Hey everyone, so the invasion of Corsair mice hits again, this time with some weighty options. On my mousing surface today I have the strikingly named Corsair Nightsword RGB, a right handed mouse which according to the box is Performance Tunable.
Corsair continue to provide products to just about all budgets for PC components and peripherals, this year has seen an aggressive release of multiple product offerings which so far has been very well done. Let’s see if the trend continues…
Corsair Nightsword RGB Performance Tunable Mouse Specifications & Features
Mouse Warranty : Two years Prog Buttons : 8 DPI : 18,000 DPI Sensor : PMW3391 Sensor Type : Optical Mouse Backlighting : 4 Zone RGB On Board Memory : Yes On-board Memory Profiles : 3 Mouse button Type : Omron Connectivity : Wired Mouse Button Durability : 50M L/R Click Grip Type : Palm Weight Tuning : Yes Weight : 119g (w/out cable and accessories) CUE Software : Supported in iCUE Cable : 1.8m Braided Fiber Game Type : FPS, MOBA Report Rate : Selectable 1000Hz/500Hz/250Hz/125Hz
Corsair Nightsword RGB Performance Tunable Mouse Closer Look
As is the norm with Corsair mice at the moment, branding alignment means the nice yellow box with a clear photo of the product and simple naming and iCue software logo.
Flipping the box over to the other side we get more details in various languages along with a photo showing the adjustable weighting feature.
I’m going to nit-pick again. The return of that awful waste of plastic in an easter egg style, we had a nice respite from the extraneous packaging with the M55 RGB Pro and I do hope Corsair take the cardboard boxing approach to all their mice in future.
Once all the bits of plastic have been peeled away we have the contents. The usual manual, warranty guide for the generous 2 years included and a disposal guide are present. Then we have the mouse itself and a small plastic container housing six metal weights in two measurements, easily identified by either being solid or having a hole through the middle, this clever design comes into play later.
This mouse is a right handed model with a palm grip very similar to the Glaive with it’s largest thumb rest attached. Unfortunately this one is not removable so if you don’t like the extra surface area created by the thumb rest this could be an issue, I however find it incredibly comfortable to use. The thumb rest and back of the mouse are made of that delightful slightly rubbery grippy material that has become my favourite texture for mice, for some odd reason the mouse buttons which do not form part of the main body are hard plastic and lack that quality texture. Above the scroll wheel there are two buttons which by default are unconfigured.
Examining the mouse from the left we have that large thumb rest, in the corner of the thumb rest is a button which by default is configured for sniping, above that button are the forward and back buttons, now I find I have to stretch my thumb to get to them so placement is a little far forward on the mouse for me, which differs from all the other Corsair mice I have tested. In front of those buttons are the three LED’s to indicate DPI mode and above those are the DPI selection buttons.
The right hand side of the mouse offers no further buttons, there is a nice textured grip pad and the shell slopes off for an ergonomic hand position.
From the front we can see a textured scroll wheel, those two hard plastic buttons and LED’s either side of the center mounted cable.
The bottom of the mouse features five generously sized teflon glide pads and a removable hatch surrounds the sensor in the middle.
Removing the hatch reveals six receptacles for the included weights, the soft rubber bases indicate the sensors underneath.
The weight kit comes with six weights three of each type.
Corsair have used their standard connector design in line with other products released this year. No gold plating but I have never really found that to be necessary.
Powered on the RGB illumination springs to life with a textured filter over the lower lighting parts. The DPI LED’s are clear and bright as an easy indicator of which mode is selected.
Software
The iCue software is back again with Corsair standardising their component and peripheral controls. In the profiles area there are up to three hardware profiles that can be stored on the mouse without the need for the software in subsequent uses.
The settings screen gives us control over polling and firmware updates along with some other base hardware functionality.
Under the actions tab is where you can configure or reconfigure buttons to different functions or macros.
Lighting effects on the Nightsword are configurable in multiple zones so you can tune the illumination to taste.
Using another excellent sensor the DPI control on this mouse is again highly configurable, the majority of users won’t be left wanting for more options, I personally generally only have two that I switch between.
Here the performance tab gives us a couple of configurable options, angle snapping I am not a big fan of but it can be useful in certain situations for example in image applications. Pointer precision enhancement can be tuned but I have not really found any need over the default behavior.
Surface calibration has turned into one of my favourite mouse software extras, having seen it have a positive effect on tracking an old mousemat I recommend this for pretty much any user.
Now we get to the Nightswords showpiece. Here the software shows us the receptacles for the weights. Details on Center of Mass and the option to manually input weighting which hints at the possibility of using different weights, providing they fit of course.
So lets see how clever the software is, I will populate three slots with an aim to balance out the force required to pull the mouse towards me with the force required to push out.
Amazingly as I dropped the weights in they appeared on the graphic on screen. I did notice from this image that the left hand side weight didn’t appear to recognise the correct type, this was however rectified once the cover was replaced on the base of the mouse. This is a pretty neat feature as it removes the trial and error aspect of getting the balance the user is aiming for.
Corsair Nightsword RGB Performance Tunable Mouse Review: The Verdict
An interesting offering here from Corsair who have actually impressed me greatly with their gaming mice this year. This one follows similar build quality and ergonomic designs which is very pleasing to see and use. I do think a little coating on the mouse buttons would have given this mouse more of a premium feel, the hard plastic cheapening it a little. The sensor, software and illumination are all excellent and the weighting party trick works very well.
What’s hot:
- Incredibly ergonomic design like the Glaive
- Tunable weights with some very clever technology
- Excellent sensor
What’s not:
- Mouse buttons lack the smooth grippy material
- Left handers left out again
- We’re into Wireless territory with the price
After spending some time with this mouse I quickly discovered the sensor performing admirably, the forward and back buttons a little too far forwards on the shell for my liking however everything else is well positioned. It would actually have been great to see this as a wireless mouse.
General Use: Day to day tasks with the mouse, such as internet browsing, document creation and image editing are a breeze, the sensor is excellent and flipping between DPI settings is convenient, I even found the sniper button useful for touching up photo detail. The weights didn’t have much influence here but I do feel that will show under gaming.
Gaming Use: The Nightsword absolutely shines when gaming, the texture of the mouse buttons being the only off-putting thing. The sensor is very accurate and I had no issues playing my usual FPS games such as CS:GO and Battlefield 4. Playing around with the weights and I did see a slight improvement in faster movements, they were more evident with that little bit of extra resistance, I did think it was a placebo effect but switching to a normal mouse caused me to re-adjust my gaming in FPS games. So after not having much experience with weighting I can see the benefits.
At the time of writing the Corsair Nightsword RGB is hitting the shelves at around £70. This is a little on the expensive side considering the competition from Corsair themselves, however if you are liking the weighting option this could be worth the extra stretch. Aside from the excess plastic packaging and those cheaper feeling mouse buttons, this is a well produced mouse with a great trick up its sleeve which you don’t see every day. I am very happy to award the Corsair Nightsword RGB our Gold Award and Design Award for the weighting implementation.
Thanks to Corsair for sending a sample of the Nightsword RGB Performance Tunable Mouse in for review.
