There are a hundred different gaming mice for all different types of players. Some do all types of PC gaming, and need a general-purpose mouse. Others are heavy RPGers and real-time-strategy enthusiasts and want a lot of buttons and configuration options. Most PC gamers play first-person shooters and need a good configurable mouse with adjustable sensitivity.
Gaming mice can be expensive, though, and it really sucks to purchase an expensive mouse just to find out it wasn’t as good as you thought. Going through any LAN party, you will see the the kids that are using their parents’ old computer and using business-class or generic mice. For those that need a gaming mouse but don’t have a lot of money, the NZXT Avatar S gaming mouse may be right up your alley.
The Avatar S mouse has been out for a while, but still holds strong because it is one of the cheapest gaming-grade mice you can find. The Avatar S replaces the more expensive Avatar gaming mouse (review here).
- Gaming-grade laser mouse
- Right and left-handed design
- Five assignable buttons
- 16 Kilobytes of onboard memory
- Five user profiles
- Up to 1600dpi tracking resolution at 3 fixed levels
- 30 inches per second Maximum Velocity
- Accleration: 20 G
- Size: 2.7 x 1.5 x 5.1 inches
On the next page we open the box and take a look…
The NZXT Avatar S is a slightly reduced version of the original Avatar gaming mouse. The sample we were given is the white version, which is bright white with black trim. The new version of this rodent still has an ambidextrous 5-button design, but the most notable reduction is the sensitivity. This mouse supports a 1600DPI sensor, and can be toggled between 1600, 800, and 400 DPI settings. The mouse has an illuminated NZXT logo which changes its LED color based on your setting (blue, purple or red), but if you find this annoying it can be turned off via software.
The button layout is symmetrical, which makes this a good choice for left-handers, but also means that the fifth button is impractical for normal use. You have to press the thin button with your pinky finger, so many will either not use the button, or assign it to a rarely-used function. Because the mouse is so light and the fifth button is so awkward many people will accidentally push the mouse while accessing this button. The scroll wheel is made of rubber and has a good feel, and the notches feel satisfying and is easy to click but can become slippery if your hands are oily or sweaty.
The underside of the mouse has three Teflon feet and the 1600dpi laser sensor. The cable has a decent length and terminates in a gold-colored USB connector.
Users can create five different profiles for this mouse and keep them stored in the mouse’s 16KB of memory. The profiles must be edited with the included software, however. There really aren’t a lot of choices, given its configurability. The only dpi settings that can be selected are 400 dpi (red LED), 800 (purple LED), and 1600 (blue LED). We found that the 400dpi setting was practically useless, even for snipers.
The loss of granularity between the two useful settings will be missed by gamers used to control. No matter if you use your left hand or right hand, the NZXT logo (whose color indicates the DPI level) is placed where it is probably covered by your hand, so you cannot simply glance to see its current setting in the middle of battle.
You can change the orientation of the mouse for left or right-handedness. You can also change if the NZXT logo is on, and set the DPI switch on or off. You can also change the mouse’s polling rate, but some older computers may have a problem with 1000Hz, and honestly most people will be just fine with the safe 500Mhz setting.
Once plugged in, a nice blue glow appears from underneath the mouse’s buttons. Since this mouse is really long, it lends itself to being controlled with the entire palm of one’s hand rather than using fingertips. Since the mouse is so light, it doesn’t take much movement for this mouse to respond, and a fingertip grip would be an advantage. As mentioned before, we found the lowest sensitivity setting practically useless, as was the fifth button. We assigned the fifth button to a lesser-used attack in World of Warcraft.
The mouse will work without drivers, but additional features are enabled once installed. With the drivers installed you can set up macros and sensitivity changes. Additionally you can configure different sensitivity for the X and Y axis, which can be helpful in many shooters where you want to keep your sights on the horizon. You can also set a different sensitivity for your mouse cursor.
The NZXT is one of the few gaming mice that can be easily used by Southpaws (left handers), but this design comes with some hefty compromises. The configuration software is simple and easy to use, but there isn’t a whole lot of configurability. The fixed sensitivity settings are bare-minimum for a gaming mouse, and the lowest DPI setting is not very usable. Lastly, the shape of this mouse is different than many gaming mice, and some users will take issue with its grip limitations.
Given our few gripes, the Avatar S is a decent gaming mouse without a lot of bells and whistles. The mouse can now be had for around $30, which is an excellent point of entry for a gaming-grade mouse. If you have one of the slick NZXT cases, then this mouse will match it perfectly… just make sure you match the mouse’s color with your case.