I bought my Cooler Master CM Storm Xornet Gaming Mouse on 12/02/2013. It has been fantastic for what it is. But recently, it has been disconnecting and reconnecting randomly and often all the time, and has me extremely annoyed.
I've checked my USB drivers and made sure they are up-to-date, tried different ports and tried the good old whack-it technique (in case there is some mouse scum inside the interior workings of the mouse somewhere). All to no avail.
So, I guess I'm pretty happy that it has lasted around 1 year and 1 month, but just a little disappointed to have to part ways so soon. Whilst writing this post it has disconnected around 10-20 times, if that helps put into perspective just how annoying, random, and frequent it is.
These are the reasons I love this mouse:
* It's not a huge investment. It appears as a reasonable quality build that will accommodate a gamer's needs without having to spend too much money and be disappointed in the above issue after only a year's use.
* It's light-weight and relatively small. Clunky, heavy mice are a big no-no for me. I like to be able to throw that thing between my fingers. I fell in love with the MS laptop mouse back in the day, and had it for over 5-10 years. That mouse lasted an awfully long time, it was very small, corded, optical, and light. For me, that was all I needed to be kicking ass.
* It had some extra buttons - 2 to be precise (discounting the DPI buttons which I actually thought would be 4 programmable buttons and was a little disappointed to find they weren't - who alters their DPI anyway? Come on). These two buttons are a minimum and now something I wouldn't do without in my next mouse.
* It looks aesthetically pleasing and isn't over-the-top. This talk of having extra LEDs and all that b*s is unnecessary. Get real. At the end of the day, most people surely want a good, affordable mouse. There's no need to go over-the-top in cosmetics. A simple black-matte finish with minimal branding is actually pretty respectably awesome.
Complaints of this mouse:
* Only lasted 1 year 1 month. That's not good enough.
* Made in China. Not bad, but, I wonder how much the price would change +/- a few pounds in a more respectable nation for electronic build quality and... well... quality of all their exports. It may sound racist but the mainland Chinese are well-known to cut corners, show excellent quality in the build when they are trying to get your contract, and then slowly reduce that quality and cut corners when you start receiving shipments.
* Can't find any service manual or see any way to open the mouse. If I could do that, (or if you could point me or tell me how to) I could then give this thing a thorough servicing and try to rule-out what actually has gone wrong with it.
* Variable DPI: this is a nice little feature but I wonder if you have ever made a poll to ask the users if they make use of this feature on a regular basis. I know for sure that I almost NEVER change my DPI. When I do change it, it is usually unintentional. Maybe you can make a saving on cost by removing this feature or making those buttons programmable instead.
* Sideways optics? It's kind of cool, but unless it's like that for internal space reasons, lifting the mouse up usually ends up lasering myself in the eye...
![Neutral :|](./images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif)
forwards is better..
Apart from all this the design is sexy, and the price range was excellent. All this speak about upgrading the optics - I honestly can't see how it makes these mice any better. It's totally functional and fine the way it is. If the upgrade makes it last longer, then I'd say go for it.
If anyone does know how to open this thing up to clean it properly, please let me know. Good luck with refreshing this mouse, it was a good one.