The Pleasure of Peripherals: Mice

I've been using the Logitech G502 since it came out in 2014. I think I bought it for $40 new which was a decent chunk of change for me to spend on a mouse at that time, being freshly out of college entering the workforce as a little associate chemist. That mouse weighs 120 grams and comes with extra weights you can stick in it to get even more heft. It has the usual extra two side buttons (backward/forward) but also has two more upper side buttons set to modify DPI by default, and the infamous sniper button for temporary DPI drop when held.

Unlike some others' experience with Logitech mice, I never had the mouse switches go mushy or over-sensitive. Honestly that dang mouse has outlasted most of the parts in my computer. So I didn't give much thought to the mouse experience for nearly a decade because it worked great for me.

Funky ring finger splay

About a year or two ago I noticed my right hand ring finger has an odd splay. I initially assumed it was some combination of powerlifting or climbing that contributed. Then one day I was using my mouse and saw that the splay is exactly where my ring finger sits on the outer side of the mouse to grip it. The splay affects nothing with my range of motion but I don't like the idea that my mouse is transforming my hand. Concurrently, I've also been dabbling in Overwatch 2 so I thought, hey, why not get a new mouse? Maybe I don't want to continue to deform my hand.

After a bit of overresearch I ordered two mice. One was the G502x that came out in 2022 last year, which is a redesign of the G502 I have had for so long. It weighs 80 grams so I figured that should be a pretty good weight drop for the mouse. I bought it at basically full price, which was like $65 for the wired variant. The other mouse I ordered was a used xtrfy m42 wired from eBay--someone had it for $35 and that seemed like a great way to try out a 60 gram mouse.

G502x

I received the G502x first, and I enjoyed the look (I got the white one). The rubber textured coating on the sides of it are also way more pleasurable to feel than my old G502. The basic shape is still the same and the scroll wheel is likeable when set to not spin freely. The free spin setting is way too fast. So overall I had a good time with using it.

xtrfy m42

But then when I received the xtrfy m42 and set that sucker up I was blown away. Blown away to the point that I have evangelized the light mouse to too many people. The holes in the body of the mouse don't bother me at all. The clicks are inordinately satisfying. It's snappy and crisp and easy to press. Maybe a smidgen too easy, since sometimes I accidentally push a side button or right click out of the natural tension in my hand... but I think I can calibrate for that over time. The mouse is plainly a pleasure to use. The first couple days I had it I was looking forward to spending time on my recreational computer so I could use the mouse.

Conclusion

Use light mice! I'm having so much fun using the m42 it's almost abhorrent. It's also got various RGB lighting settings, and hypocritically I think the rainbow setting is bad taste when I see other people on it, but when it's my mouse I enjoy seeing that soft glow. Alas.

I have designated the G502x for use with my WFH setup and the m42 for my fun computer. At the office I still use the wireless mouse that came with onboarding.

My unrelated peripherals side note is that I really enjoy my two keyboards with Cherry Brown switches (55cN) but I can palpably feel the lower actuation effort of my other keyboard that has Cherry MX Silent Low Profile Reds (45 cN) and it slightly makes me tempted to demo some even lower actuation force switches. If someone could just let me type on a tactile switch at 35/40/45 cN I'd love to try it out.

This is all just to say that fiddling with peripherals is actually very entertaining. Life's about the small pleasures too, right?