We’ve all seen our justifiable share of amusing {hardware} names over time, however Corsair’s Nightsword RGB mouse is sort of presumably the perfect one but. I simply like it, significantly as a result of there’s nothing remotely sword-like about it in any respect. There is, I’ll admit, a fairly superb level on the top of its two primary clicker buttons, however the patterned, soft-touch chassis and grippy left-facing thumb wing make it feel and appear distinctly beetle-like to my eyes, particularly if you catch a glimpse of its glowing hexagon-encrusted eyes down the entrance. A Nightscarab, maybe?
Still, no matter whether or not you fall on the blade or beetle aspect of this frankly ridiculous fence, each metaphors crumble if you flip the Nightsword over and flip open its black, plastic stomach. For inside are six small recesses for six tiny weights, permitting you to beef up the load of the Nightsword from 119g to a chunky 141g. Yep, that is positively a gaming mouse, all proper. But is it worthy of becoming a member of our best gaming mouse rankings? Here’s wot I feel.
Like the Steelseries Rival 600, Logitech G502 Hero and Corsair’s personal M65 RGB Elite earlier than it, the Nightsword is yet one more ‘tunable’ gaming mouse. It’s fairly a bit costlier than a lot of its competitors, with present costs sitting at £70 / $70, however that’s most likely as a result of a) its DPI vary goes all the way in which up from a deathly sluggish 100 DPI to an enormous and far too quick 18,000 DPI, and b) its weights are a bit extra versatile than what you’ll discover elsewhere. Probably.
You see, the Nightsword RGB comes with two totally different units. Three stable weights that weigh 4g apiece, and three barely lighter hollowed out ones that weigh 2g apiece. This provides you as much as 120 totally different weight and stability mixtures to select from, in response to Corsair, which isn’t as excessive as what you get with the Steelseries all instructed, whose eight 4g weights offer you 256 totally different configurations, however I do like that the Nightsword provides you a mixture of weights to select from quite than lumber you with a great deal of the identical one.
Personally, I felt no use to begin making the Nightsword heavier than its default weight of 119g, as that was already fairly sufficient for my spindly little fingers, and even including the lighter 2g weights made it extra of a chore to tug throughout my mouse mat. I’m extra of a light-weight mouse fan myself, and I a lot favor having a weightmuch less mouse as attainable.
However, due to its giant, contoured form, the Nightsword was nonetheless stupidly snug to make use of on a day-to-day foundation, and it’s the right match for my lazy, all-encompassing palm grip. My thumb additionally felt very cosy resting on its grippy resting wing, however I did discover my hand was only a bit too small to succeed in its devoted sniper button with any diploma of consolation.
In a lot the identical approach as different gaming mice, urgent this slows the Nightsword’s DPI or sensitivity velocity all the way down to a crawl for so long as it’s held in (all the way in which all the way down to a mere 100 DPI, should you so want), making it simpler to line up headshots and the like or pan slowly throughout MOBA arenas, for instance. Let go, and your DPI velocity immediately springs again to regular, making buttons like this handy for if you want a bit extra superb motor management beneath stress. On the Nightsword, nonetheless, my thumb solely simply grazed the very fringe of its sniper button, and I actually needed to lunge ahead, or bunch my hand up the again of the mouse, with the intention to attain it.
I additionally repeatedly mistook the laborious fringe of the thumb relaxation for its two further aspect buttons, which sit simply above it. These really feel very a lot the identical as the sting of mentioned thumb relaxation when your consideration is diverted elsewhere, and their lack of any apparent divide additionally made it tough to inform which ones I used to be really urgent, too.
There are two extra aspect buttons to the left of the left clicker, too, giving it a complete of ten buttons general. However, these are arguably simply as awkwardly positioned because the others. The farthest one is fairly simple to hit, as all I wanted to do was slide my index finger over to the left. The one behind, nonetheless, required me to arch my index finger again, which simply wasn’t significantly snug or simple to do. Younger people with nimbler joints than I’ll not have this drawback, after all, however these with feebler fingers like myself could expertise some problem right here.
As such I wouldn’t suggest assigning massively vital features to those hard-to-hit buttons, though at the least the Nightsword’s copious variety of buttons and quite a few programmable controls offer you loads of customisation potential in Corsair’s free iCUE software program. As nicely as the standard recordable macro choices, you may as well assign textual content and media controls to 9 of its ten buttons (left click on will at all times stay left click on), together with all method of keyboard buttons, software launchers and, after all, different mouse features. Once I’d reconfigured the sniper button to one of many two aspect buttons, for instance, I bought on with it a lot better.
Still, it’s not precisely best when numerous these buttons are both tough to press or difficult to really feel out, which makes the £70 / $70 worth of the Nightsword really feel all of the extra crippling. Personally, I a lot most popular the marginally cheaper Steelseries Rival 600, though even that also prices £60 / $65. Instead, these after the perfect worth ‘tunable’ mouse ought to most likely flip their consideration to the Logitech G502 Hero. Yes, that additionally seems like a mouse turned scarab beetle, however it’s loads cheaper for these shopping for within the US, the place costs at present sitting at simply $48. In the UK, sadly, it’s an equivalent £60 to the Rival 600, however for me it’s a rattling sight extra snug to make use of than its Steelseries competitors, and comes with hundreds extra programmable buttons.
