While I leave my everyday mouse at home, my current favourite for LANs is a bigger sibling of the Surpassion; the Revenga. Cougar in general have greatly impressed me with the build quality of their mice. They don’t creak or feel like they’re bending under hand pressure as many others do and the buttons don’t feel at all loose or rattly. When I’m clicking any of the buttons, there is never any doubt as to whether I’ve actuated the input or not. This might sound a bit specific, but under pressure in games like CS:GO it can really matter – it’s literally life or death, kind of.
My choice of mouse is usually large and relaxed as I prefer to use a palm grip. Surely using a claw grip must make carpal tunnel much more likely? I’m happy not to try that experiment. The Surpassion on the other hand is a bit too small for my preference (and performance). It forces me to use my fingers to grip it, which works well enough even if it’s not optimal for me, but would be very comfortable for someone who prefers that grip. Alternatively, it would suit anyone with small hands!
Cougar Surpassion Specifications & Features
As well as the two main clicky buttons and scroll wheel, the Surpassion includes two thumb buttons as most do these days. They are quite compact, don’t get in the way and are nice and easy to press without ruining your aim.
A full run-down of the details can be found on the Cougar website. The mouse works perfectly with no software, it is purely plug-and-play. I tried the Cougar UIX software and the damn thing won’t even open without a recognised Cougar mouse plugged in, which apparently the Surpassion isn’t. This mouse doesn’t seem to be compatible with the software at all, as it just kept saying “please plug in device to start UIX” every time I try to open it. After being confused at this for a while, I came to accept that it’s designed so that you don’t use software with the mouse at all. It turns out the whole point is for all of the features and config to be accessible using the buttons on the mouse itself.
There is a small backlit screen underneath the mouse showing the current DPI setting and polling frequency. There are also two buttons, one each to cycle through these settings. The maximum DPI is 7200 and max frequency is 1000Hz. As interesting as this is I believe it would be underused. I imagine just about everyone will have the same opinion as me on this – set it and forget it. For the target audience though, I’m sure it will prove to be convenient to be able to check or set the exact value without pausing your game, alt-tabbing or rummaging through options menus.
I found out on the website that there are two more options here; angle-snapping and lift-off-distance. These sound like great features but I had no idea they existed until doing some research, and even then could not figure out how to access them. The only place I managed to find any clue was the user manual – luckily this did explain.
There is another dedicated button just behind the scroll wheel that changes the colour of the lights. The options here are any one of eleven solid colours and then two options that cycle between them all. This is nice and simple, works really well and I think it’s great that you get the whole range of colour options you’ll ever need, just from one button. The lit sections don’t change colour in a sweeping motion like the Revenga, the lights are all one colour at any given point but transition smoothly through the spectrum.
Cougar Surpassion Closer Look
I don’t care to rate the aesthetics using a number, I think it’s all down to the details to speak out to each person individually. Overall the Surpassion does look neat and simple, it has a matt black stealth aspect to it with accent lights on the sides of the scroll wheel and a big bright Cougar logo slap bang in the centre of the palm, as you do. The bar around the bottom of the base doesn’t like up like on the Revenga, but that fits with the more tidy, minimalist look overall so it doesn’t need too many lights. I love the look of it, there is no unnecessary or over-the-top flair or gimmick involved. This mouse means business!
The cable isn’t braided, which is a big con for a lot of people. To me it’s just a preference but to many others it’s a must-have. The cable is slightly on the thin side but it seems strong. The cable length is shorter than most mice which is another clue that the Surpassion is designed to be a travel mouse. With this in mind, the rest of the unit makes more sense too – the overall size, the on-board settings and on-the-fly customisation with no extra software. It all fits into place.
The Cougar Surpassion Review: The Verdict
After using this mouse for a while I’ve gone from disliking it to being unsure, but now I can see where it stands and I respect it. If you use the same mouse between different computers and monitors with different resolutions then it might be just the thing you need. It’s a ninja of a mouse and the tag line written underneath it is not untrue – “The FPS mouse that gets the job done”.
What’s hot:
- Sturdy build quality
- Stealth aesthetic with fancy lights
- All features are just a button away
What’s not:
- Too small for myself and possibly a lot of people
- No software compatability for deeper customisation
- Cable isn’t braided
Even though the Surpassion isn’t exactly fit for my purposes, I believe it deserves a gold award for doing something different and pulling it off without milking it on the price. I think this mouse would be a useful travel companion. The on-board controls would make it a breeze for LANs where you’re borrowing or renting PCs. I’d also give it a “fit for Donald Trump hands” award if we had one, just for the size of it. Right now there’s one available for £22.40 on Amazon.co.uk, which should make the decision to try it out quite easy, though the usual price of just under £30 as it is through Overclockers UK isn’t too much of a dent to the wallet either.
Thanks to Cougar for sending a sample of the Surpassion in for review.
