I bought this mouse in April of 2005 and I haven't had a problem with it. Perfectly tracks on all surfaces I have tested (though I'm sure highly reflective ones might cause a bit of problem). Honestly, I haven't found the DPI switching to be a feature I use very often, but it doesn't hurt.
Buttons have a very nice tactile feel. Especially useful are the two buttons on the left side of the mouse which default to paging forward and back in your webpages. After spending any significant time with this mouse, it's hard to surf the web with any other mouse; you'll constantly be pressing the nonexistant side buttons in an effort to navigate. The forward and back action also works when browsing through files and folders, which is also very helpful.
Finally, ergonomics on this mouse are absolutely incredible, at least if you are right handed.
Do not hesitate to buy this mouse
Update 2/28/09:
I am still using this mouse 3 years after buying it. The buttons started sticking slightly but it still works fine. I'll be very sad when it eventually died
I do alot of surfing and gaming.I end up wearing out about mice 3 a year.This mouse by far is the easiest to program and fits my hand well.The 2 side buttons are in the perfect position for me, and the switch on the fly DPI can be adjusted.Your not stuck with 400/800/1600.You can set in between ranges like 400/600/800.It is fairly large.If you have small hands it may be a problem.Like I said the 2 side buttons are great.You can crouch and reload on the fly.In the past 2 years I've used 6 different gaming mice and I always seem to come back to
the MX518.Built to last and easy to use , and a great price.
I saw this in a Gaming Magazine for 'Best Gaming Mice', and this one came out on top for wired mice under $100. So, I gave it a try, and it lasted me about 4 years of hardcore use.
I'm a big gamer, and play games anywhere from the fast pace FPSs(Crysis, BioShock, FEAR, Doom 3 and so on...) to slower yet more mouse based MMOs/RPGs(World of Warcraft, Hellgate London, Diablo, Overlord. . .) and this thing has been smooth on anything I've used it for. Even for more precise uses such as Photoshop or Video Editing.
When I first used it, in all honesty I didn't like it. I went from the free little Dell mouse to this. The body was an odd shape to wrap my hand around, and that damn logo in the center was annoying. However, after an hour or two of use I got 'very' used to it, and promptly threw away the Dell. Other than that I can't recall anything bad about it...
Once you are used to the body, it's great. The shape seems to mold to your hand and I've yet to find an uncomfortable position. I have large hands, but even still all the buttons are right there, and fits great. That being said, don't let it throw you off onto thinking this would be too big for you, my younger sister(with much smaller hands...) likes this mouse almost as much as I do.
The sensitivity is perfect, never had anything interfere with it. Plus its software to change the sensitivity is just as nice.
The buttons are all conveniently placed along the surface and always in range of a finger(or thumb, if you would rather me specify). The two on the side can be used for going forward or back on web pages, Undo(such as in Photoshop) and picture browsing. Heh, once you get used to it you'll HATE needing to go all the way up to the 'Back' button on a page when using anything without these buttons.
There are also two increase/decrease sensitivity buttons on the front and back side of the scroller which you can set to your own personalized speeds with the software given.
The top button furthest back is used to switch between open documents, however I've never used it. My hand is often close enough to Alt-Tab that I more or less don't need to use my mouse, but that could just be me.
ALL of these can be reassigned, and even set to do your own keystroke. So say you want your Back button to be a melee attack, however you are playing FEAR2 and it does not support that button,(so lame..) you could set the Back mouse button to V, and use that as your melee attack instead: Problem solved.
Or have one of the other keys do something like Alt+Tab.
In short it's a brilliant mouse, made to be a mouse. It's not covered in 50 different possible macro buttons for some inconceivable reason, nor is it big enough to be used as a deadly weapon. It's a nice size, good looking, and comfortable 'mouse'.
(That's right, I forgot to mention how it looks awesome.)
I will most likely buy this mouse again assuming they don't make a better version. Though, luckily for me it took the last one 4 years to die. I'm betting about the same life span for this one.
"This mouse does it all. It has made a huge difference in my gaming abilities."
"The right mouse button is too weak; i push it by mistake, otherwise a good mouse"
