Introduction/Context/About Me

This review is about the EPOMAKER Nex Pro in the Silver colorway. This product was sent out by EPOMAKER in exchange for this review. Please keep in mind this is a pre-release unit as the mouse is still in its reservation period. There are no monetary compensations nor affiliate programs associated with this post.

My experience involved using this mouse for around 1 week on a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip with a 1/2/2 finger layout. My hands measure 18x9 cm and are fairly dry, and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at a 2,000 Hz polling rate and 1,600 DPI on a 240 Hz monitor to play Battlefield 6, Path of Exile, and Witchfire.

English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you find any point to be unclear.

Unboxing Experience

The box feels sturdy and features 100% recyclable interior materials; while slightly larger than average, it is still very compact. Upon opening, you find a cutout foam insert containing the mouse and two cardboard boxes underneath, with one containing the charging dock that doubles as the wireless receiver and the accessories.

The mouse itself comes pre-applied with full-size skates and supports wired, 2.4GHz, and Bluetooth connectivity. This is always nice to see on shapes that are also very adequate for work.

The charging dock doesn't come with any detachable dongle but features touch controls explained in the manual for RGB control, and comes with a good quality silicone base to prevent slipping on your desk.

The included accessories consist of:

• A good quality paracord cable, held back by the lack of an angled USB-C connection for wired play, as well as being on the stiffer end
• Two sets of cutout grip tape; these felt smooth and rubbery, providing decent but not amazing grip for my dry hands
• A set of replacement full-size skates; these are the same as the stock ones, more on that in the appropriate section
• Instruction manual

Overall, it is a package containing decent quality extras, only lacking replacement dot skates. It would have been nice to see these included, but for a budget-friendly release, it is understandable.

Shape

The mouse features an asymmetrical ergonomic shape that, to my knowledge, is original. This was a very pleasant surprise, especially as it's fairly unique compared to the average ergonomic mouse taking heavy inspiration from the Zowie EC shape.

In terms of measurements the mouse comes in at 122 x 65 x 42 mm.

In terms of the features of the shape, it can be broken down as such:

• Slight outward flare with flat and moderate front flare, both with rounded edges
• Deep comfort grooves offering a very locked-in feeling
• Upwards curved sides, with the left side offering the natural thumb rest position you come to expect from ergonomic mice
• A fairly pronounced centered hump leaning slightly backwards
• A very low-profile ergonomic tilt, reminding me more of the Vaxee NP01s Ergo than your average ergonomic release, but not quite as flat

Overall, I was able to adapt to the shape easily. It is quite comfortable, and having the lower-than-typical ergo tilt facilitates more flexibility in grip styles rather than forcing a palm grip.

Weight

My unit weighs 64.4 grams with the stock skates and 63.7 grams with four dot skates installed, which falls within the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance, being 0.6 grams over the advertised 65 grams for the stock experience.

In terms of weight distribution, I think the mouse did a good job balancing itself considering the internals required to support magnetic docking and charging; despite their best efforts, however, as expected, it is somewhat rear-heavy, although not as bad as other products that feature the same gimmick.

Overall, I'd say the mouse is a bit too heavy for my liking, and I would have wished to see it sit in the 50-gram range instead. While it is not a small mouse by any means, it's smaller than your average ergo that manages to achieve the 45 to 55 gram range.

Build Quality

Absolutely rock solid; regardless of where I press, I can't feel any flex or creak, even while applying unrealistic force.

There isn't much to say about it; an absolute tank as you'd expect out of something in the 60-gram range.

Clicks

Main Clicks

Equipped with Omron optical switches rated for 100M clicks. These are light and crisp, and easily spammable.

There is minimal pre/post-travel, which I found to be consistent across the entire click area.

Build quality-wise, there is slight side-to-side wobble on the right click that doesn't seem to be present on the left. However, I find this to only be the case while actively looking for it, unless you're someone pressing at the outer middle edge of the click and lacking stability on your finger.

Side Buttons

Extremely light and crisp, just like the main clicks; however, the tactility is slightly different from each other, while the sound profile is completely different.

They have a good dimension, clearly split to avoid mistakes on inputs, and don't seem to sink or mush in any way.

Scroll Wheel

Equipped with the TTC Gold encoder, the scroll wheel offered light, defined steps and an easily spammable scroll. The click, however, was quite heavy.

As far as the scroll build itself, it's a standard plastic housing with a rubberized ring that has good texture. Overall, it is well-made. I can't get it to slip, and the only nitpick I have is that the textured ridges could be ever so slightly deeper.

Coating

The coating has a slightly sticky and smooth feeling. I found it to be very grippy off the bat; however, it is worth noting that I found it to be slightly slippery when sweat builds up. I am currently facing abnormal weather conditions with an ongoing heat wave and significant humidity, so I don't see this as a negative as it's not the typical conditions I play in. If you live in a location that is generally quite warm and has decent humidity, I would keep this in mind, however.

Stock Skates

The stock skates are made of UHMW-PE. They have rounded edges and provide a smooth, very controlled glide. I personally found them to be too slow for my taste, even on glass in combination with the mouse weight.

I would have preferred to see a balanced or even speed-leaning solution instead, but other than that, if you're after the extremely controlled experience, I'd say these are good enough to not warrant immediate replacement with third-party solutions.

Performance & Battery Life

The mouse is equipped with a customized PixArt PAW3950 sensor. Overall, I found the implementation to be very good at 2,000Hz and under; however, I did start to notice some slight instability at 4,000Hz and above. This is nothing new and something that happens to a lot of mice. I personally don't play at such high polling rates, but I'd say it's still perfectly suitable for it.

Sensor position-wise, I find it to be adequately positioned, being center-forward and sitting generously where most people will naturally rest their thumb, which feels fairly natural. Although as is expected out of an ergo due to the width, you will never quite reach that pen-like feeling. Considering the shape they had to work with, I'd say overall it's a great implementation.

As far as battery life goes, a Nordic 54L15 MCU paired with a 500mAh battery and the combination of a charging dock makes it pretty hard to ever see your mouse actually die in use. At the time of writing, I have charged the mouse fully at the start of the review period, and while the software doesn't show a concrete number, the battery is still mostly full with around 30 hours of use.

Web Driver

Features

• 3 onboard memory profiles so you can have different configurations for your various use cases
• Full remapping of Mouse 1 through 5 buttons, with the following features:
  • Regular actions
  • Polling rate switch
  • Firepower Button; sends 1 to 3 inputs with an interval of 10 to 255 ms
  • Combo key; any keyboard key with optional tick for Shift, Ctrl, Alt, and Win buttons
  • Disable
  • Macro
  • Multimedia shortcuts
• Up to 6 DPI levels ranging from 50 to 42,000
• Polling rate with preset values of 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz
• Three performance modes:
  • LP: Normal Mode
  • HP: High - Performance Mode
  • Corded: Ultra - Performance Mode; always on whenever playing at 2,000 Hz or higher
• Lift-off distance with preset values of 0.7, 1, and 2mm
• Ripple Control
• Angle Snapping
• Motion Sync
• Macro recording
• Customization of the DPI light on the bottom part of the mouse
• Receiver LED Indication Status; this setting seems to not do anything on this pre-release unit. When I questioned the intent, I was told that currently the software doesn't support dongle customization
• Optional sleep mode timer ranging from 10 seconds to 15 minutes
• 20K FPS Sensor scan rate toggle; as usual, a big source of battery drain
• Long distance mode; improves performance when further away from the dongle in exchange for increased power drain
• Angle tuning ranging from -30 to 30 degrees

Missing/Improvements

• DPI X/Y split
• LOD with a slider accepting steps of 0.1mm
• Click debounce settings would be nice when using one of the most sensitive switches on the market. Personally, I am used to it, but there's still a lot of people rejecting Omron Opticals due to this
• The presentation as a whole could use some work as while easy to navigate it does look a bit rough

Value

Please keep in mind the following section is based on European Union pricing with the final VAT included (which in my case is 23%) and does not include potential shipping costs. Like always, I suggest only taking this recommendation at face value and checking your own regional pricing on not only this product but others you may be comparing it to before making a decision.

With the mouse coming in at €69.99 and the possibility of a 10% discount if it's your first purchase, I'd say this is an excellent value product that will check the boxes of many users, with the only "big" downside being the weight, and the other being purely subjective with the not-fully-utilized potential of the PAW 3950 in the DPI and LOD implementation.

This is a mouse I would be comfortable paying up to €90 for, and as such, I think it's hard to pass up on the offering if the mouse seems right for you.

Conclusion

Overall, an interesting package offering a unique shape, the convenience of a charging hub, good coating, and an awesome click implementation. I can safely recommend this to anyone looking for a mouse that serves as a stepping stone between a flat asymmetrical and a "proper" ergonomic mouse.

Thank you again, EPOMAKER, for sending this unit out for review!

Want more?

• MCHOSE A7 V2 Ultra + (posted today)
• ROG Harpe II Ace (Previous)
• Teevolution Terra PRO coming soon!

Introduction/Context/About Me

This review is about the MCHOSE A7 V2 Ultra + in the White colorway. This product was sent out by MCHOSE in exchange for this review. There are no monetary compensations nor affiliate programs associated with this post.

My experience involved using this mouse for around 1 week on a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip with a 1/2/2 finger layout. My hands measure 18x9 cm and are fairly dry, and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at a 2,000 Hz polling rate and 1,600 DPI on a 240 Hz monitor to play Battlefield 6, Path of Exile, Roboquest, Gunfire Reborn, and Witchfire.

English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you find any point to be unclear.

Unboxing Experience

The box feels sturdy and features 100% recyclable interior materials, although it is larger than average due to the magnetic dock. Upon opening, you find a cardboard box containing the accessories and the mouse, alongside the magnetic charging base in a cutout foam insert secured underneath the accessory box.

The included accessories consist of:

• A good quality paracord cable, held back only by the lack of an angled USB-C connection for wired play
• A set of good quality grip tape; the texture on it reminds me slightly of "Lizard Skins" grips
• Instruction manual
• Quick start guide card

Overall, it is a package containing high-quality goods, but it is lacking replacement full-size and dot skates. It would have been nice to see these included, but for a budget-friendly release, it is understandable.

You may have noted that there is no mention of the inclusion of any sort of dongle; this is because the dongle itself is included in the magnetic dock, which doubles as a dongle extender and charger. This dock felt very premium in hand and featured a high quality silicone base anchoring it in place without any issues.

As for the mouse itself, it comes pre-applied with full-size skates and supports wired, 2.4GHz, and Bluetooth connectivity.

Shape

The mouse features a symmetrical shape strongly based on the Logitech G Pro X Superlight/Superstrike, with a very tiny difference in the curvature expanding the sides to the rear.

In terms of measurements the mouse comes in at 125 x 63 x 39 mm.

In terms of the features of the shape, it can be broken down as such:

• Slight outward flare with very rounded edges
• Extremely minor comfort grooves; they rely more on the slope and coating to do their job than the grooves themselves to offer a locked-in feeling
• Flat sides with slight tapering towards the edge of the click area, transitioning to the hump just under the edge of the M5 button. I personally find this very good for safely using a forward-leaning grip
• A fairly pronounced centered hump. I find this severely limits a fingertip grip if you plant your wrist on your pad

Overall, I was able to adapt to the shape easily, as it is extremely safe. There isn't much to say on this topic; there is a reason why this is one of the most used shapes in the world. You pick one up and forget about it. I usually joke in Discord peripheral chats about how this is "endgame for none, usable by all!"

Weight

My unit weighs 60.4 grams with the stock skates and 59.8 grams with four dot skates installed, which falls within the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance, being 1.4 grams over the advertised 59 grams for the stock experience.

In terms of weight distribution, I think the mouse did a good job balancing itself considering the internals required to support magnetic docking and charging; however, it is noticeably rear-heavy. In hand, it doesn't feel as intense, but you can always tell there's a slight drag in the back area during movements. While this can work to the advantage of tactical FPS players, for my personal use case, I would have preferred to see a lighter version for the regular models.

I find it quite strange that the 59-gram weight is advertised for all 4 versions, yet only the + models come with the magnetic dock capability after reaching out to MCHOSE they've confirmed it's intentional design in order to unify the weight across all models.

Build Quality

As you'd expect from a mouse in the 50+ gram range, this feels rock solid; regardless of where I press, I can't feel any flex or creak, even while applying unrealistic force.

There isn't much to say beyond this: it is an incredibly well-built mouse.

Clicks

Main Clicks

Equipped with Omron mechanical switches rated for 100M clicks. I find them to remain light, like their optical counterparts, but offer significantly more tactility in exchange for being less spammable. Personally, when going with mechanicals, I prefer Huano options, but these are very well-tuned and implemented.

There is extremely minimal pre/post-travel, which I found to be consistent across the entire click area.

Side Buttons

The sides felt very nice and crisp. Just like the main clicks, they have little to no pre/post-travel. They also don't exhibit any sinking issue, but do lack a coating. In terms of size, they're on the medium end but feature slight separation to prevent accidental actuations.

Scroll Wheel

Equipped with the TTC Gold encoder, the scroll wheel offered light, defined steps and an easily spammable, but noticeably heavy, click.

As far as the scroll build itself, it's a standard plastic housing with a rubberized ring that has good texture. I didn't find this ring to be slippery, but I wish it had slightly more defined texturing.

Coating

The coating has a fairly dry and smooth feeling. MCHOSE markets this as a "Super Glide coating," and I found it to be very grippy without any warm-up period, but it gets noticeably stained after each use, requiring frequent cleaning to upkeep it.

I have previously had a somewhat negative experience with their "Glass-like coating," which I found to noticeably change the grip properties as early as just a few days in. So far, I can confidently say this new formula is much improved.

Stock Skates

The stock skates are made of pure 100% PTFE. They have rounded edges and provide a smooth, somewhat speed-leaning glide. Having used these on glass, I'd say they're on the quieter end as far as PTFE without any foam goes. While picking up some texture, I would say these remind me a lot of the Magic Ice experience, except noticeably slower.

MCHOSE has always had very good stock skates on releases I've tried, so it's a shame they don't provide extras or the same skates in dot form. I would say these are worth trying before moving on to third-party alternatives, as a purchase may not be necessary. While I couldn't confirm this since I don't use full-size skates, I imagine you can use Superlight ones just fine.

Performance & Battery Life

The mouse is equipped with a customized PixArt PAW3950 sensor, the PAW3950 TI. Unfortunately, I did run into some issues out of the box with semi-rare random skips on a glass surface. After checking, I found that the mouse didn't come with the latest available software; once that was installed, the problem disappeared. As such, please check your own copy to ensure it is up to date. To be fully transparent, this is not an issue exclusive to MCHOSE; many 3950 sensor implementations on the market suffer from this as it is an issue in the base PixArt model.

Sensor position-wise, I find it to be adequately positioned, resulting in a very natural aim feeling, sitting perfectly in line with my thumb regardless of the various grips I try on it.

As far as battery life goes, MCHOSE uses a custom Realtek MCU paired with a 500mAh battery that results in very good battery life. I haven't had to charge it more than once, which is even more impressive considering my unit came in with around 60% charge. While MCHOSE doesn't offer specific measurements here, I can confidently say it seems to sit somewhere between a Nordic 52840 and a Nordic 52L15 MCU in the efficiency department. Between this and the fact that you can charge it conveniently at any time without unplugging any cables using the magnetic dock, this mouse is a must-try for people with battery life concerns.

Web Driver

Features

• 3 onboard memory profiles so you can have different configurations for your various use cases
• Full remapping of Mouse 1 through 5 buttons (but not the DPI and polling rate buttons) with the following features:
  • System and mouse-related shortcuts such as media controls or changing mouse profiles/DPI/etc.
  • Keyboard keys
  • Hotkeys such as Ctrl + C
  • Macros
• Up to 6 DPI levels ranging from 400 to 42,000 with X/Y split capability
• Three performance modes:
  • Performance mode: meant for casual gaming and day-to-day use, offering the best possible battery life
  • Gaming mode: increases sensor performance overall in exchange for slightly more battery drain (I strongly recommend this mode)
  • Extreme mode: inherits the traits of Gaming mode while setting the sensor to a constant 20k FPS scan rate, draining a very considerable amount of battery
• Optional sleep mode timer ranging from 1 to 100 minutes
• Polling rate with preset values of 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz. When first setting up the mouse, I noticed that it was limited to a 1000 Hz maximum due to coming with Performance mode enabled; simply refreshing the page fixed this display issue
• Lift-off distance with preset values of 0.7, 1, and 2mm. If you're using glass, anything other than 2mm resulted in sensor skips
• Click debounce ranging from 0 to 20ms, due to the nature of mechanical switches I'd recommend experimenting with this section as time goes on to avoid double clicking
• Angle tuning ranging from -30 to 30 degrees
• Ripple Control
• Angle Snapping
• Motion Sync. I found this implementation to be somewhat floaty; if, like me, you're sensitive to that, I advise skipping this setting
• Customisation of the scroll wheel lighting (disabled in Performance/Zone mode) with the following brightness options:
  • Static color
  • Breathing
  • Cycling
  • Stars (loops around turning on a quarter of the RGB)
  • Waves
  • While "disabled" isn't a direct option, you can turn the brightness to 0 on any option
• Mouse and dongle software updates alongside a "Base" update. It is unclear what this base is related to, and it came on the latest version from the factory

Missing/Improvements

• LOD with a slider accepting steps of 0.1mm, allowing users to fine-tune their preferred setting to avoid having to rely on a relatively higher value than necessary
• Motion Sync, as mentioned, could use a slight improvement in its implementation from my experience

Value

Please keep in mind the following section is based on European Union pricing with the final VAT included (which in my case is 23%) and does not include potential shipping costs. Like always, I suggest only taking this recommendation at face value and checking your own regional pricing on not only this product but others you may be comparing it to before making a decision.

With the mouse coming in at €45.54 to €60.42 depending on the version, I am very comfortable recommending this to anyone on a tighter budget looking for a gateway into arguably the most popular shape for both eSports and casual users. Just keep in mind that your need for features such as the magnetic charging dock (requiring the + models) and the 3950 sensor (requiring Ultra models) will be what determines the final price for your use case.

Conclusion

This is a mouse I can safely recommend to anyone looking for a more affordable Logitech G Pro X Superlight/Superstrike shape with the same weight and a convenient magnetic charging dock included in a single purchase (acting as a stationary alternative to Logitech's Powerplay). Coming in anywhere between almost one third to half the MSRP of the Superlight 2 and a fraction of the Superstrike depending on the version, it is very hard to say no to it—unless you're trying to get a lower-weight option.

Thank you again, MCHOSE, for sending this unit out for review!

Want more?

• EPOMAKER Next Pro (posted today)
• ROG Harpe II Ace (Previous)
• Teevolution Terra PRO coming soon!

Introduction/Context/About Me

This review is about the Asus ROG Harpe II Ace in the Moonlight White colorway. This product was acquired at my own expense.

My experience involved using this mouse for around 3 weeks on a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip with a 1/2/2 finger layout. My hands measure 18x9 cm and are fairly dry, and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at a 2,000 Hz polling rate and 1,600 DPI on a 240 Hz monitor to play Battlefield 6, Path of Exile, Roboquest, Gunfire Reborn and Witchfire.

English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you find any point to be unclear.

Unboxing Experience

The box is compact, feels sturdy, and features 100% recyclable interior materials. Upon opening, you find the mouse secure in a plastic insert that sits against a small stiff foam circle resting against the mouse's peak hump point, a thank you and quick-start guide card and a cardboard box resting underneath that contains the acessories.

The included accessories consist of:

• 8K-ready nano dongle found in the mouse itself, as it has a tiny slot for it slightly above the bottom skate
• The dongle extender featuring a clip underneath to secure itself to a cloth pad. I would, however, recommend avoiding this, as it is metal and may damage your base; sadly, it also lacks any solution to stick to your desk properly, making it fairly easy to slip around
• A very high quality paracord cable held back only by the lack of an angled USB-C connection for wired play
• A set of somewhat sticky but good quality grip tape; it carries some ROG branding and has a slight texture
• Spare 100% pure PTFE skates, just like the stock ones, which I will cover in the dedicated section
• Some ROG-related stickers
• Manual
• Warranty card

Overall, an extremely generous package with the only nitpick being that it could have done with some dot skates instead of stickers that most people won't use, especially for a mouse charging €180.

It is also worth noting that not only does the mouse come with a nano dongle but it is also Bluetooth capable which while for gaming isn't ideal it's always nice to see a mouse that you can dynamically switch between a work laptop and your gaming desktop for example.

Shape

The mouse is a mostly symmetrical shape strongly based on the Razer Viper V3/4, having a few key differences; the most noticeable being the much more subtle comfort grooves.

In terms of features of the shape, it can be broken down as such:

• Slight outward flare with very rounded edges; this is a very comfortable feature for those with a forward leaning grip
• Very minor comfort grooves offering some comfort, but lacking the ability to properly lock in your fingers
• Mostly flat sides with very gentle tapering; personally, I can't really tell a difference in hand from flat sides
• Subtle center hump striking a good balance of palm support and keeping the area clear for fingertip use

It is worth noting the shape is ever so slightly asymmetrical on the sides towards the rear connection as it curves to accommodate the hump area. I have seen this marketed a few times, but personally, I don't think the feature is noticeable in real-world use to classify the mouse as such. Your mileage may vary depending on your grip, but I believe it is simply too far back for most users and grip styles to notice.

Overall, I was able to adapt to the shape as it is extremely safe, but due to that, I also found it to be quite boring, lacking any genre-specific benefits in exchange for said safety. I personally don't see myself using this shape after this review.

Weight

My unit weighs 48.2 grams with the stock skates and 47.6 grams with four dot skates installed, which falls within the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance and 0.2 grams over the advertised 48 grams for the stock experience. It is always great to see companies properly weigh their mice and include the full-sized skates in their measurements.

In terms of weight distribution, I think the mouse could have made more of an effort to concentrate the weight towards the middle. While the middle is noticeably lighter than the front, it is also noticeably lighter than the back. It is by no means a big deal in use, but you can notice it somewhat when doing short horizontal movements.

Build Quality

There is nothing but praise I can give this mouse. Despite being a very light mouse for the size, the shell feels solid, and I am unable to produce any sort of flex or creaking, even while applying force beyond anything reasonable in-game. The only issue I could find is very slight wobble at the click edges if you press them at the bottom innermost point but it doesn't seem realistic to do in-game.

Clicks

Main Clicks

Equipped with the custom ROG Optical switches (custom Raesha), these clicks are good as far as Raeshas go but still not to my taste. I find them to be heavy, somewhat spammable, and lacking in tactility compared to the Viper implementations.

There is very minimal pre/post-travel, which is only noticeable when clicking towards the upper quarter of the click area.

Side Buttons

The sides felt very nice and crisp. Just like the main clicks, it has little to no pre/post-travel and comes with a very satisfying textured coating.

Scroll Wheel

Equipped with the TTC Gold encoder, the scroll wheel offered light, defined steps and an easily spammable but noticeably heavy click.

As far as the scroll build itself, it's a standard plastic housing with a rubberized ring with good texture, but unfortunately, I found it to be somewhat slippery.

Coating

The coating is rubbery but somewhat slippery until slightly warmed up. Once it warms up, it sticks to your hand without fail. It is probably one of the best coatings I've used in a while.

The most interesting feature, and one I appreciate a lot from an environmental standpoint, is the new material used for the coating, that being a bio-based nylon. According to Asus, this is made using castor oil instead of conventional petroleum, reducing the carbon footprint by 70% compared to ABS plastic.

Overall, this material is quite interesting. I do hope it can make its way to not only Asus products but other options in the market.

Stock Skates

The stock skates are made of pure 100% PTFE. They have rounded edges and provide a smooth, balanced glide. I would say the closest third-party option I can think of would have to be Magic Ice, if they offered a similar product with the same smoothness, rounded edges but with a balanced glide instead.

If, like me, you're playing on glass, while I generally prefer to use 4 dot skates, I was able to enjoy the stock experience as it was a mid to low sound profile and seemed to stay consistent after 3 days of use. From that point onward, however, I did swap to dots.

In conclusion, if the features listed sound like they'd be to your taste, I would definitely keep them around instead of looking for third-party replacements immediately.

Performance & Battery Life

The mouse is equipped with a customized PixArt PAW3950 sensor, and as is the case with the majority of modern mice, there aren't any discernible issues in-game while using what I personally can perceive as being the previously mentioned 2,000 Hz in the context section. MouseTester didn't show any noticeable instability in the performance mode even at 8,000 Hz, which was very impressive.

If I had to nitpick anything that is relevant to the sensor, it would have to be the sensor position on the mouse. I am a firm believer in the benefits of a more forward-leaning sensor (you can read more about it here or look up various studies), and unfortunately, I feel like this is one change from the Viper that was a huge mistake. The sensor currently sits just under where your thumb naturally places, assuming you're following the position the mouse naturally directs you towards, which does result in a noticeably sluggish feeling when comparing the two.

As far as battery life goes, being equipped with the Nordic H20 MCU and a 290mAh battery (information sourced from a disassembly video; Asus does not confirm), the mouse has a surprisingly good battery life. At the time of writing, I am sitting at 26% on my second charge since having unboxed the mouse, which came with an 80% charge. Considering the use of the performance mode, which Asus calls Zone Mode, and no power-saving features other than a standard sleep timer, I think it's extremely reasonable for such a small battery and a notoriously power-hungry MCU.

Web Driver

Features

• Full remapping of all mouse 1 through 5 buttons, but not the DPI and polling rate buttons, with the following features:
  • Single keyboard key (desktop Companion app enables combinations)
  • Macro (desktop Companion app required)
  • Multimedia shortcuts
  • Quick access (desktop Companion app required)
  • Disabled
• Multiple DPI levels, missing X/Y split
• Angle tuning with fixed values of -20, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10 and 20 degrees
• Angle Snapping
• Polling rate with preset values of 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 Hz
• Motion Sync
• Customization of the scroll wheel lighting (disabled in Performance/Zone mode), all with the following brightness options:
  • Static color from a pre-made selection, which includes a disabled option
  • Breathing
  • Color cycling
  • Reactive (on scroll use)
  • Battery levels
  • While disabled isn't a direct option, you can turn the brightness to 0 while avoiding the use of Zone mode
• Surface calibration with presets for generic pads, various Asus pads, and manual calibration of your own surface. I personally couldn't tell a difference between the default generic and a manually calibrated one
• Lift-off distance settings with only a low or high option; if you're using glass, the low mode is completely unusable
• Configurable low battery warning light, not suppressed by Zone Mode
• Power-saving mode lowering mouse performance at a certain % or disabled
• Optional sleep mode timer
• On/Off dynamic wheel lighting to indicate charging, with green being 100%
• Zone Mode, which is this mouse's performance mode. Asus does not disclaim exactly what the power drain is nor what exactly it does to the sensor. It is worth noting that if enabled, you will need to manually set the polling rate, a single DPI value, and toggle motion sync here instead, as the previous settings are ignored. This was quite a strange UX choice, especially for the two settings which can't have more than 1 value to begin with

Missing/Improvements

• Requirement of a "Companion" desktop app for basic features present on other mice
• Ripple Control/Correction
• DPI X/Y split
• Finer control on the angle tuning customization; I find the feature to be useless if you can't actually calibrate your proper angle
• Proper LOD control with 0.1mm increments or at least more than just 2 presets

Value

Please keep in mind the following section is based on the European Union pricing with the final VAT included, which in my case is 23%, and no potential shipping costs. Like always, I suggest only taking this recommendation at face value and checking your own regional pricing on not only this product but others you may be comparing it to before making a decision.

With the mouse coming in at €179.99 to €189.99 depending on the retailer, I simply am unable to recommend it, as while it is a good mouse, it's not better than many mice I've used at a slightly lower price point. For example, I wouldn't buy this over a Zowie or Vaxee mouse, nor do I think it has anything groundbreaking to be asking the same price as a Razer Viper V4 Pro, nor a Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike. I am aware the US price is MUCH more reasonable, so as previously mentioned, I always suggest looking at your own regional pricing and making a decision there. It's a well-built mouse with an innovative and interesting coating material, but at the end of the day, it is pretty much a Viper clone with some slight changes and ROG brand tax on top.

Conclusion

Overall, I think this mouse is the kind of item you recommend to someone that wants a shape that will just work, comes from a trustworthy brand, and has no real budget in place. I tried to keep the tone of the review positive, as at the end of the day, it is a good product, but at least in the European market, the price tag, along with the few nitpicks, does add up and affected my perception of safely recommending this to anyone.

Unfortunately, while I do enjoy the coating a lot, this is a mouse that I ultimately couldn't justify keeping, as the shape didn't bring anything new to the table for me, nor did I find it to justify the price as previously mentioned.

Introduction/Context/About Me

This review is about the RAWM ER21 Pro (non-affiliate) in the blue colorway, which was sent out to me by RAWM in exchange for a review. I do not receive any compensation from sales of this product, and all opinions are my own.

My experience was using this mouse for around a week on a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip with a 1/2/2 finger layout. My hands measure 18x9 cm and are fairly dry, and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at a 2,000 Hz polling rate and 1,600 DPI on a 240 Hz monitor to play Battlefield 6, Path of Exile, and Witchfire.

English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you find any point to be unclear.

Thank you RAWM for the opportunity!

Unboxing Experience

The box is compact, feels sturdy, and features 100% recyclable interior materials. Upon opening, you find the mouse secure in a plastic insert that sits against a foam layer on the top of the box and a cardboard box resting underneath that contains the accessories.

The included accessories consist of:

• A paracord USB-C cable
• The 8K-ready dongle
• A set of grip tape; this lacked a textured surface but felt dry and smooth and was decently grippy.

This was a somewhat minimalist but understandable accessory package given the price; however, I think the product could do with a set of dot skates and replacement full-size skates even if it meant a very slight price increase.

Shape

The mouse is an ergonomic shape strongly based on the Zowie EC2 having a few key differences, the most noticeable of which being the slightly larger overall size.

In terms of features of the shape it can be broken down as such:

• Medium outward flare with rounded edges
• Slight comfort grooves which offer good comfort while avoiding a sinking, locked-in feeling
• Sides that flatten at the expected contact points. The left side offers enough room for your thumb while naturally curving around the rest of your fingers, whereas the right side features a larger area, allowing for a great range of placement options whether you rest one or two fingers on it.
• Pronounced center hump with the typical ergonomic slope

The combination of these factors offers exceptional ease of horizontal movement at the cost of vertical dexterity with your fingers, as you do bump into the hump in either direction, making finger-based micro adjustments hard.

Overall, the shape is extremely comfortable for a relaxed claw or palm grip depending on your hand size. In my case—and as a reminder, having 18x9cm hands—I personally found it suitable for both, with the palm grip having my middle finger ever so slightly hang off the click by about 1/3rd of the nail area.

In conclusion, overall I see this as a great shape for those that value comfort above all, with some concessions for finer vertical movements. While tasks such as recoil control are perfectly fine, I did find myself struggling to perform in more movement-heavy tracking scenarios; as such, I would recommend this more for tactical shooters or top-down movement games.

Weight

My unit weighs 49.3 grams with the stock skates and 48.6 grams with four dot skates installed, which falls within the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance and 0.3 grams over the advertised 49 grams for the stock experience. It is always great to see companies properly weigh their mice and include the full-sized skates in their measurements.

As far as the distribution of the weight itself goes, I'd say it's a very good job being noticeably more concentrated in the middle, but it isn't something that you will realistically feel in use due to the dimensions of the mouse. Overall the mouse feels effortless to move while retaining good stopping power close to the sensor position and a well-built shell feeling.

Build Quality

Despite its low weight relative to its dimensions, the mouse felt sturdy while being gripped, even with significant force for the purpose of testing. It produced only slight flex and creaking when pressing on the base, and some creaking when pressing significantly hard on the point where the sides begin to curve towards the rear—which I don't see happening during realistic scenarios, even for the “death grippers” among us.

Overall, while it doesn't feel quite as sturdy or solid in the hand as the Zowie EC2, it is important to consider that said competition comes in at 60 grams on its latest iteration.

Clicks

Main Clicks Equipped with TTC Optical V2 switches, these clicks felt great to use; they are light and easy to spam with minimal pre/post-travel. I would say these feel like an in-between of the Omron opticals and FE opticals (lighter actuation force tuned) with a very pleasant sound profile that doesn't sound either pingy or excessively “fake” mechanical-like as some optical implementations, while also not being too loud. The only downside I can point out is the tactility being on the lower end.

As far as the build on them goes, I don't notice any click wobble or discrepancies in the pre/post-travel depending on where you actuate it.

Side Buttons These felt nice and snappy with fast rebound with good positioning and size; however, they're unfortunately a bit of a mixed bag for me.

This comes from the lack of coating on the buttons; while they aren't slippery, they could have used some sort of texture to make up for it, as they do come across as a bit cheap-feeling in hand. The M5 button is also prone to making a pop noise and sinking when pressed towards the bottom half.

Scroll Wheel Equipped with the TTC Gold encoder, the scroll wheel offered light, defined steps and an easily spammable click, making it an awesome experience for those that prefer both aspects to be on the lighter end.

As far as the scroll build itself, it's a standard plastic housing with a rubberized ring; unfortunately, I found the ring itself to be quite slippery, and as such, I would recommend users that rely heavily on the scroll to be wary of this and be willing to potentially need to replace it with a third-party solution.

Coating

The coating is advertised as an ice-feeling coating, which I would agree with due to feeling very smooth and starting off cold, but once it has a warm-up time, it achieves a stable and pleasant temperature in your hand. However, while I wouldn't consider this a slippery coating, I definitely felt that it needed a few minutes of warm-up to get a proper locked-in feeling, which it then easily maintains.

While this is likely more subjective based on your colorway, with my experience on a blue unit, the coating is somewhat glossy and a fingerprint magnet; however, this issue seems to be purely cosmetic, as I didn't find it required extremely frequent cleaning due to actual debris buildup.

Stock Skates

The stock skates are made of pure PTFE, have rounded edges, and provide a smooth, balanced glide.

If, like me, you're playing on glass, while I generally prefer to use 4 dot skates, I was able to enjoy the stock experience and didn't find them to create a lot of noise despite the lack of a foam layer; longevity will obviously be on the lower end due to the material itself, however. When you do look to replace them, I found the experience to be very easy, as between the small indents to easily take out the skates and the good quality adhesive that leaves behind minimal residue, it's a much-welcomed experience for someone that has spent too much time cleaning out skate cutouts.

In conclusion, while I wouldn't say they're the best experience possible, as they're very middle-of-the-road, if you're someone that does prefer the balanced experience, I would definitely keep them around instead of looking for third-party replacements out of the box. Unfortunately the mouse only comes with a single pre-applied set, so you will eventually need to consider another solution.

Performance & Battery Life

The mouse is equipped with the PixArt PAW3950 sensor and as is the case with the majority of modern mice, there aren't any discernible issues in-game while using what I personally can perceive as being the previously mentioned 2,000 Hz in the context section. Please keep in mind this was the real-world use I actually experienced, and the following section is purely MouseTester results running Windows 11 on an AMD Ryzen 7800X3D CPU.

Performance is overall stable up to 4,000 Hz with minor instability at 8,000 Hz. It is worth noting, however, that while testing the "Wireless Turbo" mode offered by the web driver—which I will cover more in-depth in the next section—I did notice a substantial improvement in the previously mentioned instability when running the appropriate mode for my use case. While it didn't eliminate the issue, it made it a minor one. I strongly recommend experimenting with it in case it isn't glaringly obvious which is best for you, or just running the automatic optimization available.

As far as battery life goes, being equipped with the Nordic 52840 MCU and a 300mAh battery, the mouse has decent but not amazing battery life. Having charged it to 100% twice, once on arrival after forcefully discharging it and another time in the middle of the week, at the time of posting this review, I am currently sitting at 47% battery after around 8 hours and 15 hours out of the initial charge, which, considering I am using all gaming-focused settings at a 2,000 Hz polling rate aside from the 20k FPS sensor scan rate, I'd say falls well within my experience with mice equipped with the same battery, sensor, and MCU, and it is more than enough for even users gaming for several hours in a row.

Web Driver

Features

• Firmware channel with the option of standard and RAWM Gaming, with the former not being able to run a 20k FPS scan rate mode and the latter disabling office and lower power modes.
• Full remapping of all mouse 1 through 5 buttons as well as the DPI button present in the base, featuring the possibility to do the following on each:
  • Remapping to any key or combination of a key alongside 1 or 2 extra keys such as Alt or Ctrl
  • Macro
  • Functions such as increasing/decreasing DPI, showing battery levels, switching onboard profiles
• Up to eight DPI stages with independent X/Y values and assignable colors that will be relevant later
• Polling rates ranging from 1,000 Hz to 8,000 Hz with an optional slider for a precise value
• Customization of the light emitted between the two clicks and the back area, supporting:
  • Looping colors
  • Static color from a pre-made selection, which includes a disabled option
  • Displaying the color associated with the current DPI level
  • On/Off toggle for said light when the mouse is in sleep mode
• A glass surface usage mode, while I personally don't have issues with the color scheme of my own pad, I did notice an improvement on what would otherwise be a slight skip on a friend's pad. I strongly recommend enabling this mode if you're using a glass pad.
• Performance modes consisting of:
  • Office
  • LP or low power
  • HP or high power, intended for gaming use
  • Gaming+ also intended for gaming use at the exchange of significant power draw; based on this, I am presuming this is the commonly mentioned "Turbo Mode" on most mice enabling a 20k FPS sensor scan rate.
• Lift-off distance settings are branded as low, medium, and high, which are presumably equivalent to 0.7 mm, 1 mm and 2 mm. This setting also contains a "surface quality" percentage that I have been unable to get to move between the 50 and 60% range regardless of the value, even when the low LOD option would result in the expected sensor skips on a glass surface.
• Angle Snapping
• Ripple Control
• Motion Sync
• Wireless Turbo: This setting offers an automatic optimisation option or allows you to select 3 options meant to optimize your signal quality under distinct conditions:
  • Receiver isolated from other wireless devices operating on the 2.4 GHz band
  • Crowded environment with many devices on the 2.4 GHz band
  • A few nearby devices on the 2.4 GHz band
• Sleep timer controls from 10 seconds to 30 minutes.
• Angle tuning from -30° to +30°
• Independent debounce settings across all mouse keys with the possibility to customize the press and release time independently

Missing/Improvements

• The system language default option could use some improvement; it will mostly display English text, but the entirety of the Performance mode section is in Chinese, and the 3 LOD options also have the same behavior. Manually selecting English from the language options fixes this issue.
• Clarification on the functional differences between the 4 possible performance modes.
• Clarification on the lift-off distance settings as far as what the actual values are or, better yet, the ability to have 0.1mm steps.
• Clarification on the differences between the HP and Gaming+ performance modes

As far as these go, I'd say they're all seemingly low-hanging fruit type of improvements, but they would go a long way for the end-user experience, especially the English display when using system language.

Value

Please keep in mind the following section is based on the European Union pricing with the final VAT included, which in my case is 23%, and no potential shipping costs. Like always, I suggest only taking this recommendation at face value and checking your own regional pricing on not only this product but others you may be comparing it to before making a decision.

RAWM prices their items in USD; all my prices are rounded converted values with the current exchange rate at the time of publishing this review.

With the mouse coming in at $69.99/€62 for the black and white colorways and $71.99/€63 for the orange, green, and blue colorways, I find it very well priced considering the whole package and can strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a good-quality ergonomic mouse based on the Zowie EC2 shape. At the time of writing, RAWM is also running their summer sale, so you can save 20% on your purchase with the code EarlySummer20 (non-affiliate), making it an even better deal!

Conclusion

Overall I think the mouse offers a gateway into a classical shape with very small differences from it. While being very reasonably priced, there are aspects that could be improved on the side click, scroll and Web Driver UX experience, but at almost a third of the price of the Zowie EC2, it is hard to hold it against the mouse and discredit it for it.

While this particular shape isn't for me, I am definitely interested in trying future RAWM products, as they seem to be another budget market banger.

Thank you again, RAWM, for the opportunity!

Introduction/Context/About Me

This review is about the Ninjutso Ten Air (non-affiliate) in the white colorway, which was acquired at my own expense.

My experience was using the mouse on a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip with a 1/2/2 finger layout. My hands measure 18x9 cm and are fairly dry, and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at a 2,000 Hz polling rate and 1,600 DPI on a 240 Hz monitor to play a wide variety of games such as Battlefield 6, Roboquest, Gunfire Reborn, and Path of Exile 2 on and off for around two and a half months.

English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you find any point to be unclear.

Unboxing Experience

The box is fairly compact, feels sturdy, and features 100% recyclable interior materials; however, the box inside could maybe use a bit more work to keep the mouse padded during transit. It only has a plastic mold for the mouse and dongle, which, while they do keep both secure, only rely on the box itself to protect the mouse, having the peak of the hump pressed against the box. I am all for minimalist packaging, and this is not the end of the world, but it would be nice to see some improvements on that design to avoid potentially broken-on-arrival mice.

The included accessories consist of:

• A stiff USB-C cable: It is worth noting that a lot of other cables I had tried would not be able to fit in the mouse port due to the cutout dimensions, so you would want to keep this cable around and accessible even if you prefer to use third-party ones.
• A cardboard box containing:
  • A set of Ninjutso-branded, full-sized Hyperskates
  • An assortment of various Ninjutso logo design stickers

Worth noting, there were no dot skates. I have seen unboxings where these were present alongside the full-sized skates; however, my unit didn't have any. I'm unsure if this was a later addition to the mouse and my batch was simply before that or if it was a minor QC flaw. I reached out to Ninjutso to validate this, and they confirmed it was an anomaly that they can't recall seeing any after-sales requests regarding this and offered me a price match difference to account for me needing to purchase dots.

It would also have been nice to see some grip tape included. While I personally don't care for it, it's always nice when brands include these, as there are many users that enjoy them, and I believe it would have been a better use of funds than the, albeit cool if you like to carry representation, otherwise useless stickers.

Shape

Many would jump to a conclusion that this mouse is just yet another Logitech G Pro Superlight clone; however, I find it to be a brand new shape, taking inspiration from the Logitech G Pro Superlight, Razer Viper, and Vaxee XE shapes I see the Superlight influence on the top down outline of the mouse especially in the click area, the Viper on the hump height and the XE on the sides transition to the rear hump area.

The mouse features a slight outward flare, slight comfort grooves, flat sides, and a minimal height hump leaning towards the back.

The transition between the peak hump height and click area being fairly flat was a welcomed combo compared to the shapes I previously mentioned. Seeing them as inspiration, I personally found this to allow me to position my fingers in various points comfortably, making me consider this a safe pick for any grip style so long as your hand size permits it; personally, I was able to get comfortable with any grip style.

The ever so slight curve towards the end of the hump offers excellent comfort for my thumb, while the flat sides allow me to position it at any point on the mouse comfortably. The only nitpick I would have here is this has made me wish the sensor position was ever so slightly forward, but I don't think this will be something most users will find lacking.

Weight

My unit weighs 44.7 grams with four dot skates installed, which falls within the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance and 0.3 grams under the advertised 45 grams.

Build Quality

Overall as far as the entire unit goes, I personally found it more than adequate without any noticeable bend or creaking while applying what I'd consider reasonable force even for people that tense up during gameplay. However, I wouldn't say it is the sturdiest-feeling mouse I've held in the 40 to 45 gram range, so if you're looking for a more sturdy-feeling mouse, I would recommend considering the regular Ten model instead.

For full transparency, I have seen it mentioned a few times that specifically the White Ten Air colorway had issues with the rear hump area feeling mushy and cracking easily. While my unit didn't show these symptoms, I also took the opportunity to question Ninjutso about this, and they assured me they haven't had these issues reported frequently and would also ensure proper after-sales support is provided for customers facing this issue.

Clicks

The mouse features exclusive patented switches for both the main clicks with the HyperClick switch and the scroll wheel encoder HyperScroll.

Main Clicks

These felt very nice and unique, offering no pre/post-travel that I could notice thanks to their button tensioning system, light actuation, satisfying tactility, and sound profile that were consistent across the click surface.

The HyperClick/SPDT implementation felt great as well and definitely improved my gameplay experience on semi-automatic guns. I strongly recommend enabling the feature in the web driver.

If I had to nitpick, the only negative I can point out was a slight wobble if you press towards the inner bottom half and create pressure outwards due to your fingers sliding or something along those lines. I didn't find this to be an issue in-game, nor do I consider it a defect that you will face unless specifically looking for it.

Side Buttons

These felt very good to click, offering minimal pre/post-travel, good tactility, quick rebound, and a very satisfying smooth coating. If I had to nitpick anything about them, it is that the sound profile is distinct from each button, with the M4 being louder and the M5 having a more pingy sound to it; however, this is purely "cosmetic."

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel has a great rubberized ring with clear textured steps that help you maintain a stable grip on it while being further elevated by amazing defined steps that I'd put up there with a Zowie implementation on all fronts except the ease of longer scroll movements due to the heavier nature of the scrolling motion.

As far as the click itself goes, I would say it has a medium-to-high actuation with satisfying feedback and an almost metallic feedback sound.

Coating

The coating has a bit of a warm-up time, but once your hand heats up, this is probably one of the best coatings I've used so far. The feeling in hand is great while avoiding that "sticky" feeling I personally dislike. So far I haven't noticed a change in performance during my time with the mouse.

It is also a very reflective coating; I would almost call it glossy, but as a consequence, I do find it to be a bit of a fingerprint and debris magnet, which was surprising for a white colorway.

Stock Skates

Out of the box, the mouse doesn't come with any skates applied, which is a big plus for me, as I never use full-size skates; however, for the purpose of this review and out of interest from the supposed exclusive material and design, I decided to test them out.

Going off the features listed for these skates from their official website, I will try to break down each of them and add in my own experience with it:

Naturally flat with no concave area:

Definitely true. I was unable to find any defects on the skate surface.

Well-rounded edges:

Just like the previous point, I find this accurate.

Extended lifespan:

I didn't let them run their course; however, I was impressed, as despite having been tested on a glass surface, I didn't notice the degradation I'd have expected out of these with the time I put into them.

Doesn't attract hair and dirt:

On a glass surface I didn't see anything to back this claim up. If there was dust on the surface, these were getting dirty and dragging it along until manually cleaned.

Noise

These were very loud and scratchy on my glass pad; it was expected when running full-sized skates; however, I was hoping that the different material may have had a positive impact there.

Glide

These are extremely fast until you apply any sort of pressure to them, and they immediately become controlled skates. It's honestly very interesting, and I haven't really felt any skates out there that achieve the same thing. I personally dislike controlled experiences on mice in the 40+ gram range, but I can definitely see some users appreciating this unique experience.

Performance & Battery Life

Ninjutso is running a modified Pixart 3950 sensor made in collaboration with the Pixart team named the AIMNINJA, which claims to provide the no longer exclusive angle tuning feature and 20% less power consumption. While they don't market anything regarding this, you can definitely tell the sensor was custom tuned, as it offers a slightly noticeable sensor experience that's unlike the majority of mice on the market; every movement felt extremely smooth and reminded me of a VAXEE sensor, which, if you are unfamiliar, is also another company with close ties to the Pixart team and actively working with them on exclusive collaboration sensors. Much like the overwhelming majority of modern releases, I didn't find any noticeable flaws in the sensor performance as a whole.

As far as battery life goes, Ninjutso does not disclose the MCU, but I would compare it to your average Nordic L15 in terms of battery efficiency, getting around a week and a half to two weeks on a full charge with my previously mentioned settings in the first section of this review.

Web Driver

To preface, the web driver doesn't seem to be accessible until you update your mouse using the NinjaForce desktop app. This was very confusing and wasn't advertised on the product page nor came in any sort of manual. That being said, I found that the web driver is intuitive but lacked a few modern features.

Features

• Full remapping of all five buttons
• Up to four DPI stages
• Polling rates ranging from 1,000 Hz to 8,000 Hz
• Sleep timer controls from 1 to 15 minutes.
• Angle tuning from -30° to +30°
• Slam-click protection settings with an L, M, and H preset; personally, I found L to be fine even when doing abnormal movements on purpose to attempt to trigger a slam-click.
• HyperClick is a patented take on a technology more commonly known as SPDT, reducing the click latency and claiming to never develop double-clicking. I always recommend keeping this on.
• Motion Sync
• Competitive Mode, which is only able to be toggled off at a 1,000 Hz polling rate, improving sensor scan rate and wireless signal stability at the expense of power drain
• Lift-off distance settings branded as L, M, and H are presumably equivalent to 0.7 mm, 1 mm, and 2 mm.
• Macro recording and assignment
• Dongle lighting variants, color, and speed (for animation-based variants), the variants being
  • Disabled/No RGB
  • Static color
  • Cycling animation
  • Wave animation

Missing/Improvements

• Option to connect to the web driver directly without the need for a desktop app to first update the mouse or at least better documentation of this requirement.
• Independent X/Y DPI split
• LOD customization within a range instead of preset steps.
• Dongle RGB brightness customization—that thing is quite the flashbang at night!
• Clarification on the software upgrade steps: The message "New firmware available" alongside an "Update" button that then moved me back to the start/connect screen is extremely confusing, and much like the initial update to enable web driver use, it seems weird to require the download of a desktop app while having the option on the web driver.
• Ripple Control and Angle Snapping: While I personally don't use either of these settings, it is strange that they were missing.

Value

Please keep in mind the following section is based on the European Union pricing with the final VAT included, which in my case is 23%, and no potential shipping costs. Like always, I suggest only taking this recommendation at face value and checking your own regional pricing before making a decision.

Ninjutso prices their items in USD; all my prices are rounded converted values with the current exchange rate at the time of publishing this review. That being said, they also are tax inclusive for EU and UK citizens as per their shipping policy, which is always a welcomed bonus as it helps us avoid customs headaches and potential surprise fees.

With the mouse coming in at $89.99/€78 for the Ten version and $99.99/€87 for the Ten Air version, both being in what I'd classify as a mid-range price that is justified due to offering a unique and safe shape, a premium in-hand feel due to the fantastic coating, awesome all-around clicks and the tooling and development costs behind the making of this shape in the two weight variants.

I can comfortably recommend this mouse if the driver update UX and missing settings aren't important to you or if you're just new to the hobby and would like to start off with a safe purchase.

Conclusion

Overall I am very pleased with the experience and loved the unique take on the shape once I got some more time with the mouse, it has earned a place in my main rotation. I look forward to what Ninjutso comes up with next and hope to be able to bring you more reviews on their products.

As far as future releases go I do hope they improve the documentation and UX for the first web driver connection and subsequent updates scenario while also making the desktop app optional in its entirety.

Thank you for taking the time to read through, and feel free to comment on any questions you may have!

Introduction/Context/About Me

The variant being reviewed is the Tempered limited colorway, solid sides, Omron Optical clicks and was acquired at my own expense. This is my second Beast X Pro and in total I have had around 9 months of using this mouse as one of my mains on rotation that I have only recently moved to the sidelines.

This review is based on my experience using the mouse on a soft speed cloth pad, a soft balanced cloth pad and a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip with a 1/2/2 finger layout. My hands measure 18x9 cm and are fairly dry, and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at a 2K polling rate, 1600 DPI, on a 240 Hz monitor to play a wide variety of games such as FPS and ARPGs but not really used in day-to-day tasks more on that later.

English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you find any point to be unclear.

Unboxing Experience

To preface, there are currently two possible configurations of the box layout and contents depending on the manufacturing date of your units at some point between July and August 2025. New batches changed the box layout, excluding a carry case and redesigned the interior of the box to accommodate this change.

Unlike their previous release, the ATK Zero, this time around the box is much more compact, making a return to form of previous releases while being sturdy and featuring 100% recyclable interior materials; both solutions are environmentally friendly, which I always appreciate. In older batches that include the carry case, the mouse and dongle are found inside the carry case, whereas the new batches come secured in a foam insert that sits above a box containing the cable and accessories.

The included accessories consist of:

• Paracord USB-C cable
• Carry case (⚠️ as mentioned above, no longer present, only found in older batches)
• A set of dyed black PTFE "full" sized skates; these actually have a cutout towards the center of the bottom skate in order to fit around some branding on the base
• A set of dyed black PTFE corner skates
• Two sets of grip tape cutouts to match the mouse clicks and sides, one being black and the other white
• A set of standard black grip tape; this doesn't feature a specific cutout for the shape, instead consisting of:
  • 3 larger rectangles
  • 6 smaller rectangles
  • 3 squares
  • 2 slightly curved larger rectangles
  • 2 sets of angled larger squares
  • 5 hexagons
• 2 alcohol wipes to remove adhesive between skate applications

Worth noting, there are no extra dot skates. I would consider these grip tape and stock dot skates to be of very high quality if you do not plan on immediately replacing them with third-party alternatives, whereas the dyed PTFE skates are serviceable but would have been nicer to see pure PTFE.

Since I already have established preferences for dot skates and no grip tape, I did not use any of the included extra accessories; however, I did experience the stock dots, more on those in the stock skates section.

Shape

For those who are unfamiliar, the WLMouse Beast X in all of its 3 size variations is a clone of the 3 sizes of the Finalmouse UltralightX/ULX with the Mini being the Small, the Standard being the Medium and the Max being the Classic.

The mouse features a moderate outward front flare, comfort grooves, deeply curved sides both to the sides as well as sloping down towards the base which offered a unique locked in feeling.

Do keep in mind, however, that this was only my experience with a solid sides model. Having tried a side slits model before, I was unable to get a comfortable grip as my fingers would constantly get caught up in said slits. If you are not trying to minimize every aspect of the mouse for weight, I strongly urge going with the solid sides variant.

Moving on to the hump, it has a low height with a center peak, which I found quite enjoyable for my grip style; however, unfortunately, much like my comment on the solid sides feeling like a requirement for comfort, both Beast X variants come with substantial cutouts along the hump, which are, in my opinion, the mouse's weakest point that can make or break the experience of many users and ultimately does give an edge in design choices to the ULX much more digestible and smaller honeycomb cutouts.

In terms of adaptation to the shape despite having considered it one of my favorites for a very long time I have slowly developed a love/hate relationship with it. While I perform great and feel locked in with it, I cannot use it for long periods of time without cramping as my carpal stabilized grip would often be affected by the wide hole in the hump directly before the click area during flicks making me sink into the left side causing strain long term. This is unfortunately what prevented me from using this mouse for day-to-day tasks and ultimately made me move on from it; however, by contrast, it also makes me very hopeful for the upcoming Beast G models, which, while no longer magnesium, do offer a solid shell while also further reducing the weight.

If you are unsure which size would be a good fit for you, I recommend inputting your hand size on their official page here and going from there; however, please keep in mind the grip style recommendation is subjective, and if you're towards either extreme of the measurement range, expect to struggle to use the grip with the least/most contact.

Weight

My current unit weighs 38.6 grams with four dot skates installed, which just falls within the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance and 0.4 grams under the advertised 39 grams.

It is worth noting from my past experience as well as feedback from talking with other users of the mouse it tends to be above the advertised weight, generally towards the higher side of the manufacturing variance.

Build Quality

If you've ever seen a Finalmouse ULX mentioned online, you have likely seen it be portrayed in a negative light regarding this aspect, but let me assure you there is a reason other than the FOMO tactics and higher price that most enthusiasts recommend the Beast series over the ULX.

The mouse is built like an absolute tank. In all my time with this mouse and experience with past units as well, I have never been unable to induce any noticeable flex in these mice's shells. The base, however, can be made to creak and even slightly bend when applying force; however, this is not something you can trigger in the intended use of a mouse.

While I haven't experienced this to a noticeable degree even on glass, it is somewhat frequent to not have a perfectly flat base due to the design on the base.

Clicks

The Beast series of mice comes with the option of using Omron Optical or TTC Nihil mechanical switches alongside a TTC Silver scroll wheel encoder. In the case of every unit I've owned, I have always used the Omron Opticals, and having experienced the TTC Nihils in modded or hotswapped mice before, I personally don't think they are the better option unless you dislike Omron Opticals, and even then I do still strongly recommend everyone to at least experience a WLMouse implementation of them once.

• Main Clicks: If you have ever heard of WLMouse, you have likely heard about their clicks; these feel fantastic. If you are a fan of Omron Opticals, you have to experience a WLMouse implementation once; they are extremely light, crisp, and perfect pre-travel and post-travel, with the only downside being that a few users report that the default debounce setting of 0 ms does result in occasional double-clicking. As such, I recommend experimenting with the debounce setting and increasing it if necessary.
• Side Buttons: Much like the main clicks these feel absolutely flawless sharing the attributes of the main clicks and having a smooth and pleasant finish to them, the only nitpick I can give these is their positioning specifically the M5 click as you may find yourself needing to move your thumb to actuate it.
• Scroll Wheel: I personally would consider the scroll wheel the weakest link in the chain but still very decent. The best way I could describe the scrolling and clicking is as defined but "muted." Every action lacks just a tiny bit of force. If you're someone that prefers a tactile experience, the scroll wheel itself is comfortable to use; however, I find the rubber to be a bit slippery with my dry hands.

Coating

Being magnesium, the coating is very dry and metallic, which can be somewhat unpleasant during colder weather as the mouse surface never really heats up as much as traditional plastic shells.

Despite this, I found it to be extremely grippy without any warm-up time with the only downside being that I notice oils/dead skin/debris to not only be more visible but also impact the quality of the grip requiring frequent cleaning. I wouldn't consider this a deterrent for many as not only is it a good practice for sanitary purposes but will also extend the lifespan of the coating.

Stock Skates

Out of the box, the mouse comes with four pre-applied dot skates made of PTFE that I found offered a smooth glide with a balanced feel, and while I found the longevity on glass to be good, they are not the quietest option out there if you are sensitive to glide noises.

Performance/Battery Life

Much like the overwhelming majority of modern mice, I can find no human-perceptible issues with the sensor implementation in this case a custom variant of the Pixart 3950 being the 3950HS, with my only complaint being a relatively slow wake-up time of approximately one to two seconds. This may be worth considering if you use extremely low sensitivities and frequently hold angles in games where sleep mode could activate. If this sounds like you, I strongly suggest increasing the sleep timer mode. I do not think this is a big issue, and it won't really affect the overwhelming majority of use cases.

As far as battery life goes, the mouse's Nordic 52840 MCU definitely shows its age in the grand scheme of things with the an average battery life of around a week with 2 to 4 hours of daily use using the latest firmware, a 2K polling rate, and High Speed Mode. I personally find this more than acceptable but may be worth considering depending on how battery intensive your preferred settings are.

Web Driver

The web driver is intuitive and feature-rich, offering:

• Full remapping of all five buttons
• Polling rates ranging from 125 Hz to 8,000 Hz
• Lift-off distance settings of 0.7 mm, 1 mm, and 2 mm
• Debounce settings ranging from 0 to 15 ms
• Angle tuning from -30° to +30°
• Sleep timer controls from 1 to 15 minutes, plus an on/off toggle
• High Speed Mode, featuring more frequent scanning and responsiveness of the sensor at the cost of battery life. I highly recommend enabling this setting for gaming as the battery life impact is minimal.
• Turbo Mode, featuring the same functionality as High Speed Mode while disregarding battery life in favor of the 20k FPS update rate on the sensor.    
• Motion Sync, Ripple Control, and Angle Snapping
• Button combinations for DPI and polling-rate switching
• Up to six DPI stages, supporting differing X/Y values
• Macro recording and assignment
• Dongle lighting variants, color, brightness, and speed (for animation based variants) the variants being:
  • Disabled/No RGB
  • Static color
  • Breathing color

Value

Please keep in mind the following section is based on the European Union pricing with the final VAT included, which in my case is 23%, and no potential shipping costs. Like always, I suggest only taking this recommendation at face value and checking your own regional pricing before making a decision.

All 3 Beast X models come in at $145 through WLMouse's global store, €159.90 through MaxGaming, and WLMouse's European storefront compared to the Finalmouse ULX, ranging from $175-189 in their official store during their FOMO tactic limited drops.

When just about everything is superior on the Beast X models aside from the cutout design, which is subjective to begin with, there just isn't a way for me to justify recommending anyone to buy a ULX over a Beast X especially now that the used and inflated market is your only option.

The mouse is still very much a premium product, but it can easily justify the cost when the entire package is mostly flawless. If you are in the market for a unique shape with a premium construction, it is absolutely worth every penny. I would only skip out on this and wait to see how the upcoming cheaper Beast G model pans out if you are chasing a more modern MCU for better battery life and a full shell in exchange for the material quality magnesium provides.

Conclusion

As you may be able to see, I am extremely positive about this mouse, and I will always be recommending this over a Finalmouse ULX. I am always excited to get my hands on WLMouse releases and strongly recommend every enthusiast to give one of their products a try if a shape seems interesting!

I intend to pick up a Beast G at some point and hope to be able to bring an updated take on one of my favorite shapes.

Thank you for taking the time to read through, and feel free to comment on any questions you may have!

Introduction/Context/About Me

To preface I would like to disclose this unit was sent out to me by ATK in exchange for this review, however, all thoughts are my own and they have had no input on this review aside from clarification on any questions I had about the mouse, nor do I gain any monetary compensation for it or any potential sales this review may generate. Thank you ATK for the opportunity!

This review is based on my experience using the mouse on a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip with a 1/2/2 finger layout. My hands measure 18x9 cm and are fairly dry, and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at a 2K polling rate, 1600 DPI, on a 240 Hz monitor to play Battlefield 6 and Roboquest as well as for day-to-day casual use for around a week and a half.

English isn't my first language, so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you find any point to be unclear.

Unboxing Experience

Unlike their previous release, the ATK Zero, this time around the box is much more compact, making a return to form of previous releases while being sturdy and featuring 100% recyclable interior materials, resulting in suitable packaging that remains environmentally friendly. The mouse and dongle are secured in a foam insert that sits above a box containing the cable and accessories.

The included accessories consist of:

• 10 PTFE dot skates
• A set of standard black grip tape; this doesn't feature a specific cutout for the shape, instead consisting of:
  • 4 rectangular larger grips
  • 4 rectangular smaller grips
  • 3 slightly curved grips
  • 4 square grips

Worth noting, there are no extra full-sized skates. I would consider these accessories decent quality if you do not plan on immediately replacing them with third-party alternatives; however, I do think it would have been beneficial to include an extra set of full-size skates as well as increase the number of dots to 12. I imagine the intention here was to allow two applications of 5 with a 2 top and 3 bottom layout; however, I didn't find the mouse to have a base that required it, making the included amount awkward for 4 dot users. Since I already have established preferences for dot skates and no grip tape, I did not use the included grip tape; however, this time around I did give the dots a try; more on them in the skate section.

Shape

At a glance, and being a smaller version of the existing A9 mouse, which itself is based on the Logitech G Pro X Superlight, it is easy to simply write this mouse off as a Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2C clone; however, I do think the mouse, despite sharing the same DNA, does warrant coverage of a few subtle differences and even draws some inspiration from the enhancements made to the shape by Pulsar's take on it through their Susanto-X. Unfortunately all 3 mice are not currently available in any 3D comparison option; however, a 2D comparison (credits to EloShapes) may help to visualize some of my points.

The mouse features a slight front flare, subtle comfort grooves, fairly flat sides with a nice smooth curve towards the rear creating a comfortable thumb support area while allowing your finger position to be flexible towards the front. This is the point where I saw some inspiration from the Susanto-X, which, despite being flatter, also made the improvement in the transition from the rear to the middle point of the mouse on the 2C shape. Aside from this, the hump has medium height with a center peak much like the 2C but feels ever so slightly taller despite measurements not backing this up. The sensor position is also just like the Susanto-X, ever so slightly more forward than the 2C, however, this point can potentially not have an impact on your enjoyment of the mouse based on a point we will later cover in the Web Driver section supported by the 3955 sensor the Mini+ version has.

In terms of adaptation to the shape it only required me to have my ring and middle fingers ever so slightly more aggressively positioned. I generally enjoy mice in the 120–140 mm length range, however, the side curvature allows me to place my fingers further forward while the center hump provides a comfortable carpal stabilization point, making adaptation easy despite the smaller size. I would definitely consider this an extremely safe shape that, while it may not be your endgame, is certainly a great stopping point that will work for most people as long as your grip and hand size can fit it. If your hand size is similar to mine, I would only recommend looking elsewhere if you're looking to palm grip this mouse.

Weight

My unit weighed 42.3 grams with the stock skates and 40.2 grams with four dot skates installed, considering this the stock experience just barely falls short of the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance out of the box.

This seems to be a frequent thing based on other feedback I've seen. While it doesn't negatively impact my perception of the mouse, it does come across as disingenuous on the advertised 39 grams. This issue is further compounded by the stock skates themselves being fairly heavy, coming in at around 3.2 grams due to the three-layer design consisting of a transparent film against the base and another middle adhesive contact point before the final exposed layer being the skates.

On the positive side, however, this still comes in at a lighter weight than the 2C and Susanto-X and has excellent weight distribution while retaining a fairly solid feeling without being dense.

Build Quality

The build quality, much like their previous recent releases, is exceptional. I cannot produce any bending while applying substantial force on any point of the mouse other than the base skate cutout areas and only produce a very low creak on the area that transitions into the rear sides.

While I think it sits somewhere between equal to and slightly better than the 2C or Susanto-X, it's also important to consider that both of those retail for at least double the price in Europe and still significantly more in the USA.

Overall once again extremely impressed by the quality that ATK has been able to achieve despite offering lower weight options.

Clicks

The mouse uses ATK Custom Optical main switches, which, if you are unfamiliar with are a rebrand of FE opticals alongside a TTC Gold scroll wheel encoder.

• Main Clicks: These feel great. If you prefer opticals that try to emulate a mechanical feel, this is the best implementation of FE switches I have experienced. There is no noticeable side-to-side wobble; however, there is slight pre-travel and post-travel if you click towards the upper area, as the clicks do have a tiny bit more actuation force than your average FE switch based on my experiences. However, this issue disappears quickly if you click towards the middle area. Comparing these to other FE switches in my collection as of right now, if I had to rank them on how well they achieve the feeling I described, I'd rank them as so:
  1. PWNAGE Ultra Custom Pro Symm 3
  2. ATK A9 Mini+
  3. Pulsar FS-1
  4. ATK Zero
• Side Buttons: The side buttons are extremely solid; unlike my experience with the ATK Zero there is no noticeable sinking or wobble regardless of where you press them. The only potential downside is subjective, where the buttons feature a slightly rough textured coating that differs from the experience on the rest of the mouse.
• Scroll Wheel: The scroll wheel feels highly tactile and well-defined, a pleasant rubber ring with outer plastic and a medium actuation force middle click.

Coating

The nano ice coating offered a very defined grip while not having that typical sticky feeling you get on other coatings that offer a very grippy experience; however, ATK claims to only retain these properties up to a light sweat, so keep that in mind depending on how damp your hands get during gameplay.

Stock Skates

Out of the box, the mouse comes with pre-applied full-size skates made of translucent PTFE that I found offered a smooth glide with a balanced feel, and despite being used on glass for the purpose of this review, I found it to be decently quiet.

The included dot skates were regular PTFE without any foam and provided a slightly faster experience at the cost of picking up texture.

Overall, if either option sounds like something that you'd enjoy, I'd say both are safe options that will suffice until you can find a suitable third-party replacement.

Performance/Battery Life

The most notable feature of this mouse is the introduction of the Pixart 3955 sensor now making its way to the mainstream consumer market. While I am a firm believer that we haven't been able to tell any noticeable differences in sensor performance for a while now, it is worth noting the 3955 unlocks new firmware features that will be discussed in the next section as well as promises to fix glass surface inconsistencies sometimes observed in 3950 mice. Due to never having experienced the latter myself, I can't confirm or deny if this claim is true; however, I have seen feedback online from users that had pads that would behave weirdly with 3950 having success with the new 3955.

Despite being powered by only a 200 mAh battery, the combination of ATK's software optimizations and the Nordic L15 chip offers great battery life suitable for those looking to minimize charging downtime on their mice. At the time of writing, I have only charged my mouse once, as it arrived with just a 30% charge, and I have since not needed to charge it with consistent daily use throughout a workday and while gaming without needing to swap out my settings between the two use cases. I would estimate my daily usage at roughly 7–10 hours.

For further context, aside from the 2k polling rate I mentioned earlier, I am running the ATK Shard competitive firmware mode and the virtual sensor offset Web Driver features that further impact battery life; more on those in the next section.

Web Driver

The web driver is intuitive and feature-rich, offering:

• Full remapping of all five buttons
• Macro recording and assignment
• Up to seven DPI stages with an optional X/Y independent toggle per stage
• Polling rates ranging from 125 Hz to 8,000 Hz and the selection of three firmware modes:
• Basic mode intended for low performance, extreme battery life, and office usage
• ATK Shard Competitive mode is intended for gaming, featuring more frequent scanning and responsiveness of the sensor at the cost of battery life.
• ATK Shard Competitive MAX mode is intended for the same use case as the regular competitive mode while disregarding battery life in favor of the 20k FPS update date on the sensor.
• Motion Sync, Angle Snapping, and Ripple Control
• Ultra-long-range mode if you cannot have your dongle close to the mouse in exchange for more battery consumption.
• Debounce settings ranging from 0 to 0–20 ms
• Sleep timer controls from 30 seconds to 30 minutes that are always on.
• Scroll wheel accidental touch prevention, which works by requiring a second input each time you begin scrolling within a set amount of time to start the input ranging from 100 to 1000 ms. This setting was translated, as currently it is in Chinese on the web driver. I apologize if the explanation or naming is unclear; I found this feature to work as advertised as far as a human can tell; however, I am not a huge fan nor recommend it, as I never felt a need to have this on a mouse.
• Lift-off distance setting ranging from 0.7 to 1.7 mm in steps of 0.1 mm.
• Dongle lighting effect featuring 4 modes:
  • Off
  • Polling rate varying the color by your current settings
  • Battery level gradient
  • Low battery blinking red
• Sensor angle tuning from -30° to +30°
• Virtual sensor offset (exclusive to A9 Mini+ as it is tied to the 3955 sensor) ranging from a value of -100 to 100. After asking ATK for clarification I learned that the values do not represent physical distance, as such, you may need to experiment to find what works best for you. As someone who prefers a more forward sensor position I found this feature surprisingly useful.
• Dynamic DPI curve

Value

Please keep in mind the following section is based on the European Union pricing with the final VAT included, which in my case is 23%, and no potential shipping costs. I suggest only taking this recommendation at face value and checking your own regional pricing before making a decision.

ATK's official store prices their items in USD due to the volatility of the currency as of late keep in mind the actual Euro value may differ. At the time of writing, the ATK A9 Mini is retailing for approximately €55 ($63.98) and the A9 Mini+ for €62 ($71.98), both with the inclusion of a free arm sleeve and a set of ATK Jade dot skates. This pricing is a sale they traditionally do to celebrate a new launch; otherwise, the mice will be €69 ($79.98) and €77 ($89.90), respectively, whereas the two most similar shapes on the market cost €179.99 for the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2c and €149.99 for the Pulsar Susanto-X from their respective official European stores.

At this price point, this mouse is easy to recommend due to it matching or exceeding the two direct competitors, but it also delivers the latest and greatest technology without even reaching the €100 mark, which is awesome for the current market with ever-rising flagship mice costs.

It will be up to you if you decide to get the A9 Mini or the A9 Mini+ depending on your budget; however, I would strongly recommend investing the tiny bit extra to get the top-of-the-line variant and more colorway options.

Conclusion

Once again, I am extremely impressed by the quality of ATK products while offering users a more digestible price point and lighter weight, and with the latest tech, I can comfortably recommend the A9 Mini+ if the shape suits your hand size and grip style, or, as a potential upgrade from a 2C or Susanto-X.

I continue to look forward to trying out more ATK releases, as they seem keen on stepping up their products with each subsequent release!

Selling the following, please comment before PM all mice are complete with unused extra accessories and have no quality or visual issues

• WLMouse Beast X Pro Tempered, solid sides omron clicks, PMM Smoothies dots, it has been in my main rotation for a few months, €125
• VGN F2 Master+, used for less than a week Westlabs Black dot skates, €50
• VXE V3 Pro, used for less than 10 minutes configured it and instantly realized the egg shape isn't for me €20
• Be Quiet! Dark Perk Ergo, used for like 3 days exclusively in office, €65

Prices include shipping ONLY inside the European Union, €220 for bundle of all 4

Timestamp

Context/About Me

The variant being reviewed is the MA-GIC/Red/Chinese New Year limited colorway launched in celebration of the Year of the Horse and was purchased with my own money at launch.

This review is based on my experience using the mouse on a speed glass pad with a carpal-stabilized relaxed claw grip. My hands measure 18x9 cm, are fairly dry and I play in a low-humidity environment. It was used at 2K polling rate, 16,000 DPI and on a 240 Hz monitor.

I have owned this mouse since the colorway release and have used it across a wide variety of game genres, primarily FPS titles as well as for day-to-day casual use so this will be a fairly long term use review.

English isn't my first language so please excuse any mistakes and feel free to ask any questions if you found any point to be unclear.

Unboxing Experience

The box is compact and sturdy while featuring 100% recyclable interior materials, resulting in packaging that feels both premium and environmentally friendly. The mouse and dongle are secured in a foam insert designed specifically for them which sits above two internal cardboard boxes containing the cable and accessories.

The included accessories consist of:

• A set of spare corner skates
• A set of spare full-size skates
• 20 dyed red PTFE dot skates (exclusive to the limited edition, to my knowledge other variants include standard white PTFE dots)
• A set of standard black grip tape
• A themed Year of the Horse grip tape set, which is also exclusive to this limited release

Overall, I think the included extras are generous and of decent quality if you do not plan on immediately replacing them with third-party alternatives. Since I already have established preferences for dot skates and no grip tape, I did not use any of the included accessories.

Shape

The mouse is essentially a slightly scaled-down Razer Viper Mini, featuring a minimal rear hump, deeply curved sides and an aggressive front flare.

While it may not feel groundbreaking to existing Viper Mini users or those familiar with its many clones, WLMouse made the interesting decision to reduce the length further to 116 mm. Whether this is a positive or negative change will depend entirely on your hand size and grip style.

Personally, I was unable to fully adapt to the shape. The reduced dimensions forced me into a more aggressive claw grip or fingertip grip, as I could not achieve a stable and comfortable grip using my preferred relaxed claw grip.

Weight

My unit weighed 50.4 grams with four dot skates installed, which falls within the industry's commonly accepted ±3 gram manufacturing variance.

The introduction of a mouse advertised at 48 grams from a company known for producing exceptionally lightweight mice was somewhat disappointing, especially considering this is one of the smallest products they have released. The mouse feels noticeably denser and heavier than competing products with similar dimensions and also suffers from being somewhat rear-heavy.

Build Quality

While the previous point was a disappointment, it has undoubtedly contributed to the mouse feeling like an absolute tank and arguably the most solid product WLMouse has released so far.

I was unable to induce any noticeable flex in the magnesium shell, even when intentionally applying excessive pressure during testing. The only flex I could detect came from the plastic bottom shell, which is not something you are likely to encounter during normal use unless you deliberately press into it.

Clicks

The mouse uses Omron Optical main switches alongside a TTC Silver scroll wheel encoder.

• Main Clicks: These feel fantastic. If you prefer a light and crisp click, this is easily the best implementation of Omron Optical switches I have experienced. WLMouse already has a strong reputation for tuning Omron switches well, but this implementation is leagues ahead of every other WLMouse product I have tried. There is very little pre-travel or post-travel, although the default debounce setting of 0 ms did result in occasional double-clicking behavior during rapid semi-automatic spam. As such, I recommend experimenting with the debounce setting and increasing it if necessary.
• Side Buttons: The side buttons are extremely solid, with well-controlled pre-travel and post-travel. There is no noticeable sinking or wobble regardless of where you press them. The only potential downside is subjective where the buttons feature a slightly rough textured coating.
• Scroll Wheel: The scroll wheel feels highly tactile and well-defined, with a pleasant rubberized finish and an easy-to-spam middle click. However, the middle-click mechanism tends to sink slightly toward the right side, most noticeably in the lower half of the button. This does not impact usability, but it is something you can feel during use.

Coating

As expected from a magnesium shell, the mouse has a cool metallic feel. This sensation is not for everyone and can be somewhat unpleasant during colder weather.

That said, the coating itself provides good grip without feeling sticky and does not attract fingerprints easily. If you are like me and have relatively dry hands, you will likely appreciate the finish, provided you can tolerate the colder feel that comes with magnesium. While this sensation becomes less noticeable over time, it never quite replicates the warmth of traditional plastic.

Stock Skates

The mouse ships with four pre-installed PTFE dot skates that provide a balanced glide.

Personally, I did not enjoy them because I prefer faster skate options at this weight range, but they are perfectly serviceable if you are not particularly picky or do not have third-party alternatives available.

Some users have reported inconsistent factory placement of the dots, resulting in sinking into softer mousepads and unstable uneven feeling on hard surfaces.

Fortunately, the stock skates use a high-quality adhesive that leaves behind little residue and can be easily repositioned. Combined with the perfectly flat base, adjusting the skate layout is straightforward and does not require immediately replacing the stock skates.

Performance/Battery Life

At the time of writing, the latest mouse and dongle firmware update was released on the 4th of March 2026. This update resolved several existing issues related to wireless disconnects after sleep and battery life.

Unfortunately, the Huan has had a somewhat troubled software history, with battery-life issues occasionally reappearing after updates. If battery life is a major concern for you, I strongly recommend researching the latest firmware situation before purchasing.

In terms of performance, there are no significant issues. The wireless implementation is generally stable, with my only complaint being a relatively slow wake-up time of approximately one to two seconds. This may be worth considering if you use extremely low sensitivities and frequently hold angles in games where sleep mode could activate.

Battery life is one of the weakest aspects of the mouse. While WLMouse has never been known for exceptional battery life the Huan performs particularly poorly in this area compared to their previous releases.

Using the latest firmware, a 2K polling rate, and High Speed Mode enabled, I was typically able to achieve only around three days of use, or roughly 9–12 hours of active playtime. This appears to be related to the transition from the Nordic 52840 to the Nordic H20 platform, as evidenced by the mouse's lengthy history of software related battery issues.

Personally this is not a major concern because I have no issue charging the mouse overnight. However, I suspect many users will find this level of battery performance unacceptable, especially considering there do not appear to be any ongoing efforts to further optimize it through firmware updates.

Web Driver

The web driver is intuitive and feature-rich, offering:

• Full remapping of all five buttons
• Polling rates ranging from 125 Hz to 8,000 Hz
• Lift-off distance settings of 0.7 mm, 1 mm, and 2 mm
• Debounce settings ranging from 0–15 ms
• Angle tuning from -30° to +30°
• Sleep timer controls from 1–15 minutes, plus an on/off toggle
• High Speed Mode
• Turbo Mode
• Motion Sync, Angle Snapping, and Ripple Control
• Button combinations for DPI and polling-rate switching
• Macro recording and assignment
• Up to six DPI stages, plus a dedicated voice-activation profile
• Scroll wheel RGB customization
• Various dongle-related settings

I experimented extensively with the angle tuning feature in an attempt to better accommodate my relaxed claw grip. Unfortunately, I found the implementation somewhat unrealistic, often producing worse tracking than leaving it disabled. Your experience may vary depending on your grip angle, but I found software solutions such as RawAccel more accurate and delivering better results however this may not be an option depending on the games you play.

High Speed Mode improves sensor responsiveness at the expense of battery life and was worthwhile in my testing.

Turbo Mode enables a 20,000 FPS scan rate but dramatically increases battery consumption. Unlike High Speed Mode, I did not find the trade-off worthwhile.

Dongle

The dongle deserves its own section because it is clearly intended to be one of the mouse's major selling points.

Unfortunately the implementation feels somewhat half-baked. Features that many would consider basic took months to arrive after launch and several quality-of-life features are still missing.

The most controversial feature is voice-command support. While heavily advertised at launch, it initially supported only Traditional Chinese and, as of writing, still lacks English support despite being sold globally.

I find this particularly disappointing because the feature was used as part of the product's marketing despite never receiving meaningful support outside China. Over time, references to the feature have quietly disappeared from some marketing materials, which felt a bit disingenuous.

Regarding privacy concerns, WLMouse states that all voice processing is performed locally and that the microphone can be disabled through the software. More technical users can also physically disconnect the microphone by opening the dongle, although doing so may void warranty.

The dongle itself consists of two components:

• The display screen
• A removable cat-shaped outer shell

The display quality is excellent, producing crisp and vibrant images despite its small size.

Customization options remain fairly limited. At launch users could only select from a small collection of curated GIFs. Support for custom static images was eventually added but custom GIF support is still non-existing.

Other missing features include:

• Disabling the display when the PC is powered off (you can only disable port power as a whole which affects your ability to charge the mouse for example)
• Any sort of stat display as is common in peripherals with screens
• Customizing the sleep mode GIF or disabling it

While these limitations do not impact mouse performance, they are significant shortcomings for a product component intended for customization.

Value

This is perhaps the hardest section for me to write because I generally enjoy WLMouse products.

Unfortunately, I simply believe the Huan is overpriced.

Between the magnesium construction, first attempt at a H20 implementation and customizable display dongle the mouse carries a significant premium while still exhibiting noticeable shortcomings in several areas.

At $155–169 USD through WLMouse's global store and €159.90–184.90 through MaxGaming and WLMouse's European storefront, I find it difficult to recommend at full retail price.

Competing products such as the Hitscan Hyperlight and ATK F1 offer excellent alternatives at lower prices. As a result, I would only recommend the Huan to users who specifically love the shape, want an even smaller Viper Mini inspired design or place a very high value on magnesium over plastic as the main shell material.

Conclusion

The WLMouse Huan is arguably the highest quality Viper Mini inspired mouse currently available. If you are comfortable with its reduced dimensions and premium price tag, it offers exceptional build quality, outstanding clicks and a genuinely premium feel.

Unfortunately, the experience is held back by several small but noticeable drawbacks including mediocre battery life, inconsistent software support and a customizable dongle that never fully realized its potential.

Despite my criticisms, I still believe the Huan as just a mouse is a great option with the only real downsides being the high asking price and the weight.