Is this budget gaming mouse actually worth it?
How much did your last mouse cost? £10? £15, perhaps. Or maybe you got yourself something in the region of 50 quid?
Whatever you paid, it was quite likely defined by what you use your computer for. Yes, you can get high-end mice for office work, but the fact remains you can get one for a tenner that does everything you need and is comfortable to use.
If you’re a gamer, though, then you probably want something a bit more advanced – features like adjustable sensitivity, switchable on-board profiles and dedicated software for things like macro settings. These are the kind of things that make a mouse worth spending more on.
What, then, can we possibly expect from a gaming mouse that only costs £18? Well, if we take the Speedlink Ledos as an example, then not a lot.
First things first. It’s a fivebutton mouse, and it looks fantastic, adopting a standard symmetrical shape, but with slightly recessed areas at the side for your thumb, ring finger and pinky. Then, when you first plug it in, it immediately lights up around the sides and the top, and this glow then begins to pulse on and off. Set against the black plastic of the mouse, it looks the business.
And then you realise you can’t turn it off, and you start to see where the corners have been cut to bring the Ledos in under £20.
Like most gaming mice, it has a button to adjust the sensitivity, but unlike more expensive products, the Ledos doesn’t offer customisable settings via hardware or software. Instead you get three built-in presets of 500, 2000 and 3000dpi. For such a low price, though, that seems like a reasonable compromise. What’s less forgivable is the fact there’s no way to see which dpi setting you’re on, apart from moving the mouse around and guessing.
But even worse is the omission of browser navigation buttons. Even gamers use their computers for things other than playing, and being able to go backwards and forwards between web pages should be considered a standard feature of any mouse, no matter who it’s aimed at.
So what are those five buttons that Speedlink boasts of? Well, they consist of the left and right buttons, the dpi button (or perhaps the scrollwheel click) and two buttons placed at the sides of the Ledos. On the left, there’s a sniper button, which reduces the sensitivity of the mouse to 500dpi for as long as the button is held. This actually works well and could be genuinely useful in a sniper game, but it would have been nice to have an option to use this button for something else.
On the right side of the Ledos is what Speedlink refers to as a “High-rate rapid-fire button”. Sound exciting, right? Sadly, it’s anything but. In reality, all this does is perform a double left click and probably not as quickly as you could do it yourself. It’s also awkwardly placed, further reducing its usefulness. It is, to be blunt, a complete waste of time and plastic.
The Ledo itself, though, in spite of its problems isn’t terrible. It’s comfortable to use, and it comes with a strong, 1.8m braided cable. And if you prefer a heavier mouse, you’ll appreciate its weightiness.
Unfortunately, none of that is enough to make up for the lack of gaming features and navigation buttons, which leave it as an odd product that is neither suitable for serious gaming or productivity duties. The extra features it has are interesting but ultimately little more than novelties, meaning there’s no compelling reason to buy the Ledos. In short, avoid. Anthony Enticknap
Cutting corners is fine, but this mouse cuts the wrong ones.