CM Storm Mizar Unboxing & Review

     

For those of you who has been waiting for updates on the Cooler Master's CM Storm Mizar which we've tested three weeks ago, we have a good news for you - we have received another review unit of CM Storm Mizar from Cooler Master that comes in an official retail packaging and it is expected to land on Malaysia around March of 2014. Greatest appreciation to Cooler Master for providing us with the CM Storm Mizar.

Check out our unboxing and review along with our hands on gaming experience with the CM Storm Mizar. >>

CM Storm Mizar has landed on Singapore priced at 89.00 SGD each (Source: Hardware Zone) and Cooler Master Singapore is having a Pre-Order Campaign where the first ten orders is entitled with a limited edition CM Storm Gaming Pack Worth SGD 99.00. SRP for Malaysia is still yet to be announced, we really hope that it'll be a friendly figure to us all. 

Features

Inspired by classic, right-handed, and ergonomic styles, CM Storm Mizar is a gaming mouse with a natural contoured grip designed for maximum comfort. Outlast the competition regardless of your hand size, grip style, or handedness. The ergonomic shape encourages a firm and comfortable grip that feels more natural in your hand. It has an Avago 9800 laser sensor and up to 8200 DPI. Its 7 fully programmable buttons are arranged and tuned for intuitive operation.

Dimension	60.4mm x 40.2mm x 124.8mm
Weight	121g
Color	Black
On Board Memory	128kb
Programmable Buttons	7
DPI	4 toggle modes, 800/1600/3200/8200
Sensor Type	Avago 9800 Laser Sensor
Polling Rate	1000Hz / 1ms
Surface Type	Rubberized Surface
Mouse Orientation	Right-hand

Overview

Taking a quick glance at the front of the packaging, everything looks neat and clean in overall. Our first impression on the front is that Cooler Master tries to emphasizes the main features of the CM Storm Mizar with its eye catching reflective silver colored fonts and the main highlight of 8200 dpi.

The rear view on the packaging shows the features offered, but we're unsure why the adjustable LED colors  for the CM Storm logo is stated here but isn't being highlighted at the front of the packaging.

Here's our CM Storm Mizar, rests inside the box waiting to be unboxed and reviewed.

What's inside the box is pretty much the same as what we have seen in the previous sample unit but this time, the USB connector comes with a cover.

The USB connector cover helps to reduce oxidation on the connector due to long term exposure to the moisture in the air. (sample image: click here!)

Gold plated USB connector has been widely used on gaming peripherals and is said to have lower latency compared to the normal USB connector due to the fact that gold is a good electric conductor. Sad but true, gold plated USB connectors doesn't really do as what it is said to be as the gold plated area is actually the cover for the real contact point of your USB devices and the contact point isn't plated with gold. Gold doesn't really corrode and the real advantage of having a gold plated USB connector is that you will not have to deal with oxidized USB connectors. (sample image: click here!)

We've seen braided cables on most high end gaming peripherals for enhanced durability and less tendency to break due to unintentionally pulling by accident.



The bottom of the CM Storm Mizar shows great resembles to the legendary Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 (IE 3.0).

There's a large piece of rubber pads on each side of the CM Storm Mizar that helps to improve handling by providing a firmer grip and less tendency to slip.

A closer look at the rubber pads, these tiny little holes helps to improve your grip but at the same time, collecting residue if you have sweaty palm.

These large side buttons are very helpful for both normal users and gamers. While being use for normal daily activity such as web browsing, it acts as the next and previous button. With the help of the arriving-soon software for CM Storm Mizar, it can be assigned as a macro key to assist your game.



Closer view on the left, the rubber pad is the same as the one on the other side.

Moving on to the front view, the left and right has a solid and promising click. Can't wait for testing it out soon!

Positioned just right above the scroll wheel, the dpi toggle buttons allows you to toggle the sensitivity to suits your need easily.

Our experience with the CM Storm Mizar scroll wheel falls within the comfortable range as there's isn't much resistance and the click is pretty solid as well, somewhere near our pre-owned Steelseries Xai.

Now to the rear view, the CM Storm logo is lit by a RGB LED that allow up to 7 types of color. We weren't able to demonstrate it for now as the software for the CM Storm Mizar hasn't been released yet, but what we do have here is the default color preset right out of the box where each color represent different level of sensitivity for the laser. The only let down is that the LED on the scroll wheel stays white forever, it'll be great if it can change corresponding to the color of the LED on the CM Storm logo as well.

Usage and Testing

We'll start off with the gaming experience where the game used for this test will be our all time favorite, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Throughout the test that took nearly an hour, here's our comment on the CM Storm Mizar. 

Design and comfortability wise, as it is designed as a right-hand orientated mouse that benefits the righties aka right-handed guys/girls,  the CM Storm Mizar gives you a long term of comfortability throughout long hours of gaming. The large rubber pads helps providing better handling and firmer grip so you won't have to blame on your internet connection upon mistakes. 

The only concern is our climate here in Malaysia. Located near the equator, Malaysia's climate is categorized as equatorial, being hot and humid throughout the year. This means that you will have to take extra care of it. You might want to keep your room cool and dry as possible as the climate will slowly kills the rubberized surface and the rubber pads. 

Accuracy and precision wise, there's nothing for us to complain about. The CM Storm Mizar is considered as one of the best gaming mouse we have encountered. Both left and right click responded instantly and the fluidity is extremely well. In confidence, we can assure you that you will be able to perform at your best with it.

Moving on with normal daily usage such as web browsing, watching movies or working, the dpi toggling buttons works well on different types of situation as dpi changes can be done as easy as one two three.

Final Thoughts

Despite for not having any software to be tested for the time being, the CM Storm Mizar has already displayed many of its promising features that will benefit not just only Gamers, but normal home users as well. Priced at SGD 89.00, the CM Storm Mizar offered features that not many would offer at the same price point.

Pros:

- Ergonomic design that gives less fatigue over long term usage

- Large rubber pads on both sides gives a good and firm grip for better handling

- Programmable LED, up to 7 colors

- On-the-fly dpi toggle allows you to change dpi according to your preference easily

- Braided cables which is more durable and less prone to pulling damage

- Gold plated USB connector and USB connector cover for a cleaner 

- Up to 7 programmable buttons via the soon to be released software

Cons:

- Scroll wheel LED stays white forever

- Rubberized surface will turn sticky and  unpleasant if not taken care well

It isn't hard to decide, the CM Storm Mizar deserves our Gold award and Recommended award.