Corsair M65 PRO RGB (Gaming Mouse) Review

I've used quite a few gaming mice before, but something about the Corsair M65 Pro RGB immediately struck me as being different; the M65 has some heft to it. Most mice are pretty light, feeling every bit the little hollow plastic boxes that they are. The M65 sits securely in your hand, feeling more like a solid game controller than a computer desktop pointing device. Part of this is due to its construction ' its panels are thicker than you see in a typical mouse and its core is made of aluminum ' but it's primarily due to the weights that are integrated into the bottom of the mouse. There are three of them, two toward the front of the mouse, sitting midway under the mouse buttons, and one center weight which is placed about a third of the way from the back of the mouse. With these weights in place, the mouse is less likely to move when it is unintentionally nudged, waiting to move until you mean for it to move. Also, mouse movements are less likely to pick up unwanted momentum and send the mouse further than intended. I found that the extra weight gave me the feeling of more control over the mouse even though it takes a little more of a push to get the M65 moving than with a typical mouse. If you find the mouse a bit too heavy for your liking, the weights are adjustable. You can remove each of the weights individually or adjust them by removing the internal weight and then putting the screw back in. Adjusting and removing the weights is pretty easy to do with a screwdriver.

Another feature of the M65 Pro RGB is the DPI adjustment controls that sit behind the mouse wheel. You can adjust between five set DPI levels using a pair of up and down arrows, with the current setting indicated by the color of the status light that sits between the arrow buttons. It's an easy enough to use arrangement, although switching the DPI on the fly this way will require you to remove a finger from one of the two primary mouse buttons. This issue is mitigated by the mouse's sniper button, which sits on the side of the mouse under your thumb. The default setting for this button drops the mouse's DPI while the button is depressed. Its name gives you a clue towards its intended purpose in a game; when you're looking through the scope of a sniper rifle you don't want small movements of the mouse sending your target out of view or, in other words, you don't want to waste time constantly overshooting your target back and forth as you try to precisely line up your target. Pressing the button will allow you to make the small adjustments necessary to put the crosshairs exactly where you want them. The sniper button can also be useful in non-gaming situations ' graphics software is one application that comes to mind.

In addition to the sniper button, there are two small thin buttons on the left side of the mouse that sit above the sniper button. By default these are mapped to 'forward' and 'back', which translates to Shift+Backspace and Backspace, the keys used to move forward and back through the history in a browser window.

The M65 features a full-sized mouse wheel that rises slightly above the mouse buttons. The wheel is notched, so you can easily move it forward or backward in single steps. The click action of the wheel is programmable, as are all of the buttons on the mouse. Reprogramming requires the Corsair Utility Engine software which is available as a free download from the Corsair website. It's easy to reassign each button action using the software, as well as to save sets of button assignments to individual profiles. The buttons can be programmed to keystrokes, macros, or even to multimedia actions. The DPI settings used by the DPI adjustment arrows, as well as that used by the sniper button are also easy to set in the software, with a resolution of 12,000 DPI on the high-end, which should be more than enough for most gamers. You also have the capability to change the color of the DPI indicator light for each setting.

The light programming extends beyond the DPI indicator light. The RGB in the mouse's full name also refers to the backlit Corsair logo that sits at the top back of the mouse. There's an opening at the back of the mouse, so in addition to the logo the mouse will light the surface immediately behind it as well. The logo can be set to any color or to cycle through colors using programmable patterns, and with support for almost 17 million different colors the mouse gives you plenty of colors to work with. If you pair it with one of Corsair's RGB keyboards, you can even coordinate the lighting settings between the two. While there is certainly a nice aesthetic to the mouse's light capabilities, its in-game usefulness is questionable, especially since your hand will be covering the mouse and your eyes will be on your monitor. Perhaps if you tie a different color to each of your profiles, you'll be able to see if you have the right profile loaded before launching into a game without having to take the time to go into the configuration software. Otherwise it's really a feature that's mostly there to make your mouse look cool while it's sitting on your desktop.

The Corsair Utility Engine software also includes a useful surface calibration feature. If you get a new mouse mat or are using the mouse with a laptop away from home, then you can run the calibration to adjust the mouse's optical sensor. I found that it works pretty well, and I've used the mouse on everything from a gaming mouse mat to a polished wooden table.

Overall the Corsair M65 Pro RGB is easy to recommend to gamers, at least for those who don't like a lot buttons on their mice. It also makes for a nice mouse when you have to stop playing and get some work done as well.

Final Rating: