ENDGAME GEAR XM1
If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough
Endgame Ge ar’s f ocus i s p erhaps t he most singular we have ever seen of a niche peripheral manufacturer, and that’s saying something, given the company we often keep. The XM1 is, says EG, nothing more than the world’s fastest mouse. Partial credit for that really must be given to your wrist. It’s certainly not very fast without it. But let's move past the terrible dad jokes: How exactly do you go about making the fastest mouse in the world?
Part the first, you use Pixart’s classleading PMW3389 sensor, which eyes up your surface at a maximum of 16,000 cpi. That in itself should be enough, because using the XM1 at full resolution (and indeed any mouse that also carries said sensor, such as the Razer Deathadder Elite) results in an unusably twitchy level of sensitivity, so much so that we’re not positive that there’s a human on Earth who could take full advantage of it. Given that the PMW3389 is not unique to the XM1, though, there has to be more.
OK, how about the switches? These are from Omron, which is always a solid check mark, and on the top face of the mouse, there’s barely any travel to actuate them. Fast. Once they’re clicked, there’s some kind of analog sensing inside (don’t ask us how it works) that promises to take switch polling below 1ms, which combines with 1,000Hz USB polling to make for a minuscule clickto-register ratio—our testing definitely showed that it was fast, though we’re perhaps not esports enough to detect any perceptible difference. Middle click on the wheel is a heavy short-throw switch, which is appreciated, and the wheel itself is low profile, with a pleasantly soft notched movement.
Those, at least bar the analog switch gimmick, are features you commonly find in other mice. Fast ones, admittedly, but other mice nonetheless. But the XM1’s commitment to speed does not end there. There’s some of the slipperiest PTFE pads underneath, in all four corners, ensuring friction is never an issue. The whole thing has been cut down to only the essentials—there are two LEDs on board, but they’re underneath, so you’ll never see them—giving the mouse body a remarkably light construction, and giving your wrist less work to do. It’s a whole high-velocity package; the only aspect that perhaps could have been made speedier is the edge button construction. This left-edge pair has more travel than a transatlantic businessman embroiled in a scandal from which he is desperate to escape, and a spongy feel that doesn’t match the solid construction of the rest.
A clever touch, and one that needs to be aped more elsewhere, is the basemounted resolution button. When you’ve gotta go fast, sausage-fingering a DPI switch on the top of the mouse is the last thing you want. This one doesn’t change unless you want it to, and you can configure the four resolutions it toggles through in software. Despite Endgame Gear being a relatively new company, its software is actually pretty accomplished, with button remapping, lift-off sensitivity, and an exponential smoothing function tucked away in there for those who desire a more syrupy cursor.
This would normally be the point in a relatively positive review where we complain about the price, but EG has succeeded there, too—this doesn’t have the traditional esports premium placed on it. The only real negatives are frivolous wants rather than lacking features: It’s a lot less exciting than many mice in terms of its design and decoration—not a sliver of grippy silicon on the edges, no outward LEDs—and a braided cable would make us slightly more confident in the longevity of its hard wire. And the speed? This is certainly fast enough to satisfy anyone whose current mouse feels too sluggish, but we suspect such rubber-wristed mousers are realistically few and far between.