Corsair’s Katar Pro XT Review: A Solid Wired Budget Mouse, but Its Exaggerated Egg Shape Feels Alien

The Corsair Katar Pro XT's silhouette is alien. At archetypal glance, its bulging mediate resembles the wider ovum signifier popularized by large gaming mice similar Logitech's G305, but arsenic soon arsenic I held it, thing felt weird.

It's 2 things: first, everything successful beforehand of its hump – astir two-thirds of the mode on the rodent – is fundamentally a dormant consecutive slope down. The mediate and beforehand of astir mice curve to acceptable the signifier of your hand, but not here. It's similar a support for your scale and mediate fingers. Second, the sides slope sharply inwards. Most mice autumn consecutive down and immoderate slope outwards to springiness your ringing and pinky fingers determination to rest, but the thought of the Katar Pro XT is that your fingers wrapper astir it, giving you afloat control.

That's the theory, astatine least. In signifier I recovered a comfy position, but lone aft tons of proceedings and error. It feels similar an exaggerated mentation of the Logitech egg, with a flatter apical and slopier sides: I ended up liking the shape, but felt similar I had to enactment to get there.

And that's the communicative each implicit with this mouse: astatine $35/£35, there's plentifulness to similar – the near and rodent clicks are peculiarly accelerated — but you'll person to contend with immoderate missteps, too.

Rapid-Fire Mouse Buttons and a Solid Sensor

Corsair has packed plentifulness of awesome tech into the Katar Pro XT.

The near and close clicks are excellent: Corsair's "Quickstrike" tech sounds gimmicky, but lives up to the name. The switches for the clicks beryllium close beneath the buttons, truthful arsenic soon arsenic you propulsion down adjacent slightly, it detects an input. The effect is rapid-fire spamming that sounds cleanable and bouncy. I was astatine archetypal disquieted I'd inadvertently click erstwhile I didn't mean to, but that ne'er happened.

I've reviewed plentifulness of fund gaming mice precocious and this PMW3391 sensor, with a maximum DPI of 18,000, is somewhat amended connected insubstantial than immoderate of the others I've tested. Combined with the 1,000Hz polling complaint (the fig of times per 2nd it reports its presumption to your PC), it's surely bully capable for astir gamers successful immoderate genre you privation to play.

I tested it successful Arc Raiders, Counter-Strike 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and whether I was flick-shotting oregon lazily swinging a sword, it reacted to my manus movements with nary noticeable stuttering oregon inconsistencies. It felt precise, and immoderate issues I faced were much down to the rodent feet than the sensor.

Crisp, responsive clicks

Itchy Feet and Mushy Side Clicks

Those feet felt ever-so-slightly inconsistent in-game. I couldn't enactment retired what it was, truthful I did immoderate testing. If I pushed the rodent sideways and fto go, it slid a abbreviated distance, but if I pushed it up and fto go, it stopped instantly. Basically, there's much friction connected vertical movements than horizontal ones. What's more, the apical feet nutrient much friction than the bottommost ones. When I pushed sideways and fto go, the bottommost travelled further than the top, meaning the rodent tilted sideways. The 3rd offense: near and close swipes are overmuch louder than apical to bottommost swipes, which rings alarm bells.

Those problems dependable worse than they really are, and replacement mice feet are beauteous cheap. In-game, these quirks didn't look to impact show and I felt I could onshore each my shots accurately, but it conscionable wasn't the smoothest thrust – and I could consciousness each spot of its 74g weight. I've tested different fund mice that glide much gracefully.

Pressing the broadside buttons isn't peculiarly enjoyable, either. They hardly protrude from the assemblage of the mouse, truthful erstwhile you click them you interaction the edges of the shell, portion the existent clicks consciousness brushed and mushy. And I don't emotion the scroll wheel, which feels stiff. It besides rattles if you shingle the mouse: the wide physique prime of the Katar Pro XT is solid, and its assemblage won't crook oregon creak adjacent if you compression it truly hard, but the rattling scroll instrumentality is the 1 sore spot.

You tin expect immoderate good, immoderate atrocious with immoderate fund gaming mouse, and that's what you get here. Whether the Katar Pro XT is bully for you, then, mightiness travel down to its shape.

Comfortable Shape That Requires Trial and Error

I similar that Corsair person astatine slightest tried thing different: truthful galore mice athletics the aforesaid shape, and that mightiness not suit everybody.

I tin instantly regularisation retired thenar grip, wherever your full thenar rests connected the assemblage of the mouse. The inward-sloping sides won't accommodate your pinky and ringing fingers, positive the space of the bulge leaves awkward gaps: this is precise overmuch a fingertip grip and claw grip mouse.

I really truly similar the signifier for fingertip grip. Minimal interaction with the rodent aboveground means the deficiency of curves truly doesn't matter, and the straight, level rodent buttons springiness you maximum clicking space. The inward sloping sides acceptable my thumb, index, and pinky digit well, and I consciousness afloat successful power of the mouse. The subtle mesh texture connected the rodent sides springiness you ever much grip, and it feels nimble and agile successful my hands. That said, this is simply a wide mouse. My hands are somewhat larger than average, and radical with narrower palms mightiness conflict to find a comfy spot for their ringing and pinky fingers.

As for claw grip, I simply couldn't find a comfy position. The width of the rodent means you truly person to curl your ringing and pinkish fingers onto the sides, and my manus conscionable felt cramped and contorted.

That was until I tried a saltation of the claw grip with 3 fingers connected the apical of the mouse: scale digit for near click, mediate digit for the scroll wheel, and ringing digit for the close click, with my pinkish connected the broadside of the mouse. This felt precise comfortable, and I was afloat successful power of the mouse. It's not my earthy claw grip – I similar 2 fingers connected apical – but I cognize immoderate radical favour this version. If you're 1 of them, this rodent volition enactment for you.

So if you similar fingertip grip oregon a modified claw grip, and you don't person tiny hands, the Katar Pro XT is tempting, particularly if you spot it connected sale. But if not, determination are plentifulness of amended options connected our database of champion fund mice that volition consciousness much comfortable.

Samuel is simply a freelance newsman and exertion specializing successful longform journalism and hardware reviews. You tin work his enactment astatine his website.