Best Wireless Mouse Reviews 2018

Wireless mice are quite affordable peripherals. They come in multiple designs and offer a wide range of features that you can benefit from, depending on your day-to-day activities. You can get a great wireless for anywhere between $25 and $90, give or take a few dollars.

That’s a wide price range. The price depends on the quality of the materials used to build the mouse, along with its features. Some wireless mice offer more than others, and these additional features are often reflected in the price. There’s more than enough wiggle room to get a mouse that will make you content with your purchase. Heck, it could even be the best $50 you’ve spent. You never know.

Speaking of features, here’s what you need to consider when buying that new wireless mouse:

• DPI – This means “dots per inch,” and refers to the mouse’s sensitivity. Depending on what you do, whether that be design or just regular everyday tasks such as typing, the mouse’s sensitivity is an important feature to consider.
• Sensors – This is how your mouse registers movement, and the two sensors commonly used are optical laser and infrared sensors.
• Type – Wireless mice can be all-purpose, ergonomic, or built for gaming. The one you prefer is the one best for you. Or maybe, you don’t choose the mouse but the mouse chooses you.
• Connection – Wireless mice use different types of connections, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. These are Bluetooth, infrared, and radio frequency.

Let’s take a look at each feature in a bit more detail now.

We’ve mentioned before that wireless mice come in many different shapes, sizes, and designs. You can get a great ergonomic wireless mouse with a body built for increased comfort and less muscle strain. You can also opt for a wireless gaming mouse if you know you’ll be using it to game on occasion and want something built to help you whoop some virtual butt. Gaming wireless mice tend to come with a few more buttons to use during gameplay than ergonomic or regular wireless mice. If you travel often and detest using a trackpad, then you may want to invest in a travel wireless mouse. These are usually smaller than standard wireless mice and take up less room in your luggage.

When it comes to connection, we mentioned that wireless mice usually connect using either Bluetooth, radio, or infrared frequency. Each connection type has its own advantages and disadvantages and, ultimately, the choice is up to you.

If you’re a Pokemon fan, think of it this way:

• Bluetooth – Squirtle
• Infrared – Charmander
• Radio Frequency – Bulbasaur

Wireless mice that use Bluetooth tend to have much better battery life than those that use infrared or radio frequency (RF). In addition, since most laptops are built with Bluetooth, you don’t need an adapter, such as a USB dongle, to use your wireless mouse. However, setting up a Bluetooth mouse takes a bit longer than a wireless mouse that uses infrared or radio frequency, since you have to reconnect the mouse each time you boot up your computer.

Wireless mice that use infrared or RF, on the other hand, are usually much easier to set up than Bluetooth mice and are also more responsive. However, the USB dongles do take up a port, so you’re one USB port down, and RF mice tend to be more prone to interference.

Most mice nowadays use sensors, either optical or laser. Luckily, we have long since moved past the days of the trackball underneath the mouse, which brought with it so many problems. If you’ve ever had the ring holding the ball under the mouse break, you know the struggle.

Optical mice use an LED light to track the mouse’s movement, while laser mice use an infrared laser. Optical mice can only be used on opaque and flat surfaces, while laser mice can be used on a wide variety of surfaces, including glass. Laser mice are usually more sensitive and track movement more accurately, however, the tradeoff here is a problem that is commonly known as “acceleration,” meaning that the cursor moves much further when you move your mouse quickly than it does when you move it slowly. This is why many people opt for an optical mouse – even though a laser mouse is more precise, it is sometimes too sensitive, making an optical mouse more reliable.

Speaking of sensitivity, let’s talk about DPI. We briefly mentioned that DPI refers to the sensitivity of the mouse, and the amount you need depends on the work you do. If you’re going to be doing more graphic-related work, you want a mouse with a good and high DPI (the specific number varies). Many times, 1000 is fine for most work-related tasks, such as typing and editing documents, but if you believe you need higher, then get a mouse with more, such as one that offers up to 2400 or maybe 3000 DPI. What would also work well is using a mouse with an adjustable DPI so you can change the sensitivity to correspond with the work you’re doing.

Computer mice have definitely come a long way since the days of the mechanical mouse. Ultimately there is no One True Mouse and, when you’re picking your wireless mouse, think about your budget, what you’ll be using it for, the surface you’ll be using it on, and how often you will be using it, before making your decision. The best wireless mouse, or any mouse of any kind, is the one that works for you.