Zowie FK1 Gaming Mouse Review

Introduction

I normally look at a review sample and think “hmm, I wonder if it’s going to be any good”, but today is a little different, as I have the new Zowie FK1 gaming mouse at my disposal and Zowie have a reputation for making some of the best gaming mice in the business. With that in mind, I feel like I already know that the FK1 is going to be nothing short of awesome, and that is a dangerous thing for Zowie. If this mouse is anything lower than the high standards the company have already set for themselves, then things could quickly crash and burn towards the end of this review.

Fortunately for Zowie, the FK1 is a pretty safe product release as it’s more of a beefed up revision of their already massively popular Zowie FK. The product team at Zowie are always tuned into user feedback and they’ve responded with some minor tweaks to the product. The biggest changes are easily in the size of the mouse, it has been made a little bigger, measuring in at 1mm taller, 4mm longer and around 3mm wider overall. The next upgrade is the sensor, gone is the old Avago 390 sensor which features a 450 / 1150 / 2300 DPI toggle, now replaced with the Avago 3310 optical sensor which runs at 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 DPI.

Slightly bigger, slightly heavier, lower lift-off, wider range of DPI settings… The FK was awesome, but not the FK1 really is starting to sound like a worthy upgrade.

As you can see on the specifications below, the FK1 is ambidextrous and designed for claw grip play styles, featuring dual side buttons, a driver-free plug and play design, adjustable DPI, adjustable polling rate, low lift-off and features support for a wide range of systems.

Features:

• Ambidextrous mouse developed for claw grip usage
• Two thumb buttons on both sides to comfortably serve left- and right-handed users
• Plug and Play (no drivers needed)
• Easy to switch between left- and right-hand functionality
• 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 DPI adjustment
• Adjustable USB report rate 125 / 500 / 1000 Hz
• Perfect lift-off distance = 1.5 ~ 1.8mm
• Operating system: Win2000/XP/VISTA/7/8; Mac OS X v10.2 after

The packaging is simple enough, a nice large window to view the overall design of the mouse and a quick run down of the features and specifications around the box.

In the box you’ll find the mouse, two extra slip-mats and a Zowie sticker.