12 replies to this topic

[Kizami z3r0]

My work normally requires me to be at my desk and around the keyboard a lot. Sadly though constant typing and repetitive hand movement I'm afraid has led to some rather painful results. I tend to frequently suffer from Something called R.I.S Repetitive stress injury where some parts of the muscles in my hands will flare from doing the same thing over and over again.

Anyways Being a big fan of the Mechwarrior series since pretty much day one. My current mouse is plenty fine for gaming Its just that holding it can get very uncomfortable for me. So i figured i would be among friends asking this so here in lies the question.

Trying to find a reasonably priced mouse and keyboard replacements that wont break my tight budget but will still feel comfy enough to grip and feel like a gaming mouse that doesn't break the bank.

[Omigir]

I do not know, but I wish you the best of luck in finding something! Its not right to meet a warrior in battle who is not at full strength.

[xDark]

Why not a throttle and joystick?

[Creovex]

As a big Mechwarrior fan, I am suprised to hear you are not pushing hard for the return of joystick dominance?? This would easily give you a break on the wrists however the support for joysticks like the Saitek x52 and so forth is rather... limited to say the least. (Rather sluggish)

Honestly, to answer you question, nothing performs like a gaming mouse. You can scale it back and go for a simpler, lighter mouse, yet you will miss the extra buttons. Just go to a store and start grabbing away till you find something you can live with. Best of luck!

[Adrienne Vorton]

yea, as creo says... sadly, joysticks (at least in reasonable priceranges) are not nearly as precise as a gaming mouse... i never tried a high DPI mouse-pen though, but those tend to have not too many buttons^^ dunno if they can be used for games anyway...

there is hope, that PGI will get controllers like the X52 to a good performance level, since that razor artemis thingy is basically similar to those HOTAS throttle/ Joystick combinations...

and i know exactly what you mean...since i am 24/7 at the computer now (work, school and MWO^^), my mousehand starts to build up a CTS, getting worse from time to time now... so i am hoping for joysticks becoming worth using asap

Edited by Adrienne Vorton, 26 September 2012 - 10:37 PM.

[Kizami z3r0]

Actually i have to ask. But i keep seeing this thing mentioning 2000DPI... Wondering if anyone can shed any light on that.

Edited by Kizami z3r0, 26 September 2012 - 11:31 PM.

[ReiverBlue]

DPI is dots per inch (or at least it was ), basically the sensitivity of the mouse. At 2000DPI it can sense 2000 different positions per inch of travel on the desk. Polling is a little different, this is the number of times the mouse reports it's information/position per second (e.g. polling of 125Hz means 125 times per second, 500Hz is 500 times a second etc).

I've been considering an IR head tracking set. This can be set up to behave like a mouse. You have 3 or more infra red leds arranged in a certain pattern attached to a headset or hat. In combination with a desk mounted sensor can pick up your heads position with 6 degrees of freedom (sometimes written as 6DOF) that the PC can translate into mouse movement. A commercial example of this is the TrackIR. There are some tutorials on making a home made one but does require some soldering and mucking about but can be substantially cheaper.

The head tracking movement is amplified so that a slight turn of the head moves the mouse or view a greater distance. Normally the difference is 40 degrees head movement to 180 degrees game movement, but this can be set up/calibrated to your preferences.

The keyboard could be replaced (for gaming) with a gamepad such as the Logitech G13 or the Razer Nostromo (I use this one - it's been brilliant). Unfortunately these are quite pricey (£60/$100 and £40/$65) but reconditioned ones can be found on Ebay, Amazon etc

Hope that helps

[Adrienne Vorton]

in addition to reiver´s post, just to give you some relations...

a normal mouse for office purposes has about 640 - 800 DPI, so a 2000 (2400?) DPI mouse is alot more precise... my gaming mouse has about 2800 i think, and it´s precise enough for most scenarios (have some problems with sniping on very small very far targets in some games, since it tends to "jump over" a few "pixels" ...more DPI normally means eleminating that effect more and more...)

[arkani]

try this:

Razer Hydra

[jamochuon]

I'm using Tracer Diablo ATM. It's unbelievably cheap (bought it for 30PLN= roughly 10$), has 2 additional buttons and provides player with precision of 1600DPI which I find sufficient for my gaming needs. But I'm in no way FPS pro.
For this price there are many similar mice of different shape, I chose this one cause it's big enough for my hands and has place to rest your thumb on covered with rubber. Just go to the shop and take what suits you best.

[baddabigboom]

Kizami z3r0 -

First off, I'll admit that I haven't read the full on length of this forum post, but I did read yours and skimmed the rest... I wanted to offer up what I've found, maybe it'll help.

I'm kinda like you, I spend nearly all of my day at a computer working on websites and other tech solutions. For my work keyboard / mouse set up, I use a Logitech wired illuminated keyboard with extremely low profile keys. My mouse is a Logitech Performance MX90. It's a pretty good set up as the keyboard doesn't require a lot of effort to hit the keys and the mouse kinda wraps around my thumb, and I've got big hands. But also like you I get wrist problems... I've used the Saitek X52 joystick combo, but also like everyone else, I'm not really sure where to start in listing all of the issues with the joystick - lag, y-axis always seems to be backwards, etc.... This leads me to what I'm using.

Try a keyboard and Track Ball mouse setup. Depending on the trackball you use, you may be able to keep a number of the mouse clicks, maybe even add some, and it really limits the wrist problems because you don't need to move your wrist/arm/hand around the table as much.

Good luck

[Joe3142]

I have been using a Razer Mamba since around feburary, and to be quite honest it is not worth £100 in my opinion so steer well clear of Razer. I am very careful with it and it kind of falls to bits, like the finger rests are glued on with goochy nasty glue that seeps out of the sides, and don't seem to be dry.

I have used alot of logitech products and find their quality hard to beat, and well worth the money

The Logitech G700 is a good, comfortable mouse, and is not too expensive.

For a keyboard, you probably want a mechanical one, such as a SteelSeries 6G or something.

As for DPI, I never use over 1500 otherwise I loose my mouse cursor

Edited by Joe3142, 07 October 2012 - 02:26 PM.

[MacBruce]

Specific question--Can I map my keyboard keys to suit my play style?

I'm left-handed, and a couple of decades of gaming (Team Fortress, anyone?) has wired my brain to use my right hand on the (right side) number pad instead of WASD, and my left hand on the mouse. When I signed up for the closed beta some time ago, I discovered that the game (in beta) didn't permit key customization, or at least that's what I recall. I utterly sucked doing it WASD-style. It was so bad I deleted the program.

I just today stumbled across MW news about the upcoming "new" beta, and I'm willing to try again. But only if key customization is now supported. Hopefully, joysticks are also supported.

I hope my original beta application, and whatever "Founder" perks I might have accrued, can also be resurrected, though that's not essential.

Have fun out there! Aim at someone else, I'm friendly!

Edited by MacBruce, 27 October 2012 - 02:26 PM.