Mionix Naos QG
Watch how you play, as you play.
The Naos QG is the first mouse we’ve seen since the introduction of the laser sensor to truly rethink what you can do with the wily peripheral. Consider being able to track your heart rate while you’re using your PC, linking and synching programs with it. Whether that’s for health reasons or purely for entertainment, it’s an interesting concept.
Link a game to a heart rate sensor and you could have it react according to how you’re behaving. The Naos QG comes with an IR-based heart rate sensor to the left-hand side of your right palm and the GSR to your right. With an Overwolf overlay on screen, you can see your heartbeat displayed. In game, it’s a little unnerving to see how your body reacts. As your hairs stand on end in terrifying scenes, the mouse detects the changes, and vast spikes running along the outside edge of the overlay make it painfully apparent that you’re ruffled. That brings us to who this was initially designed for — streamers and content creators. It adds another layer for the audience to view your reaction.
That aside, this is still an ergonomically well-crafted tool. For right-handers only, the Naos supports your ring finger and pinky, nestling you into place naturally. It’s big, but still feels quick and agile. The RGB lighting is there, along with polling rate adjustments, DPI and lift-off sensitivity. It boasts a softtouch rubberised grey finish, making it resistant to grease and sweat.
The software is still in its infancy, however, and the heart rate sensor is jittery. Sometimes, you go from 70bpm to 150bpm, with little to no explanation. No doubt it’ll be something that’s ironed out in firmware and software updates, but it is still a concern.
But this is a good mouse. It’s currently targeted at a very niche audience, but as it is somewhat of an open standard, with a set of open APIs, it may very well be something that we see a lot more of going forward.