Zowie EC1 Evo Review.

[SeriouslyMikey]

After about a month of using my Zowie EC1 Evo mouse, I have decided to give my honest review of it. As in depth as I can make it. 

 

Packaging.

 

The packaging on this mouse is very simplistic and is actually a breath of fresh air from the general gamer's branded peripherals that are floating around out there. It really gave me the impression that this mouse is serious. Found in the box is the mouse, a Zowie sticker, of which I stuck on the back of my phone and spare "slippy" feet. On the front of the box, there are simple instructions on how to change the CPI too. Overall, it's clean, simple, easy to understand and a pleasure to unbox. 

 

 

Fit and Feel.

 

 

The Zowie EC1 Evo is a rather large mouse, follows a very similar shape to the Microsoft Intellimouse and the Razer Deathadder. With it's large size, it is almost perfect for my large-ish hands, though, if I had to gripe about the size, it would be that the mouse isn't big enough. Maybe a couple of millimetres smaller than I would like. Being a palm gripper, my finger tips still hang off the end of the left and right buttons, thought this is more of me being extremely picky about the shape. Other than that, it feels amazing in my hand. I can palm it with ease, even with my finger tips being slight off the edge. The mouse is also completely covered in a soft touch coating, adding a small amount of grip. However, this coating isn't all too great as, especially with mine, it picked up grease rather easily and is still slippery, especially after long gaming periods, with the left and right button becoming very slippery and the soft touch coating actually wearing down a little on them. The cable isn't braided either. This maybe a huge disappointment to some of you, however, it is still a solid and well made cable, after a month, it hasn't shown any sign of wear and tear, though I cant speak for yearly abuse. 

 

Just remember to purchase the EC1 if you have large hands and don't do what I did and purchase the EC2 originally, thinking that is just the newer version. It is actually much smaller. 

 

 

Buttons and Scroll Wheel.

 

The left and right click on the EC1 Evo are extremely responsive and a delight to press. I enjoy a stiffer switch, one that takes a little more effort to press and has a distinctive click under the finger. The EC1 Evo fits my wants and desires perfectly. The switches aren't so stiff that they are a chore to press and aren't so light that you accidentally press them, like the Razer Deathadder. Seriously, who the hell needs "hair triggers" any way? However, this cant be said the for mouse button 4 and 5. These two switches, usually used in web browsing are currently my worst enemy. I constantly miss click them as they are so light to press, heck, I even pressed them once or twice while typing this out. With that said though, they feel amazing and have a lovely tactile click. The scroll wheel has very distinct ridges and does require a little more effort to scroll than what you may be used to. I especially was coming from a Logitech mouse. Though, after having some time with the scroll wheel and realising I didn't miss the tilt function, I really have fallen in love with a firmer scroll again. It actually feels like the scroll wheel from the 2013 Razer Deathadder. The scroll wheel also clicks, giving the mouse 5 mouse buttons over all, the click is solid, though with mine, it is a little too heavy and I end up scrolling too. However, this doesn't happen with my EC2 Evo, so I would take that with a grain of salt. 

 

Features/Software and Sensor.

 

You may be expecting this mouse to come with a heap of software, like many gaming mice out there on the market, but you'd be incorrect. This mouse is as simple as hold down a button to get your desired report rate. Button 4 will allow you to have 1,000hz (Default), button 5 will allow 500hz and button 4 and 5 at the same time will allow 125hz. There are only three settings of DPI/CPI too and these are switched between by a button the underside of the mouse. The default setting is 450DPI and at this, the scroll wheel will light up red. Pressing the DPI switch once will change the sensitivity to 1,150 and the scroll wheel will light up purple. Pressing once more, the scroll wheel will light up blue and the DPI will be set to 2,300. This restricted sensitivity maybe a huge killer for anyone looking at this mouse. 

 

 

The sensor. This is the reason why I ended up buying this mouse, along with some recommendations too. The sensor is an optical sensor, meaning it doesn't have any mouse acceleration. And boy can I feel it. I used to be running a Logitech G600, which was a mouse known for it's slightly laggy sensor and before that a G500. Compared to the Zowie EC1 Evo, they both have terrible sensors. After buying this mouse, I no longer feel like the courser is moving through soup when I am moving the mouse slowly and no longer on an ice rink when moving the mouse quickly. It is equal no matter what speed I move the mouse. However, I didn't do any real testing on the sensor, I let my past experiences and how it felt and looked on screen do the talking. Even though, I would be close to calling it a perfect sensor, like that of the G402 from Logitech. And this alone is one of the biggest reasons to purchase this mouse. 

 

I ordered both my EC1 and EC2 from Overclockers.co.uk and received a free mouse bungee too, which from testing the rigidity by dropping it from my head height (6ft3in) just to see if it would break, I am pleased to say that it hasn't and I have been happily gaming with no cord drag because of it. 

 

 

And yes, being a full time goof. I did purchase both mice because of my reasons.