MMO Gaming Mouse Roundup
Peter Donnell / 11 years ago
The Black Element is one of the smaller mice in this selection with some pretty straight forward ergonomics and a \ / body shape that should lend well to lift off / claw play styles. Down the left side it features three simple switches, while the top of the mouse features the two main switches and a pair of toggles for things like DPI settings.
The right side features an extra control switch, bringing the total number of switches to 8 not including the mouse wheel.
The underside features some decent size Teflon slip mats, an optical sensor, a profile toggle switch and best of all a compartment for customizing the mouse weight via 5 x 4.5g metal weights, making this the only weight customisable mouse in the collection here today.
The left and right side are LED back-lit as too is the scroll wheel and dragon logo, with each section individually customisable (in terms of colour) via the included software.
The software is straightforward and easy to understand, with five profiles and five matching colours to choose from for the mouse LED so you can tell at a glance which profile you are on. There are Marcos and even a timer included and while it’s nothing extensive, it’s more than enough to give you an edge in your favourite game.
Performance
The Black Element is just full of surprises in terms of quality given that the Thermaltake Black Element is the cheapest MMO gaming mouse in our range by a big difference, I’ve seen them as cheap as £30 here in the UK and given the most expensive in our collection today is around £130 (Steelseries Wireless) and the rest are around £60-90, that is a big saving.
The lift off height is a tidy 1-2mm and this is great for lift off game play, something that is helped greatly thanks to the light chassis (with the weights removed ofc) and the \ / chassis shape of the mouse. I also really like that the mouse has a customisable weight and this allows you to tweak its center of gravity and drag factor on your gaming surface, tailoring it to your preference, which is always a nice thing to be able to do.
The buttons are super simple to figure out and there is no excess features here in terms of controls, it may not be the most complicated mouse here today but maybe that is the point, 8 buttons are plenty for your average MMO player.
The sensor is really good for this price range too and while I did find that it suffered from some mild acceleration at higher velocities across all DPI settings, the mouse still feels snappy and accurate while gaming. There was no prediction or angle snapping present and the acceleration issue is really kept at a minimum.
The mouse doesn’t glide very well on hard cloth surfaces, it’s certainly suited better to smooth soft surfaces like the Zowie G-CM or the TteSports Dasher. Customizing the weight of the mouse didn’t help this much unfortunately.
Pros
- Excellent value for money
- Customisable weight
- Good software
Cons
- Mild acceleration
- Slightly less customisation options that some of the other mice
eTeknix says: “I’m simply blown away by this mouse, not because it offers incredible performance, because it doesn’t! But it does offer some seriously impressive performance and a great level of features for a mouse that costs half of the next cheapest product on this list and it can still stand proud against some fierce competition because of that fact. This isn’t just a good cheap mouse, it’s a good mouse overall regardless of its price.”
