Razer Diamondback[/u]
Overview
The first time you see this mouse you'r probably thinking this is a little awkward. It isn't anywhere near as high as the intelli or MX mice so what's so special about it? well it's shape really compliments aiming with your fingers/wrist the advantage of this being with a higher then average sensitivity having good control over long range while at close range still having the option to pick up the mouse so you've got a hybrid style and can pick a sensitivity right inbetween.

The mouse is suitable for both left/right handed gamers with two buttons on either side, these are weird tilt style buttons and are very solid, not exactly my thing but this is more preference. The shape also might not be for everyone if you like to rest your palm and have a solid grip on this mouse it's simply not for you.

Where this mouse does excel is it's precision it's very accurate but not too accurate at the same time. The mouse moves incredibly smoothly it's like an extension of your hand and it looks damn cool (well the magma edition atleast in my opinion!).

The updated drivers allow you to switch between 400/1600 DPI i've explained the problems with 1600 earlier it's possible to install the drivers set it to 400 dpi then uninstall them if you're a very anti driver person (like myself).

The Negatives
This like most razer mouse has a lot of troubles what eventually led to me giving away this mouse was my computer would simply not install the drivers anymore and was telling me I had a razer boomslang and i'm not the person to format over a mouse.

The shape isn't for everyone it's very low as Overboost once said like a ferari and the MX mice are beetles it's very much about aiming with your fingers, the sensitivity of the very front tip of the mouse buttons is bad and can not be noticed sometimes. However it is all covered in rubber so there's solid grip all the time. There can be slight wearing of the rails the buttons really aren't for everyone definetly and the mouse feet aren't anywhere near as good as the MX standards.

Lastly there's the jitter issue, which there is a fix for it however the plasma edition uses the same sensor as the MX518 and doesn't have this problem so I reccomend it highly!

Conclusion
You might think this mouse is flawed and the MX518 is the choice obviously but things aren't always as simple as they are written on paper. I would definitely go with a diamondback plasma over an MX518 the shape suits my style of play the accuracy/precision is a lot higher even 500Hz is arguably more stable on a diamondback as it's even set to do it in windows 2000. It all comes down to choice in the end but take a gamble go with the razer mouse you might be dissapointed you might not some may complain of poor qualtiy but i've never had this maybe logitech mice are more durable but definitely don't overlook this mouse.

image: diamondbackplasma