Gaming peripherals

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Hey! My previous choices of gaming peripherals were plagued by Logitech fanboyism and lust for gimmicks and I intend to make more informed decisions in the future. As such, I'm interested in hearing your opinions on the stuff you've used as well as hints regarding the features to look for or avoid.

I'll go first.

Logitech G5 (Mouse)
-Greatly favors the palm grip and is pretty comfortable.
-Lousy scrolling. The wheel tends to skip.
-The tilt wheel can be bound to shift/alt/ctrl/whatever. More on that later.

Logitech G9 (My current mouse)
-Less comfortable tilt wheel usage. The wheel is recessed.
-Not as comfortable as the G5.
-Better suited for the claw grip.
-The rubber ends up peeling off the mouse.

Logitech G3 (My sister's mouse)
-Side buttons on both sides. The one on the right side is both useless and very uncomfortable. (I use the ring finger and pinky only for gripping. Having to avoid pressing that button is a pain.)

Logitech G15 (Keyboard)
-I've used the G keys very little.
-The LCD screen is mostly useless as an extension of the game UI.

Razer Exactmat (Mousepad)
-The only gaming mousepad I ever owned, so I can't really make any comments on it. All I can say is that it's way better than using household objects.

And now for the (heavily subjective) conclusions:

Mice
-Apart from the buttons, everything should be coated in rubber. Otherwise, sweaty palms make the gaming experience truly horrible. Rubber that peels off is a big no-no.
-Thumb buttons are always nice.
-I haven't seen any noticeable difference when increasing the DPI or polling rate. I think paying some extra cash just to shave one millisecond off your reaction time is ridiculous. Human reaction time and network latency are too big for it to make any difference. Switching the DPI on the fly can be useful, though.
-I don't think wireless mice are worth it. Having a cord has never been a nuisance for me and I'd hate to be bugged by batteries running low or interference from other devices.
-The tilt wheel can be used to increase the number of usable key binds. It's nearly impossible to press ctrl+7 or ctrl+7 while also moving using WASD. Binding the tilt wheel to ctrl and alt has really helped me back when I was a WoW player.

Keyboards
-The media keys are great if you like to listen to music while playing.
-LCD displays are merely a gimmick. I ended up using my display to look at the time and to see if I had received e-mail.
-The line-shaped enter key seems to be the best, because keyboards that have it also have a large backspace key.
-Back lighting is almost a necessity if you work or play in the dark.

Gamepads
-The only thing that really annoys me are square shaped analog stick holes. It's hard not to go diagonally with those.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and/or suggestions.

 

In defense of the Logitech G15:

I like the watch, the track indicator for Winamp (handy since I ten d to play my play list while playing a game) - but I agree, I could easily do without - but what's really helpful is the backlit keys. It's an ok keyboard.

Besides, I don't like mice so much. I prefer trackballs. From Logitech.

 

I only use Razer so I cannot tell much about Logitech. (Lycosa, Imperator, Destructor)

-The line-shaped enter key seems to be the best, because keyboards that have it also have a large backspace key:

You mean the US layout. Beware the UK layout with a small left-shift and an extra key between it and the Z.

Try this: http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGuide/configurator/

 

Chair:


Mouse:

Monitor(s):
3 30" AS-IPS/PVA monitors (attached to the chair listed above)


Wait....we're supposed to list what *have* and not what we want???
....Fine.



Featured in this photo:
My old computer room in my old house....how I miss it.
My desk....IIRC, it's from Office Depot....or Office Max
22" Samsung SyncMaster 2243BWX
Logitech DiNovo Bluetooth keyboard, mediapad, and laser mouse combo
The mouse is the Mx Laser
Creative Labs T5400 5.1 speaker system

 

I would only ditch my Logitech G5 mouse for another of the same, it's excellent. Confortable, I have mine quite heavy, responsive, none of that wireless battery ****. It's awesome.