Introduction
When we visited Turtle Beach at CES 2015, we were amazed to see a full range of gaming keyboards and mice, especially given that Turtle Beach has spent so many years focusing on the audio market. I was eager to see what they could do and since then, we’ve already been impressed by their GRIP 500 gaming mouse, so today I’m really looking forward to see what their next product, the GRIP 300 is capable of.
“The Turtle Beach Grip 300 optical gaming mouse is an affordable, ergonomically engineered 5-button scroll-wheel mouse that uses quality components such as the Avago 3050 optical sensor and Omron switches to deliver smooth, precise control. Its compact sculpted body sports an illuminated logo and scroll wheel, and hardware switches to adjust DPI from 500 to 1750 and polling rate from 125 to 1000Hz. Plug and play for both PC and Mac® right out of the box, there are no drivers to load or software to run. And its non-slip soft-touch coating enhances grip control and increases gamer endurance.”
The GRIP 300 comes will all the features you would expect from a gaming mouse, but with a few nice extras given its respective price range. As you can see below, the GRIP 300 box is a little wide, making room for the DRIFT mouse mat, which comes bundled with it.
On the interior of the box, you can actually touch the mouse, which is great for those who are picking up the box at retail, as it allows you to test the main switches, scroll wheel and feel the surface finish on it.
The mouse mat is of a very high quality, with a smooth finish, hard-wearing surface and stitched edges to prevent them from fraying.
Unlike the plastic cable of the GRIP 500, the 300 comes equipped with a high-quality braided cable and a gold-plated USB header, which should help improve the overall lifespan of the mouse.
In terms of design, the GRIP 300 is pretty straight forward with few buttons on show, something that may appeal to the pro gaming market, who often prefer simple designs for competitive gaming.
There’s a nice ergonomic shape to the mouse, like the design of the GRIP 500. Although, unlike the GRIP 500, the 300 only has two side buttons, not three.
The GRIP 300, much like its name implies, has been treated to a grip coating. This hard-wearing rubber-like surface has a really nice feel to it and it’ll also benefit those who suffer from sweaty hands while gaming.
There’s a good quality scroll wheel with a soft rubber grip around it and a soft tactile bump when rotated, making it very easy to control.
Overall, not the most exciting design, but build quality feels good, the design is aesthetically pleasing and the switches have a nice quick and responsive click to them, which will be great for gaming.
While the top side of the mouse may be lacking a lot of controls, that’s not to say the features are limited. Here you’ll find switches for adjusting the polling rate, as well as the DPI settings. Of course, you’ll also find the optical sensor.
