Update: the skipping issue is a mousepad problem, I have confirmed on two mice. Too bad the best mousepads are cloth! Wheel still sucks.
It was late last year when Microsoft started really putting more juice into their Sidewinder lineup. With the X6 keyboard and X5 mouse, they showed a new aesthetic and commitment to hardcore gamers. But driver files showed an upcoming X8 mouse — which I’ve now had a chance to check out. The verdict? It’s a mixed bag, but in the end there’s only one thing I can say. Most of the findings are in the nice long video review below, but I’ll summarize for those of you at work.
Update: Microsoft is concerned that I might have gotten a bum mouse. I’ll post a full update as soon as the replacement unit arrives. I’d be happy to give at least a partial recommendation of the mouse if it didn’t have this issue, so we’ll see.
X5, X6, X8… they skipped one!
The X8 is Microsoft’s wireless gaming mouse. It’s got the same chunky, quasi-futuristic look as the X5 to it, and it glows occasionally (I couldn’t figure out its method) with a red light like the X6 keyboard. It has a little LCD screen for displaying the DPI or a couple icons, but to be honest it doesn’t come to much use, although it is very well-placed for visibility.
To start with the good parts: the mouse is pretty comfortable. It’s big, but a little smaller than the X5 if I remember correctly (which was enooormous). You have to hold it pretty far up on the thing, which is against my instincts, but once I got used to that, the feel of the mouse improved. The thumb buttons are great and well-balanced. I don’t like having to reach my thumb forward to get another button, so placing them above and below where your thumb rests works out perfectly.
Charge me up
The “puck” is fantastic. It’s a combination wireless receiver, charger, cord wrapper, and extra mouse foot container. It does it all perfectly, and it’s a nice-looking little thing too. I didn’t see any need for new feet, but hey. Good to know they’re there. The charging cable is, and I mean this, the best charging solution I’ve ever seen. The tiny, light connector gets picked up by magnets in the mouse’s tip and just pops right on. It works perfectly every time and I want to give Microsoft serious props for it.
The wireless performance was excellent; having the receiver right there ensures that there is no interference from your desk or components as there may be when the receiver is stuck into the back of your PC. I never felt any lag at all and I don’t think that it was skipping (more on that shortly) because of a signal problem.
Macros work as advertised. It’s a bit weird to configure them: you have to set a mouse button as the macro editor, edit your macros, and then whatever one you have selected becomes the assigned macro. Not the most elegant solution, and like the macro on-the-fly button, it’s not explained anywhere.
Buts
Well, on with the bad. First, the scroll wheel. It’s awful. It’s loose, it’s loud, it’s slippery. The buttons in it are useless to me because the whole operation is so squishy. I couldn’t be sure whether I was hitting a button or just wiggling the wheel.
The DPI buttons are stuck as DPI buttons. It makes more sense for an interface like that to maybe have a “DPI up,” “DPI down,” and “DPI default” setup, or maybe just let the buttons be whatever you want, but they are stuck being the three settings you choose in the control panel. I much prefer either Logitech’s customizable 5-step system with up/down buttons, or Razer’s excellent on-the-fly sensitivity system.
Deal-breaker
The biggest problem is the tracking. I don’t know what the story is here, and if I got a faulty mouse I’ll happily reevaluate, but the Sidewinder X8 jumps. It jumps all the time. It makes little jumps of about 10-12 pixels, which makes it hell to select text, do any kind of photoshop work, or snipe in a game. It did this at all DPIs, all sensitivities, whether it was plugged in or not, and no matter where I put the puck. I had to cut my review period of the thing short because it was bugging me so much. Sometimes it wouldn’t do it for 10 or 15 minutes, but when it did happen, it skipped every second or more. I got a regular retail mouse to review just like you might get at a store, so this is final hardware. The drivers have been out for months. If this is a problem with every Sidewinder mouse, it’s a deal-breaker for sure.
So the final tally wouldn’t be bad if the mouse didn’t skip. Bad scroll wheel? Okay, whatever, nobody’s going to beat Logitech’s ever anyway. DPI not super helpful? Well, I can tweak it so it works out. But the jumping cursor? Hell no, I can’t live with that, and you shouldn’t either. Now I say again that it’s possible I got a bad unit (happened with the SteelSeries Ikari), but that’s neither here nor there. The mouse I got, while nice in theory, is simply too annoying to actually use. If they fix this, I’ll jump for joy and post an update, but until then I can’t advise spending the $80-$100 on a jumpy mouse.
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Still loving the X6 Keyboard you sent me… looking for a new wireless mouse for gaming, but it seems this isn’t the one to go with. Looking forward to the Mamba review next week.
Glad you like it! Keep an eye out for an update to this story, but yeah the Mamba looks pretty sweet.
I think I may have figured out the skipping problem with the mouse. It seems it doesn’t like CLOTH pads. I picked up mine yesterday and didn’t even notice the skipping(I’m more of a snap aim/twitch player) until I read/watched your review. Then I noticed it at every oppurtunity and was seriously panicking.
As it turns out, the mouse HATES cloth pads… Yeah, freaking ridiculous.
After I noticed the skipping on my Steelseries QCK, I tried it on my battleworn mess of a desk(seriously this thing is badly scarred in some spots) and it tracked perfectly. I kid you not.
Put it back on the QCK and its back to skipping like you wouldn’t freaking believe. In your vid I noticed that you also use a clothpad(The Goliathus I think) so that may be causing your skip problem.
Anyway, your review was informative and I don’t think I would’ve noticed the skip so soon if it wasn’t for your review. Thank you.
Interesting…. MS is sending another unit out, I’ll definitely try it on a few things and see if they perform differently. But hating cloth pads? Give me a break!
Yeah I’d give it points off for acting all stupid with Cloth pads too if thats really the case and not just a fluke between our two mice. I’m actually hoping it was just a fluke, I’ve grown fond of cloth pads.
Seriously I was freaking appalled when I saw it track better on my desk than a freaking gaming grade cloth pad. Appalled I say!
I’ve been testing it out for 2 weeks now, and haven’t had any of the issues you discussed. The scroll wheel is loud, but I didn’t think it was an issue until you mentioned it. Plus the side scroll buttons are useless, yes, but not an issue. At least not for me during fast-paced gaming. The DPI buttons are restricted, but I don’t see it as a problem either; that’s MS’s way of having quick switching that’s simple, and I think it works, since I use it often.
The macro button I agree with you. It’s utterly useless…the people who actually use macro commands on their mice can do it through the software, so why bother with doing it directly on the hardware.
Also, the mice feet are completely different. They work on different types of surfaces better or worse. It’s difficult to tell the difference with your finger, but they do feel different. I’m not sure if it’s using a different material, but my SteelSeries SP mousepad works best with the grey feet.
Sure, it doesn’t work well with cloth…haven’t actually tested that myself yet, but considering blue-track works on hard surfaces, soft ones like cloth could be very problematic. And I guess it is.
You also didn’t mention how long the charge holds for. It seems like forever. I’ve been using mine for 5 days straight, turning it off only at night, and it still doesn’t need a charge. Also, this is a gaming mouse, so while changing the DPI is important, the settings are limited by 250 points. There’s no option to have 1694 or 3241 DPI…for some, this may not be an issue, but considering this is made for pro-gamers as well as typical consumers, it’s a problem.
It’s one of the best mice I’ve used, ever, and I’ve got a drawer of mice from Razer, Logitech, SteelSeries, and several other companies that they’ve sent me. Sure, I’m waiting for the G9x and Mamba, but my previous favorite, the SteelSeries Ikari Laser, was my perfect mouse before this, and the G9 slightly behind that. I’d go so far as to recommend it to anyone, anywhere, especially at $60 at amazon.com.
It’s a good thing I opted for the Razer Exactmat a while back. I only hope the anodised aluminum doesn’t grind down the mouse feet like it did with my OCZ Equalizer.
i have the razer eXactmat. and it grinds the feet down really fast. i had it for a week now and the black feet are allready scratched really bad. but otherwise it is a verry good mouse. sorry for bad english, hope you understand ;D
Oh yeah I forgot to mention I even went back and found my old 3M Precise Mousing Surface for ball mice(it even has a 3dfx logo on it lol) and the x8 tracks just fine on it despite how dirty and scratched up it has gotten.
I’m gonna fall back on that until my new pad gets here.
Which mouse pad are you getting? Just received the X8 and now on the lookout for a pad.
Order’d a Ratpadz XT. I was considering the Razer eXactmat bundle but decided to go for the XT because of its lower price.
For the record, I have a Razer Goliathus and it’s great but cloth, so if the cloth hypothesis is true about the X8, don’t go for it. If not however, I recommend it highly.
Thanks for the replies. I’ve borrowed a Razer Mantis Control pad but have been unable to reproduce the jumping you’ve been experiencing. I’ve tried selecting text and using photoshop, no problems.
Maybe you’ve both got faulty devices or it might be a problem with those specific pads. I’m going to test it a bit more but so far nothing.
@Riftsaw
Could you post your opinion on the Ratpadz XT when you get it?
@Coldewey
Thanks, I might get the Goliathus if the X8 turns out to be faulty. So far I’m pretty hooked on the Razer Mantis and I suppose the Goliathus is somewhat the same?
On a somewhat related note my X8 seems to have a construction flaw. The front right foot is a bit raised compared to the other feet which results in the mouse “wobbling” when I right click. Annoying as hell.
Going to send it back. Just hope I don’t receive an X8 with tracking problems, lol. xD
I had the same problem! My sidewinder x8 also had wobbly feet… I think the same foot that you mention. I stuck a small square of paper (folded 1x) under the problem foot and it seems to have corrected the problem – couldn’t be bothered returning since I bought it online and it would have taken a month to sort out…
Hey there, I also own the X8 right now, but I do not have the same issues as you do. FEAR2 for an hour, TF2 for an hour, and DOW2 for an hour, with no skipping or anything similar. Hopefully yours is a dud unit!
Umm, I have an Ikari Laser and I was really looking into the X8 but since I have a Razer Goliathus Speed pad, I’m now very scared to give it a try as that’s the kind of problem I wouldn’t be able to test at a store, mostly if I order online. I love this mouse pad, much more than the eXactMat, Mantis and SS QcK I tryed.. so I won’t buy an overpriced Razer Destructor just because of the mouse. A reason why I hate non-cloth pads is that it wear the feets extremly quickly like within 1 year if you do a lot of gaming, while the cloth will never damage them at all.
Yeah that’s what I’ve heard as well. BTW why did you get a Speed pad and not a Control one?
When I had my eXactMat I was always using the speed side, and I took the speed version too when I bought my Mantis. I even been able to try the control side since there was a promotion (2 for 1) so a friend I had took the control version. In fewer words, the speed is much smoother, less rough to the touch so less friction so faster movement. I’m a very high-sens user so that’s why it’s much better to me. I been using for a very long time a Razer Lachesis at 4000DPI on my 22″ monitor (1680×1050) and I think even when I was on a 21″ CRT (1280×960), and now I have a Steelseries Ikari Laser at 3200CPI. On my desktop it only takes 1cm on the pad to go from left to right on my screen. Anyone who use my computer keep saying my sensivity is too high but that’s the way I like it lol. I get better aim in games when I just need to move my wrist and not my whole arm to cross 4-7 inch on the pad.
So since I’m a high-sens user I could even have took the smaller Goliathus version instead of the medium since I never use like half of the pad but the medium fits perfect on my desk, also too small would have looked weird and it was so cheap anyway that I didn’t cared to pay few bucks more for medium size. If you live in Canada look at http://www.Pricecanada.com
I’ve decided to get either a Razer Destructor or a Razer Goliathus depending on whether or not the X8 likes cloth pads. It’ll probably be Destructor although it *is* overpriced.
BTW I tried out the X8 on an old Icemat and the cursor jumped around like crazy. Just a warning to anyone using a glass pad.
No skip problem here on vista or mac. If this mac has the logitech revolution wheel it would be perfection. Speaking of the revolution, now there is some serious skipping.
Just got my X8 yesterday and so far I like it but it doesn’t seem to track quite as well as my G7. No skipping that I could see on any surface. I love the back and forward buttons, the best I’ve ever had on a mouse.
Played some FEAR 2 with it thus far an no problems. Got it for $70 and change at Amazon including 2 day shipping. At that price its a good purchase.
One other thing. The scroll wheel isn’t all that bad, its just a little too slippery. It simple needs to be rubberized like the G7.
An update on the scroll wheel. It seems to be getting broken in, I’m noticing less slippage of my finger the more I use the mouse.
This mouse it starting to grow on me. It’s much better than what is being said in this review IMHO.
I wonder if Steelseries’ Glass Mousepad would work well with this.
Well as I’ve written before, I tried out the Icemat glass pad (Made by Steelseries when the company was known as Icemat) and it didn’t work correctly with the X8. The cursor jumped a lot.
If the Steelseries Glass Mousepad is the same product with a different label, then I wouldn’t count on it.
BTW I just got my Razer Destructor and it works perfectly with the X8. No jumping, skipping or anything. It’s awesome.
Thanks for the info on the macros! I’ve been wondering exactly what the deal was there, haven’t really tinkered with it myself yet.
Also, I haven’t had any tracking issues with mine on a crappy old raggidy cloth pad.
You mentioned the wheel being too loose for your liking, but I find it too sturdy for mine personally. The logitech G5 was too loose to me, you could never feel the middle click because it was always sliding to left or right tilt. That was the main selling feature for me on this mouse was the sturdier middle click on the wheel, (and the vertical side buttons) Still though, I agree about the clunkiness of the wheel, it’s too slippery to be so stiff. hopefully it wears itself in with time.
informative albeit slightly pessimistic review.
is it possible to use another 2.4GHz usb dongle with it instead of the “puck”?
as i’m planning to use the mouse with my laptop as well.
Hi, I really enjoyed reading this review but what does this extra mouse foot container signify?
I liked your review… so many useless ones out there.
fyi, the rear light turns orange when the battery needs charging (according to the manual).
So, my little microsoft bluetooth 5000 mouse (great mouse btw if you need a BT laptop on the go)
broke right in the middle of our L4D cevo tournament and my whole clan is getting together to over night me a new mouse (the sidewinderx8) cause I’m a poor mofo. However, they are looking into getting me a mouse pad because i’ve never really needed one. I’m trying to stay cheap so I was curious if anyone had a verdict on the ratpadzGS yet because I think I’m going to ask for that one.
Thanks for any help. Very helpful review. :)
i want to buy this mouse but only thing is that i dont like that its wireless so can u help me with this question please Thank you! can i use this mouse with the charge cable allways conected (like a wired one), does the mouse has the same quality and speed of 4000DPI if its allways conected to charge cable? or i have to do 30 hours without it then charge, 30 hours without it then charge… Thanks!
I got mine and i leave it connected fair bit. i’m using a ratpadzgs and it’s extremely smooth. took a little bit getting used to it’s a little big. but i have girl hands so yeah. But i dont’ see a problem with keeping it permanently plugged up like a wired mouse that’s basically the pucks function. but i see no performance drop between wired and not.
Hi. I have this same problem with tracking on my Razer Mamba. Don’t know whats going on. It`s only when im moving mouse very slowly. I have new firmware and new software. I tryed few differend mousepads and 2 differend computers. Problem still there.
i think this is a good mouse…..
yes, i agree with the statment..
x8 very bad in da cloth pad, so i prefer use the hardsurf like steeel pad 5l or destructor…..
tq….
Well, nothing is perfect, anyway, it’s a good product, not the best though….
I used this mouse a few times at expos etc and it worked quite well on all the surfaces they had, including a cloth mouse pad… and I specifically look out for skipping and input lag, I did not detect any of that when I tested it. I have even ordered one of these for myself so when it gets to me I’ll check it on a number of mouse pads.
Same problem, tracking issues. Iv heard of people where they had to replace their mouse 3-4 times and it still isnt working properly. I would advise a replacement, its a great mouse but this just ruins it. If anyone has any ideas then please help.
Note: The mouse is 3 days old, LED is fine and it went normal for about 12 hours then in the morning it was jerky again.
After some testing on my x8 i noticed that it only has tracking issues with BLACK cloth surfaces like my steelseries qck+ or any other black cloth.
How weird is that?
I’ve had the mouse for about two weeks now, and within the second day, the tracking problem arose.
It seemed familiar, as though the mouse was just running out of a charge, so I plugged it in, and nothing changed. It worked perfectly for the first 8 hours, then suddenly started jumping all over the place. And when I say jump I mean JUMPS, like, an inch at a time.
But then again, 5 minutes after it’s jumping around, it’s smooth as can be for a while. I’ve tried using it on an Xtrac Zoom, and it skips even more than on my wood/laminate white desk..
I have one an X8 and I’ve never noticed any issues with the tracking. I think it may be an isolated issue with yours. I really like mine, especially the “puck”. Such a great idea for the charging.