See the Video version of this Review here..

First a big thank you to Microsoft for providing the Sidewinder X5 Gaming Mouse for this Review.

It’s been a while since I looked at a gaming mouse and today I will be looking at the Microsoft Sidewinder X5 Gaming Mouse from Microsoft.

First up the specifications for the Sidewinder X5 Gaming Mouse.

-2000 DPI laser tracking engine
Enjoy fast and furious gaming action with high performance laser tracking.

-On-the-Fly DPI Switching
Switch from low DPI for accuracy or high DPI for fast movement. Three buttons instantly switch between 400, 800, and 2000 DPI - or you can customize settings using special software.

-5 programmable main buttons
Map your favorite gaming actions. Customize your main gaming buttons to your preference.

-Macros
Customized spells and action movements are easy. Included software lets you create and assign macros for enhanced programmability.

-Vertical side buttons
Don’t make mistakes. The top/bottom design makes locating the side buttons easier and reduces the inadvertent actuation risk.

-Engineered for Speed
Right-handed shape designed for quick, balanced, precise gaming action.

RESOLUTION: 2000 DPI laser
IMAGE PROCESSING: 7080 frames per second
MAX ACCELERATION: 20 G
MAX SPEED: 45+ inches per second
USB REPORTING: Full-speed, 500 Hz
BUTTONS (Left/Right): Rated to 10 million clicks

-Quick Launch Button
One-touch access to Microsoft PC Gaming features.

-Quick Turn
Check your perimeter with the click of a button.

-Wide Rubber Scroll Wheel
With detent clicking action.

-Built to Last
Main button life: Rated to 10,000,000 clicks.

-3 Year Warranty

When you open the box up for the X5 you get the usual driver CD and the mouse and that’s about it. The first thing that grabs your attention is the two buttons on the side of the mouse that act as your forward and back buttons do on any standard mouse. These two buttons on the X5 are positioned so you can get quick and easy access to them in a hurry. The other thing I like about these two buttons is how they feel. Both buttons feel quite solid and should hold up to the most demanding of gamers.

The pictures below shows the box contents you get with the X5 and also shows the two forward and back buttons.

On the top of the mouse you can see the standard left and right buttons along with the mouse wheel/button and then directly behind those you can see the 3 sensitivity buttons that also light up. To the very back of the mouse is yet another button and when you hit this button it will bring up the mouse configuration options in windows where you can set the mouse settings and also make macros for the mouse buttons.

While on the topic of the macros in the picture below you can see the mouse settings along with the macro window. For the most part the macro editor that you use with this mouse is good however it does lack features that you may see in other macro programs. The one feature missing from the macro editor is the ability to be able to program key states on the mouse. A key state is basically when a keyboard key is held down or left up.

So an example of key state would be let’s say I want a mouse button so that when I push it down one time it then holds the A key down on the keyboard for a few seconds. With the current macro editor there is no way to do this in a clean fashion. You could set the mouse button up so that if you hit the mouse button one time it would hit the A key 50 times but that is not the same as holding the A key down. The other problem I see with the macro editor is I didn’t see any way to have a key stroke repeated. So if you want a mouse button when it’s held down to keep repeating the A key over and over there is no way to do that.

For those that are into having their mouse light up they will be happy to know that at the back of this mouse it has two red leds that make it look like the mouse has two red eyes looking at you. The mouse sensitivity buttons on the top of the mouse also light up as well. In the picture below you can see the mouse with no lights on in the room and see the red glow from the back.

When I first unboxed the mouse and seen the shape of it I was thinking it might feel strange to use do to the two buttons jetting out from the side of the mouse. After using the mouse now for a while I can safely say that the shape of the mouse has had no impact and the mouse feels very good in the hand.

It would have also been nice if this mouse would have come with tilt buttons on the mouse wheel. This is a feature a lot of gaming mice have and I would have liked to have seen that on this mouse as well.

In conclusion I have to say overall I’m pretty pleased with the mouse and how it performs in games. As mentioned above though I think the macro editor needs to have more flexibility to it and I hope Microsoft addresses this in the future. At the time of this Review you could purchase the Microsoft Sidewinder X5 Gaming Mouse for about $80.00 Canadian.

Below are a few more pictures of the Sidewinder X5 enjoy!

WolfManz611..