Aight so my room mate is a lefty with super tiny hands. For her last two mice she used ROCCATS. First a Lua, then a Kova 2016 iirc. She’s hella attached to it but after several rebuild mod butcher jobs and switch replacements the time is nigh!
So I’m looking for a solid left handed mouse [wired], fairly small and light, preferably with some RGB, more than just two thumb buttons and obviously Linux support. OpenRGB/Ratbag/Piper whatever works.
Buyer guides are always Windowscentric and seem to love recommending mice long discontinued. I had toyed with the Razer Naga left handed but you can only buy it from their crappy site for an obscene price…at least in my country. That said the last time I tried openrazer it didn’t work worth le poop. The Corsair M55 RGB Pro was my second thought. Input on build quality and how well CKB works would be appreciated.
As a last note please don’t recommend one of those whacky vertical mice…she’d (try) to stab me in the eye if she went out to her desk and found one of those wrapped in a bow.
Sure but what The Corsair I mentioned is ambi…so was her Lua and the Kova as well…so you recommend she should use a mouse brand mouse model mouse mouse mouse? Again ;p
As a fellow Roccat fan, I can say that I tried switching away from Roccat, when the Leadr(wired version, cannot recall the name) was gone from the shelves.
Now I have 3 roccat mice - kone air for home, kone xp for work… and a kone aimo in the drawer (still trying to figure out how to solve the softplastic dilemma).
I tried Razer (Basilisk V2). It’s good, but it doesn’t come close to how good Roccat sits in the hand.
Also a Corsair IronClaw. Same. Simply does not sit that well in the hand. Also the button position “think through” is far from what Roccat does.
Although I’m not sure if Roccat did/does left handed mice, and if the “pedal” was in use, plus I’m the opposite in terms of hand size - mine can be compared to a bear’s palm…
@Draaksward Yeah I don’t think they ever made an egro lefty. I’m a Roccat user too. Kone XTD Optical. I had mine for years and some parts died. I liked it so much I just bought parts and a new one to use while waiting for parts. The new one died right away so I RMA’d it but by then the model was long gone & they sent me an EMP as replacement. EMP is pretty crap compared to the XTD and no Linux support. Comically I rebuilt my XTD and have still be using it for years more but recently more crap died and so I’m back to the EMP waiting on parts again.
As for the hand fit stuff her Kova is too big for her but she gets by and loves it all the same. My XTD is also too small for my hand but still better than most. I’m sure she will hate whatever I surprise her with just because the muscle memory will be different since no other mice, right/left/ambi have those top positioned Kova switches she uses for her games. This is kinda one of those she’ll just have to relearn things situations. Sadly it will be the same for me if I can’t get my XTD back up. Very few if no current mice have the number of buttons of a XTD.
@positroned No 3D printer here. I did think about the mouse from scratch but printing, electronics, drivers…just too much PITA for me anymore. That said in theory it would be fairly easy to mod about any mouse with a custom frame if I had a 3D printer. I know OpenRGB can do some HyperX but I don’t know about button mapping for them. They are a very “Windows only” brand.
For as little lefty input as I’ve got so far I’m glad no one has suggest Logitech. I used to use their eWaste but from the $30 to $150 they all died so fast it would make your head spin. I was talking about mouse issues with my dad a while back and how Logitech was basically a subscription mouse with how you had to rebuy one every month they break so fast…then like a week later the Logitech CEO came out with some BS about actually doing a subscription plan…so a long winded way to say please no Logitech recommends heh. I can’t afford $100 a month in Tariff / price gouge adjusted dollars for a disappointing present heh.
Sadly this all kinda smacks like Wendell with his keyboards. He’s done some whacky crap to bring them back to life and modernize them. The same needs to be done once you find something like a mouse with the hand fit, functionality and such that you love but man I just don’t have it in me (or the resources) to take such drastic measures.
follows the design of XTD. I know Roccat removed some of its models (and I’m not sure if Turtle Beach will not fully close the Roccat line), but they still made new versions. And I had this one for I think 2 years now, and hope it will last at least as much longer.
For the linux support. Well. I configure the mice (like I said, I have several) on windows, after which use it with linux. Maybe there is a tool to config it on linux, but never questioned it.
This is the thing. I tried moving away from Roccat. But other vendors simply do not have that one engineer, who set during nights, trying to polish where to properly put the buttons. My muscle memory did the same thing when I was trying other cool vendors. But, as silly as it may sound, I moved firstly to
Same story with my several Leadr mice. When they went out of stock, I continued repairing one of them with the parts of the other, till the moment I finally gave up.
Roccat is long dead…like dead dead. Turtle Beach bought and killed. Just soaked up various R&D/Patents bla bla.
None of those new Roccat mice work under Linux. The Roccat drivers were ditched years ago because of a few shifts. [read: The good engineer left] In theory ratbag can do some things but I have never found it worked for anything. This is kinda why the Razer/Corsair were the only two I could find that in theory might be OK. A recent update for CKB added the specific M55 RGB.
I agree about the old Roccat engineering. The Roccats where the only mice (several models in the house) that track through cat fur and various other detritus…[read: mud prints hehe] I’ve done all sorts of little mods to fill in worn plastic, replaced switches and jerry rigged packages over the years to keep the XTD and Kova going but her mouse wheel is really bad and the rotary encoder isn’t typically an easy fix.
My XTD is also having memory issues but so far I’ve been able to bring it back from the dead. While I’m not itching to change at least I have options being right handed…she really has the s_it end of the stick. I really don’t know why no one makes mice where you can just move crap around. I was always interested in the R.A.T. mice for hand fit but it should be easy to allow users to swap panels. You see in on some mice these days but never to any worth while degree. Certainly nothing that lets you make the mouse right or left. I’ve always wanted a little “pinky wing” as my hands are too big and my pinky often trips up smooth rightward movement. Anyhow I think I’ll risk the Corsair and see what shakes out. It’s half the price of the silly Razer with better customer service via the purchase point. Plus if I don’t nab it fast the prices might go insane. I might not be in the US but no business lets a good gouge opportunity go to waste.
Can’t argue much with that, but I think (maybe it was triggered by the new mouse I installed for configuration) TurtleBeach released a Swarm update this week.
But the real issue here is that in the era of Leadr I asked people around for a few month. Here, reddit, and a few other places… and got nothing. Only that one highly pricey fully configurable mouse, which was popular in that time period. What was it… Swiftpoint Z
This is why I am suggesting to have a look at what is still left with Roccat label.
Because like with other “gaming” stuff, “The Gaming” was the previous buzz word (just like AI), and “GAMING” was the category to which the majority of vendors started to make most of their product. And again… “G.A.M.I.N.G”(just because gaming is the way).
Modern mice strive for two things - less weight and MOAR rgb (if your toilet seat doesn’t do rgb, it means that you’re not “going #2” as good as you should. Pity on you!). Most don’t care about functionality, comfort (you’ll get used to it!), panels (although Razer does have switchable panels).
Although I managed to go with the “not the most recent” Corsair mouse, I can’t say good things about the one I have in my drawer. Soft touch fell apart, actually bad battery life. And I’m saying this as a person, who actually bought Corsair’s K100 Air (which turned out to be awesome), and before that a k95 platinum.
One thing I can say good in regards to Razer is that they did a good job in terms of soft touch. Although I used it for a few months, and from there on I pulled it out of the drawer only for some side system, it’s still looking and feels as the day I bought it. And it was… I think before Covid.
(Sorry I’m not quoting as I go, just reading on one screen responding on another.)
Yeah TB is still supporting but it’s limited as stock runs out for RMA and software will be phased out later. I had a talk with someone at Roccat just before things wound down.
I saw the “Uber Mouse” but man the price!
Trust me I get the gimmick stuff. I had to cheap out on my current workstation mobo and despite being a “pro” board still I have more F’ing RGB headers than I do fan headers…Look man when it sets itself on FIRE from no fans I’ll have all the light I need…I hate the whole “Gaming” buzz word crap. However a lot of the “Gaming” features of my mouse I use for coding heh. Tilt mouse wheel is also rare but I can’t live without it for code.
The less weight bit drives me nuts. I want my mouse to be heavier. My XTD with all the weights is still too light for me. That said I do like the RGB not for RGB sake but it shows me what mode/settings I’m on.
Yeah the Razer I was looking at has switchable panels but they all suck. The one you WANT to use (the side numberpad) is useless because the mouse forces you to use claw grip so anytime you lift you press crap you don’t want to press. I kinda low key hate Razer.
Well as for things like the battery life this is why I am looking for wired. I’ve got a lot of reasons for staying wired but much like “GAMING” and RGB wireless is also a blight. I get it, no catches, clean desk bla bla bla…and more crap you have to worry about being charged. More crap that can die when you need it. I HATE how everything is wireless and uses it’s own batteries these days. Yup you know what I need? More fire hazards in my house! This is also an issue if say your mobo doesn’t have on board BT/Wifi. So if you need in your BIOS, tough crap. Go dig out some cheap wired keyboard because all this wireless crap won’t work.
Speaking of…the last Logitech mouse I had was their most expensive at the time and wireless. Battery had an eco mode that was supposed to do 3 days on a charge. I couldn’t get through a session of Team Fortress 2 before it died. There was lots of angry users I later found out as the battery couldn’t make it a day under light use. So…you had to leave the GD thing wired anyhow…but you paid for Wireless…
I’ve got a buddy who has a lot of Razer stuff and he’s super not technical. Windows guy, knows nothing about his computer other than “it play game.” He uses the razer stuff he has because it did what he wanted but he always complains about it breaking and the next version is crappier than the one it’s replacing. Kinda like the logitech cheap so it breaks and we sell volume schpeel.
@GoldenAngel1997 That’s all .com I’m not in the US heh. I did find a cheaper wired one but sold my sketchydealz.scam as the seller. If the M55 doesn’t work out maybe I’ll wait and see if I can find one of those to try.
The other crap thing is there are no longer stores where you can go put your hand on it and collect germs…I mean see how it fits. There used to be several stores in town that had little Razer displays where you could go see how a mouse fit your hand but man that was a LONG time ago.
So for comic effect (and scale) my roommate used to use one of those little mobile mice…like 3 or 4 inches long with a little wind up spring deal in the cord.
Today I struck on a Reddit thread that Roccat is finally closed. That made me think that I will buy a second XP Air and put it in a closet. Just to have one extra, when Roccat fully vanishes from the shelf.
I get it. My “extra” mice buttons operate for stuff like music playback control, volume (the default wheel). And only after it goes for everything else. I kinda forgot about the wheel tilt… although never found myself using it.
Well. If you actually have a functional purpose for it, then yeah…
A few month ago I’ve build a second system, for work (finally gave up on corporate laptops). Went for Ryzen… and Ryzen supported Ram, which turned out to be RGB (I only looked for Kingston memory, since I have been using it for close to 10 years with zero problems). I thought I could disable the RGB in Linux. GUESS AGAIN. And the fun part is that, even after using layers of isolation tape, there are still corners, to which I cannot approach. And the system sits in Suspend, shining (although very dim) like a monument to the degenerate era. And I don’t wish to try my luck with trying to disassemble the ram stick to plug out the darn thing.
That pretty much summs it up. If you have grown custom to Roccat’s “pedal”, I can tell that the mice I’ve tried, although tried to mimick it, failed poorly.
Well. Again for that XP Air I gave a link upper. I charge it once a week. And I am using it between two devices (actually was using it for two devices, but had to switch to a separate wired one due to linux bt issues).
Yeah. I get it. Charged my wristband clock, my tooth brush, my headphones, my mouse, my keyboard, my phone… my other phone (because at some point I realized that I’m fed up with keeping the working auth and crap on my personal phone, wondering where the battery goes). And wonder what I forgot to charge…
Well. For this I can say that I am really happy with my keyboard and mouse purchases. I charge it once a week(the keyboard I think even longer). And I still have an option to simply plug a usb-c and continue using it (I have a usb hub on my desk).
BT doesn’t carry to BIOS. It’s initialized in OS. Both wireless kb and mouse have 2.4Ghz dongles.
Well, yeah, can’t argue with this one. I remember the days when I was a kid, and there was a gas lighter lying on the group during a hot sunny day. One of us (kids) picked it up and threw it against the ground - it simply blew up (we found a new game…).
@Draaksward Tilt wheel is kinda my -must have-. I set it to home and end and with the shift pgup/down. I use a lot of my shift buttons for media stuff but I can live without it.
Some of the games I play I adapted to be mouse only for when a cat has a hand tied up. So the RGB shows I’m on the setting for this game or that game or writing or coding…That said a simple seven segment display with a profile number would do just as good.
Thankfully I’ve never owned RAM with RGB. Kinda surpised openRGB doesn’t have your back. I know for like ZEN Wraith coolers you had to plug in a little molex deal and connect to a USB header on the board then OpenRGB would be able to control it…or shut it off. I’ve used a lot of Corsair Vengence the last decade. I do like RGB on my fans just because it’s a lot easier to see power state from a distance. That said I only have one machine with RGB in the fans and it’s a fixed color. None of this unicorn puke silliness.
I know there are some things that are wireless and OK and battery tech gets better. I just hate the idea of still needing wired anyhow (for BIOS etc), fire hazard, connection delays/lag/stutter and so on. It’s not for me but as time goes on…For example you can’t buy mp3 players anymore. Well you can but they are like $1000k “I’m an audiophile” gimmick crap or cheap knock off stuff that probably has firmware viruses ready and waiting. However if you could buy an mp3 player still…wired headphones are almost extinct…everything is going wireless, eWaste. More crap to lose, more crap to throw away because the battery isn’t user servicable. I just don’t like where things are going. Now excuse me I have a cloud to yell at. I don’t need a F_cking subscription for my toothbrush. My Fridge does not need G_d d_amn wifi and I’ll plug my MuvaFvking mouse and keyboard in with a CABLE THE WAY SATAN INTENDED!
I always played Pyro/Enginie or Demo. Comically back when I still did that music thing my last album release I’d make my spray the album cover, change my name to the website and and spray behind my turrent. So when I killed someone BLAM! Free promo heh.
If your “up to a week” you mean with your Roccat yeah I just mean my past with Logitech is it’s just cheap disposable trash at premium prices. Comically my roommates keyboard (also bought by me) IS wireless. Back to that whole some wired things going extinct I couldn’t find a good match for her needs other than the one I got, which just happened to be wireless. There are a few newer Roccat’s like your she’s likes but again, there are no drivers. Basically any Roccat model after I think 2017 has no support other than Windows.
To the “Snort Snort” I’d say more of a console vibe. He 100% only uses his computer to play games. So his mind set is basically like a console player. His logic for not actually buying consoles is the games suck. Which is a fancy way of saying there is no Tarkov or EVE on console. He’s too cheap to go Apple even if he had a reason. Also there is no EVE or Tarkov on Apple.
I’ve been happy with the Pulsar X2A just to throw another option in there for you. It is wireless but I believe they make a wired edition now and it’s a lot nicer than the logitech G300 I had been using.
Options are always welcome simply because it seems like you never know how long something lasts. Which prompts a rebuy and probably not of the same thing if it craps out super fast…again glaring at Logitech heh.
The Corsair I mentioned is ambi…so was her Lua and the Kova as well…so you recommend she should use a mouse brand mouse model mouse mouse mouse? Again ;p
