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Cyborg is one of the leading gaming peripheral brands we’ve had a chance to review. We’ve seen several products from them already like the Cyborg GLIDE gaming pad, which has recently been reviewed, and the soon to be reviewed V7 Keyboard. Cyborg, the gaming branch of Mad Catz Interactive Asia, covers the pro gaming peripherals area of the already saturated market for gaming mice, keyboards and headsets.Today’s peripheral market is full of mice aimed at gamers, with lots of them boasting laser sensors, high sensitivity and additional buttons. They come in many shapes and sizes and in all the colours of the rainbow.
In the past 5 years we’ve seen little in terms of innovation when it comes to gaming mice. Often, a brand’s existing mouse is reworked to include an extra button, or increased sensitivity, to then be launched as a new product, but this can’t carrying being the norm, as soon things like the sensitivity will exceed human capabilities. What we’ve got in to review today is a very unique looking mouse from Cyborg. Called the R.A.T.7 Albino edition, does it provide that much needed innovation in the gaming peripheral market? Lets see how it fairs.
The R.A.T.7 Albino edition is the white version of the R.A.T.7 gaming mouse. Other than the colour, the Albino edition also features an addition bump to the DPI, having an increase to 6400 DPI from the 5400 DPI seen in the standard edition. The main features of the mouse are as follows:
Now we’ve got the specs, lets take a look at the product:
The R.A.T.7 Albino Edition mouse comes in a very slick, white angular box with a central graphic of the mouse, along with the usual awards and new features over the previous edition. The front cover is held in place with a magnet that can be opened like a door to provide a complete view of the R.A.T.7 mouse.
When you first see the R.A.T.7 it would not be surprising if the first word that pops into your head is “wow”, as the mouse certainly has a very striking, yet very unusual design. It looks like something straight out of the Terminator films – which matches Cyborg’s image perfectly. The Albino edition features an all white appearance compared to the standard black. There is also another version of the R.A.T.7, which is the MMO edition, which we may get a chance to review in the future.
The R.A.T.7 features a total of 9 buttons; of which two are the usual left and right click, middle click (scroll wheel), a button to change the DPI (just infront of the middle scroll wheel), mode select buttons on the left mouse button, which also light up depend on the mode. There are also two buttons on the thumb rest that act as forward and backwards. Not seen on all gaming mice is a “precision aim” button on the thumb rest and a thumb scroll wheel, which is fairly unusual. We will go into detail further on.
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The whole design is modular, with each bit being adjustable to suit the user’s preference. There is a whole host accessories that allow the user to customise both the appearance and suitability for their hand. Most notably, is the raised palm rest and a little finger rest.
There are several points that can be customised, starting with the thumb rest, which can be adjusted to widen the mouse. The outer edge can also be replaced with a different part that provide an additional rest for your little finger.
The palm rest can also be adjust towards the user for those with large hands or away, for smaller. This rest can also be replaced with another, which provides more height for those users that use the “claw” grip. The palm rest can also be replaced with a metallic blue version if you fancy a change.
To modify the layout of the mouse, there is a thumb screw at the rear of the mouse that unscrews to reveal an alan key at the other end. This tool is required to adjust the thumb rest or change the various panels.
Like most gaming mice, the R.A.T.7 also features a weight system that can be adjusted by unscrewing the thumb screw at the back, then a plastic ring. A small spring here provides pressure on the individual ring shaped weights, keeping them in place if you decide to remove a few.
All the components of the mouse that are white in colour, are coated with a soft touch texture that provides a pleasant touch.
The software that is provided along with the mouse is simple to use, yet provides a lot of functionality for the mouse. There is the option to change the DPI settings for each mode, or the precision aim. It is also possible to change the whole mapping of the mouse, which might be pointless for most, but for some gamers, could improve their fragging abilities.
The R.A.T.7 has several modes that can be configured using the software, which can be flicked between by pressing the mode change button by the left click.
So looks aside, lets see how the R.A.T.7 Albino Edition performs:
When we finally sat down to test out the performance of the R.A.T.7 we were pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the mouse actually was, despite it’s contrary to the norm design.
The soft touch texture added to the additional comfortableness after we tweaked the shape to suit our hands, and felt totally natural to use. The buttons are well laid out, and don’t require a huge amount of force to activate.
During normal use, such as browsing the internet, word processing and some photoshopping, the R.A.T.7 was faultless and provided a very smooth and efficient experience. When it came to gaming… wow. In conjunction with the G.L.I.D.E mousepad, the movement of the mouse was without any resistance, and glided across the surface.
The quick response from pressing the sensitive buttons meant getting the shots off first before the enemy and there was no presence of RSI or any discomfort from using the mouse for long periods of time.
The only downside to this mouse is two things, first, the colour: even though we didn’t use the mouse for long, it quickly picked up and traces of dirt on our hands and gave the white soft touch coating a slight dirty tinge to it, that couldn’t be removed.
The other downside is the cost. With an RRP of around £85 it makes it one of the more expensive gaming mice that we’ve had a chance to review.
On the whole, the R.A.T.7 Albino Edition is one of the best performing gaming mouse we’ve managed to get our mitts on. Not only is it the most comfortable – due to it’s fully customisable nature, but it performs flawlessly, which provides you with the edge over other gamers.
If the price isn’t an issue, nor it’s ability to get grubby quickly, then stop hesitating and buy this mouse. We weren’t disappointed, and neither will you be.
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