Tech Reaction

Cooler Master has sent us a new mouse from their CM Storm line of products. The CM Storm Inferno is a massively programmable mouse once coupled with the software that is included with it. It has an on-board chip to store your profiles for on-the-fly switching, which will also work if you switch computers. The Inferno also includes a multiplier key that will allow up to 32 extra button outputs as well. We will be sure to test all of these options and see just how easy it is to implement them into games.

Packaging:

The Cooler Master Storm Inferno:

Specifications and Features:

Inferno Software:

When you first start up the Inferno software, you will be greeted with this screen. Are you a casual gamer or a pro gamer? We will leave that option up to our keyboard warriors out there.

Once you finished debating on whether or not you’re a 1337 pro gamer, you will be brought to this screen. As you can see, there are a lot of options to play with already and this is only the first page! You can create your profiles from this screen in the top left. You will also be able to set motion sensitivity, clicking speeds and response times as well. You can also set your five DPI levels for fast switching once you are in a game. If you need to change button assignments, you can also do that from this screen. Now you see why we warned you about all of the options that flood your screen with this software. You can spend a lot of time in this section and not even scratch the surface of the full capabilities of the Inferno mouse.

With the above screen shot, you can work with your profiles. If you need to export a profile for a friend, or if you need to import a new one to test out, you can do that here. This screen will let you load up to four profiles on your Inferno mouse, so if you change computers, your profiles will still be with you. We think that is an extremely cool and useful feature and we were even more surprised when we tested it and it really worked! Nice job with this feature Cooler Master.

In the Storm Tactics section, you are once again exposed to a plethora of options. This is where you can set your scripts and macros to run after pressing the desired button combination that you’ve set. You will also be able to adjust how fast or slow the speed of your scroll wheel is, although, we are not sure why you would want a super slow or super fast scroll wheel speed; a speed somewhere in the middle has always been good enough for us. On the bottom right, you can also choose your style. For example, if you choose “Full Color”, all of the mouse lights will be fully lit at all times. However, if you choose “Rapid Fire”, the lights at the front of the mouse only come on when a button is clicked, almost like the toy ray-gun we all had as kids. This allows for a little more customization for the control freaks out there, and I suppose a playful gimmick as well.

Setting up your macros is pretty simple. All you need to do is know what you want your macro to be, click the “Start Record” button, and input your desired keys. When you are finished doing that, simply click “Stop Recording” and you now have a new macro (don’t forget to save it). You can also select whether or not you want it to loop, or just perform the macro once, and then select a macro button and profile to go with it.

Making a script is just as easy as making macros. It has virtually all the same options as the macro creation area.

From the “Library”, you can select the macro or script you would like to sync with your on-board memory. From here, you can easily add or delete macros and scripts from your mouse.

Size Comparison:

For our size comparison, we have chosen a Logitech G5 that we had sitting around the office.  As you can see, they are about the same size. You will also notice that the scroll wheel on the Inferno is about twice the width of the G5’s scroll wheel, which may be noteworthy for those with larger fingers. The CM Storm Inferno is big enough to fit your hand and make long gaming sessions comfortable and pleasant.

Usage:

The octagon shaped button will cycle through your four profiles when pressed. It will also change colors to let you know which profile you are on. The two buttons above are the on-the-fly DPI level changers. You can preset your DPI levels, or just use the default which seemed to cover the spectrum of what one would need while gaming. Also, at the top of the mouse, you have two more buttons on the sides. The left side button is the rapid fire button for your FPS games and the right side button is the macro button.

On the thumb side of the mouse (for right-handed folks of course), you have your normal “Forward” and “Back” buttons. The square button in the back is the “Tactics” button. All you need to do is hit that button, then press the combo you set up earlier in the software “Tactics” section, and you are good to go. The hard part is just remembering which combo goes with what you are trying to do. We had to go back and look a few times, but after awhile, we started to remember what we had set and things went a lot smoother.

Conclusion:

After a lot of time spent with the Inferno mouse, we were pleasantly surprised with all that it could do. The massive customization of the mouse and it’s buttons were interesting to say the least. The button combinations will be the hardest thing to learn with this mouse, but once figured out, we feel they can be a major asset in your gaming.

The Inferno software was very easy to navigate. The hardest thing is figuring out how you want to program all of your keys. Then, once you do that, you have to remember them. Other than the occasional mental roadblock, the multitude of keys and macros are really a great feature. The software also helps you sync up all of your options with the on-board memory in the mouse, which is really fast and easy to do. The button placements on the mouse are also easy to access and seem to flow well with the design and shape of the mouse. The red-colored light of the CM Storm logo, which comes out of the front grill, is also a nice aesthetic touch that hopefully the majority of people will be pleased with.

For a gaming mouse, this is very versatile and can be used to play a multitude of different game genres, from FPS’ to MMO’s. All of the custom key setups, with macros and scripts, help make MMO games a breeze. And with the on-the-fly DPI adjustment with a maximum DPI of 4000, this mouse is great for FPS gaming as well. Whatever you plan on using this mouse for, it can handle it. It has way too many customizable options to fail. We were extremely pleased with the Inferno mouse and would be happy to recommend it to anyone in the market for a great gaming peripheral.



The Cooler Master Storm Inferno gaming mouse receives the TechREACTION.net Gold Silicon Award!




For more information on the CM Storm Inferno see Cooler Master’s official product page.