The simplicity of Corsair's latest gaming mouse wins over Mark
The Katar design ditches the superfluous and instead focuses on what gamers need out of a precision pointing device. Precisely, the combination of a high optical sensitivity, with plenty of available adjustment and comfort for prolonged gaming sessions.
The chosen sensor is one of the highest polling I’ve yet seen at 8000dpi, though you can easily drop that rate with one of the four programmable keys to something more practical.
As mice go, this is a relatively small one weighing just 85g, though even with my shovel-like appendages, it nestled perfectly into my palm. The sides use a soft rubberised coating, where the centre section is a subtly textured plastic.
Where some mice take a degree of adjustment, my transition to this design was remarkably swift, once I’d toned the sensitivity down somewhat.
The default settings are the normal left-and right-click allocations, a clickable scrollwheel and the fourth button is set to cycle through the DPI levels. As you might expect from Corsair, all this is reprogrammable. And using the downloadable Corsair Utility Engine software, you can also define the exact DPI for each of the five levels, and the lift height.
The only aspect of customisation that might disappoint is the lighting options, which are limited to the logo either being illuminated as solid or with a pulse lighting effect. Whichever of those you go with, the logo remains red, because that’s the only colour LED this mouse owns.
Having used the Katar for some serious gaming over the Christmas period, there are a few minor problems I’ve noticed with it that I need to relay. They all relate to the button sensitivity, though it’s a different issue depending which button I’m referring. The left and right buttons are probably over sensitive, and on occasion I ended up clicking the right one just by the weight of my fingers.
Conversely, the button under the scrollwheel is quite difficult to click, even when I was trying to use it. I’d also remark that it is very easy to accidentally cycle the DPI unintentionally with the placement of the four button.
I should say that none of these problems stopped me enjoying the Katar, and at no point did I want to unplug it and go back to my default pointing device.
Overall, for the money, this is a great gaming mouse for anyone who wants something minimalistic yet remarkably functional.
But it's also one of those pointing devices that can work very well for other uses when your playtime has ended. Mark Pickavance
A mouse that most gamers can afford to love.
Katar Gaming Mouse Specifications
• Compact, ultra-light weight design
• 8,000dpi optical sensor
• Zero lag 1,000Hz interface
• Ambidextrous shape
• Four programmable buttons
• On-the-fly DPI tuning