| Wireless Type | 5.8 GHz Radio Frequency, 802.11a/b/g/n |
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Customer reviews
Photography is my career, it’s how I make my living. While this is a gaming mouse, I became interested in it because several trusted professional photographic sources listed it as one of the best choices for photo editing and retouching. They also addressed the most obvious question why not use a graphics tablet. I do but like so many other photographers I don’t always find a graphics tablet natural or intuitive to use for certain tasks.WHAT TO LOOK FORGaming mice have at least two features that can make them a good choice for photo editing. One is precision, have you ever tried to draw a circle with a mouse? Drawing a circle freehand isn’t easy anyway but it’s a good test if a pointing device can move with precision. This one is one of the best I’ve tried for being able to move it precisely. One of the other top characteristics a mouse needs is low lag, which also happens to be a key feature for gamers. The cheap wired mouse that came with my computer has less lag than any wireless mouse I’ve owned. This one is impressive, it doesn’t need to “wake up” when you start to move it. Having multiple macro buttons is an advantage as well, although not a necessity.WHY LOGITECHOr I should say why not Logitech. I’ve owned at least 10 Logitech mice and have a love/hate relationship with them. They generally feel the best physically in-hand and have a solid construction. But they are legend for not lasting long and some of the most rock bottom customer support I’ve ever encountered, and of course being expensive. I fought getting this one but switching brands wasn’t working out for me either (I’ve bought 5 mice just this year). The only reason I gave in is for whatever reason they had it priced down with the cheapies so if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be out much.DOES IT WORKHow well it works is subjective. I understand that the typical person reading this is more likely to be a gamer and I’m not one, my entire evaluation is based on how well it works for photo editing. As mentioned it feels good in the hand, neither too small nor too large. The shape of the lip on the left side gives it a good sense of control and the shape of the L/R buttons helps reduce one of the most common issues of accidentally pressing them. That lip actually serves two purposes, one is to use my thumb to vary the amount of downward pressure on the mouse which can be very helpful in keeping it from skidding when I’m making very tiny moves. The other is that using that same thumb I can lift up on the mouse to reposition it, which is almost impossible with any mouse that’s shaped like a beetle – I have one mouse that falls out of my hand whenever I try to lift it.Being able to change resolutions instantly is a big plus for editing tasks and I find I am doing just that several times while working on a project. While researching pro photographers preferences I also found that the SteelSeries mouse pad SteelSeries QcK Mini Gaming Mouse Pad was one of the top choices so I got one at the same time, and it’s true, a mousepad makes a lot of difference and this one works perfectly for smooth precision tracking and minimizing lag. It’s available in several large sizes, a benefit for graphics work.I can’t think of any downsides yet. I’ll keep my expectations low of it lasting more than a year but if it does I’ll be happy.
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