This time last year, I was shopping for a new gaming mouse. I didn't have much on my checklist of features, I just new that I wanted one with a pinky groove because I can't remember the last time I didn't have a mouse with one, and I now don't want to go without one. I was scrolling through Amazon deals and I found a very silly MMO mouse. Sure, it wasn't one of the best gaming mice on the market, but it had what I was looking for.
In fact, it had a bit more than that. On its left-hand side, where your thumb sits, it has a number pad with 12 programmable buttons. At the time, I got it for £35 here in the UK, and in the US it sits rather stubbornly at around $35 most of the time. That's still pretty reasonable for a mouse, but thanks to Prime Day you can get one for just $24.29 at Amazon
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a clown, because when I'm gaming, I use an Azeron keypad with 30 mappable keys on it. I use this to create my own unique control schemes in every game I play, because I'm a sick, sick individual. Adding an MMO mouse to the mix would give me even more functionality at my fingertips, and it'd be a way to take my sickness to extremes. I really did it as a meme to make my girlfriend, co-workers, and any other house guests laugh at how extra my setup was, but now I cannot imagine playing games without it.
As it happens, I liked the experience of using this mouse so much that I bought a second one so that I had the same one at my desk and my couch setup. That way, I also had more consistent aim and DPI settings when playing competitive shooters, regardless of where I wanted to play games in the evening.
To be honest, I found that once I had access to the 12 extra mappable functions on my mouse hand, I felt like I was really missing the functionality when it wasn't there. In some games, I map the 12 numbered keys to the numbers on a keyboard, which means quicker access to my tools in games like Hunt: Showdown, instead of scrolling through them or reaching for a faraway slot on a deck. I've never mapped these to my Azeron Cyborg II, so it felt like a perfect fit.
In other games like Dying Light: The Beast, I'll map the mouse buttons to things like checking my wrist watch or toggling my torch, or using a medkit, which frees my left hand up for all of Crane's other actions.
The only catch is that the Redragon software can be a little confusing to learn, and games don't recognise the mouse keys as extra physical buttons in settings menus; they need to be mapped to keyboard functions, which may or may not impact how you use them.
In terms of comfort though, I love this mouse. There's a really comfortable grip here for folks with larger hands, or for anyone who finds that their pinky isn't catered to with regular mice. I also find there are loads of DPI settings and profiles to play with to give you the best feel, and if you want to change DPI settings between games, the profiles will allow you to do that. I've got the number keys set to directions in my Helldivers 2 profile, which makes calling for Stratagems on the move really easy.
I honestly did buy this mouse as a meme, but now it's one of my favorite parts of my gaming setup, and one I'd happily recommend to anyone looking for a bit more functionality in their right hand. With this current Prime Day deal bringing it $10 less than it was both times I bought it, I'm jealous of anyone grabbing one now. Maybe I should get a third one just in case I need a replacement at some point...
- View all gaming mice at Amazon
- Azeron Cyborg II: $217 at Amazon
- Corsair's MMO mouse: $79.99 at Amazon
Looking for some new gaming accessories this Prime Day? Check out the best PC controller, the best wireless gaming mouse, and the best gaming keyboard.
