The Briskie mouse is designed for prolonged, ambidextrous use. The ergonomic shape offers an excellent grip and control. The mouse is also equipped with a DPI adjustment button, giving you four adjustable resolutions (800/1000/1200/1600 dpi). For easy portability, a wireless receiver can be snapped into the bottom of the mouse.  We will be putting the combo through the paces and see how well it does when we are finished playing with it.

Packaging:

Specifications and Features:

Next: The Enermax Briskie, Usage, and Conclusion.

A few weeks ago, we brought to you a review of CM Storm’s latest gaming peripheral, the Sirus Gaming Headset, which earned high marks. Today, we bring to you our review of another of CM Storm’s gaming peripherals, the Sentinel Z3RO-G Gaming Mouse, on a few sites called the Zero-G Gaming Mouse, which was released on July 4th of this year. 

Lets see if this mouse is a Yankee Doodle Dandy, or if it should be tied to a bunch of bottle rockets.

Packaging and What’s Inside

The mouse comes in a black and red box, repleted with a picture of the mouse looking evil (in a good way). Also on the box, almost to the point of overkill, is the notification that the mouse comes with a code to play Shattered Horizon for free.

Opening the front of the box you can see the Sentinel Z3RO-G resting in a hard plastic encasement. The back part of the front of the box shows you the different options available on the mouse.

Freeing the Sentinel from its prison, you find the mouse itself, and a disc that contains the software to get the most out of it.

The mouse itself has seven buttons in total. There are the standard left and right buttons, two thumb buttons on the left side of the mouse, two small buttons right below the mouse wheel (that is, towards the user’s palm) which increase and decrease the mouse’s DPI, and one on the far side of the mouse wheel which is used to change the mode of the mouse om the fly (more on that later).

You will also notice that the top of the mouse has an OLED screen, which is advertised to be use for putting Clan Tags on. Pretty cool. The mouse also has LEDs which appear on the top, and bottom front of the mouse. You have six different LED colors to chose from including purple, yellow, and blue. Please note that the last picture was taken from CM Storm’s website (the rest are our own photographs).

The Sentinel Z3R0-G utilizes a USB connection (and won’t play nicely if you try to jack it in through a PS/2 adapter). The cord of the mouse is braided, and is approximately 66 inches (1.67m) in length.

As with many high-end, gaming-specific mice, the Z3RO-G comes with five removable weights so that users can customize the hand feel to best suit their preferences. Each of these weighs 4.5 grams (about 1/6th of an ounce).

Next Page: Software

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.

Packaging:

Features:

The Touch Mouse:

As you can see from the pictures above, the mouse is very simple. You have two buttons and a center scroll button which basically gets the job done. You can also see in the bottom right picture where you would insert the battery. All you need to do is unscrew the silver piece and plug it in.

Now with the mouse flipped over, you can see the button (left) that you need to push to connect the device to your computer. You can also see the pads, front and back, that the Touch Mouse uses to glide on whatever surface you have provided for it.

Usage:

Once you are ready to connect the Touch Mouse to your computer, just hold down the button for about three seconds and the light will start blinking letting you know that it is trying to connect. Once connected, you are good to go. If you used the installation disk to install the mouse drivers, you will have access to a lot more than just the three primary buttons.

Once you install the Touch Mouse driver, you will have a few simple options to play with. There is nothing fancy about the Touch Mouse settings program, it’s very basic, just like the mouse itself.

The stand-out feature of the Touch Mouse is the scroll wheel commands. As you can see above, the wheel has four different commands in which you can give it. This helps make up for not having extra buttons on the mouse. All you need to do is push down the scroll button and move the mouse to the direction that you want. This type of configuration is very easy to do and after awhile becomes second nature. While using the mouse to type up this review and play around, we got very good at surfing the web with it.

The scroll button features are nice, but the best feature in our mind is the fact that there is no actual scroll wheel per se.  The sensor only needs you to slide your finger over it for it to respond, and it is very responsive to the commands. This should help with the longevity of the mouse as normal old fashioned scroll wheels can wear out after awhile, forcing you to buy another mouse.

Size:

As for the size, we used a Logitech G5 mouse to help give you an idea as to the size of this mouse. You can clearly see that the Touch Mouse is quite a bit smaller and has a much slimmer profile than our G5. This will make it easy to carry around if you use it with your laptop, and it will give so much more space on your desk if you work in a small area. However, those with larger than average hands may want to steer clear as this may be too small.

Conclusion:

The Eclipse Touch Mouse has a very appealing look to it. The small stature means that this mouse can be taken almost anywhere and can be used in tight spaces. With 1600 DPI, while low maybe for some gamer’s standards, the cursor across the screen with ease. The Bluetooth technology is an added bonus and we are glad to see MadCatz taking advantage of this newer technology. Just make sure as a buyer that you have Bluetooth connectivity on your computer and you will not have any problems.

One thing we do need to point out is that while using the mouse, it seemed to skip or lag across the screen every once in awhile. We are not sure what the cause of this was, maybe it was just the way our hand engulfed the little mouse, but it may have also been a glitch with the Bluetooth transmitter, or even the optical sensor.  We do not know, we do know that this is not an issue that we experienced often and we will be contacting MadCatz/Eclipse to determine if this is the first report of this issue. It is not a huge turn-off for us because it only happened a few times throughout the whole time that we tested it.

Overall, the Touch Mouse could be a great buy for a person on-the-go as it is small and can work in confined spaces. It could be a perfect travel mouse or a normal 24/7 daily use mouse, it will work well in both situations, just give your hand a little time to adjust to it’s small size. Knowing what we know about this mouse now after our testing, we would not hesitate to recommend this mouse if you are looking for something in the wireless arena.



The Eclipse Bluetooth Touch Mouse receives the TechREACTION.net Bronze Silicon Award!

Packaging:

Features:

Specifications:

• Direction / Buttons: 3D/ 3Keys
• DPI Resolution: 1600 dpi
• RF Technical: 2.4GHz
• Batteries type: 2×AAA
• Dimension: 98(L)×57(W)×31.5(H) mm
• Interface: USB

Choiix Cruiser Mouse:

The mouse is extremely simple in it’s design, with left and right buttons and a scroll wheel. Once flipped over, you can see where the batteries will go, and the on/off switch which will help lengthen battery life. You will also see the button to adjust the height of the mouse to make it more ergonomically pleasing.

In the above two pictures you can see the USB nano receiver. It’s very small, but it gets the job done. It fits the goal of the slim and streamlined design perfectly!

Storage:

When you are finished with your work and would like to stow away the mouse and nano receiver, it’s actually quite simple. You raise the height of the mouse, with the button mentioned above, and you will see a storage spot in the back of the mouse.

All you have to do now is just slide in the nano receiver and you are done. If you would like to get the receiver out, just look at the picture on the right. You will see a sliding button; simply push it back and the receiver will slide out without any problems.

Installation & Usage:

Once you get the batteries installed and everything plugged in and turned on, you will notice how effortlessly the mouse slides over the mouse pad. Also, with the Blue Trace sensor, it gives you quick and precise tracking so you don’t need to move the mouse much in order to maneuver around the screen. This is a big plus when you are in tight quarters. With Blue Trace technology, it will also work on just about any surface, just in case you forget the mouse pad. You can see in the picture on the right just how it will look once the nano receiver is plugged into your laptop. It fits snug without much overhang to get caught on random items. Once plugged in and turned on, it will start right up once Windows installs the driver. We had no problems with this, and it took all of about 10 seconds for us to be able to use the mouse.

Now, we check out the ergonomic features of the mouse. You can use the mouse with the normal height or you can raise it up a little and get even more height to help the comfort of your wrist.   All you need to do to raise or lower it is push the button on the bottom of the Cruiser, as mentioned earlier. This is a nice feature if you are going to be using this mouse for extended periods of time. Every little bit helps in keeping you free of carpal tunnel syndrome!

Size:

We took a quick size comparison picture for you to see just how small the Choiix Cruiser is. It is being compared with a Logitech G5 mouse and you can see the noticeable size difference between this portable mouse and the larger desktop gaming mouse.

Conclusion:

Overall, this is a great mouse that gets the job done. The small size makes it extremely portable and the built-in storage area for the receiver is one less thing for you to worry about. Also, the mouse is able to work on almost any surface, whether it be wood, metal, carpet, glass, or nearly anything else. It will always be useful no matter where you happen to be.

We should, however, point out a couple of concerns we had while using the mouse and testing it. If you have big hands like we happen to, this mouse will take a little getting use to due to it’s small stature. Using something like the Logitech G5 for years and then switching to the Choiix Cruiser was a shock to our hand. So keep this is mind for the first couple of times that you use this mouse, as it will feel noticeably different. The other thing we want to point out is the fact that the nano receiver is so small. We think it could be easily lost under some papers or knocked off of your work area if not stored properly or kept track of.

We can’t hold those two issues completely against the Choiix Cruiser, however, because that is exactly what it was made to be; a small and streamlined portable mouse solution. We just wanted you to be aware of it before you make a purchase. If you can get past those two minor details, then this will be a solid addition to your on-the-go life.

The Choiix Cruiser receives the TechREACTION.net Silver Silicon Award!

For more details on the Choiix Cruiser, go here

NZXT’s Avatar gaming mouse is the company’s first foray into producing gaming peripherals.  Specs and Features include:

• Optimal performance — 2600 DPI Optical Sensor provides maximum sensitivity and responsiveness which yields unparalleled gaming accuracy. LED DPI indicator gives the user improved usage and feedback. 5.8 Mega Pixels/second with a max frame rate of 6469 ensures smooth fragging and accurate sniping. 4 Speed DPI switch enables you to go from slow sniper movement to quick attack movement in a matter of seconds
• Maximum Customization — 7 programmable keys allows gamers to customize their configuration specifically for First-Person Shooters, Real-Time Strategy, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games all within the macro and profile settings
• Ergonomic Design — Ambidextrous design gives full use to both right and left handed gamers. Rubber grip helps avoid slipping during intense gameplay and the small, light form factor allows for faster and quicker movements, perfect for any gamer on the go or playing on a laptop or notebook. A slim form factor makes it the perfect choice for finger tip gamers.
• Simple Installation — Avatar plugs into any available USB port
• Slim and small dimensions — Measuring at 36.8mm x 69.1mm x 128mm ( H x W x D ), the Avatar’s smaller form factor is the best choice for finger tip gamers and people who game on the go.

Packaging:
The mouse ships in a compact black and blue box with matted finish. It is different from the usual glossy box covers retail products usually come in, giving it a simple yet elegant look. This makes the box less resilient to the wear and tear of shipping however so the box arrived with some tears and dents on the corners. It’s not a big deal since the mouse is comfortably placed inside a smaller form-fitting box with a plastic cap in front of it. The product manual was slid inside the box flap, protected by a quarter-inch thick foam and the 80mm driver disc within it. I was beginning to think I was reviewing a Matryoshka doll.

Design:
The mouse is longer than what I’m used to. I use a Microsoft Basic Optical mouse for daily use and the Avatar is a good 2cm longer. It is lean, curvey, ambidextrous and uses a unibody design on the top plate with it extending the length of the mouse including the left and right clicks. It’s body is coated in thin rubber for grip and has a matted look similar to the packaging box. However it seems to attract dust quite easily, after only a minute out of the box, there were speckles of dust visible on the photo. In between the left and right cliker, a rubber scroller is present and behind it are two buttons used for increasing or decreasing DPI on-the-fly, perfect for switching between close-quarters and sniping FPS games. While the the rest of the mouse is matted, the bottom is shiny and the base is bordered by three teflon pads for comfortable gliding across any surface.  The mouse lights up a cool-blue LED color, not too strong that it could double as a night light but glows well enough to see where it is in a dark room.

Software:
Software installation is straightforward. You will be asked to plug-in the mouse in case you haven’t done so (installation will not continue if the Avatar isn’t detected). The software presents the user with 3 options: “Advanced Functions”, “Sensitivity” and “Advanced Settings”. In “Advanced Functions” you can change the polling rate, orientation, DPI, button assignments as well as a macro button assignment function(with a maximum of 20 key presses and release) and profile saving feature. “Sensitivity” option gives the user the ability to change the sensitivity of the X and Y asis separately as well as mouse pointer speed and acceleration. The last tab offers the ability to change the scrolling as well as the clicking speed.

Testing:
Testing and Comparison was made between the NZXT Avatar and a Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse in the following categories:
- Daily productivity (Office work, Web browsing)
- Graphic work (Photoshop and MSpaint)
- Gaming (Tested in Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2)

Performance
Productivity
Difference between the mice were barely noticeable. The side buttons helped in web browsing as they default to back and forward buttons. However, their placement makes it so that its easy to accidentally click one by mistake when moving the mouse. I in particular am very heavy handed, resting my ring finger where the right button is directly and would contantly hit it by mistake when I try to move the cursor to the left.

Graphic Work
The difference is more pronounced here. Complex shapes and curves are much easier to do. In MSpaint, pixel by pixel drawing is much more consistently spaced and doesn’t require as much movement.

(a) “The Pit” run with Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse

(b) “The Pit” run with NZXT Avatar Mouse at 2600DPI

Gaming
In Modern Warfare 2, testing was done in the Spec-Ops map, “The Pit” alternately with each run repeated 3 times trying to produce the lowest time:

As you can see from the score, the average with the Avatar is significantly lower.

Testing in Call of Duty 4 was done by 2 matches each alternating in a public server, however, due to the nature of public matches it is impossible to guage the difference objectively and attribute it solely to the mouse. Subjectively, I didn’t notice the difference until after the second run with the regular optical mouse after using the Avatar. I was unable to follow target trajectories with smooth accuracy and required much more movement and after the 4th run, I was able to utilize the on-the-fly DPI switching and changing my playstyle in the middle of the match. It took some getting-used-to but the results are impressive.

Final Thoughts:
I typically prefer mice with some heft and size in them, NZXT’s Avatar being light and longer than it is builkier, took me some time to adjust. I just feel that with its shape and design, a person with longer and leaner fingers could find it more comfortable than somebody like me who has wide and heavy fingers. The side buttons on the v2 revision of the NZXT are now much more recessed compared to the original version but I still manage to hit them by accident, especially the right side button when browsing online. I would much prefer it if the buttons were a bit lower so there is space near the top for me to rest my fingers without any accidental input. The hardware DPI switching and smooth movements are great features however, enough to convince me to ditch my basic Optical mouse.

Let me define my comfort, first and foremost is weight, this mouse has it. In a comparison with some brand name and generic mice it is on the heavy side of the scale for wired and approaching the realm of wireless.

My next issue is the crispness of the mechanisms and the break pressure.

Below are pictures of the button arrangement, to be honest the outside (pinky) buttons are pretty much useless (unless you have small hands or awesome dexterity), especially in a FPS, the two behind the scroll are almost as bad with the one in the rear being almost useless in a game as well.

This mouse put in in mind of a 69 Corvette, so much so that I had to pull one out of the rack for comparison. This mouse is sexy!!

The software is pretty good, allowing for many advanced adjustments not found on the average to mid level mouse.

Other than the button placement I only had one other issue, creep. I noticed at times with all settings to max I would get a little creep. I attribute this to the combination of surface, resolution and polling rate. With the polling rate lowered and the resolution at 2000 I have no problems.

Now for the purpose of this little tool! GAMES

I tested with four games: Battle Field 1942, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Sins of a Solar Empire and Star Trek Legacy. Where does this mouse fit the best? RTS, due to the ability to use all of the functions without getting fragged! That is not to say it is not good for the FPS, if you love to make head shots then it is great,  just don’t get fragged trying to use all of the buttons! With the Lachesis you can switch from fast action to slow precision on the fly by adjusting the resolution (125-4000 DPI) for a little sniping. Changing control schemes in game by switching profiles is awesome! Going from FPS mode to vehicle mode and changing your profile to allow better situational control with the advanced functions is a big plus.

As you can see above the options are there to take it to the next level.  Setup is easy and when you are done you will be able to frag with the best!

When I think about it, the usefulness of this device far outweighs its minor deficiencies. I found it most useful (don’t hate me) for design work! Sometimes when doing a little modeling the DPI select is a time saver. Don’t get me wrong it is great in games as I have already pointed out, I mean from FPS to RTS to SolidWorks and AutoCAD this mouse can get the job done.