ASUS Strix Impact Gaming Mouse Review

Conclusion

Usually gaming mice come in two distinct flavours. On the one hand you have the mice which are all about the sensor quality, and bring that in at an affordable price. Then, for those of you who like a few more bells and whistles, there are the mice with variable lighting, multiple extra buttons and all the doohickeys that make us smile, and these usually come with a price premium.

The Strix Impact is in both groups at once, but sadly it takes the worst elements of each.

So we have the medium resolution sensor, 5000 DPI, and lack of side buttons that you might expect to find from a mouse at the affordable end of the spectrum, whilst the £50 price tag speaks of a mouse with .. well some side buttons would be a start. We still, after all these years, cannot believe anyone would release a mouse without side buttons. It’s madness. If your argument is that it is a hardcore gaming mouse, then a few side buttons are perfect for weapon switching, or sniper mode, or any number of actions that can be bound to a mouse. If the point is that it’s an affordable mouse, even though it isn’t but for the sake of argument, then simply browsing on your desktop is something that comes with side buttons as standard. It is akin to selling a keyboard without a space bar.

Unfortunately this decision overrides any other considerations like a ghost chilli in your cornflakes.

Sure the lighting is bright, and the colours are reproduced well. All the hallmarks you would expect from something with the ASUS AURA technology on board. Yes the Omron switches are as crisp and tactile as they are on every other mouse in the Universe that uses them – 99% of the mice available – and the sensor is both responsive and accurate. The software allows for a lot of tuning, and even has some macro capability. Hands up if you can spot the spare button that you could bind that macro to. We will wait. Anyone? Exactly.

Now if the Strix Impact was a £30 mouse, we could perhaps allow for the lack of side buttons and say that if you’re the type of gamer who gets irritated by having a button by your thumb, and you never ever browse the internet, and none of the dozens and dozens of other mice on the market appeal, then perhaps, maybe, the Strix Impact would be worthy of recommendation.

As it is this is a £50 mouse without side buttons, and a medium DPI sensor, and software that allows you to create macros without having a button on the mouse to assign them to. In this day and age, with this many gaming mice on the market, that’s just inexcusable. The Cougar 600, the Corsair Sabre, Roccat Kova Pure, Steelseries Sensei Raw, heck ASUS’ own Strix Dark Claw. All of them are far superior to this effort.

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