Genius DeathTaker Gaming Mouse Review

There are a lot of gaming mice available today, and many of them can be put on a short list of “do not buy”.  Unless you have over $100 to spend then you probably won’t be happy with many of the choices available.  There are a select few however that offer good performance and quality at a price point that undercuts everything else in its class.

Genius is a new player in the hardware market, and the underdog usually has something to prove.  Genius has released a new MMO/RTS gaming mouse that costs betweem $40-80 (depening on where you look) and yet has features that rival much more expensive digital rodents.

This new rodent is called “DeathTaker”, which is a rather unfortunate name for those of us inflicted with Literal-itis..  Does it “take your death”, like a waitress takes your order?  Perhaps it removes Death from your Life so that you never die.  I’m assuming the name is supposed to instill fear into your digital opponents and implies that this device is their demise.

On the next page we open the box.

The box has an interesting shape.  The front of the box has its left and right corners folded to have three sides, while the  left, right and back of the box have typical rectangular features, for a total of six sides.  The top flap is secured by velcro circles and opens up to reveal marketing information and a window to see the product itself.

The person who designed every tech website in 1998 must have also done the DeathTaker box art, which is full of the Photoshopped metal and screws of that era.  Regardless of their aesthetic choices, there is a lot of information about the mouse on the sides and inner flap.  From the box we can see that the mouse has a 6-foot (1.8 meter) braided USB cable, individual X/Y dpi buttons, a patented “magic roller” scroll wheel, profile buttons supporting up to 55 macros, onboard memory and adjustable weight (up to 27 grams).

The mouse apparently supports an “over-clocking” SG Core II.  We’re not exactly sure what this means, but we’ll explore this during testing.

The box is secured with three clear adhesive stickers at the bottom of the box, which must be cut to open the bottom flap.

Inside the box is the mouse itself, a folded Quick Start guide, a multi-language installation guide, six 4.5 gram weights and a software CD.  Some mouse manufacturers have cut costs by not including a pressed disc and instead require users to download the software from their website (usually with a broken URL as was the case with the Storm Recon mouse here).

The mouse is housed in a cardboard assembly, and the braided mouse cord is tucked into folded cardboard tabs, which really make it difficult to remove without destroying the box.  The weights are also tucked into the front of the assembly.

On the next page we look at the mouse’s features.

At first I didn’t have high expectations for a mouse with this price point, and then I actually laid my hand over it, and it felt very comfortable.  I then plugged the mouse in and the scroll wheel and GX logo started “breathing” much like the Razer gaming mice do.

The mouse  is rather short compared to other gaming mice, and has a nice futuristic look without being too gimmicky.  There is a nice thumb rest, and much of the mouse has been rubberized for a good feel.  The mouse wheel is notched and is very satisfying to use.  The mouse cord is six feet long and covered in a cloth mesh.

The mouse has nine programmable buttons:

1. Left Click
2. Right Click
3. Center click
4. Forward
5. Backward
6. X DPI adjust
7. Y DPI adjust
8. Macro
9. DPI toggle

Like many gaming mice, you will probably leave most of these to their defaults in almost every situation.  There are three candidates for useful reprogramming: the X-DPI, Y-DPI and Macro buttons.  The DPI button (located under the mouse wheel) is depressed, which makes it hard to click accidentally, but also makes it a little inaccessible when playing games.

The thumb buttons are a little high and required a bit of a stretch to reach, but not so much that they are annoying to use.  The X and Y buttons have a good placement, much like the buttons on the Logitech G700 mouse.  The Macro button is a little out of the way so it isn’t accidentally activated, but is close enough to click with one’s ring finger.

The indicator on the mouse that shows what setting you’re on is usually obscured by your hand.  The DPI setting has 5 LEDs, but they are all the same color and cannot be changed, so it’s difficult to quickly identify which setting you’re on at any given moment.  The scroll wheel LED (which can indicate which profile you’re on) is also hard to see.  Thankfully, the mouse supports an on-screen display in the lower-left corner of your monitor whenever you change DPI setting (using the X, Y, or DPI switch buttons), and profile.

While this mouse is rather light, it features a compartment where one can add six additional 4.5-gram weights.  The bottom left of the mouse features a printed scorpion, which is a door that hides this compartment.  This door is secured with tiny clips and a magnet, so it’s relatively easy to slide off but won’t come off accidentally (unless you don’t clip it back properly).  Inside the compartment is a rubber widget that one can load up the included weights.

Next we install the software and configure the mouse.

Even though it supports onboard memory and is “driverless”, it is practically impossible to configure without installing software, which Genius dubs the DeathTaker UI.

The software for this gaming mouse is pretty standard, so I won’t go over every little feature and detail.  There are five main sections: Assign buttons, Manage Macro, Advanced Settings, Light Options, and Game Profiles.  Any changes you make have to be uploaded to the DeathTaker’s memory before they take effect, just like most gaming mice with memory.  That way the settings are retained on any computer, regardless if they have the DeathTaker UI software installed.

In the Assign Buttons tab, you can assign functions to any of the mouses’ nine buttons, and most of them you will probably want to keep standard.  Since you can easily switch DPI settings you might want to reprogram the X, Y, and Macro buttons to another function, like Zoom In and Zoom out.  If you don’t want to use the software to change profiles then you may want to use one of these buttons to toggle profiles… remember to do it on each one or you’ll get stuck on the profile that doesn’t have the function programmed.

In the Manage Macro tab you can create different macros, and each one can have up to 55 actions.  You can record in real time (saving the real-time delay between keystrokes), or you can have no delay.  Of course you can edit the macro by selecting each function and moving or deleting it.

Advanced Settings let you change the things DPI resolution, scroll speed, double click speed and polling rate of the mouse.  Genius says the DeathTaker supports “up to” five DPI stages, and by that they mean “exactly five”.  You cannot customize the mouse to use less, as I prefer to have a “high” and “precise” setting when playing first-person shooters.  You must toggle through each of the five settings before you get back to the first one.  You can set the DPI from any level between 100 and 5700.  Despite the claim on their box, the DeathTaker does not “overclock”… they just wanted to use a buzzword that means that it goes really high.

Finding the screen to configure each DPI stage is also hidden, again thanks to the folks who designed the UI that apparently don’t have UX degrees.  The “Stage” button is black, and very easy to overlook, but it’s to the right of the “DPI setting” header.  Within this sub window you can assign any DPI to all of the five slots.  Thankfully you can set X and Y resolution independant of each other, which can be helpful for first-person shooters that want to keep their crosshairs over the horizon (quick left-to-right movement but slower up-and-down movement).  This screen practically eliminates the need to change to change X and Y on-the-fly by using the default function of the X and Y buttons.

As mentioned before, you are stuck with five even if you don’t want them.  I could have “faked” a high/low setting by making a ABAB pattern if there were an even number of DPI stages, but because I’m stuck with five I have to do ABABA or ABCBA or something like that.

We explore more of the software on the next page.

The Light Options tab lets you change the LED color for the mouse wheel and GX logo for the profile you’ve selected.  By default each profile has a different color assigned with a slow pulsation.  To change the color for each profile, just click the Profile number at the bottom before selecting your color.

There is a color palette with several pre-defined colors, and of course three text boxes to allow you to enter in numerical values for your color.  You can’t click-and-drag around the color palette like you can in Photoshop or Paint, as click-dragging will move the window.  If you want to pick a custom color with the mouse then you have to be rather precise and click down without dragging.  You can change the light to a “breathing” mode similar to Razer products, and can select between Steady (always on), Slow, Middle, and Fast pulsation.

The Game Profiles area is at the bottom of the window, regardless of which tab you have selected.  This lets you easily change settings for each profile without having to toggle back and forth.  Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that you can name the profiles, so you’ll have to remember what each of them do, and what color you’ve assigned to which game.  Macros that you set in one profile are not available in the others, so you have to re-create any macros that are common between games.

Clicking the Question Mark (?) icon brings up an HTML file in your browser that was copied to your hard drive when you installed the software.  There are obvious typos and badly-translated phrases.

Attention product distributors who import products from China: I am available for copy writing and editing.  There is no excuse for things like “Getting Start” and “LIGTH OPTIONS” in a product that is for retail sale in an English-speaking market.

Read our conclusion on the next page.

Overall this is a very good gaming mouse, especially for the price point.  We’ve reviewed several “off brand” mice, which seem to disappear almost as soon as they are released, so let’s hope this one stays around.  The hardware of the Genius DeathTaker seems to be pretty good, but the software needs more spit and polish.

While the sensor is very good and the mouse is comfortable, there are a few things that could be improved.  The LEDs that indicate your current DPI and profile setting are obfuscated by the player’s hand while in use, which requires one to let go of the mouse to see.

While most of the mouse has matte plastic, the part where your palm rests (the part with the scorpion logo) is shiny black plastic, which makes the inside of your palm extremely clammy with extended use and quickly becomes uncomfortable.

The mouse supports a lot of programmability, but really only three buttons are true candidates to stray from default settings.   This mouse has five DPI slots, and we wish we could program each profile with a custom number of DPI stages.

Looking online, prices for this mouse are all over the place, which range from around $40 to $80, and it can be hard to find.  While the DeathTaker has a lot of features, it is really competitive at the $40 level.  If you have to shell out close to the high end then you might as well get a brand-name mouse such as a Razer Naga, Corsair Vengeance or Logitech G700.

UPDATE April 8, 2013: The same we were provided stopped working.  When we plug it in, the lights on the mouse turn on briefly, and then turn off, the mouse does not respond, and Windows reports a “your USB device is not recognized” error.  We hope this is a fluke, but the reader should be aware that this mouse could die within 3 months of use.