This is a new company, founded by a small group of folks that have worked in the peripheral industry before. This device is inspired by classic shapes like the DA and MX 518. As this is a new start-up company, Final Mouse is using a generic OEM shell (outside of the mouse) but they’ve designed and customized the innards of the mouse.
Amazon Link - this is not a final product yet
I was lucky enough to receive a sample to demo and I was very surprised to see this device arrive early this morning (day after Christmas). I’ve had this mouse for less than a day so here’s a quick overview of what I think.
At a glance:
• Light Weight (74 grams)
• ADNS 3310 Sensor
• Driverless
• 4 DPI settings (400, 800, 1600, 3200)
So what’s the big deal with light weight and the ADNS 3310? Why not get a 8200 DPI 4g sensor mouse instead? It’s a long story.
Most people are sort of sold into the idea that a heavier mice represents better quality (built as a tank as some people like to say) and that higher DPI represents technical advancement in action. Higher monitor resolutions and the transition into 4k monitors is also reinforcing this train of thought. What enthusiasts have actually realized is that a lot of tradeoffs happen at higher DPI’s.
Higher DPI isn’t always a good thing. We’ve long known that a lot of tradeoffs happen when you try to crank out the DPI and precision is adversely affected. You can read entire threads about this – there’s quite a few threads dedicated to architecture, optical vs laser and things like that. I don’t really want to get into this but the 3310 is generally a well-regarded sensor that has been around since late 2013 that enthusiasts like. Enthusiasts also prefer to use low DPI and flick/swipe their mice over long distances. That’s where this emphasis on lightweight devices come into play.
I went on about this longer than I would have liked and sidetracked
Right, so to the mouse.
Clicks are crisps. The scroll wheel is very nice and uses an alps encoder (I think – I’m just going by my feels here). The side buttons and the DPI changer feel a bit hallowed out and could be a tad bit better in all honesty. The mouse retains a bit of that generic OEM feeling and for that reason I’m actually reminded of the gigabyte aivia krypton which I’ve briefly used. Mouse cord is braided but not stiff.
I’m not a fan of this rubber, porous thumb rest – it’s a bit sticky right off the bat and I bet it’ll accumulate some gunk over time. On the rest of this mouse, there’s no soft touch rubber or matte finish which you expect to find adorned on a lot of gaming devices these days. I don’t know how you feel but personally, I find that soft touch rubber tends to be very slippery and wears quickly (I’m looking at you roccat kone pure) and matte touch is just a smudge magnet.
As for this OEM shell … well I hope they continue revising it in the future
because there’s a giant hole that carried over for the original OEM device that isn't present on here that’s being covered by only the sticker. That’s not entirely a bad thing in this case because this does mean they significantly changed the PCB. There’s no DPI indicator either. Again, this is an advance sample.
Max speed of 7.6 m/s at 400 dpi on enotus. Polling is locked at 500Hz. From what I’ve seen, reported DPI and actual DPI do seem to have a bit of variance. The sensor performs well from my subjective experience.
I always find myself torn between ergonomic (right handed) and ambidextrous devices. I like to fingertip and claw grip but I always tend to have complaints about most ambidextrous mice. I’ll find them a tad bit too small or too flat. It’s a bit weird for a fingertip grip guy to say this but I miss the hump on right handed devices. Ergonomic mice have always been associated as larger, heavier devices that are palm orientated and a bit clunky and unwieldy. It’s very nice to have an ergonomic (right handed) device which retains some of the better qualities of their ambidextrous cousins. You don’t normally associate right handed devices as being lightweight and claw friendly.
You might be thinking well this kind of sounds like Zowie’s approach. So this vs Zowie? I don’t really know, because this isn’t a final product and well price is going to be an important factor to consider. I will say that I’ve not yet bought a Zowie which hasn’t had an issue before. I’ve had 3 FK1’s which have had defective/skipping scroll wheels and I’ve had 1 EC EVO CL which had bad coating that flaked on me and another EC EVO CL 2 which had light bleeding through the side of the mouse as a giant dot. My experience with Zowie products has just been ridiculous.
I do think this company will one to watch out for in the near future. They've demonstrated they understand the enthusiast mentality. This is something that’s important and I think something that larger companies have continually missed out on by pandering to what they think the mainstream market likes. That being said, there's still some work that needs to be done.
Smudge magnets :/ ... I need to give my devices a quick wipe down
