Endgame Gear XM1 RGB Dark Frost
Raw performance and only minor niggles? We're in!
WE HAVEN’T HAD much experience with Endgame Gear or its mice, but a search reveals that it’s a German company with very strong links to Caseking and sister companies. Caseking is one of the largest European PC enthusiast suppliers and, as such, has the financial backing and knowledgeable staff to create some impressive products. The Endgame Gear XM1 RGB Dark Frost seems to be one of the products that’s been done right, and hopefully we’ll see more of them.
Visually, the XM1 RGB looks very simple, and similar to a whole host of mice. It has the standard five-button layout, and all the switches feel crisp and satisfying. Our particular model, the Dark Frost, is semi-transparent, and once the lighting shines through, it creates some great effects. This mouse isn’t built for showing off—it doesn’t have any small screens, crazy number of buttons, or any gimmicks—it’s simply built for performance. The materials are good quality, and if you value simplistic looks, you’ll enjoy it aesthetically. The XM1 is available in a few other colors, too, but we didn’t get hands-on with them.
The shape is aimed toward claw grip users, but during testing palm grip was used. For small or medium-sized hands, this is fine, but for a larger hand, the mouse is a little too low profile. It is something you can get used to, but if you have banana hands and use palm grip, this might not be as suitable for you as some other mice. Fingertip grip is fine, and the shape of the mouse doesn’t take much getting used to at all.
The software is very basic indeed— you can reprogram the buttons, but there is only a very select number of additional functions and commands. You can change each button to perform a single keyboard stroke, and there is also support to add Shift, Ctrl, Alt, and Windows into the mix, but if you want anything more complicated than that, you’re out of luck. We’re told that there are software and firmware updates planned for the near future, so this might change imminently. It is rare that we alter a five-button mouse to anything other than basic functions anyway, but if we’re comparing it to a more complete software suite, it is currently lacking.
RIPPLE EFFECT
The sensor is fantastic, however. The optical PixArt PMW3389 is one of the best, if not the best, sensors on the market at the moment, and it behaves as such. The 3389 has smoothing and acceleration by default over 1,900 cpi, but one of the options in the limited software is “Ripple Control.” This enables you to turn off smoothing over 1,850 cpi, which reduces motion delay. This is a great feature, because in a raw-performance mouse, you want it to perform as fast as possible. The sensitivity has a range between 50 and 16,000, with increments of 50. This isn’t too bad at all, but having recently reviewed mice with single-digit increments, it does seem like an area that could be improved if we are nit-picking. You can set four saved CPI modes, but the button to change this is on the bottom, so it can’t be done on the fly.
All in all, the Endgame Gear XM1 RGB Dark Frost is one of the better mice we’ve used to date. Sure, it isn’t a mouse that’s bursting with gimmicks or RGB features, and the software is somewhat lacking, but if you are looking for a mouse that is lightweight, aesthetically pleasing, and fits the majority of grips, the XM1 could be for you. There are similar mice from other brands, but we’re never going to grumble about competition. The more solid mice available on the market, the better the next series will have to be to compete.