Tech Reaction

Introduction

Cooler Master has always been known to produce some of the best computer cases, power supplies, accessories and some not-so-great coolers. They established their reputation with the ‘Stacker’ series of cases, which are some of the best performing cases out there in India/the world.

Cooler Master has always been known to produce some of the best computer cases, power supplies, accessories and some not-so-great coolers. They established their reputation with the ‘Stacker’ series of cases, which are some of the best performing cases out there in India/the world.

More recently, they have launched a gamer-specific line of products known as ‘CM Storm’. This brand has been getting a lot of attention around the tournament circuits with their gaming chassis, the Sniper and Scout, and now they have made their first ever foray into the gaming mouse market with the “Sentinel Advance” gaming mouse, Cooler Master spent two years on research and development for this mouse, so do read on to decide whether those years were complete waste or not.

At the center of this very nimble mouse is a dual laser sensor, that delivers an impressive 5600 dpi resolution, as well as the 1000 Hz Ultrapolling technology with a 1ms response time. This mouse is pretty large but perfect ergonomically and also has a thumb rest which is a boon for long hours of gaming. Sadly, however, it is not ambidextrous, left hand gamers are out in the cold. It’s all black as can be seen in the pictures, with 64kb memory and ASIC which allows gamers to store profile, macros and scripts. The Sentinel also comes with 5 removable weights, each weighing 4.5g for a total weight of 22.5g, but its biggest attraction is the OLED screen which is a first for any mouse.

With the introduction of this revolutionary mouse complete, let’s move on to the official specification page…

Specifications

Specifications:

• 5600 DPI Storm Tactical Twin laser Sensor
• 64KB Sentinel-X Memory
• OLED DPI Management System
• OLED Team Logo Personalization
• 8 Programmable Buttons
• Rapid Fire Tactical Mode
• 1000z Polling/ 1ms Response Time
• Max Speed of 235 Inches Per Second
• Max Acceleration 50G
• 1mm Lift-off Distance
• Right-hand Ergonomic design
• Gold-plated USB Connector
• 5 x 4.5g Adjustable Weight System
• Full-Speed USB

Honestly that’s a great feature set coming from a company which is a brand new entrant to the gaming mouse segment. But, as any gamer would tell you, it’s not just fancy features which make a great mouse but a host of other basics that if not done right would ruin any out-of-the-world features that it may have.

Let’s take a look at the unpacking and get some nice pictures of the mouse.

Unpacking and Pics

So here we go with the pictures. First up is the front of the clamshell-type box which shows all the features of the mouse on the right hand side.

Not too many accessories come in the package. There is of course, the Cooler master Sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse itself, Software DVD and the odd-looking expansion slot cover that is actually an anti-theft device called the “Storm Guard”.

We see braided cord, which hopefully will mean no accidental cord tearing as has been seen to happen in some Razer products, and a longer life in general. The mouse has a golden USB connector but that’s more of a marketing gimmick rather than any serious addition to the features.

Some More Photos

Some more eye candy for your viewing pleasure (Pictures courtesy Cooler Master).

Software

Installation of the mouse was a breeze. Everything works out of the box, but for scripts, macros, color and part of dpi management, the included software is needed. There are a plethora of options available. Button assignment and dpi sensitivity settings for up to 5 profiles is as easy as hitting select and apply. Do note that X and Y axis can be programmed independently for different dpi settings. This is useful for those gamers who use more than 1 monitor, and where in they choose the option to stretch the screen to 2nd monitor. You can change the polling rate as well, if you are not comfortable with the default 1000 Hz. Personally, for daily use I have it set at 500Hz.

The second tab ‘Color Control’ lets you configure the colors that will be switched between when pressing the configured mouse button. Also you can make the mouse emit a different LED color from its dual headlights and a different color on the center.

Another amazing feature that can be controlled from here is the LED Style. There are 4 styles in all. Default is Full LED, Breathing, Rapid Fire + On Mouse Click and Disable(so even if you are not the flashy type, and don’t need the LEDs, you can still enjoy the other features of the mouse).

Also did I mention you can upload your clan logo to be displayed on the OLED screen? Only condition is that it needs to be 32 x 32 pixels and black & white. Pretty soon the bland Cooler Master logo is gonna be replaced by… Oh noes! I need to find a clan first, , since mine is disbanded.

This is where you can configure macros.

And for scripts.

And this is the support section which has a link to CoolerMaster Storm webpage and a button to update the firmware of the mouse.

With the introduction, specifications and features looked into, we move on…

Testing and Performance

Testing a mouse is a very subjective thing to do as everybody has different needs, experiences and requirements. But let me cover some of the points that are essential to gamers.

Weight and Grip

As mentioned in the Introduction, Sentinel Advance comes with 5 weights each of 4.5g. I tried removing and adding back the weight and got the perfect feel with the full 22.5grams of weight inside the mouse. Though one apparent con of the mouse is that it doesn’t come with any additional pouch or case to keep the weights once removed. This can be a concern for those who would get a better feel with a lighter mouse removed but would not like to lose the extra weights

One thing I have noticed over the years is that even if a mouse has perfect tracking, it is your grip that decides your level of satisfaction and grant you amazing game performance. The Sentinel Advance has a rubberized finish, which allows for less slippage, and is bulky (almost as big as the Microsoft Sidewinder and the Ikari Optical), which is perfect for me. Distances between all the buttons are even and none of the button are out of the reach in the heat of gaming. It has a thumb rest for long gaming hours and the grip is simply perfect, so nothing to complain about here. The shape and the feel gets a thumbs up from me.

Tracking
The Philips twin Doppler laser sensor used in the Sentinel is designed with precision hardware used for medical applications. What does that mean to us, the average gamer? Basically the laser sensor is more accurate than what we see on an average mouse, and should give better gaming performance. Now before putting that to test, first off we go into the mouse settings and turn off mouse acceleration and then use the CPL_mouse_fix registry patch. A test of the Direct Input Mouse Rate puts the Sentinel at an average of 0.98ms and 1020Hz. To put that to the test I cranked the dpi all the way up to 5600 (I normally use 1800) and jumped into a few UT3 games. With the sensitivity turned up so high I was able to tell right away that the Sentinel is very accurate, though I was not able to control the crosshair at such a high dpi and had to turn it down to 3800 dpi. Then I tried UT3 again along with COD4 and Crysis. Also do note that instead of have 4 feet as is common with other gaming mice, the Sentinel has a complete layer of pads called ‘Battle Pads’ which helps in having complete control over the mouse. After a week of testing, I’d say the results were very satisfactory. In fact, I’ll put my money where my mouth is and say the results were downright awesome. It is more accurate than my current mouse, the Steel Series Ikari Optical and maybe even the Razer Deathadder.

Scripts and Macros
I rarely use mouse keys for anything other than game specific mouse binds, but I ran the Sentinel Advance through some scripts and programmed all five profiles (the four programmable and the default Storm profile) to different settings and the mouse worked as good as the scripts were. The biggest advantage of the mouse is that the scripts are loaded on to the inbuilt 64Kb ASIC chip, so you can take the mouse to a LAN, connect it to a different computer and it will not need any software or driver to load up the scripts(mind you I am not promoting script or hacks but only the feature of the mouse).

Pricing and Conclusion

Price

Cooler Master Sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse will be selling for Rs. 5,000 (US 54$ from Amazon) in stores which is one hell of a deal considering all of the features this mouse has, grab one of these fast before they are all sold out.

Verdict

In my tests it performed beyond my expectations and better than just about every other gaming mouse I have ever tested. There are a plethora of features and a top-end resolution of 5600 dpi. The mouse tracks superbly and stops exactly where you want it to.

The CM Storm Sentinel Advance Laser Gaming Mouse has everything one would yearn for in a high end gaming mouse. It also has many things you would have never thought of. The Sentinel Advance has 8 programmable buttons, which is plenty for almost any gamer’s needs. It also boasts a complex GUI that takes the control of the mouse to the next level. The color schemes on the Sentinel Advance are just down right amazing, and with the weights in the bottom, one can customize it pretty much any way they like. CM has paid attention to every detail of the mouse and it does show.

We nerds are the lazy type, so here goes the Pros and Cons of the mouse for those who have more important work than reading 6 pages of a boring review.

Pros :

• Fully programmable 8 buttons
• 64KB Onboard memory for driver-less working
• Multiple profiles which can be changed through software or mouse button
• Comfortable design for long gaming hours or daily usage
• Can switch between 6 colors
• Adjustable weights
• Braided cord for longer life.
• Extensive software to configure/load scripts and macros.

Cons :

• No pouch to keep removable weights.

And thats the only problem that I can think about it, I guess that says a lot about how we felt about the mouse. So were the 2 Years spent on research and development of the mouse well spent?? Hell Yeah, they were and CM sure do have a winner in hand. Overall Cooler Master Sentinel Advance Gaming mouse gets a big thumbs up from us and a full 5 on 5.

Thanks to Mr. Avinash from Cooler Master and Mr. Saini from SMC International for providing the review sample.