Corsair MM800 RGB Polaris Gaming Mouse Pad

RGB domination for your man dungeon

LET’S GET DOWN TO IT: this is Corsair venturing into madness. Into the RGB frenzy that is currently gripping manufacturers across the globe, as they strive to jam their latest and greatest peripherals with lights that are more colorful than one of Bob Ross’s masterpieces. With the sheer volume of 16.8-million-color RGB products hitting the market, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to do the same with a mouse pad. Unfortunately for Corsair, it wasn’t the first company to land such a bonkers product. Razer beat Corsair to it—by a good eight months, in fact. And despite some very mixed reviews, it does seem to be making enough financial sense for other manufacturers to take the concept, improve upon it, and provide their own solution for those looking to blind themselves in the unbridled fury of RGB desktop domination.

So, the MM800 Polaris. It’s a mouse mat. A $60 mouse mat. In essence, it’s a hard mat with a plastic polymer textured finish on top, and a non-slip rubber abrasive base. But it’s still 60 of your hard-earned bucks. In short, you’re paying for the R&D costs, to develop a way of showing off those flashy RGB LEDs. Speaking of which, the Corsair MM800 comes with a substantial thick outer strip of LEDs lining the exterior of the mat, alongside an illuminating logo on the bottom-right. And that’s about it. For profiles, you get the whole color control shebang you’d expect, including a variety of wave, visor, and other styles included in Corsair’s Utility Engine software.

Then, on top of that, you also have a single USB passthrough, integrated into the USB hub located at the top of the device. And therein lies our problem. The biggest issue we had with Razer’s Firefly, when we were testing that, was the hub itself, and the same is true of Corsair’s Polaris pad. As you’re probably aware at this point, most mouse mats are completely flat. This leaves you free to use the entire surface. For most people, it’s likely that you’ll only use a small percentage of that surface area. Usually, that’s the top-left, center, or right-hand side, and the rest is there purely for display purposes, for when you’re not using the mouse. The thing is, by adding a raised hub at the top of the mat, you’re introducing a point of contact that the mouse can, and often does, hit during the throes of gaming or using your desktop. There are two problems with this. The first is a physical issue: Hitting the hub means your mouse can’t travel for the full extent of movement you intended it to make, so you may miss your target in games, or end up clicking the wrong thing. And the second is a mental issue. Basically, that consequent mistake and sudden halt in movement causes incredible frustration, which you certainly shouldn’t have to endure with a $60 peripheral. OI! CORSAIR! LISTEN UP! This is something that both consumers and reviewers point out to manufacturers time and time again, yet our cries seem to be going unheard. We do understand that it’s necessary to have the hub there, to power those LEDs, but there must be a way to either flatten it, or position it further down the cable, away from the mat itself, to alleviate these issues.

That aside (and ignoring the price), it’s definitely an improvement over the Firefly. The LEDs are clearly visible from above, unlike the Firefly, meaning you can see them while gaming, and the color strips definitely look the part. On top of that, the textured surface tracks well. It would have been nice to see some way of swapping out the surface for something a little smoother or rougher, depending on your taste— which, let’s face it, wouldn’t be too much to ask from a $60 mouse mat—but otherwise it’s a solid peripheral.

If you can look past the price, the additional USB cable cluttering up your desk, the somewhat pointless passthrough (for all your short-cabled mice…) leading to the frustrating bump, and the rough-andready textured surface, it’s almost a good device. Now, just drop the price by $20, add in that swappable surface, and relocate the passthrough/power hub, Corsair, and we’ll be sold. Alas, as it is, it just doesn’t make the cut. –ZAK STOREY