Pistol Mouse huh?

[Jeffey]

I saw this banner ad on one of the articles on PSU and decided to take a look at it: http://www.monstergecko.com/index.html

I'm just curious if anyone has happened to use this thing, or knows anyone who has. It looks pretty cool and I have to say I'm considering buying it

[GreyFlcn]

I wouldn't

Grab a logitech MX510 instead
Now thats a good mouse

Or maybe a MX1000 if you like that type of thing.

Ohh, or a nostromo52 speed pad.

[Jeffey]

I have no issues with the ergonomics of mouses.. mice. I just want to know if anyone has used this particular model, or somthing like it in terms of being aimed at FPS games.

[Mag-Mower]

get the Razer Viper mouse, i think thats what its called, its cool! go here (http://www.tomshardware.com/game/20041204/pistol_mouse-01.html)
its a review of the mouse

[Jeffey]

does anyone happen to know if its possible to use this as my regular PC mouse?

[Doppler]

I'm intrigued enough by this that i might order one. I dont play an awefull lot of FPS but still.

[Jeffey]

they make a vague mention of a 30 day trial, prolly a full refund if you return within 30 days. I think i will try it out =P

[Jaged]

Maybe its just me but that mouse looks like crap. How exactly is holding something that shaped like a pistol supposed to enhance your preformance in any way? Its not, its just supposed to be "cool", but I have a strong feeling it would just be awkward to handle and clunky and end up getting you fragged more. Now I haven't used it and I don't plan to so I could be wrong, but it looks like a useless gimic to me.

[Jeffey]

well if you read over the whole description an stuff, it's an ergonomics thing.

With a conventional mouse, to turn your character, (move the mouse left and right) you turn your wrist side to side,

Now with the pistol mouse you have your hand sideways to grip the pistol, this way in order to turn side to side you bend your wrist in what would normally be up and down.

Take a second to compare these movements with your wrist now, hold onto your forearm so you dont move it and alter the results - you'll find that the 'side to side' movement only grants about a 45 degree movement range in each direction, and the 'up and down' yields 90 degrees or so of movement.

I've decided to order it and try it out, (30 day money back guarantee) I'll get back to you with my first hand info when I get it, I'm going to order tomarrow.

[Baneblade]

That mouse is a gimic. I tried it at a convention and never looked back.

You might as well use a joystick, it actually works better.

[Jeffey]

well ide assume it takes a little getting used to

can you give some details?

[Baneblade]

All it is is a regular mouse with a plastic pistol attached to the top. It's awkward, and takes too much effort to remember it isnt the one you used with Duck Hunt.

[Jeffey]

duckhunt was the own

[Baneblade]

Amen, just know that this mouse is just like any other mouse cept top heavy. You have to move it the same way, which to me defeats the whole point of it.

[Electrofreak]

Optical trackball for the win.

I've used both optical mice and trackballs for years, and in an FPS, the trackball is way better. Response times are quicker etc. I don't need to "paw" the mouse back into position when turning around, I dont need to worry about moving it around and the cord getting stuck on things, all I need to do is give that big marble a flick of the index finger and I'm pointing exactly where I want to.

[Ivan]

I over clocked my mouse. It's really kick ass now. :D ;)

[FatalLight]

how do u overclock a mouse?

[Mag-Mower]

overclock your USB ports. It can be done.

[Baneblade]

I over-clocked my USB too...I call it USB 2.0.

[Jeffey]

what exacly is over clocking

[Baneblade]

You ever take a 396 and add a Holley Double Pumper? Yeah, take that concept and put it into computer terms.

[Jeffey]

anyways - it came! My pistol mouse FPS arrived in the mail on thursday. Installation was literally as simple as plugging it in - as soon as plugged into a USB port it becomes a 2nd mouse, it isn't even flagged as a joystick.

So heres my take so far

It took several hours of tweaking my planetside mouse senstivity to get it right where I want it. This thing is REALLY sensitive, my PS mouse senstivity is now set to about 1/8 of the slider bar.

Natrually it took some getting used to. At first it was painfully awkward, and learning exactly how to tap the trigger-guard-bottom (right click) proved to be quite difficult. Additionally I sometimes found myself jittering the mouse to the right when I attempted to use the scroll wheel. I've noticed the mouse sensitivity in PS doesnt apply to map screens, sadly I am stuck with a super fast mouse on the maps, but I've come to deal.

But regardless, I played probably 12 hours between it's arrival and now (yea I just logged off an 8 hour session with two friends on comms) and I will say that somewhere along the line tonight, I felt totally used to it. I stopped thinking about it and resumed what I would consider a perfectly normal Rainmaker666 play session. I did notice that I was able to pull 180's on cloakers with much more ease due to the position of my hand, and I didn't find myself doing the old "lift and drop" (when the mouse is far too far to the left or right to keep moving) nearly as much as I did with a normal mouse.

Final thoughts:
I will admit - there is definetly an advantage to be gained with this, it may not be a big one at all, but there is one.

It does take extensive practice to get used to, at first you will cry bloody murder at how awkward it feels to you. But stick with it, give it a few long sessions, and soon it will feel very natural.

So in the end I give it the thumbs up, I think I'll pass on the 30 day money back guarantee, and keep this bad boy :groovy:

[iluvthequasar]

dunno, looks cool, but it also looks like its a pain to set up.

i'm thinkin of getting one of those track-ball/laser mouses with 10 buttons and all. that way i can flip on pshield with a flick of my thumb. and i hear track-ball is great for sniping.

[FatalLight]

Actually PS doesn't support more than 3 buttons =/ I have 5 and when I press one of the 2 extra my guy automatically looks straight down.

[Kuraltai]

Actually PS doesn't support more than 3 buttons =/ I have 5 and when I press one of the 2 extra my guy automatically looks straight down.I disagree .. I use the Logitech MX510 and have all 5 of the buttons mapped to something.

I recently started using the Nosromo N52 .. took a little adjusting .. replacing most keyboard input. Now I fumble with the keyboard play. :p

[Jeffey]

heh, I've had the thing two weeks or so, and the scroll wheel just broke last night - it still spins but the computer doesnt respond to it.

Thankfully I'm still covered by the 30 day money back guarantee - so I'm returning it. But I'm very happily getting a new one to replace it :lol: