Wi-fi gaming mice, as soon as derided for including latency and doubtlessly defective connections over the air, are actually the top of engineering by peripheral makers. Most supply almost latency-free efficiency, lengthy battery life, first-rate construct high quality and a few even function novel wi-fi charging expertise.
Sadly, many of those wi-fi mice include equally spectacular value tags just like the $149 (£149, AU$249) Logitech G903 and $139 (£139, AU$239) Razer Lancehead.
Corsair’s first wi-fi gaming mouse, the Darkish Core RGB SE, gives all the identical nice options whereas pulling down the flagship value right down to a way more approachable $89 (£89, AU$169). What’s extra, with this mannequin Corsair has launched the world’s first Qi charging mouse, making it simpler to recharge this mouse on nearly any charging pad somewhat than using proprietary expertise distinctive to solely itself.
The Corsair Darkish Core RGB SE’s bodily giant form and barely awkward button placement may not jive with everybody, although. Nevertheless, if these are points you possibly can forgive, the mouse’s glorious efficiency and battery life, ought to be sufficient causes to leap on this high-end wi-fi gaming mice.
Design
By way of seems, the Darkish Core RGB SE is a reasonably massive departure from Corsair’s different gaming mice. The general form of the mouse is longer than any of Corsair’s different gaming mice, which can irk players who play with a claw grip. The doubtless reason behind the longer physique is to suit all of the Qi charging elements which are all positioned in the direction of its rear.
Whereas the Glaive RGB, Scimitar Professional RGB and M65 Professional RGB all shared a minimalistic, soft-touch lined high floor, its newest gaming mouse is, in a phrase, busy. Simply wanting on the high of the peripheral alone, there’s a mixture of laborious plastic and soft-touch materials, two mouse buttons, a profile change button and DPI buttons.
There’s much more taking place on the left aspect of the mouse, with a DPI/Profile mild indicator and two aspect buttons separated by a sniper button (or a DPI change you could maintain right down to quickly scale back the sensitivity of your mouse for a extra correct shot).
Regardless of all of the busyness on this nine-button mouse, every little thing on the Darkish Core RGB SE is unfold out nicely sufficient that merely left clicking doesn’t trigger a cascade of unintentional presses. Likewise, we love the look and feel of the snakeskin end on the rear of the mouse – although, we marvel why Razer didn’t consider it first for all its peripherals named after serpents.
We’re not in love with each design factor, although. Specifically, the again and ahead buttons really feel just a little too unfold out to accommodate the sniper button. The Darkish Core RGB SE’s lengthy body additionally is perhaps just a little too giant for players with small fingers.
Discover your Qi
In contrast to Logitech or Razer’s proprietary wi-fi charging system, Corsair has opted to go together with the extraordinarily ubiquitous Qi normal. So, somewhat than having to purchase a specialised mousepad, this mainly means you possibly can juice up this gaming mouse on the identical charging pad you utilize in your iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or most different fashionable smartphones.
That stated, the $79 (£79, AU$129) Corsair MM1000 Qi is kind of a bit extra inexpensive than Logitech’s $99 (£109, AU$199) PowerPlay wi-fi charging pad. Even when mixed with the worth of the Darkish Core RGB SE and this mouse pad, Corsair’s combo finally ends up being cheaper than getting the Razer Mamba HyperFlux and Firefly HyperFlux collectively for $249 (about £180, AU$320).
In contrast to its opponents, you possibly can’t simply hold utilizing the Corsair Darkish Core RGB SE on high of the MM1000 Qi and anticipate it to attract fixed energy. Relatively, you’ll have to maneuver the underside of the mouse over one very particular, albeit clearly marked, spot on the higher proper aspect of the mouse pad.
That stated, out of all of the wi-fi charging mouse pads, Corsair’s is the primary one we’d even take into account shopping for primarily, as a result of you should utilize it juice up a cellphone or smartwatch – which we’d typically do whereas enjoying video games or working. This setup has much more utility than the Logitech PowerPlay and Razer Firefly HyperFlux simply in that it may possibly recharge extra units than its companion mouse.
The MM1000 Qi additionally comes with USB-C, mini USB and Lightning port adapters, so you possibly can plug in different units even when they’re had been by no means designed for wi-fi charging. It’s an ingenious inclusion, however we additionally wished that the included adapter had been constructed with a cable, as just a little bit of additional slack would have made recharging our wi-fi headphones and different giant, odd-shaped units just a little simpler.
Additionally, remember that whilst you can wirelessly cost different units, the MM1000 Qi delivers this energy in small drips, so even recharging your cellphone might take some time.
Efficiency
As cool and handy as Qi charging is, the true measure of gaming mouse is destroying your enemies. Excellent news is the Corsair Darkish Core RGB SE is a superb software for loss of life dealing – just about talking.
With a most 16,000 DPI in sensitivity and 1,000Hz polling fee being pushed by way of a 1ms 2.4GHz wi-fi connection, the Darkish Core RGB SE feels simply as responsive as any of its wired gaming mice. Utilizing the mouse, we’re in a position to make all of the flick headshots in Overwatch we’d normally get with a Razer DeathAdder Elite. Alternatively, the Corsair wi-fi gaming mouse retains up with all our frantic mouse actions making an attempt to gunk up mimics skittering round in Prey.
The one factor we aren’t in love with is readjusting our grip to make use of the ahead mouse button. We will simply alter the settings to remap the sniper button to behave as different instructions, however you’re finally dropping out on the complete performance of a minimum of one mouse button.
The Darkish Core RGB SE additionally fully lives as much as its promise of providing 24 hours of fixed wi-fi gameplay. The mouse lasted nearly a whole week of fixed use, and has but to go away us in a lurch if we forgot to show it off for the evening.
Remaining verdict
Corsair has delivered on top-of-the-line wi-fi gaming mice we’ve ever examined. We love the way in which it matches in our fingers in addition to its lengthy battery life and pinpoint accuracy. When paired with the MM1000 Qi, its Qi charging system makes much more sense when you should utilize the companion wi-fi charging mouse pad to recharge your smartphone and different units.
Simply this mouse from a worth perspective, it’s far more inexpensive than the Logitech G903 or Razer Lancehead whereas being equal in each different regard. All issues thought of, the Corsair Darkish Core RGB SE is among the greatest wi-fi mice we’ve ever reviewed and is nicely deserving of our Advisable award.