When I think of brand names for top end peripherals, I immediately think of brands like SteelSeries, Razer and Logitech. They all create top quality peripherals and need no real introduction. So when Raven Tech asked if I’d be interested in reviewing some of their new Mionix equipment I wasn’t overly phased.

There are hundreds of brands out there who produce good, but not great, products and for me reviewing a mouse or a keyboard is not the most entertaining part of this job. But then again, I have Alessandro and Matthew to send these things to so I agreed and shortly afterwards a package of Mionix goods arrived at my house.

I was given a brief overview that Mionix was a new brand in the local market and that the products were designed in Sweden with the goal of them being the most ergonomic and best performing products. Now when I think of Sweden and design I think of generally crap things like IKEA and Minecraft. Both of which are generally just different blocks put together to make more blocky things.

So I was surprsied when I opened the package to see the followings boxes.

The packaging looks amazing in my opinion, it oozes quality and style and definitely appealed to me.

The design of the Castor itself is simple, understated and elegant. The matte black finish and sleek curves virtually makes the mouse disappear into my desk, while the only flash comes from the scroll wheel and logo having LED lighting that can be configured to respond with different colours and styles or turned off completely.

I’ve got mine set to the breathe setting where the lights fade in and out and cycle through the colours, it makes me feel relaxed and since the lighting is so soft it doesn’t catch my eye and distract me too much. But looks and lighting aren’t any reason to pay over R1000 for a mouse so let’s get into the facts.

How does it feel

I use a mouse for two important reasons. The first is my daily work where I spend 8-12 hours behind a computer using a keyboard and mouse and the second is for gaming. I’m far too lazy to have a different mouse for each purpose so I need one that works for both just as well.

The Mionix Castor is that mouse for me. Take a look at the image below, you see the textured material on the side where you rest your thumb. That material is magical, it is honestly the second most comfortable thing I’ve ever rested my hand on, the first being NSFW, and it has amazed me so much that I’ve honestly taken the mouse around to people to feel it.

I have large palms and pretty short fingers and my hand fits absolutely perfectlly around this mouse. My palm rests comfortably on the back bulge and doesn’t get hot or sweaty. My thumb lies on that magical textured material and my ring and pinky fingers cup the mouse.

I can say without a doubt this is the most comfortable mouse I’ve ever used.

But what about the specs?

First up here are the official technical specifications

  • 32bit ARM Processor running at 32Mhz
  • Right handed truly ergonomic design
  • Supports palm, claw and fingertip grip
  • Grip friendly soft touch rubber coating (4 layers)
  • 6 fully programmable buttons
  • 3 steps in-game DPI adjustment
  • 2 integrated LEDs in 2 colour zones
  • Up to 16.8 Million LED colour options
  • Color shift, Solid, Blinking, Pulsating and Breathing effects
  • On-Board memory 128 kb built-in memory
  • Large black PTFE mouse feet
  • Gold Plated, Full speed USB 2.0 connection with Plug and Play
  • Cable 2m long PVC cable with cable reinforcer

And the imput sensor specifications

  • PMW – 3310 gaming grade IR-LED optical sensor
  • Up to 10000DPI
  • MAX tracking speed of at least 5.45m/sec (215 IPS)
  • No positive or negative hardware acceleration
  • Adjustable Lift Off Distance

No that isn’t a typo, the Mionix Castor claims a dots per inch rate of over 9000!!! Well, 10 000 to be exact which is more accuracy than most people will ever require.

The buttons are well placed with the side thumb buttons being easy to hit,with a very recognisable click when pressed successfully, and with the software configuration complex enough to satisfy virtually all hardcore gamers.

The 80% is my personal result from a surface quality test I did, using the Mionix deskpad. That’s being reviewed later so I’ll let you know about that then. But as you can see you can also increase your pointer speed, lift distance and X and Y sensor settings, along with angle snapping and angle turning… neither of which I’m sure of.

There is also the all important cheat screen, or as people who use it prefer to call it, the Macro screen.

You can create all the Macros you want and then assign them to different buttons as you can see in the images above. Personally, I’m obviously too old school for this as I don’t like the feature and feel it is cheating. But everyone is offering it now so we can’t expect Mionix not to provide it.

Oh and the very best feature of all is that this is a wired mouse so no worrying about batteries going flat or losing the connection, which is a constant problem for me and wireless mouses.

The Mionix Castor can be bought locally from Raven Tech for a very reasonable R1000. It is only shipping in September, worldwide, so you may have to get in line.

Last Updated: August 25, 2015

The Mionix Castor
The Mionix slogan is "It's all about the craftmanship" and I have to say I'm blown away by how well this mouse is put together. It's a great weight, feels solid and works amazingly. It is easily the nicest mouse I've ever used and is now my default mouse for all occasions. It loses out on the 5 Stars simply because of the fact that it isn't doing anything amazingly new. It's just doing everything we expect, perfectly.
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9 Comments

  1. Kromas,powered by windows 10.

    August 25, 2015 at 15:41

    This or a proteus?

    Reply

    • Drew Sears

      August 27, 2015 at 20:24

      Proteus is an excellent mouse – I use it for FPS gaming (particularly fast pace games like UT, Quake) with a fingertip grip. Similar to the castor, the Proteus can easily be used with other grip styles. Both Sensors are of the highest grade quality. The Castor has 6 programmable buttons while the Proteus has 11.

      The main difference between the Proteus and the Castor is that the Proteus has weight tuning customization. In addition, even excluding the weights, the Proteus is noticeably heavier than The Castor.

      My Suggestion is Try both. Proteus is usually in stock at Best Buy stores. Both Proteus and Castor can be found at Amazon. Both carriers have excellent Return Policies often resulting in full refunds.

      Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    August 25, 2015 at 15:44

    That’s nice & all, but how cool is the whooshing sound is when you swing the mouse around by its cord? Poor mouse acoustics are a deal breaker!

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      August 25, 2015 at 15:45

      XD XD XD

      Reply

    • Ottokie "Yahtzee"

      August 25, 2015 at 15:48

      xD

      Reply

    • DragonSpirit009

      August 25, 2015 at 15:49

      That just made my day!

      Reply

  3. Ranting Raptor

    August 25, 2015 at 15:54

    HGGGGHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

    Reply

  4. Allykhat

    August 26, 2015 at 08:53

    I just can’t fathom spending 1k on a mouse anymore… I picked up a Steelseries Black Ops 2 mouse which is essentially a sensei for less than half that and it is undoubtedly the best mouse I have ever owned and used. I bought another one for work because I loved it so much and both of them came in cheaper than that single one. So good on them for making a cool mouse, but I’ll stick the the cheaper, yet equally well performing option.

    Reply

  5. RedRover

    September 8, 2015 at 21:59

    I want that mouse!!!!!!!!

    Reply

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