Best Holiday Gaming Mouse Deals 2021

best gaming mice deals — (Image credit: Logitech, EVGA, Corsair)

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Peripherals like the best gaming mice are in the perfect price range to make great gifts this holiday season, and the deals that come with deals season are only making them more affordable. Whether you want a compliment for one of the best gaming keyboards or just want a new pointer on its own merits, this list has you covered, as we're constantly scrounging to find the hottest deals on mice this holiday season.

Wired or Wireless? - It used to be taken as gospel that you should never get a wireless gaming mouse, but with the advent of technology like Logitech's Lightspeed connectivity, that's no longer the case. Wireless gaming mice are usually more expensive and sometimes heavier than their wired counterparts, though, while wired mice will mean you'll have to come up with some additional cable management.

DPI and buttons - Think of DPI as your mouse's sensitivity. The higher your DPI, the more pixels it covers per second. Lots of gaming mice advertise high DPI, but many players actually prefer lower DPI, as it makes for steadier aim. High DPI thresholds (just because a mouse has a high max DPI doesn't mean you have to use it) allow for more customization, but you might not always need them, so don't be fooled by big numbers on the back of the box.

Meanwhile, more buttons means you can map more actions to your mouse! Button layout is often different depending on which type of game a mouse is made for, with MMO mice having buttons on the side and FPS mice having buttons congregated around the index finger. Meanwhile, ambidextrous mice have their extra buttons more evenly distributed across the mouse.

Grip type and mouse weight - People tend to use three distinct grip styles for mice. Claw grippers rest their fingertips on the front of the mouse and their palms on the back of the mouse. Palm grippers rest their entire palms across a mouse's entire body, and fingertip grippers only touch a mouse with their fingers. Keep these in mind when looking at a mouse's weight and size, as heavier/larger mice will often suit palm grippers more and lighter/smaller mice will usually suite claw/fingertip grippers more. Some mice also include removable weights, so you can adjust how heavy they feel.

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Michelle Ehrhardt is an editor at Tom's Hardware. She's been following tech since her family got a Gateway running Windows 95, and is now on her third custom-built system. Her work has been published in publications like Paste, The Atlantic, and Kill Screen, just to name a few. She also holds a master's degree in game design from NYU.