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Performance &
Testing
**click to enlarge**
The
M2 certainly has a lot of sensitivity on the 2400 setting…I’ll just state
that out front! The big question is whether or not you actually need this
much performance. It is definitely something you can adjust to however…I hit
the same learning curve going from 800 to 1600 With the Diamondback. The
pretty green LED in the center button blinks as the mouse is being used, as
a sort of acknowledgement.
I spent a few days playing Unreal Tournament ’04, GTA: San Andreas, and Far
Cry to get a feel for what this mouse is really capable of. One of the first
things I found that I didn’t like was the method that the M2 uses to switch
between dpi modes. On both the Razer Viper and Diamondback, one presses the
scroll wheel and then you can either go higher or lower on the sensitivity.
With the M2, you are stuck going to the next higher level, and if you want
to step one level down you have to go through every other mode to get there.
The dpi button is also in a spot where it can be inadvertently hit and since
it automatically goes to the next higher level, you’ll either double the
resolution you’re working at or drop all the way from the top setting (2400)
to the lowest (400). This could be ugly if you aren’t expecting it.
The Win32 software provided with the M2
installs easily, and although nowhere near as flashy as the Razer software
it certainly does a decent job of controlling the M2’s options. The M2
Software only adds an extra tab to the normal “Mouse Properties” Applet that
you would normally access from the Control Panel in Windows XP, As well as a
small Icon in the Taskbar. Although not a huge issue, I did find that the
software was a little buggy. For example, the ‘Show DPI’ option only
displays 800, no matter what mode the mouse is actually in. The mouse also
resets to 800 every time the system is rebooted. The software does allow for
total customization of the four main buttons on the M2.
One other item that I found I didn’t like was that the mouse has a
noticeable delay if left alone for a minute or two. Although not something
you’re likely to encounter during a FPS match, it was something that would
annoy me on GTA, because driving a vehicle does not require the mouse. So
every time I’d hop out, there was a moment of delay before I regained
control. This could apply to any game that you could leave the mouse
unattended for more than 30 seconds.
With that said, I did feel that the performance of this mouse is rather
spectacular. The 2400 speed is blistering fast, and you can spin around
quickly even in sniper mode. The side buttons are well placed and actually
usable, and the scroll wheel is easy to spin and has obvious detents.
Tracking was not quite as nice as either the Razer Diamondback or the MX518,
both mice I’ve had many hours of time with.
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