Painfully precise professional rodent
At first glance, this mouse may not look like much. It’s a far stride from the usual hyper-ergonomic, multi-colored, wireless, adjustable gaming mice we tend to feature. But that’s exactly what makes this mouse so special. It’s not about the glitz and the glam, it’s about making you the best damn gamer you can be.
So who is Zowie? Well, in short, it’s a tiny company, founded in 2008, with the distinctive goal of creating perfect gaming peripherals for pro-gamers. But that’s nothing we’ve not heard before, surely? Take a look at SteelSeries, Razer, and Logitech, and you’ll discover a similar ethos driving all those companies. What makes Zowie different from the rest is how it works as a company. It’s a brand that’s not seeking to become a market leader, it doesn’t answer to shareholders, and it's certainly not hoping to break any world records for the number of mice sold.
What makes the Zowie FK1 so special? Well, for starters, it’s one of the few ambidextrous mice available that achieves pixel-perfect accuracy. The Avago 3310 sensor is already a favorite among gaming professionals, but here there’s no interpolation of movement, there's zero jitter, and there's absolutely no angle snapping. It’s perfectly precise. In theory, you could move this mouse across the screen one pixel at a time with complete and unparalleled smoothness. The FK1 achieves this by keeping everything integrated into the mouse itself—there are no drivers to install, and there's nothing to configure on the desktop.
A simple button located at the bottom of the mouse enables you to adjust between 400, 800, 1,600, and 3,200 dpi. There’s no noise between the mouse’s movement and what you see on the screen. Some of this is achieved thanks to that Avago 3310 optical sensor buried at the heart of this pinpointprecision machine, and the rest is due to Zowie’s engineering prowess, because beyond the sensor, Zowie has managed to achieve an impeccably low lift-off distance of 1.5-1.8mm.
You also get a set of Blue Huano switches providing solid and dependable button action. You can confidently and rapidly click away, safe in the knowledge that each actuation counts. And speaking of buttons, you’re not going to encounter many on this mouse—besides the obvious ones on top, you only have access to two on either side of the FK1. Those looking for an MMO or MOBA configuration may want to look elsewhere. That isn’t the market this mouse is designed for—the FK1 is for first-person shooters, for those who need painstakingly precise accuracy with every single shot.
The FK1 is an incredibly fast, responsive, lightweight monster of mayhem. Its entire focus is on e-sports, and that's reflected in its engineering—all of which is centered around Zowie’s fanatical pursuit of those marginal gains. Ultimately, it does the basics stunningly well, utilizing some of the very best mechanical components in the business to pull together an absolutely phenomenal ambidextrous piece of hardware. If you’re serious about playing first-person shooters, then this mouse should definitely be at the very top of your wish list. Zak Storey
SPECIFICATIONS
Sensor Avago 3310 Optical Sensor
Lift-off distance 1.5–1.8mm
Polling Rate 125/500/1000Hz
Max Sensitivity 3,200 dpi
Programmable Buttons 7
Weight 0.2lb