The iBall Laser Precise
I finally got my iBall laser precise mouse !. I took it as a risk as I hadn’t read any reviews of it yet, But I’m a fully satisfied dude today, and I want anyone else who might be considering buying it to read this!.showstopp3r is also doing a post on this too!
First of all, given the adequate cash, all of us would like to buy Logitech g5’s or MX 518’s or Razer Diamondback’s…razer’s are not available at all here, and the Logitech’s cost an arm and a leg!(and possibly a kidney too). The choices for a precision mouse in the under 1k range is rather limited to the Microsoft wheel mouse optical. Not any more!
The iBall laser has a 1600 CPI sensor (CPI= Counts per Inch). First , I had my doubts about CPI, fearing that it might be something iBall cooked up to get to the glorious 1600 figure,(like the PMPO ratings we have on speakers)but found the mention of cpi in toms hardware saying that cpi is what actually matters! It’s also got six buttons, which includes a task hotkey and IE forward/backward (also assignable to other keys) buttons. The build quality of it is okay, but the mice feet don’t seem to be of terribly high quality, and the one of the feet of my old iBall had started to migrate a bit! I wish it had at least ONE LED! I was under the impression that being a laser mouse, there would be a cool laser thingy underneath etc…unfortunately all there was is a small hole and a “LASER” hologram. I know it’s just a gimmick, but I wish it had some bells and whistles :D
First of all, the mouse is NOT for lefties…the iBall website claims otherwise though! The feel of the mouse is great, with a matt grips t the sides and is very comfortable to hold. Plugging it into windows, my SP1 XP needed to install drivers before it was recognized as a mouse. The mouse utility was installed separately, and to me, seems more like a gimmick. The hotkey button makes a circular menu which has some apps and shortcuts on them. The only hitch is that they are PowerPoint …Word, etc….none of which I need to use THAT regularly. unfortunately, the app’s themselves could not be changed and I hated that menu…but it did remind me of the stuff I’d seen on some Logitech mice…also , the driver did not have the x-mouse style of scroll activation I used to have on my old iBall! So I uninstalled the v4.5 drivers and installed the v2.2 drivers (intended for the black cat) this cured it, and the fwd and rwd buttons were individually configurable... Only the hotkey on top became redundant, as the black cat didn’t have any! But it still does work as the middle mouse button which is nice, since the scroll wheel is a bit hard to press anyway. Also, the main buttons are a bit hard, but I guess use will loosen em up!
Using it was scary at first, it being very, very sensitive and adding to the fact that it was much lighter than a regular ball mouse, was like graduating from a Hindustan ambassador to a lancer EVO. I couldn’t even handle it! But gradually, I got the feel of it , and now I cant be without it! The buttons help a lot too; I browse and listen to music a lot. I set the back button to default and the fwd button to F9 and used that to set a QCD global hotkey! (I use QCD player instead of Winamp!) Now all I need is my mouse! And I don’t need to get QCD even. But it would have been nice if the drivers had allowed for the next track key to be assigned to that button (like a MM keyboard)
Actual game performance!
The testing of the mouse in CS was delegated to frantic. He opines that the sensitivity is good, and that he got headshots with lesser guns. Unfortunately for me, my CS performance seems to have gone down a few notches with this mouse (or maybe it was because I played CS after a Looooong TD on UT 2004!) but UT 2KK performance is simply awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the rocket launcher, which had been alien to me till now and had been at the bottom of my list went straight to the top and I learnt how to do the much famed “predictive rocketry” usually I play in average skill(heh he …yeah I’m a Noob)but with the new mouse, I got a 25/4 victory over a skilled bot in Idoma I was on a rampage first, going up to dominating!) I ought to try out adept next! First, I was unable to get the extra keys to work but found out that it was because I had left the driver utility running (lwbwheel.exe) end task it and you’re set to game! Remember to start it once you’re back in windows though! I had read that mice would make such a difference in skill, but never such a difference! Anyway, for gaming, this mouse rules! A minor bug (or should I say feature) is that this mouse tracks in the air!! Even up to about one inch in the air, the cursor will still move with your hand! With my habit of moving the mouse and picking it up, moving it again, learned on lower resolution mice, it seemed a minor irritant! But when I’ve got 1600 CPI, who cares!
The mouse is priced at 1990 MRP (yeah right!) and I got it at 875. At that price, it is terrific value for money. The iBall dealers seem to have them ready in stock, so you’ll get them soon! If you want to have a good mouse, but can’t spend K’s of rupees on one, this mouse is what I’d recommend.
posted by kickassso, 9:38 AM