When I first clapped eyes on the brand new Endgame Gear XM1, I believed I’d unintentionally picked up my trusty Logitech G Pro Wireless once more. Aside from the plain wire protruding of the XM1, each gaming mice have clean, light-weight shells that fill the palm and sit near the bottom, and each have two small black facet buttons that really feel nigh-on similar in form and measurement beneath the thumb. They even weigh virtually the identical quantity, too, with the XM1 coming in only a gram heavier than the Logitech’s featherweight 69g. Is it price contemplating as a less expensive, wired model of my best gaming mouse champion? Here’s wot I feel.
Now, the identify Endgame Gear might be unfamiliar to lots of you, and with good motive – they’re a reasonably new {hardware} producer and the XM1 is their very first gaming peripheral. Built with esportsers in thoughts, the XM1’s huge declare to fame is that it has a record-breaking change response time of lower than a millisecond, making it tremendous quick for these all essential headshots in aggressive shooters and whatnot.
Admittedly, I’ve no means of measuring such a declare, but it surely positively feels good and responsive throughout on a regular basis use, and the mixture of its Omron switches and its 16,000 DPI Pixart PMW 3389 sensor make it a really exact and nippy gaming companion as effectively. However, I wouldn’t say it essentially felt sooner than, say, different £54 / $60 mice I’ve examined lately, resembling Corsair’s Ironclaw RGB or Glorious’ Model O-, for instance, or that its “patented analogue switch contact algorithm” had a noticeable influence on the best way I performed.
Indeed, essentially the most noticeable factor in regards to the XM1 was the sheer quantity of noise its two most important clickers made each time I pressed them down. It’s a a lot deeper, extra pronounced sound than different, higher-pitched mice I’ve examined over the previous few months, and it not solely feels a bit excessive if you’re simply clicking on hyperlinks and searching the online, however I additionally discovered it fairly distracting when taking part in games, too – particularly if you’re furiously Super Shotgun-ing a demon within the face in Doom or carving up dinosaurs in Monster Hunter: World. It wasn’t sufficient to get on my nerves, per se, nor did it make me wish to change mice utterly. But it was positively the factor I keep in mind most in regards to the XM1, and can doubtless turn into a degree of rivalry for many who choose their mice to be as quiet as potential.
I wasn’t blown away by its general construct high quality, both. Even after simply a few weeks on my desk, there have been noticeable grease marks the place my fingers had been on the 2 most important clickers, in addition to on the facet round its two facet buttons. It wasn’t straightforward to scrub off, both, as you possibly can see from the images on this evaluate.
Its facet buttons have been, a minimum of, straightforward to press for essentially the most half, and I used to be in a position to rapidly distinguish which one was which because of the small however apparent divide working by way of the center of them. Sadly, the XM1 doesn’t supply an enormous quantity of flexibility for utilizing mentioned facet buttons, as you’re just about restricted to their default operate of ‘forwards’ and ‘backwards’ for browsing the online, or disabling them fully. That’s all you get in Endgame Gear’s XM1 Config Software instrument, which was disappointing to say the least.
This button is the one technique to change the XM1’s DPI pace.
Thankfully, there’s a bit extra leeway in the case of adjusting the mouse’s DPI or sensitivity settings, however even this isn’t fairly as versatile as I’d like. The excellent news is which you can select from 4 totally different speeds all the best way down from a dead-slow 50 DPI as much as its most, insanely quick 16,000 DPI in increments of 50. The unhealthy information is that the one means of adjusting DPI pace is to show the mouse over and press a small button beneath the sensor. The two LED lights above it would then change color relying on which profile you’ve chosen, however that additionally requires remembering which color corresponds to which pace within the XM1 Config Software, which isn’t significantly straightforward when its inexperienced LED seems to be virtually the identical as its blue LED.
Overall, it makes for a reasonably underwhelming mouse in comparison with its equally priced competitors, and at £54 / $60, it feels very costly for the quantity you are able to do with it. Indeed, there are less expensive mice such because the Steelseries Rival 110 and HyperX Pulsefire Core that provide you with extra customisation choices than the XM1 for actually half the worth, making it a tricky promote as an out-and-out gaming mouse.
There will little doubt be some who discover its lack of outward-facing LEDs and plain, featherweight chassis a extra engaging proposition than different tremendous gentle gaming mice resembling Glorious’ cheaper, however rainbow-infused £45 / $50 Model O-, or the costlier £80 / $80 Razer Viper, however its lack of customisation choices are an actual sticking level so far as I’m involved, and its loud, distinguished clicking sound doesn’t assist issues both. Instead, when you’re adamant about getting a plain, light-weight gaming mouse, you’d be higher off saving your pennies and going with one thing just like the £48 / $55 Roccat Kone Pure Owl-Eye or the even cheaper £25 / $40 Asus TUF Gaming M5.
