Mad Catz R.A.T 8+ Adv Gaming Mouse Review

Introduction

The R.A.T mouse is famous amongst those of us who pay close attention to our rodents. It was the first mouse that really stamped the skeletal design on the marketplace, and has always been tailored to those who want to customise their mice to the nth degree.

There are many models within the R.A.T range and we've got two on hand to see how they stack up against the most famous options available to the avid gamer. We'll look at the X3 Pro Supreme in a future review, for today though we're looking at the R.A.T 8+ Adv. Unlike a lot of the Mad Catz range the 8+ Adv is available in a very red, very shiny design, which will immediately split the audience. However, we think there is enough packed into that skeletal frame that the pro's will love it regardless of aesthetic considerations.

As always, we'll look through the specifications before getting down to brass tacks, and there is much to discuss and tweak on the 8+ Adv.

Technical Specifications

The domination of PixArt sensors on modern mice is all but complete. Whereas once the Avago sensors were everywhere, the smoother response of optical sensors when compared to their LASER counterparts saw a huge amount of development work improve them to the point that using a LASER has no benefits at all anymore, and PixArt with their PWM range have found places in nearly every mouse we've reviewed in the last couple of years. With 20000 DPI and 400 IPS the PWM3389 shows its class, and with 2000 Hz polling rate the RAT 8+ Adv isn't wanting in the responsiveness stakes either.