Corsair Raptor M40 Review [LARGE IMAGES]

[flibberdipper]

Mouse by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

INTRO
Back when Athena was still a full blown donor build, someone (I forgot who, and I feel kinda bad about that) donated this to me, since they knew I was in need of a half-decent mouse since all I had to use at the time were the crappy Logitech mouse that came with my keyboard, a couple of Dell mice, and then my Microsoft mouse. And since it was so cheap, they decided to throw this in, since it was only about $45 at the time (at least I think that’s about how much it was). And after a while of waiting (which killed me), it finally arrived. And then the build fell through, and I just used it with my netbook and browsed the web with it, doing simple games like Plants vs. Zombies. But now I can use it for actual gaming, and I love it.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
When I took it out of the (pretty nice) box for the first time and looked at it, I was in love. It looked nice (more on that in the next section), had a nice and easy to use weight system, simple DPI control, and the cable was long, had a nice braid, USB connector that wouldn’t block other ports (although, why would it?), and it even had a little Velcro band deal that allows you to wrap the wire up and… Yeah. Then I saw the shape of the mouse, with its fairly aggressive shape and contours. I was worried that it would be uncomfortable (more on that later). I also noticed that it seemed to steal all of the oils from your skin and shine up ridiculously quickly. Thankfully, now that it’s broken in, that isn’t a problem.

PACKAGING
The M40 comes in a pretty nice box, if I do say so myself. The box is nice looking, and there is a little compartment where you can see the mouse behind a plastic, which is kind of nice. And the little door that covers up this compartment is closed (and held closed) by magnets. Taking everything out of the packaging is pretty straightforward. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the mouse in the plastic part of the box. It reflected too much, and it wouldn’t focus properly.

Front by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

Side by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

Back by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

Inside by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

And as for  what's inside:

What's inside by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

LOOKS
It looks really nice. It’s kind of aggressive, but I’m not going to complain. Everything about it just seems right to me. Not that flashy, oh-my-god-look-at-me-I’m-a-gaming-peripheral crap. The LEDs are only red, and they’re in just the right spots (Corsair logo at the rear and in the front to add an “underglow” to the scrollwheel). The LEDs aren’t too bright, and they aren’t too dim. If you find yourself not wanting the LEDs on, you can turn the logo and scrollwheel lights off in the software for the mouse (not the DPI ones for fairly obvious reasons). In my pictures the LEDs may look a bit pink, but in real life they are actually nice and red. Also, the top of the mouse has a kind of “soft” plastic feel to it (not really sure how to describe it) that gets kinda dirty, and the sides have a subtle, rough texture that feels nice, prevents the mouse from slipping in your hand when you use it, and moreover it just looks nice.

USB Connector by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

Braid by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

Scroll wheel LEDs by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

Corsair Logo by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

DPI Indicator LEDs by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

SENSOR
The sensor… Well, it’s pretty damn nice, IMO. It’s a 4000DPI sensor, but I keep mine at 1600DPI for pretty much everything (it goes down to 800DPI for Far Cry 3, and sadly I haven’t gotten to download Battlefield 3 yet, or Team Fortress 2). The sensor has no acceleration (as far as I am able to tell), and even on fairly shit surfaces (like my bed), it still does a pretty damn good job picking up my movements. At least if I have lighter sheets on my bed. But , most people will be using this on something like a desk or a dresser (as I used to), and even on my dresser, which has little grooves in it, the movement is still fairly smooth and nice, so I guess that’s a plus. I’ve found that it likes harder surfaces more (not the cheap cloth mousepads you can pick up), mainly for the ridiculously large glider feet on the bottom. Put it on a hard surface and that thing will fly.

QUALITY
This mouse is really well built (which can come to be expected from a mouse of this tier). Even when I squeeze this thing kinda hard, it doesn’t really do much of anything (not really any creaks or flex). The buttons seem to be nice, and the feet on the bottom of the mouse are superb. Like, glide heaven.

BUTTONS
All of the buttons on this mouse are pretty nice. The forward and back buttons have a nice satisfying click (although not too loud), although they are a little too easy to press sometimes. Same thing goes for the right and left click buttons. Nice click (a little louder than the forward and back buttons), but a little too easy to press sometimes. The middle click often pissed me off. It has a nice click that is a little more “solid” sounding compared to the other main buttons (which is to be expected), but it is too hard to click. I had it assigned to the scope/iron sights in Far Cry 3, and I had to press so hard on it, that sometimes I would move the mouse (now it’s assigned to the back button, which is also a lot less awkward to press and easier as well). The DPI setting buttons aren’t anything to write home about. They have a more “solid” click, and aren’t too easy to press, but at the same time they are not too hard too press, which is perfect, since you don’t want to accidentally tap one, change your DPI, and screw yourself over in a game in something like Battlefield 3.

WEIGHT
To me, this seems like a fairly light mouse. I found that when I took all of the weights out (and even just one) that I was practically throwing the damn thing around. For me the weight is perfect with all of the weights in, although I wouldn’t have minded some heavier weights. I would have actually kinda liked that addition. But for the price, I guess you can’t complain. The large glide pads on the bottom also make it so that it takes less force to move the mouse, which can be pretty nice sometimes. In the pictures below you can see the glide pads, as well as the red sensor/light and the 3 weight locations.

Underside by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

Weight by tmcclelland455, on Flickr

SOFTWARE
The software is pretty decent. You can turn the LEDs off in it (and then save that to a profile on the mouse, which, with the latest firmware for the mouse, seems to let that setting stay in memory when you take it and plug it into a different computer). You can change the DPI from any one of the 4 options: 800, 1600, 3200, and 4000. I would have liked to seen finer control, but whatever. You can then save the DPI to one of the three profiles for the DPI adjustment on the mouse (this way you can change the default 800, 1600, and 4000 profiles to something like 3200, 4000, and 800). And again, when you save that to a profile and put that profile on the mouse, that will transfer with the mouse to any computer. Here’s a somewhat basic video on the software of the mouse.

http://youtu.be/EfJ_cVdXpew

CONCLUSION
All in all, at the end of the day, I love this mouse. It’s not perfect by any means, but I have to say that it is pretty damn close to it.

IS IT WORTH IT?
In short, yes. In longer terms… YES YES YES YES YES YES YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!

[officiallyasimulator]

This is... convenient 

[flibberdipper]

This is... convenient 

You were the one that finally made me hop on my old laptop and do the review. I've been getting to know it, and I've been forgetting about the review.

[officiallyasimulator]

You were the one that finally made me hop on my old laptop and do the review. I've been getting to know it, and I've been forgetting about the review.

ayyyyyyyy, you are the one that makes me want one of these.

[Interfectorem]

Wait, the Corsair logo lights up? My M65 doesn't? *flips table*

 

Good review BTW, I really love my M65 as well.

[Guest]

I love my M40

The mouse wheel click was a bit unresponsive after a month so I programmed the "DPI Up" button to that, and now the mouse wheel click works fine...

But the mouse wheel click seems like a problem on all Corsair mice, I don't know why.

[flibberdipper]

I love my M40

The mouse wheel click was a bit unresponsive after a month so I programmed the "DPI Up" button the that, and now the mouse wheel click works fine...

But the mouse wheel click seems like a problem on all Corsair mice, I don't know why.

Maybe it was to prevent accidental clicks.

 

Wait, the Corsair logo lights up? My M65 doesn't? *flips table*

 

Good review BTW, I really love my M65 as well.

I think the logo is supposed to light up on the M65 as well.

 

And thanks.

[Interfectorem]

Maybe it was to prevent accidental clicks.

 

I think the logo is supposed to light up on the M65 as well.

 

And thanks.

It doesn't *sniff*

[flibberdipper]

It doesn't *sniff*

That stinks.

[Aniallation]

Isn't this obsolete, now that the M45 exists?

[Tetters]

Good review, I use this mouse too and have been very happy with it