Best wireless gaming mice: Tested and approved

Now that wireless gaming mice are just as fast and feature-packed as their wired counterparts, going wireless can be a smart move, giving you greater flexibility as a gamer. But before you cut loose and buy one, it’s worth noting they’re not all alike. You’ll still need to consider factors like weight, dots per inch (DPI), and battery life which can be telling factors in how your gaming mouse performs and ultimately how you will perform in games.

Our expert reviewers have put these mice through their paces, testing them across a range of scenarios, and over extended periods of time. Below are the results of that effort. While these are the current best wireless gaming mice available, for a no holds barred list, including both wired and wireless models, be sure to check out PCWorld’s all-inclusive selection of the best gaming mice.

How we test wireless gaming mice

To make sure our wireless gaming mice picks are the best of the best, the PCWolrd team puts them through a legion of tests. We look at everything from how well they’ve been designed and perform in games, to the suite of software that helps you personalize them. Here’s a list of the main categories our tests fall under:

• Design and ergonomics: Here we factor in the mouse’s physical characteristics, including its shape, styling, buttons, and RGB lighting (if any). We also consider how comfortable it is, what size hands it fits and, importantly, what grip type it will ideally suit (palm, fingertip, or claw). Last of all, we consider how tough it is, including how likely it is to survive the rigors of gaming life.
• Wireless performance: This is the fun part of our testing where we get to try out our mouse in a bunch of games, while at the same time evaluating factors like its tracking accuracy, sensitivity, and how fast it reacts to our movements. We’re testing the mouse’s sensor in a big way here, but also our mouse’s wireless, and or Bluetooth connectivity.
• Software support: What you can actually achieve with your wireless gaming mouse sometimes comes down to what its supporting software allows. When testing our mouse’s software app we consider how easy it is to navigate, change settings, program buttons, set up profiles for games, and make changes to RGB lighting (if any).

How to pick a wireless gaming mouse

Connectivity: Wireless or Bluetooth or both?

Most people know that a wired gaming mouse connects to your PC via a USB port and wireless gaming mouse via a wireless dongle or Bluetooth connection, but which one is best?

The truth is there’s not such a great deal of difference anymore. For many years wired mice had a performance edge in games due to their lower input lag. However, just about all wireless gaming mice now feature 2.4GHz connectivity which provides a reliable low-latency connection in games and performance that’s comparable to their wired counterparts. Some wireless gaming mice also have dual connectivity with Bluetooth and let you switch between the two, but not always. While it’s true that the 2.4GHz connection is faster and more stable than a Bluetooth connection, latency isn’t everything. Bluetooth is compatible with more devices and offers dongle-less connection on the go, so it can be a handy-to-have feature if you plan on using your device for school or work.

Is my mouse’s sensor really important?

A gaming mouse’s sensor is the the number one hardware component that determines how well a mouse performs in games. The sensor decides the mouse’s tracking speed and accuracy, two factors we scrutinize in our tests. The main spec to look for in any sensor is dpi (dots per inch), which tells you how well the mouse’s sensor reports movement per inch of physical movement. The newest wireless gaming mice have dpi ranging from 12,000 to 20,000, with higher numbers indicating mice with greater sensitivity.

While a lot of fuss is made about dpi in manufacturer brochures, there’s really no perfect dpi for gaming, it being largely a personal choice. While it can’t hurt to have the best, unless you’re a professional esports gamer you probably won’t need a 20,000 dpi sensor. In reality, even 12,000 dpi provides decent performance in games.

Orientation: right, left, or ambidextrous?

Are you left- or right-handed, or ambidextrous? For practicality’s sake the answer to this question should inform your choice when buying a wireless gaming mouse. That way you’ll get a better fit to your hand shape and the buttons will be within reach of your fingers. While most of our wireless gaming mice reviews will be for right-handed mice, simply because that’s what most people use, we’ll endeavor to bring you left-handed and ambidextrous mice reviews when possible.

What grip type do I use?

How you grip your mouse is not something you’ve probably given much thought to—just like you don’t give much thought to how you hold your fork when you eat. Still, it can be important since you’ll want to get a mouse that fits your specific grip type. The three main grip types are:

Palm grip: This is the most common type of mouse grip among gamers. It’s also the most comfortable for long gaming sessions since it puts more of your hand in contact with your mouse and prevents tension in your wrist. For palm grippers, long, flat mice tend to be a better fit and more comfortable.

Claw grip: If you use a claw grip, you’re arching your palm over the mouse to make a claw shape. This grip is popular in the e-sports community, especially among FPS players, since it allows you to make quick wrist movements—useful for sweeping attacks on targets. It does however clench the wrist and cause some tension there. Narrower and smaller mice suit a claw grip.

Fingertip grip: This grip provides you the least amount of control but the most dexterity for aiming. Gamers who use this grip mainly use just their fingertips on the left and right clicks, putting a lot of strain on their wrists. Because of the added strain, lighter mice are often preferred by fingertip grippers.

Should I buy a light or heavy mouse?

A mouse’s weight can have a big impact on how accurately you can target and position its curser or crosshairs. Gamers these days tend to go for the lightest mice available since they require less effort to move and are also naturally faster.

Lighter mice also lend themselves to longer gaming sessions, since gamer hands (and arms) aren’t as easily fatigued by them. Wireless gaming mice are among the lightest available because they are unencumbered by wires.

One thing to note about a mouse’s weight is that whether it’s considered light is relative to how many buttons it has. For example, the 18-button SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless might seem like a heavyweight at 89 grams compared to the six-button / 61-gram HyperX Pulsefire Haste, yet for an 18-button mouse it’s considered exceptionally lightweight.

How many buttons do I need?

The type of games you play should help you decide how many buttons you need. If you’re mainly into FPS (first-person shooters) a wireless gaming mouse with six buttons—which tends to be the minimum number we see in wireless gaming mice these days—should be more than enough.

On the other hand, if you play games where you need to quickly deploy lots of commands—like MOBA and MMO games—a mouse with between 6 and 18 buttons will provide you with more versatility.

Why is software important?

If your mouse is your weapon in games, then the mouse’s support software is its armory. The best software apps for wireless gaming mice allow you to change and customize settings like your mouse’s sensitivity and acceleration and deceleration. They also let you set commands and macros and save your preferences in profiles that you can easily switch to when you want to play specific games.