Microsoft Sidewinder X5

First, the good news: Microsoft has created a more affordable version of the Sidewinder, their mouse aimed specifically at gamers.

And now the bad news: given that the original Sidewinder was released in 2007, its price has gradually fallen and it is now possible to find the orignal for around the same price as the cut-down X5 ... getting your hands on the new, 'affordable' version is a very nasty shock when you're used to the old one.

Sidewinder Lite

We had no idea that Microsoft's plan was to offer a cheaper version of the original Sidewinder, and had assumed that this model would replace the earlier original, building on its excellent features in the same way that the Logitech MX1100 does on those of its predecessor.  This left us even more stunned when we unwrapped this new mouse.  The build quality is nowhere near as good as on the original, and the metal buttons which were the hallmark of the old Sidewinder are here replaced by plastic. 

It's also curtains for the LCD screen which provided useful feedback on the current resolution settings, although this was not the most indispensible feature, after all, especially given that the three buttons behind the scroll wheel allow you to flip between the three presets.  The spare pads for underneath the mouse are also gone, so if you wear them out by playing too hard you'll have to find some new ones yourself.  You can't choose the weight of your mouse any more either, as the small counterweights that came with the original Sidewinder are no longer included.

Cutting Corners

Cutting back on all these features shaves off 20 g of weight compared to the Sidewinder (not including optional counterweights), leaving the X5 at 105 g.  This is neither an advantage or a disadvantage, but simply a matter of taste.  Personally, we prefer our mice to weigh in at around 100g, so we're happy to see a slightly slimmer mouse, but many other gamers disagree.

Fortunately, though, the X5 doesn't get rid of all the good ideas from the original Sidewinder.  The buttons on the side for your thumb are still arranged vertically, rather than side by side.  They're very easy to use and feels much more natural and we don't understand why the competition hasn't adopted this approach.

One change for the better is that this mouse now runs at 1000 Hz (although, irritatingly, you can't change this setting - once again, Logitech does better) and so it sends its position to the computer a thousand times a second.  That's great - it reduces latency from 8 ms all the way down to 1 ms - except it also eats up a lot of system resources.    When we moved the mouse quickly, the CPU load on our Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz processor approached 20%.  And if you start tossing the mouse about like crazy, the load can climb as high as 60%.  It's a big pain that you can't turn down this frequency using the driver when you don't need the extra power.

Original & Best

Even if the new X5 is a little lighter than its predecssor, and even if its new black buttons give it a slightly more restrained look, we can only recommend you avoid and opt for the original.  The X5 is nothing more than a lite version of the real thing, with cheap materials, fewer options and, now, the same price point as the luxury model.  It's not worth considering missing out on the real thing ...