After spending weeks testing more than 30 different mice, the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike stands out as the best gaming mouse because of its unique haptic clicks, impeccable build quality, and comfortable shape.

But players with especially small hands or a modest budget should avoid my top pick. Here's why.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Gaming Mice

I started playing PC games and using gaming mice roughly 20 years ago, before I became a professional journalist. I have been writing about PC games for a decade and reviewing gaming mice for the past seven years, first at PC Gamer and more recently at IGN.

Since June 2025 I have been IGN's lead mice reviewer, and over the past year I have used dozens of devices, from expensive flagships to cheap wired ones and everything in-between.

I'm familiar with mice from the big-name brands like Razer and Logitech alongside lesser-known Chinese manufacturers such as MChose – which appears in this list – and ATK. My desk seems to be permanently stacked with mice, and even when I'm not reviewing them, I'm switching between them, comparing them, and playing with them in competitive shooters and slower strategy games.

Selection Criteria

To compile this guide I first created a long list of potential competitors, whittled that down to a shortlist, conducted extensive testing, and then picked the winners recommended below.

For my longlist, I wanted to include anything I thought had even a remote potential of winning.

Bluetooth has inherent latency that causes delays between your inputs and the action, so to be eligible for this list a mouse either must have a wire or a low-latency 2.4GHz wireless connection.

They also needed to have at least a 1,000Hz polling rate, which means the mouse reports its position to your PC 1,000 times a second (high-end mice go as high as 8,000Hz), ensuring smooth and responsive tracking. Below that, mice can feel jumpy and rough, especially in competitive scenarios. I've written a whole section about polling rate at the bottom of this list: what it is, why it matters, and whether it actually makes a difference.

Many of the other features you'll find on certain gaming mice – such as a dedicated button to switch DPI (dots per inch, a measure of sensitivity) setting or RGB lighting – are ones I consider entirely optional, and so I didn't mandate them. I'd rather get a mouse in my hand and test it in-game than rely on a list of features, so I cast the net fairly wide.

I also didn't set a requirement for a mouse's maximum DPI. You'll see DPIs in the tens of thousands on marketing material, but most people stick with a DPI of between 400 and 3200.

Mice that I had already reviewed and enjoyed went straight on the longlist – to find others, I spent days researching, picking the mice that were most frequently recommended by other people. More specifically, I read reviews and lists from other critics, both on IGN and elsewhere. I watched videos from YouTubers I trust, such as mel0nFPS, and dug into user-compiled lists and reviews in video comments, article comments and gaming subreddits. I often visit the MouseReview subreddit for work, so I had a sense of that community's recommended mice, but I also spent hours reading posts and comments.

My longlist was roughly 50 mice. I wanted to cut it in half for my shortlist.

For this, I jettisoned mice that were no longer widely available to buy: for instance, I love the Roccat Burst Core, which was a remarkable mouse for $20 when I reviewed it, but it's hard to find nowadays. I also eliminated mice when I found a reviewer I trusted clearly laying out an argument for why the mouse wasn't among the best (TechPowerUp's review of Corsair's M75 Air, for example, which I'd seen recommended elsewhere).

At this stage, I also created sub-categories of mice that I wanted to pick a winner in, because I knew this would help me trim my longlist. I knew, for example, that I didn't want to simply recommend all the flashiest flagship mice with the highest specs, because they tend to be the most expensive at $150 or more. I needed budget options: both a mid-range budget pick, roughly $60 or less, and an ultra-budget option, around $30 or less.

I also knew I needed a list that catered to everyone, regardless of preferences or hand size. I wanted, therefore, to include a specific category for people with small hands and a category to represent the best wired mice for those that prefer a lead (some people never want to charge their mouse).

Lastly, I wanted to include a specific category of ultra-lightweight mice of 40g or less, because I know some people want the lightest possible mouse.

With those categories in mind, I eliminated mice I knew had no chance of winning their respective category: for example, the Keychron M3 Mini is a very good mouse (I gave it an 8/10), but I knew that its tinny clicks would stop it winning.

With my shortlist finalized, I began testing.

How I Test Gaming Mice

A good gaming mouse is well-built, satisfying to use, and performs flawlessly in games of every genre, from point-and-click adventures to competitive multiplayer shooters.

But before I even jumped into any games, I tested the build quality, click feel and shape of each mouse in a systematic way.

I grabbed each mouse and squeezed various parts of the shell, hard, listening for creaking or displacement. I shook each one, checking for any rattles, which could indicate poor build quality.

Then, for every mouse, I tested each button one by one. The feel of mouse clicks is vital, especially for the main left and right buttons, because you're going to be pressing them hundreds of times over any given gaming session. I was assessing how it felt and sounded – was it satisfying to click? Was it too stiff or too light? Was the sound crisp, or flat, or hollow? I checked the integrity of each button, making sure none of them were loose or wobbly, and looked for any alarming amount of pre-travel (the distance the button moves before it clicks) or post-travel.

Next, I tested each mouse in three grip types: palm grip, fingertip grip, and claw grip. Whether a mouse fits your hand will depend on your hand shape, and I could only really assess if it was comfortable to me – my hands, for reference, are about 20cm long by 10cm wide, slightly larger than average for a man. But I used the website Eloshapes to see how the mouse compared to existing shapes that lots of people love (such as Logitech's G Pro series). I wanted a mouse that was comfortable in a variety of grip types and hand positions – and I knew I would further test them when I began playing.

With a mouse powered off, I moved it around my mousemat for a couple of minutes. I combined quick flicks with slower tracking and wide arcs. I closed my eyes and asked myself how it felt to use: was the glide smooth? Were the mouse feet particularly slow, or fast? Again, different people have different tastes, but the most important thing here is whether the mouse is consistent. Does it snag when moving it in a particular direction, indicating sub-optimal feet? Did it scratch my mousepad, suggesting those feet weren't properly mounted? I tested each mouse on three different mousemats from three different manufacturers (Steelseries, HyperX, and Corsair), which all have slightly different textures.

If after this initial testing I still liked the mouse, then I took it forward into three games: Counter Strike 2 for frequent intense firefights and rapid flicks, Marathon for a more movement-focused shooter, and the citybuilder Whiskerwood, a more casual game with slower mouse movement but lots and lots of clicking. For each mouse I spent roughly half an hour in each game – less if I could quickly tell it wasn't going to make the cut, more if I thought it might.

I used this process to build on my initial assessment of the mouse's shape, buttons, and movement, ensuring my judgments held up in game situations and for extended periods. But I was also testing performance. Could I detect any latency (delay) between my input and what happened on screen? Was my tracking responsive, smooth, and jitter-free? Essentially: did the mouse do what I wanted it to do, when I wanted it?

I tested mice at 1,000Hz polling rate by default, but if higher polling rates were supported I tested them in CS2 at 2,000Hz, 4,000Hz, and 8,000Hz, checking for any changes in performance. I stuck to the same DPI of 1,600 throughout.

Finally, I assessed the device's battery life against a manufacturer's claims. Modern gaming mice have battery lives of 50 hours or more, with many over 100 hours, so fully depleting the battery wasn't viable. I therefore searched online for both critic and user tests to ensure those manufacturer claims stacked up. I also timed my own use of the mouse, noting the battery life before and after, to make sure the drain rate was in line with what it should be.

Best Gaming Mouse

Logitech Pro X2 SuperStrike

Our Top Pick

Logitech Pro X2 SuperStrike

A solid Logitech shape and sensor, but the new Haptic Inductive Trigger System – HITS for short – makes it special. By replacing traditional mouse switches with analog sensors, Logitech delivers clicks that feel fantastic and adjust to your preferences.

Product Specifications

Connectivity

2.4GHz Wireless up to 8K polling rate (Lightspeed), USB wired

Sensor / DPI

Logitech Hero 2 (up to 44,000 DPI)

Battery life

Up to 90 hours

Weight

61g

PROS

Customizable haptic clicks are revolutionary

Comfortable, safe shape for most hands

Responsive sensor

CONS

Expensive

Drains battery faster than most flagships

Its haptic tech is the biggest innovation for a decade. The Pro X2 Superstrike’s Haptic Inductive Trigger System (HITS) is genuinely transformative. It swaps on/off mouse switches on the main left and right clicks for an analog system that detects the position of each button from the moment you apply pressure. It tracks my movements through the entirety of a click: if I press halfway down, come up a fraction, press three-quarters of the way down, then back to halfway, then let go, it knows the button position at every step. That has big implications for click latency, click speed, feel, and customization.

Its rumbles feel fantastic, and are fully customizable. Haptic feedback replaces the usual ping of a click. It only took me about 30 minutes to get used to it: now, I absolutely love the gentle rumble of its button presses. The best thing about it is that, unlike regular mice, you can pick the exact strength of the feedback from five levels. I've settled on 1, the weakest, a lovely gentle buzz with every click – but if you prefer something more forceful, you can turn it up to five to give your fingers a firm prod. I've loved fiddling with the settings, and it feels like the most personal of the mice on my desk.

Clicks register faster than any other mouse. Because HITS tracks my clicks from the moment you start pressing, they register instantly. In CS2, it feels like my finger is practically connected to my on-screen weapon. As with everything in HITS it's fully customizable: you can move the "actuation point" so that clicks register when the button is 20% pressed, 60% pressed, or whatever level feels comfortable. I've kept it on the lowest setting because I love its immediacy.

You can spam clicks rapidly thanks to "rapid trigger". This is the third element of HITS, after haptics and actuation point. Basically, I don't need to fully let go of the mouse button before I click again, and as long as I'm moving up and down it'll register, so I can basically just waggle my fingertip for fast presses. I get about one extra click per second compared to other mice I'm testing, which is substantial and makes a difference in shooters with semi-automatic weapons: I can fire my Marathon pistol faster than ever before.

Its shape is tried and tested, and fits most hands. Logitech recycles this shape across its Pro lineup because it's a safe, simple design that users love. It felt completely natural in whatever grip I used. My preferred grip is palm, and its gentle curve filled my hand perfectly – but I've also spent days using it in both claw or fingertip grips, and finding a comfortable position was simple. Users with smaller hands will enjoy the shape, too, judging by other reviews I've read – although if your hands are much smaller than average you may need to look elsewhere.

It's gorgeous. The white body, black keys and sparse decals create a unique, futuristic aesthetic. On multiple occasions people who saw it on my desk immediately asked about it, and wanted to pick it up, which almost never happens with a gaming mouse.

Its sensor is blazing-fast. The reliable Logitech Hero 2, used in several Logitech flagships, is one of the best around on paper – up to 44,000 DPI, 888 inches per second of tracking, and 88G of max acceleration – and it feels surgical in my hand. I hit accurate flick-shots in CS2, and in Whiskerwood my pointer always ended up where I wanted. I've used this mouse for months without a single issue: no stutters or hitches, just flawless tracking.