PC gaming is one of the biggest slices of the multi-billion dollar gaming industry. As such, there are a surprising number of gaming mice available for the PC… some would say there are too many. These peripherals are multi-use devices, having a lot of buttons and high sensitivity for games, and also used for desktop and graphic applications. As such, some gaming mice subdue their features in a sleek but unassuming mouse that look like any other desktop mouse. Other mice choose to be show off all of their features and scream “Touch me! I am Gaming Rodent! RAWR!”
The SilverStone Raven 3200DPI Gaming Mouse is one of those mice that has absolutely killer looks and quite honestly looks like the mouse Darth Vader would use. Its namesake alone might even get The Crow to stop whining about loss and despair and use a computer for online dating or something.
As we will see in our in-depth review, the mouse has some significant flaws that may make you reconsider what you look for in a gaming mouse. To start, the mouse has lots of killer features that gamers (and desktop jockeys) crave. Here’s the skinny:
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Some gaming mice have powerful features but look like normal mild-mannered desktop mice, but not the SilverStone Raven. It has killer looks that scream for attention.
There are so many external features that it is hard to begin. The mouse has a total of ten buttons. You have your normal left click, right click and middle click that you expect to see on every mouse today. The thumb side of the mouse has three buttons: the normal Forward and Back thumb buttons in addition to a large profile-switching button on this huge-ass thumb scroll wheel (but more on that later).
The center of the mouse features a rubberized notched scroll wheel. Below this are Left and Right scroll buttons (since the scroll wheel does not tilt). Below these buttons is an acrylic screen that protects a bright OLED display. On the right side of the mouse are two silver programmable buttons. The mouse cord is of adequate length, but does not have a meshed sleeve like other high-end gaming mouse come with.
The only changable feature on the bottom of the mouse is a small switch that toggles between Normal and Game mode, which greatly affects how the mouse (and OLED) respond. The mouse also has several teflon sliders in additon to a sticker with the mosue information and Phillips twin-eye 3200dpi laser sensor.
The one feature that stands out the most (other than the thumb wheel) is the woven carbon fiber back. Carbon fiber is used in many professional applications for its great weight to strength ratio and its acoustic properties (they even make violins and cellos out of the stuff). Carbon fiber is usually placed in a mold and solidified with resin to make the cloth hold its shape, and when dried is popped out. In this case, it looks like a piece of the cloth is just cut and stuck under an acrylic window. It looks nice, but serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever. Since your hand is touching acrylic rather than resin then the part of your hand that touches this mouse gets rather sweaty, which is a feature that many gamers try to avoid.
The big elephant in the room is the thumb scroll wheel and accompanying thumb button. In “normal” mode this scroll wheel uses the Flip3d feature of Windows Vista, which in many reviewer’s opinion is one of the most useless features of the OS. The thumb button changes the DPI in Normal mode, and changes profiles in Game mode. This button is just way too sensitive, and your thumb will most certainly click it accidentally. Changing your profile or DPI is not something that you switch frequently, so why make it so accessible that the user actually clicks it on accident?
As mentioned before, the game works in two basic modes: Normal and Game. You must turn the mouse upside down and flip a switch in order to switch between these modes. This isn’t a big deal I suppose, as most people probably have to get several things ready before playing a PC game.
The Normal setting is designed for basic desktop use. The scroll buttons operate as you would expect in web browsers and spreadsheets, the right pinky buttons operate as Page Up and Page Down buttons. The thumbwheel works as a Flip 3D wheel, which most people don’t use as a mechanism for switching tasks. The large (and overly clickable) thumbwheel button changes the DPI by default, switching between 400 and 3200dpi. The regular thumb buttons (Forward and Backward) are greatly displaced by the thumbwheel, and are extremely hard to reach. In my opinion, the placement should have been reversed so the thumbwheel took more effort to reach and the normal thumb buttons were accessible.
The Game mode changes the operation of the mouse greatly, and also allows for greater customization. Because there are so many things to customize, you should use the included mouse software. In this mode you can customize the X and Y resolution independantly, which can be very helpful in First Person shooters where you want to keep your aim on the horizon as much as possible. Snipers may want a greater Y resolution, however. You can also change these settings on-the-fly directly on the mouse, if you so choose.
Of course, you can assign any function to any button in Game mode, and assign a profile name. When you switch to this mode, the profile name appears in the bright OLED window. Unfortunately, the window will probably be covered by your hand, so you must lift your hand to see what mode you are in. The thumbwheel button is used to switch profiles, and as mentioned earlier is very easy to click accidentally, so you may find yourself in a mode optimized for a different game, which could end up reducing your kill count or get yourself gibbed. Instead of naturally double-tapping to jump away from fire, you will instead switch to a different profile, which will most certainly get you killed.
Regardless of what mode you are in, the thumbwheel is just in the way, and requires you to hold the mouse in a different way. Silverstone recommends placing your thumb on top of the thumbwheel, but this is just not a natural way most people hold their mice. This is the same usability dynamic used in the Microsoft Natural Wireless 600 mouse (reviewed here). Instead of moving the mouse with your wrist, you end up pushing the mouse around sloppily with your entire arm. This is fine if you want to make huge sweeping motions, but most people want accuracy, especially when taking headshots in PC games.
Using a new type of device isn’t necessarially a bad thing. Take ergonomic keyboards for example; people either love them or hate them and most people can’t swtich from one to the other once they get used to them. Same thing with game controllers vs. the mouse/keyboard combination for gaming. The point is that you can get used to the unique usability this mouse offers, but you may be better off getting a mouse with the same features without the huge learning curve.
The SilverStone Raven Gaming Mouse has the potential for a great gaming mouse. It supports multiple profiles, a neat OLED display, a high DPI rate, and it just looks cool. Unfortunately one of the design choices made greatly affects how usable the mouse is… and that is the big-ass thumb wheel and thumb button. The wheel is absolutely useless and the button is too sensitive, so you will avoid gripping it like you normally would. This alteration of how you hold the mouse means that you push with your entire arm rather than your wrist, which throws off any precision you were hoping to get with the high DPI.
If you can get used to the unique usability dynamics, then this mouse offers a lot of features for a good price. If you choose your gaming peripherals based on the “wow” factor, then you will certainly turn some heads with how this mouse looks.
We have mixed feelings about the SilverStone Raven Gaming Mouse. Certain “standard” mouse features such as Forward and Back thumb buttons are practically inacessible, while other features are absolutely killer (like independent X/Y dpi and 5 gaming profiles). It pains me to say it, but I just cannot recommend this mouse to the performance PC gamer. For the same amount of money you can get a mouse with the same features without the caveats.
If you dig the Raven Gaming Mouse, then why not pick it up up directly from Xoxide here.
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