, I have always been picky. Since I touch the mouse more time than any other computer peripherals, I have chosen the best mouse available on the market if I can. That is why I am using a Logitech MX Revolution as my first choice. I have been using many different kinds of mice, however, I have never used a gaming mouse. I happened to have a chance to own a Microsoft SideWinder X5 mouse and would like to share the experience. I am not a avid gamer, so this brief review would be one from a non-gamer's perspective.
From the first look, I thought that this mouse looks the best if it sits on Batman's desk. It really has a Batman look, and I would not be surprised if I see this mouse in the next Batman movie. And the red lights coming out from two places in the bottom look pretty cool. If you actually grip it, you would immediately recognize that the mouse was not made of the best plastic material you can get. The material used to build a mouse is just OK. When you grip it, your thumb naturally lies on the two vertical buttons in the left side. These buttons pop out more than the thumb buttons you can find on different mice. However, if you need to consistently use it (ex. for gaming), you can recognize the buttons easily and press it faster. The problem is that while you are using this mouse for normal usage, you might press it by mistake. As a matter of fact, I did it several times. These buttons are programmable, so you can assign any action you like for your favorite games.
At first time, I was wondering what the real benefit of 3 buttons in line on the top of the mouse for a on-the-fly dpi switching. By pressing each button, you can change the sensitivity of the mouse action from 200 to 2,000 dpi. I do not play games often, however, this feature really helps me to do my everyday work. I use two big LCD monitors side by side (dual display) and can use on-the-fly dpi switching to move between two monitors very fast. And I change the sensitivity at any time using different applications without opening any setup windows to change the parameters. Once you get used to it, you can switch it very fast. For the gamers who need faster actions than others, they would definitely love this.
Most buttons on the X5 are a little bit too clicky for me. Microsoft says the left and right (main) buttons last for 10 million clicks, so the FPS game lovers do not need to worry too much about the longevity of buttons. As a matter of fact, I tried to click the buttons as crazy as possible and it seem like the buttons were durable (of course I can hardly reach to even 100,000 clicks). There are 5 plastic feet attached at the bottom of the mouse (most of my mice have 4 feet) and those are very smooth. I have a good feeling to slide the mouse in any direction. The quick launch button that brings up the games built in Windows would be useful for the people enjoying solitaire and mine sweeper on a daily basis. I know that the X5 offers macros to do multiple jobs in a single click; however, I did not try it.
I know that this is not a gaming mouse with lots of bells and whistles such as a Logitech G9 or a Microsoft SideWinder X8. However, I think it will fit most gamers nicely. This mouse focuses mainly on fast actions, durability and several programmable buttons that I think are most important for a gaming mouse. In addition, the X5 is the most responsive mouse I have ever used. I would not replace my MX Revolution with the X5, however, I would recommend the X5 for anyone looking for a good gaming mouse at a reasonable price.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good But Imperfect Mouse, January 15, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
There are a lot of "premium" mice out there. Gone are the days when a mouse was nothing more than functional. We now have great expectations. We want mice to have multitudes of buttons, each of which can be customized in whatever way we deem fit; we want the mouse fit comfortably in our hands; we want the mouse to track perfectly for whatever task we are doing; and we want it all for a great price. Microsoft and Logitech are the leaders in this field and are constantly sparring, each trying to outdo the other. The latest entry in the field is the SideWinder X5. At $34, the mouse is quite reasonably priced. It is actually very similar to the previous SideWinder gaming mouse and is really just a version of that mouse offering reduced (and somewhat different) functionality. Like its predecessor, it is targeted squarely at the gaming market. Hence it offers very high (and adjustable) DPI up to 2000. It also has a moisture resistant coating for those high-stress gaming moments (you know the ones) and a new button design that is both responsive and durable. Overall the feature set is quite impressive. However, it does come with some caveats. Primarily, the mouse just doesn't feel quite right. It feels, in a word, cheap. It is light in the hand and feels as if it won't last as long as you might want. It also does not offer all the customizing options you'd like to see.
So what do you have? You've got a mouse that performs well but doesn't feel quite right. It offers a few advantages over the original SideWinder, but potentially not enough to make it worth the switch. If you're a fan of the Microsoft mice (and, like me, have grown weary of Logitech's near-constant driver issues, especially with Vista), this may be a good route to go, even while you continue to dream about the *perfect* mouse.
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