This must be a first, the title for Armaggeddon Unboxing is shorter than usual haha. Jokes aside, We do have a Phantom unboxing & review here courtesy of Leapfrog Distributions.
For those of you who have been reading my articles (Thank You), you'd be pretty familiar about Armaggeddon's concept of gaming peripherals if not already to bring to the community gaming peripherals that is full of features without costing an arm and a leg. For a fairly new brand, Armaggeddon have made quite an entrance to the gaming community. If you're a fan and/or player of DotA 2, you might've noted that they hosted the recent DotA2 Grand Slam Asia 2013 in Singapore.
Straight from Armaggeddon's website, here are the Phantom's specifications & features:
- Macro-able™ Laser Class Gaming Mouse with 256KB on-board memory
- 7-level CPI adjustment on-the-fly [Default 600/1200/2000/3000/4800/6400/8200CPI]
- Adjustable light effects and up to 24 colour options indicate profile selected
- 6 Buttons + 4-Way Click scroll [Save Up to 11 Macros (6+5) in each profile]
- Assign button of choice for switching between 5 different profiles
- CPI toggle switch for both increasing and decreasing CPI on-the-fly
- Adjustable polling rate: 250Hz-4ms/500Hz-2ms/1000Hz-1ms
- High performance tracking speed: up to 150 inches per second
- 6-level adjustable weight management system
- AVAGO Laser sensor: AVAGO 9800
- Ultra durable 1.8m nylon cord
- High quality Teflon foot pad
- Frame rate: 12,000fps
- Acceleration: 30G
Phantom design for gamers:
- Rubberized Coating for Long Hours of Comfort
- 4-Way Click Scroll [save up to 3 macros/single keys]
- Scroll Up
- Scroll Down
- Scroll Left Click [Macro-able button]
- Scroll Right Click [Macro-able button]
- Scroll Click [Macro-able button]
- CPI Toggle Allows for 7 steps of increase/decrease of Mouse Sensitivity and [2 Macro-able button]
- Ergonomic right-handed design with [2 Macro-able button] for left and right click button
- Light Indicator shows Profile [Save up to 5 profiles in 256KB of onboard memory]
- Rubber grips on right and left sides, with grooves for more traction
- Lower button near thumb within easy reach [Default: Double Click] and [Macro-able button]
- Additional button within easy reach of middle finger [Default: Change LED color] and [Macro-able button]
- 2 Above thumb buttons design [Default: backward and forward] and [2 Macro-able button]
- Light indicator shows CPI level according to saved settings [Default: 600 / 1200 / 2000 / 3000 / 4800 / 6400 / 8200CPI]
Looks to be lotsa hype with this Phantom, for RM199.00 it looks to be quite a bargain for all these features. Let's get down to the product to determine if it lives up to the claims above shall we?
The Unboxing
So enough rattling, let's get on with the Phantom. Armaggeddon went for a rusty metal theme on the retail box that showcased the Phantom mouse on the main cover along with some of the features on the bottom left. Three main features are "badged" on the slanted side of the box, indicating that the Phantom has weight adjustment, 7 levels of CPI adjustment up to 8200 DPI and 256KB of onboard memory.
More of the features on the side.
The back details the features of the Phantom with visual pointers to show where exactly everything is.
Opening the flap, you will find an illustration / guide on the weight management system as well as some more descriptions of the switches used, the embedded sensor and the "Teflon" feets. On the opposite side is the mouse encased in a clear plastic shroud to let buyers inspect the product before proceeding to the checkout.
Prying the box open is standard affair and inside you'll find the mouse itself, a user guide, installation mini CD, a pill-box and extra Teflon feets. Very thoughtful of them to include the extra feets, even though they claimed that the ones on the Phantom is of high quality and will save us the hassle to looking for replacements once the original ones are exhausted. If you haven't guessed it already, the pill box contained the weights for the Phantom.
The Phantom mouse comes with a braided cable and terminates to what seems to be a gold plated USB connection (though there are no claims of it). The braided cable is somewhat stiff but flexible enough to be used without any problems. The top coating is rubberised except for the LED window on the palm area and the grey boarders. Mouse wheel has a solid scroll feedback to it and the 4-way click is easy to actuate. Can't say the same for the CPI switch behind the wheel though as you'd have to push it up / down to adjust the CPI and to me it seems a bit finicky as I prefer the 2-button click style. But you do get to switch anywhere between 600 to 8200 CPI.
The left side of the Phantom are where the 2 forward and back thumb buttons are situated. The textured rubber grip on this side is just okay, not as soft and comfortable as the one implemented on their own Armaggeddon G11 but it gets the job done. Note that there is an extra button on the thumb rest area that serves as a double-click by default; very creative in my opinion as it adds to the functionality of the mouse while having it easily accessible with the thumb. This button is also macro-able so let your imaginations run wild folks!! Up at the front part is where you'll find 4 LED indicators for the CPI levels.
At the right side, they've used the same textured rubber grip and another macro-able button that's accessible to the right ring-finger. By default, pressing this button will change the LED lighting on the palm area of the Phantom but not the profiles.
At the bottom are four Teflon feets, the Avago 9800 sensor and the access for the weight management system of the Phantom. Adding weights is an easy task, simply slide the small button to the side and the cover will slide right off, all that's left after that is to get the weights from the pillbox and insert to the corresponding slots under the mouse. There is no mention of how much each of these weight though so those of you who prefer a heavier mouse will have to feel it for yourself and taking it out is a pain as there is not much room for my fingers to get a grip on the weights.
The Phantom is a sizeable mouse that will fit mostly medium to large hands. In the side by side comparison, you can see that it is about the size of a SteelSeries Ikari.
The Software
Installation of the software suite is standard as usual, you pop the cd into the drive and just follow the prompt on the menu. For those of you that do not have a CD/DVD drive for whatever reasons, head on to Armaggeddon's website to download the driver.
First screen is the home base. Nothing much to do here except read so lets move on.
The second screen is the button settings. Here users will be able to assign specific commands to every button on the mouse. Just mouse-over to any of the drop-down menus on the sides and it will indicate the corresponding button that you're able to change. There are lots of commands that you could assign to each of the buttons which includes your normal cut, copy & paste to macros plus the option to disable the said button should you desire. After customising your Phantom, you could save it as one of the 5 profiles into the Phantom; that way you could bring these settings with you into your next LAN party without having to install the software suite. The factory default button will wipe all your customised settings so do be careful not to accidentally press it.
The colour settings tab lets you... erm... set colours to each of the profiles. You could also adjust the lighting intensity and the pulsating effects but there is only 24 colours to choose from not that it matters since you will not be able to see much of the mouse while using it.
Finally, we have the advanced setting tab that will allow you to set the mouse sensitivity, speed, scroll speed, double click speed, polling rate, axis and the CPI settings.
Usage experience
Now when it comes to mouse, I tend to choose one that I could hold comfortably and that said, the Phantom is quite comfortable to use, buttons are responsive and it is quite sturdy but I do have qualms about the CPI switch (I prefer buttons) but since I could reassign any buttons on the Phantom it really is a small matter. Lift on the mouse is not adjustable but it seems okay while I was on my FPS games and glide is pretty much okay on a number of surface.
I do find one thing strange about the Phantom, where is the profile switch button? I mean think about it... the Phantom comes with built-in memory to store custom settings, but there is no way to change profiles without having to go into the software suite, kinda disappointing if you ask me.
Conclusion
In the end, the Phantom is a decent gaming mouse overall. You get a comfortable grip and contour, rubberized grips and coating, LED lighting and even weight adjustments that's all packed around the Avago 9800 laser sensor. A good package for the price.
Even if the Phantom probably eluded the designers on adding a profile switch button. Having to rely on the software suite to change profiles is not too bad, it only means that the Phantom is pretty much tied to your own PC as you'd need to install the software suite in order to switch between profiles. On the bright side, you'd be sure to know what profile you're on.
Pros:
- Tons of features for the price
- Good design, comfortable to use
- All buttons are macro-able
Cons:
- No physical profile switcher despite the on-board memory
- No specification on the weights
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