-stable software
-comfort - I mainly use a fingertip grip but also sometimes use a modified palm. I will post a pic of that later today.
-reachable side buttons (also, having a little more than the 2 side buttons would be okay ; hence why I have the Naga Hex in the list).
-durable build quality
-
Questions:
- optical or laser?
- is ~5000 dpi really necessary?
1)Stable software will be found on almost all of the mice you listed.
For fingertip/modified palm, I suggest Death Adder, G400, or Steelseries Sensei for ergonomics. All can be used easily palm or with fingertouch.
2)For side buttons, I would not suggest more than two. With proper software (i.e. Clique for WOW), with modifiers (ctrl or alt) you can triple the amount of buttons your mouse has effectively. A normal mouse with 2 side buttons and a good click wheel (5th mouse button) will give you 15 buttons effective. This is most commonly needed in MMO's. Ergonomics and tactile feeling of the main 5 buttons should take precedence IMHO.
3)The most durable mice are probably logitech>steelseries>razer in that order. Logitech has amazing warranty service bar none. They sent me a replacement g700 for free simply because they had run out of stock for a few days when I registered for an RMA.
4)Optical is generally better than laser. The only advantage of laser is that it has "higher" dpi and that DPI can be adjusted in smaller increments. a) Having over 3500 DPI is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Most laser mice don't even have true sensitivites up to that point and use tricks like interpolation and other nonsense. Also no pro gamer games at that high sensitivity. RTS'ers stay aroudn 2000 DPI max. FPS'ers game around 400 DPI.
High DPI mice also tend to have tracking issues like jitter and acceleration. The G9x, G700, and Steelseries sensei use a laser sensor that has acceleration issues.
Optical mice tend to have better tracking and maintain that tracking even at high velocities.
5) So no, 5000 DPI is not really necessary for anything. It's nothing more than a marketing gimmick. The Razer Abyssus (their cheapest mice) is technically better than any other, more expensive mouse (except for the death adder which uses the same laser).
TLDR version: Pick an optical gaming mouse from a company you trust with good ergonomics and 5 buttons for MMO's and FPS'es. The more expensive laser mice brothers are ok too (most casual gamers don't notice acceleration). Most of all, pick something with good ergonomics for you.Of all the mice you listed, I have owned/used all of them except the Mionix. The only ones I have kept are the death adder and cm storm spawn (my g9x barely didn't make the cut). Take what you will of that.