OCZ Behemoth Gaming Mouse

 

 

Now that we know how the mouse functions when used on different surfaces and the reports it can send to the computer each second, it’s time to look into the area that will make or break the mouse as a potential purchase – general use.

Finding myself spending an ever increasing amount of time in the confines of Mozilla Firefox, it was the logical place to start. Being the most often used application on my computer, and one that requires a mouse capable of navigating through the tabbed interface of the browser, Mozilla Firefox is as good a test as any. Daily I find myself opening a number of tabs for various reasons, and like to know that my mouse will be capable of closing and opening them without giving me any hassle.

 

As per usual I opened an abundance of tabs, and began navigating through them, closing those of little interest with both the left click button and the scroll wheel. Using the left click button to close tabs was as simple as could be expected. The cursor remained over the small x until the tab was gone, and continued to do so every time I requested it to do so. The scroll wheel on the other hand, proved to be slightly more awkward due to the force required to press down on the middle mouse button. Sometimes it registered, and others it didn’t. This may be down to me not providing enough pressure on the button, but a slightly lighter press would make it easier to operate repeatedly.

 

What could you possibly do on the desktop in Windows? I hear you ask. Well stop right there. The desktop is the perfect opportunity to test how the left and right click buttons perform, both in single and double clicks. Launching programs via double click on the Behemoth did on occasion give me reason for concern. The double click isn’t as fluid as I would like. Generally a swift double press of the left click button will launch the program, but I found with the Behemoth that the button was slower to return to its original position, giving the impression that it was sticking slightly.

 

After much deliberation and a rest for my sore fingers I decided to try the Behemoth again, only holding the mouse in a slightly different position. This time round the problem was more or less gone completely and allowed me to shift my focus onto the right click button. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred when using the right click button, it worked as it should throughout the test.

 

Adobe Photoshop has become a favourite of mine when it comes to testing mice. The reason being that it requires extreme precision to carry out photo editing tasks. I usually load up a number of images, play about with exposure, and cut out shapes etc. to see how accurately the mouse responds to my movements. The Behemoth surprised me ever so slightly. I wasn’t expecting the mouse to perform poorly, far from it, but it was as good as I would expect from a mouse costing considerably more.

 

Having my full hand on the mouse, rested firmly on the provided grooves allowed for a much easier editing experience than conventionally shaped mice as it seemed to give a more controlled method of movement when using brushes, the eraser and other tools an avid Photoshopper would make use of.

 

 

If I was to review a “gaming mouse” and not bother to test it for the purpose it was designed, it would be a pointless exercise in its entirety. With the Sniper/Spy update for Team Fortress 2 just released, it was the perfect opportunity to get in some much needed practice on the game. Playing as one class wouldn’t provide an accurate view of how the mouse performed so a few popular classes were used to determine the overall performance of the mouse.

 

Scout – The speedy gonzales of the game. Wielding a baseball bat and armed with a scatter gun the scout uses his speed and agility to bombard the enemy with shotgun pellets in quick succession, however he cannot sustain a lot of damage. I’m not generally a fan of the scout, but seeing as he is the fastest class in the game, I had to put the 3200DPI of the Behemoth to use somehow. Leaping around on 2Fort, over the centre bridge and into the opposing battlements and killing snipers at point blank range was a walk in the park. Not once did the Behemoth skip or cause any unwelcome annoyances commonly associated with budget gaming mice.

 

Soldier – The spammer. If you want a good spam fest this is the class to use. Armed with a Rocket launcher you can propel up to four rockets simultaneously at the enemy. A durable but slow character. Using the Soldier is great when you aren’t in a competitive mood. In the times that I can do nothing but die I like to go Soldier and have a bit of fun. When enemies attacked close range, sweeping the crosshair around screen and sending a rocket or two their way was a joyful experience. The double laser sensor responded very well during my session as Soldier, leaving the times I died down to lack of skill and not the mouse itself.

 

Spy – The master of disguise. Armed with a knife, the ability to disguise as the opposing team and an invisibility cloak the spy uses these traits to outwit and back stab his opponent. Getting close enough to the opponent to stab him in the back is half the battle. Once a desirable position has been reached, uncloaking and stabbing your opponent can be difficult, especially if you don’t judge the angle quite right. I don’t play spy as often as I should, so it took some getting used to the ins and outs of the class again. That said, I couldn’t fault the Behemoth in any way. Running around putting sappers on sentries, then stabbing the engineers in the back was as effortless as I could have hoped for.

 

Over the several hours I played TF2 the Behemoth remained comfortable in the palm of my hand and no wrist pains or other complaints arose thanks to the ergonomic shape and arched body of the mouse.