Others/Mice & Keyboards by jmke @ 2013-01-07
In this group test I will focus on a specific feature and gaming goal to reduce the variables as we go on a quest to find some of the best First-Person-Shooter wired mouse out there. To properly gauge the performance of my new gaming rodents I spend several weeks with each to get to know the ins and outs, their features and deliver a good dose of my personal opinions on these mice.
Several months have passed since I started testing the first mouse of this roundup, so now it’s finally decision time; the features have been laid out and compared in the table below, but those are only numbers of course.
| CM Storm Sentinel Advance II |
Cyborg R.A.T. 7 | SteelSeries Sensei RAW | Roccat Kone XTD | Razer Imperator 2012 | Logitech G300 | |
| DPI Range | 200-8200 | 100-6400 | 90-5670 | 200-8200 | 100-6400 | 250-2500 |
| Programmable Profiles | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| Buttons | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 |
| LED Lightening | Multi Color | White Color | Multi Color | Blue Color | Multi Color | |
| Weight Tuning | 5x4.5gram | 5x6gram | 4x5gram | |||
| Extra | Customizable OLED Logo |
Customizable Design Face Plates and Size |
Symmetrical Design | Advanced LED Tuning Options |
Customizable Side Buttons | Symmetrical Design |
| Price | €50 / $42 | €60 / $70 | €50 / $45 | €80 / $125 | €70 /$64 | €25 / $35 |
| Somewhat arbitrary AIRSHOT Rating |
8 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
If we boil things down to the bare essentials we can’t leave price out of the equation. Looking at what personal rating I gave to each mouse and the price-tag associated to each, I think there does seem to be a tendency to rate the more expensive products higher and the more affordable ones lower. So in this case I think we can say: you get what you pay for.
The most expensive unit, Roccat Kone XTD, scored quite high in my book, offering excellent right-handed gaming performance, with tons of features and excellent tuning software. The price tag can however be a hurdle as it commands a premium. If you can overlook the special design of the Cyborg RAT 7, than it definitely makes a worthy alternative to the Roccat, features less flashy colors and tuning software, it does match the Roccat in pure performance numbers, yet comes at a lower price.
If you’re on the other side of the big pond, I would definitely take the Razer Imperator into consideration, scoring only slightly lower than the Roccat and Cyborg products.
This brings us to the more mainstream price category, here the Coolermaster Sentinel II really excels, with fancy OLED display, ergonomic design and good performance. If you’re a lefty, the SteelSeries Sensei RAW would make my shortlist, with its no-nonsense design, setup and solid performance.
This leaves the budget product of the roundup, the Logitech G300 is priced competitively, yet its special button layout doesn’t make it a product for everybody. Consider it only if you don’t make heavy use of the shoulder buttons on your current mouse (if it has them).
I’d like to thank SteelSeries, Roccat, Logitech and Coolermaster for allowing us to test their gaming rodents. Looking forward to more exciting products from them in future.
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* been using the SteelSeries RAW as office mouse, after about 600.000 clicks (tracking soft!) spread over left/middle/right click, the middle click button is starting to fail, need to press down hard for it to register.
* the Cyborg RAT 7 primary gaming mice, shows some erratic behavior once in a while and requires cleaning of the lens area every few weeks; otherwise it won't track, the small alcove they created for the lens is not keeping dust out, it just helps to collect more