Cougar Iron Grey Edition 550M Gaming Mouse Review

Introduction

Cougar is back on eTeknix once again, following the review of their new 300M gaming mouse, which was a fantastic product for a very reasonable price. In the office today, we have something a little more high-end, the 550M 6400DPI “ultimate optical gaming mouse” and I’m very eager to see how well (or perhaps not so well) it performs. We’ve seen great things from Cougar in the past, and in my opinion, they’re one of the hottest peripheral manufacturers out there right now, offering solid performance, great aesthetics and very competitive prices, so let’s jump right to it and take a closer look at what the 550M has to offer.

As you can see in the video below, this is a really nice looking mouse, with grip side panels, a high-end optical sensor, programmable buttons, built-in 32-bit ARM processor  with 512KB of on-board memory and plenty more; pretty much everything you would expect to find in a competitive gaming mouse these days.

The packaging is nice and tidy, featuring a clear image of the mouse, as well as a quick rundown of the main specifications.

This mouse is packed with gaming features, which are listed in detail on the back of the box; this is handy if you’re looking at the mouse in a retail store, but we’ll take a much closer look ourselves in just a moment.

In the box, you’ll find a straightforward user manual, as well as some clear back stickers if you feel inclined to put such things on your PC case, monitor, etc.

Of course, you’ll also find the mouse in the box, which comes hard-wired with a nice quality black braided cable.

The 550M has a fairly aggressive design, which will no doubt appeal to a gaming audience.

There’s a pair of large side buttons on the left of the mouse, but the thing that stands out the most is the mixture of textures the 550M offers. There’s a granite effect top panel, which is nice and smooth, a hard grip textured surface on the side and that bright orange metal inner chassis that starts between the mouse wheel and is exposed towards the rear of the mouse.

The mouse has a slim ergonomic shape, which is suitable for a range of grip styles; palm, claw and fingertip.

One thing that immediately caught my attention is the scroll wheel; it’s huge! The wheel has a thick and fairly soft rubber coating, and while it is oversized, it’s heavily recessed into the body of the mouse, making it feel nimble and accurate to control.

The DPI toggle is unique too, as it needs to be pulled backwards like a trigger rather than pressed down; this is still easy to do mid-game, but it’s also virtually impossible to accidentally trigger the button!

There are three large slipmats on the 550m and they’re extremely smooth, meaning this mouse will glide with minimal effort on a wide range of gaming surfaces; more so than most gaming mice!