[section_title title=M05 Mouse]
M05 ‘Spirit Cocoon’ Mouse
First off lets take a look at packaging of the M05.
As you can see the mouse comes in quite a cool looking display case style perspex sleeve, sat on a cardboard base. We can see the i-Rocks logo here and also the ‘Spirit Cocoon’ motif. Overall its quite a good presentation for a budget mouse, but the molded plastic piece protecting the mouse doesn’t fit the mouse at all and isn’t secured, which does detract from the effect of the presentation.
On the underside of the packaging we have some specs, which are the same ones listed in the introduction to this review. Though simple the packaging is novel and is certainly appropriate for the mouse inside, I will say however that opening it was a bit of a faff, and you have to be careful with it in order to get it back together without damaging the packaging.
Closer Look
Now, lets get a closer look at the mouse itself.
Taking our first look at the mouse, we can see that i-Rocks weren’t lying about the chrome finish! It is of course a total finger print magnet though and can quickly look grubby with minimal handling.
The underside of the mouse is pretty busy, starting on the left we have our dpi switch, being an optical sensor the max dpi isn’t obscenely high, but the range here should have anyone covered in terms of sensitivity.
To the right of this we have the aforementioned optical sensor, which for those who like to know is an Avago 3090.
Below that is the illumination control, sliding it to the right puts the mouse in its chrome form, sliding it to the left starts the pulsing colour change, through all the colours of the rainbow. Whilst it is changing colour you can swipe the button to the left again to lock the colour, though its tricky to time it right to get the one you want the first time!
Finally on the right we have a slider to change the polling rate on the mouse.
I love how the mouse looks lit up, you can still see the mirror finish when the mouse is lit up, which gives it a really interesting aesthetic.
Finishing up our closer look at the M05 we have the cable, as you can see it is braided which is very nice to see at this price point, otherwise the USB connector is a standard affair.
Performance
There is a lot to like about the M05. The first thing you will notice is how light it is, and not only is it light but it is also well balanced which makes picking it up during low sensitivity play very easy. In addition to the lightness it also has very slippery contact pads which mean that it glides effortlessly across the mouse pad, which again is a real advantage for those who play on a low sensitivity and move the mouse around more.
In terms of the sensor, I didn’t notice any glaring issues in the form of acceleration or prediction and the tracking was smooth enough for an entry level mouse. Combined with the easy gliding body you shouldn’t have any problems being accurate with this mouse.
I have also noticed that after a few days of use the switches have loosened up a bit and have a reasonable amount of response to them, and the mouse wheel has a nice texture to it for grip with a good amount of scrolling resistance for those who like to bind it to a function in their games.
It’s not all good news however, for me as someone with big hands I did struggle with the small size of the mouse, it forced me to use a claw grip whereas I am a palm grip man by choice. I did also find it had a fairly high lift off point which took some getting used to, though once I did get used to it I didn’t mind it. Another point of contention for me was the absence of thumb buttons, I feel that they are virtually a mainstay of gaming mice and the M05 does take a blow to its functionality by not having any.
Overall though, for a mouse of this price I have no real complaints about the performance. I don’t think I could recommend it to those with big hands however, or those who swear by a palm grip as you will struggle with the M05 due to its small shape. On the flip side though, if you have small or average hands and find most mice are a bit chunky this could be a great entry level option for you.
Well, with two down and one to go will the headset be the cherry on top of our introduction to i-Rocks or will it leave much to be desired? Head over to the next page to find out…
