Corsair Katar Pro Wireless Mouse Review

Conclusion

We so often see mice which come with four different side plates, twelve buttons, three lighting zones etc that it’s nice to have a mouse which aims squarely at a simplicity of design. The Corsair Katar Pro Wireless is by no means the first mouse which offers such a stripped back ethos but it’s pleasurable because all the things it has to offer it does so with assurance. It doesn’t feel like a mouse which has been designed down to a price, but instead one which knows what it is and makes the most of it.

When you take it out of the box the first surprise is how there aren’t any cables. We go in blind to all our reviews where possible so that our reactions aren’t swayed by the smooth words of a press release and instead we can get the same experience as you will when you buy something. Thus we were unaware that it used a AA battery as its power source, and we can’t remember the last wireless mouse we had that didn’t have a built in battery with a recharging cable or dock. Perhaps the Microsoft Intellimouse back in the Pentium II days, although that used two AAAs if memory serves. The second thing that strikes you is how small and light the Katar Pro Wireless is. My daily driver is a Dark Core and it’s absolutely enormous when compared to the Katar. In fact the Katar reminds us of the old laptop mice that used to be particularly tiny. It’s a perfect size if you’ve got normal sized hands rather than my ‘able to press both control keys with one hand’ mitts. The Katar is well under 80g without the battery and still under 100g even with it powered up.

The design is ambidextrous, something which seems to be neglected in a lot of current mice and thus is pleasing to see here. Okay the side buttons are for right handed people, but as long as the shape is symmetrical we know many southpaws who have adapted to using their pinkies for the side buttons. Despite the light weight we are pleased to see the Katar Pro Wireless still has textured sides. Even the most controlled gamer can have those moments when it all kicks off and your instincts take over, and having extra grip during these high twitch moments can be the difference between life and death. The sensor responds very well with no obvious interpolation or angle snapping to frustrate you. There are, as you saw on the previous page, not a lot of options you can tweak in the iCUE software so it’s nice that Corsair have set it up properly out of the box.

Lastly the connectivity uses either Bluetooth 4.0 or Corsair’s low latency Slipstream technology. We tried both and both were responsive, although there is a clear benefit to using the Slipstream wireless when things get very frantic. Having the ability to use the mouse in Bluetooth mode though can help save a USB port, or let you connect to multiple devices quickly and simply. Corsair promise up to 135 hours of battery life, so it is probably worth investing in a rechargable battery if you’re a heavy gamer.

If you want a mouse which is compact, light weight, and won’t break the bank then the Corsair Katar Pro Wireless offers a surprising amount for its affordable price tag.

  

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