CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G Gaming Mouse Review

A Closer LookLooking at the overall appearance of the mouse, we can immediately see that it means business! It has an aggressive appearance that really captures what CM Storm is about and gives you an impression that the mouse is reserved for serious gamers. The lightning really gives it that edge which, accompanied with it’s sharp angles, makes it really look good.

Looking closer we can see the real unique part of the mouse. It features a small LCD display on the top which can be customised to display settings and your clan tag. This may sound very gimmicky, however it is actually really useful! The mouse settings such as DPI can be changed using buttons on the mouse and you can also cycle between various preset profiles. This is all well and good, however if you don’t know what settings you have just chosen, the feature is pretty useless- that is where the LED display comes in. The screen will display the DPI for the X and Y axis as well as tell you which profile you are on when cycling though. This can be invaluable in an FPS where you have to switch from a low sensitivity precision sniper shot to a close up SMG firefight within an instant. You can also see the top portion of the lighting which has a nice grilled effect.

Looking to the mouse buttons we can see that it is pretty well designed. The main buttons are nice and long which allows you to either keep your wrist on the pan and move the mouse or have your whole hand and wrist on the mouse. There are a few new buttons in addition to the ones we normally see. First of all, there are two buttons above the scroll wheel which control the DPI which as I mentioned earlier, is fantastic for changing your settings in-game. Below the scroll wheel is the profile change button which allows you to easily cycle between presets which allow for more advanced changes than simply the DPI.

Moving to the bottom we can see the sensor. It is a laser sensor with a 5600DPI sensitivity. It uses a twin laser design and does everything you expect, unfortunately no 10W laser to blind your opponent in a LAN party, but I think that’s for the best! Also, the sensor does not move the mouse when lifted far from the surface, unlike mice such as the new Razer Deathadder. This benefits those who have to lift their mouse and reset it often as doing so will not interfere with what you are doing.

Also on the bottom, under what would appear to be a battery compartment, there is an unusual feature that had me baffled for a while. First it appeared to be a series of watch sized batteries, but it was a wireless mouse, then I realised that they were in fact weights! You can add or remove up to 5x 4.5g weights to adjust the mouse to your liking. With an overall change of up to 22.5g, tweaking the number can make a noticeable difference.

On the side there is a well-moulded grip and two mouse buttons. The side buttons are invaluable for gaming and also make browsing the internet a lot easier when used for back and forward buttons. The only disadvantage is that they are quite small and you have to move your thumb some distance from where it would normally be resting to click it, which means slower reactions times and a higher chance of clicking the wrong one. I prefer your thumb to be virtually resting on the button so all it takes is a slight twist of the wrist to click it.

On the front of the mouse we can see that the mouse has more lights that are reminiscent of a car’s headlights. You can also see that it has a good quality braided cable which has a gold-plated USB connection on the other end. The only thing I don’t like about the cable is that it arrives folded up, and the braid tends to retain its folded shape.