Corsair enhances its M65 mouse with even greater precision
My current mouse is the Corsair Katar, a design I’ve come to truly appreciate for its unerring simplicity. By definition, the Corsair M65 Pro RGB FPS gaming mouse is a decidedly more complicated solution. There is a price implication to that, so is it worth the extra cost?
The headline feature of this mouse is its sensor. Most gamers like a mouse sensor with 2000dpi, but the M65 Pro’s is capable of a staggering 12,000dpi.
I'm not sure any human can move that subtly, but more realistically it can register from 100dpi and then increment upwards at 100 extra DPI notches all the way to the 12,000dpi level. In terms of how these DPI readings are translated is also flexible, starting with 125Hz and capping at 1000Hz USB polling.
However you configure it, and this includes the eight buttons, all the settings are stored internally on the M64 Pro’s own memory, allowing you to move to another PC seamlessly.
Another customisation option included are three removable weights, arranged in a triangle formation around the sensor. Together these constitute 20.5g extra on top of the 115g that the M65 Pro weighs. You can remove/add them individually, adjusting the centre of gravity along with overall mass.
I’m happy to admit that this isn’t a choice I fully follow, because while I can rationalise the lighter/heavier argument, I can’t explain why you’d want an uneven distribution travelling on a flat surface.
As the ‘RGB’ moniker suggests, it also includes LEDs that can be set to one of 16.7 million colours with a wide range of lighting effects using Corsair’s Engine software.
The shape of the mouse will be familiar to anyone who has seen the original Vengeance M65, because it remains almost unchanged. It’s tailored to righthand use, with a distinctive textured thumb rest on the left and an equally sculpted right side. The wheel's contact area has been extended by offsetting of the mouse cable to the left of centre.
Behind the wheel are two buttons designed for DPI selection, and an LED between these changes colour according to your selection.
Another three buttons are positioned to be thumb operated, and the largest of these has a scope graphic on it, to remind you that it's for sniping. It’s configured to toggle a lower DPI for that precision shot, and using the Corsair Engine software, you can set that alternate DPI on a pergame/app basis.
My experience with this mouse was mixed, when I’d expected it to be brilliant when I first unboxed it. Removing the weights helped, and the sniper button had its uses, but for whatever reason, the M65 Pro just wasn’t as natural in my hand.
I’m sure with time I can adapt, and being able to customise the settings should help once I’ve tweaked them correctly. The M65 Pro is better made than the Katar, and better specified, but I’m not sure it’s worth twice as much. However, compared with some gaming mice with less impressive sensors, it’s still relatively cheap. Mark Pickavance
A precision gaming mouse ideal for FPS gamers.