Corsair Glaive review: This mouse has so many RGB LEDs it made my palm sweat - ballstwitir

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Nonpareil of the a couple of mice for people with bigger hands
Wholesome build quality
Swappable side panels, including a comfy thumb rest

Cons

Too broad and heavy for the average person
Inflexible click action
So many RGB LEDs the black eye actually heats high

Our Finding of fact

Corsair's new Glaive intent is attractive in photos, but much heavier and wider than you'd expect personally. It's also packed with so umpteen RGB LEDs that the mouse in reality gets noticeably warm.

The Barbary pirate Glaive is the reason I spend weeks with every mouse we reexamine. Usually the extra clock feels like a formality—I can tell almost instantly whether or non I like a mouse. But all at one time in a spell there's a Glaive, a mouse I strongly unlikeable at first but (somewhat) converse opinion on over time.

This review is part of our roundupof best g aming mice. Go there for details happening competing products and how we proven them.

The design: A rodent linebacker

What's funny is the Glaive ($60 connected Amazon)looks like a pretty generic sneak away. You wouldn't believe it would take so long to adjust to it, judging from pictures.

Test drive one in person though, and you'll immediately realize how hard it is to judge scale from merchandise photos. The Glaive is large. Or sort o, broad. With the default finger-piece attached (Thomas More on that later) it measures 2.9 inches across. With the wider thumb-rest, information technology's 3.6 inches.

Numbers lonesome tell division of the account. If you compare those measurements to other mice like the Logitech G502 (2.9 inches) surgery the Razer DeathAdder (2.8 inches), the Glaive doesn't seem that hefty.

The difference is that the G502 and DeathAdder are tapered. Measuring them at their widest point and you get the numbers pool preceding, simply for each one narrows considerably as it approaches your wrist, and usually features a considerable cutout for your ring/pinkie fingers on the side, besides. The G502 hits 2.9 inches with the thumb rest included, for representativ.

The Glaive is well-nig rectangular by equivalence. It's wide at the top, it's wide at the bottom, IT's wide in 'tween. The domed top masks this fact a bit, and IT certainly doesn't looking at like (e.g.) 1984's actually-rectangular Macintosh mouse. Still, this is a sneak with a sweeping set of shoulders. It as wel makes it a little difficult to lift and reposition, specially with the Glaive weighing in at 4.3 ounces.

There are other oddities too. The pollex buttons, for instance. Most mice try to make the rif buttons Eastern Samoa unnoticeable equally possible, placing them where (it's awaited) you'd grip, then contouring them so they lie almost flush with the chassis.

Here? Not so much. The Glaive has three removable side panels. One, the default, slopes under the shiner and gives the Glaive a moderately DeathAdder-like shape. The second, which is rough-textured for finer grip, slopes out slightly, adding another uncomplete-inch surgery so to the already-broad Glaive. The third option, likewise textured, adds a G502-style rif rest.

These panels are magnetic and thus well swapped out. I've in person been victimization the thumb-rest choice, which while admittedly wide, is both rich and adds another sneak skate to the bottom of the Glaive.

Getting in reply to the odd part, though: No more topic which pick you pick out, the thumb buttons aren't contoured to the side panel. There's about a poop-column inch gap between the top of apiece panel and the effective thumb buttons.

It's an incredibly weird designing, and another reason I didn't like the Glaive at first. It seemed like disregarding how I held it, I couldn't find a grip that was both comfortable and left my fingers on the thumb buttons. Even after a week I was even so adjusting.

And then, sometime in the second week, it clicked. I found myself not really noticing the Glaive's shape as much, my turn over unconsciously adopting some sort of hybrid claw/palm clasp that I'd settled on as the almost comfortable option. Likewise, my thumb adjusted to the groove, using it for extra friction and musical accompaniment while resting on the rif buttons.

Is it my favorite excogitation? Absolutely not. It lacks both the familiarity of a more long-standing mouse and the soothe of a maverick (and overlarge) built-for-ergonomics design like the Mionix Naos.

The Glaive did grow on me, though. I also think it would be a great choice for people with wide men—who don't have many options in that category, generally. The Naos is a good one, As are a few of Logitech's not-gaming designs, but if you find the average mouse disappearing in your work force the Glaive might be worth a second spirit.

Roughly other notes before we mop up:

1) Like every other gambling shiner today, the Glaive is festooned with RGB LED zones. Three, to exist rigorous—a medal on each side, deuce "headlights" happening the front, and Corsair's logo under the palm. There are also five blue (not-RGB) lights to delineate DPI, arrayed basically where your index stretches down to the left mouse button. The last mentioned is peculiarly pleasing, and actually extraordinary of my favorite elements on the Glaive.

The power pull must be high than most RGB mice though, reason being that the Glaive gets warm after extended consumption—peculiarly under those DPI lights. It's a pretty faint heat, and certainly not wild, but IT's…unnerving?

2) With five programmable DPI settings, the Glaive genuinely needs two buttons to switch up/down instead of single DPI cycler. It's farcical to accidentally tap the DPI button, then accept to tap it quatern more times to get backrest to your preferred setting. Almost unusable.

Left-click is a bit stiff, also. It's gotten better the longer I've used IT, but constant double-clicking is a bit harder here than it is on most opposite mice nowadays.

3) The detector is great, but Barbary pirate's default settings are not. The Glaive uses a PMW 3367, which would seem to be Corsair's custom take on the now-standard 3360/3366. The independent difference is the 3360/3366 tops out at 12,000 DPI, the 3367 at 16,000. Those high-end numbers are largely pointless though, and at lour sensitivities the 3360/3366 and 3367 perform pretty similarly.

The Glaive defaults in Corsair's software system to a "Medium" liftoff distance though—the amount you have to raise the mouse before IT stops registering. This is a no-hope anyone who constantly lifts and adjusts while gaming, and means you'Ra practically required to put in Corsair's software if alone to toggle this setting to "Low," which gives a proper 1-ish millimeter liftoff and prevents wrong pussyfoot movement when repositioning.

Bottom line

Like I said, if you have large hands, the Glaive should be high on your list. That grocery is under-served, particularly in gaming circles, and divagation from the aforementioned Mionix Naos, the Glaive is probably your near well-heeled alternative. Information technology's a amazingly comfortable mouse, once you adjust to it.

But it's a weird design, and I think Corsair should do a second pass on some aspects. The right edge could stand to be a bit more than sculpted—that's where most of the "broad" feeling comes from—and the thumb groove minimized. Also, if it's a choice between "Dozens of RGBs" and "A mouse that doesn't screw up so much information technology makes my palm sweat," I'll take the latter. Always.

[Note: There are also a cardinal number of reviews on Amazon/Newegg talking roughly click issues—specifically single clicks registering Eastern Samoa doubles. I didn't have this issue in my review unit over a few weeks of use and olibanum didn't factor it into the score, but it's something to be aware of.]