Cooler Master Xornet II

Redesigned but still a little weird.

For the claw gripper, the Xornet II may feel a little unusual. It’s been redesigned from its previous state, and now sports a new sensor, altered button shapes, a lightup scroll wheel and a more firmly attached cable.

A ledge on the right is easy to mistake for the right button, and it’s simply uncomfortable if you try to palm it, seeming to twist off to the left under your hand. At 0.3 lb, it’s relatively light, and there’s no way to alter that weight.

The matte black finish is classy, with the kind of microtextured grippy side panels that will endear it further to its target audience. The onboard switches are Omrons. There are only two extra buttons, to make a total of seven, including DPI changers and wheel, and the optical sensor’s maximum sensitivity is 3,500dpi — although that’s an improvement of 1,500dpi over the previous version.

This lack of features is a shame, but contributes to keeping the price down. There’s a limited audience out there for a mouse like this, and studding it with the kind of extras that would push up its cost would limit it further.

The grip is what will draw people to this mouse, and probably what will make them stay. The fact that it’s very reasonably priced helps, but some will pick this over devices that offer greater resolution, more buttons or grippier finishes, just because it works for them. If you like to feel full contact between your palm and the back of the mouse, walk on by, but for anyone who likes to keep their fingers stiff while gaming, this is well worth a try.