Mionix Castor mouse review (youtube video)

[Turkatron]

Liked:

Sensor- No positive or negative acceleration. Avago ADNS 3310 sensor (flawless sensor)

 

Side mouse buttons (mouse4 and mouse5)- buttons had a nice tactile feel. These buttons seemed to have had a good balance in resistance.

 

Rubber grip texture- Covered a good range of the left side where your thumb sits. Definitely a nice change from usual mice that do not have a thumb grip.

 

Braided cable- In the past I have always disliked braided cables (mostly from Razer and Logitech) due to them being too thick, too stiff, and fraying overtime. The cable on the castor is not too thick and flexes accordingly to the cable needs.

 

Weight- Mouse is 94 grams without the cord. I believe that a mouse needs to be under 110 grams for it to be considered lightweight. I am a fan of lightweight mice for lifting needs.

 

Lift of distance setting in software- Interesting that you can change the lift of distance. Typically you are advised to set it to as low as possible so I have not experimented with anything but the lowest setting.

 

Disliked:

Mionix software- Scroll wheel setting is 6 lines max in software and changes windows scroll setting every time. This is the first time I recall seeing a setting like this in mouse software. It just doesn’t make sense to limit the max to 6 and have it an option in the settings when Windows is the better option. Pointer scroll speed option (ranges from 1-10). 5 is the most optimal to avoid what feels like acceleration if higher than 5 and de-acceleration if lower than 5.Mionix didn’t comment on why this was in the software but that 5 was the “right” setting. Doesn’t really make sense to me when the software is to change DPI and leave windows to the pointer speed. No option to change the stand three DPI settings to cycle from.

 

Scroll wheel- felt a little soft/squishy/too easy to scroll by accident for jumping in csgo

Hybrid grip - Mouse felt OK for claw and palm grip but not the most optimal/ergonomic for palm grip

 

DPI button: Kind of easy to accidentally press. I appreciate that there is only one button instead of two. My solution to this was have separate dpi profiles with all 3 dpi settings the same since I typically don’t like a DPI button on the top of the mouse (prefer underneath like how Zowie does).

 

Final thoughts:

I liked the mouse a lot. I don’t see it being my daily driver until my Zowie EC2-A dies because I do not think I will continue to support Zowie after my terrible RMA experience with them. I am extremely biased to the intellimouse 3.0 and its shape. The Zowie EC2-A resembles that shape nearly 100% but with all the features a mouse needs. I am awaiting my order for the Naos 7000 to check that out and see if I like that mouse. I would heavily consider the Castor as my next daily driver. $70 isn’t a bad price tag for the mouse but if you can pick it up for $50 or less I would say it is a total steal. The software Mionix made could use some improvements and possible explanations on why some settings exist. I also wish the software would include a feature later on to disable the things I disliked. The aurora lighting is minimalistic and awesome. It doesn’t appear to be the main focus of the product like other gaming companies throw in your face about. The side buttons could be a little bigger but I didn’t hate it.

 

 

My video review:

 

 

 

 

TL:DW: Great lightweight ergonomic mouse. Amazing Avago 3310 sensor. Loved the side buttons and the grip.

Castor currently on Massdrop!: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/mionix-castor-rgb-ergonomic-optical-gaming-mouse

[YongKang]

Really liked your review! Keep up the hardwork.
I would glad to see your review on the Naos 7000 since I've been considering both the castor and it.

Any wireless mouse recommendation?