I prefer thumb trackball mice. I use the Logitech Wireless Trackball M570.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/trackballs/devices/wireless-trackball-m570

Its a lot more accurate than their previous Trackman Wheel was. Its more accurate than my 15 dollar backup mouse as well. Its been too long since I used at real gaming mouse so I don't know how it stacks up against them. I like the thumb trackball mice better because I don't have to pick up the mouse ever. The ball will keep its momentum for a bit too, so with big turns there are no pauses. It makes it nice for FPP games. They are not for everybody, and they take have a relatively steep learning curve to them. You basically have to learn to use the mouse all over again. Once I got the hang of it regular mice annoy the hell out of me. Its just so much extra work to do the same darn thing.

By the way, what is too expensive? This one is 40-50 USD. Mice get a lot cheaper than that, but they also get way more expensive.

I love my Logitech G1. An oldie but a goodie, which you can still find brand new in a surprising amount of places.

I've really wanted to invest in something like a Razor mouse, but I couldn't justify spending that much money on a mouse unless I knew for sure that it was really built to be as rugged and long-lasting as possible.

One of the first pieces of advice I got from this forum was to get a Razer Death Adder (left handed edition), and it's completely awesome. It was a hassle buying and getting it here, but totally worth it :)

Logitech mice are pretty good in general, and not something you can go terribly wrong with if on a budget.

This past Christmas, I obtained a Cooler Master Spawn mouse after doing quite a bit of research. So far I absolutely love it. It is smaller and fits my claw grip perfectly, feels very nice to hold, and has a very high quality optical sensor and the ability to turn off angle snapping. The only downside I have found so far is I can't set my own DPI rate but have to choose from three preset ones, but I eventually adjusted to them and now it is not a problem.

My last mouse was a Steelseries Ikari. DO NOT buy that mouse. My first one developed a double clicking issue, and the company replaced it without hassle. My replacement product developed the same problem within six months. After Googling around a bit, it seems to be a pretty common occurance, and I would avoid their products at this point.

Ye, it is like the most sexy girl you can imagine, transformed into a gaming mouse. :D

A left handed gaming mouse at that :D

It really depends on the games you play. I'd give another nod to the G500, which I have, for shooters like BF3 where you've got various weapons/tools that you'd switch quickly to faster than using the scroll wheel.

I have a G500 and I love it.

I use a Logitech M705, an a Logitech Performance Mouse MX, both wireless. The former has an awesomely low battery usage (I haven't changed it since I bought it 1.5 years ago), the other has a micro-USB conenctor and an accompanying cord (and wall charger) so you can use it while charging.

Neither is a gaming mouse, and the latter might be too large or the former too small depending on your taste and hands. My earlier favourite used practically the same body as the G400 and its predecessors MX518, MX510, and MX500 (it was an MX700, a wireless version of MX500 and was later available with bluetooth rather than the proprietary radio protocol mine used - both long since discontinued though).

You're welcome.

As for the G500, I think you won't need that for a few reasons:
- You say you don't need anything too fancy, and the G500 is. Aesthetics-wise it isn't, so good choice there.
- You say you don't need anything too expensive, which the G500 is.

Now, Logitech is a sound choice, so well done there. The durability of the MX-518 is almost legendary; this combined with the long warranties of their other mice suggest that they know how to screw a mouse together. So may I suggest you buy a G400 instead? It looks pretty much the same, it has the same warranty (in my local computer store, anyway), it does away with the excessive number of buttons, it has a less sensitive sensor (5700DPI is overkill) and - most importantly - you could almost get two of those for the price of a G500.

Ah, I was trying to remember who it was that pointed me in the right direction. Thanks are owed to both you and the person who gave info on a shipping forwarding company. Thanks again!

I had probably the same double clicking issue (the mouse double clicked instead of a single click) with a Razer Diamondback after a while (not too long). I did not send it in, because unfortunately it was a bit erratic: Whenever I used a different mouse for a few days, it would work as intended for some time (maybe an hour? Can't remember), then the double clicking reappeared. Googling showed that I was not alone with this problem. Besides, it was a bit small for my taste and I believe I had some other minor issues with it. Needless to say, that was the only time I bought a Razer mouse, and I wouldn't recommend it.

I replaced it with a Logitech MX518 which I MUCH prefer and still use (gotta be a few years at least). All of their current mice which are similar to the MX518 will get my approval ;)

I already said it, the razer abyssus is a awesome mouse for gaming and all kinds of things (image editing and everything where you need precise movement).

And that mouse costs 40 euro, which is reasonable for such a mouse, best thing is: you don't need drivers at all... all configuration is done with the buttons on the bottom of the mouse (reaction time and dpi from 450 to 3500).

I have my G500 on 5700dpi 90% of the time. The only time I knock it down is for bad 360 ports that have a sensitivity slider that never works properly. If you can control it it's great so it's hardly overkill. The mouse is great for internet browsing (back & forwards on the side and an uber fast scroll wheel when unratcheted) to be fair though if you can't handle the DPI & don't game online much then AlKim is right. I seldom use any special buttons on the mouse outside of internet browsing I just find the mouse high quality, and comfortable for prolonged usage... it's very responsive in movement & buttons but then the middle range mice from Logitech are probably similar.