In High School I played the Half-Life mod Day of Defeat religiously. I was a competitive player competing in a few different leagues (way before e-sport was a term). Gaming was fun, but more fun when I was winning. I wanted to take every advantage that I could get, and so I invested in a new computer that would produce the best frames per second. Along with the keyboard came a highly reviewed keyboard and headset, but most importantly, I purchased the perfect mouse that would suit my gaming needs. This was 11 years ago.

Now I am thirty years old, married, and chipping away at school loans that never seem to disappear. I still make time for gaming, but am a casual player. I play Battlefield 1, Overwatch, Path of Exile, PUBG, and more recently Escape from Tarkov. I can’t justify buying the best gaming setup these days, and so I make due with a friend’s borrowed computer (thanks Gimmick!). All has been well in my comfortable gaming world until the terrible day that my mouse broke.

It just stopped working.

I turned it over and saw that the red laser shone no more. I messed around plugging it in and out, but knew deep down the mouse had died. Sadly, I went to Amazon and typed in “gaming mouse” searching for the cheapest mouse I could find. I longed to buy the ones with cool names like DeathAdder Elite or the refined Logitech Proteus Spectrum, yet I needed cheap and functional.

It didn’t take long until I found the Easterntimes Tech X-08 Wireless Gaming Mouse (they’ve since changed the name) for $13 and 923 4-star reviews! It was cheap and highly reviewed! The name wasn’t as cool as others (it reminds me of a school calculator), but it would fulfill my needs and so I purchased it.

Two days later it came in the mail, I plugged it in, and gave it a whirl. My dad always said, “you get what you pay for” and while that’s not always the case, this time it was. The extra buttons don’t always seem to work, and it’s far from smooth. Sometimes while aiming I wonder why the crosshairs skip. All this said, it worked ok most of time and so I was content with the wonky new mouse until I to googled it.

Below is headline of the article I found on IGN.

Yup, you’ve read that right. “A cheap mouse isn’t a bargain if it’s terrible.”

Going through the article I read why my mouse sucks, and while I’d love to defend my purchase I really can’t. It feels like cheap plastic, it’s hard to grip, lopsided, and not comfortable in the the palm of your hand. It was while reading this review that I realized that I play with the shittiest mouse for pc gaming. I’d like to tell you that I threw it in the trash, and bought a more respectable mouse, but I haven’t. It’s still right here next to my keyboard. It’s plugged in and I use it daily. I know that it’s garbage, but it’s mine and it works for my casual gaming needs.