Manufacturer: FlexiGlow (www.flexiglow.com)
Product: Cyber Snipa Intelliscope Laser Gaming Mouse (Link)
Cyber Snipa Pro Gamer Microfibre Mouse Matt (Link)
Review Date: 28/04/07
Reviewer: STUV
Average cost: US$25-$40 - AU$50-68
When you think of FlexiGlow, you usually associate them with lighting products. However, FlexiGlow is the parent company behind the gaming accessories brand Cyber Snipa. Today I will be taking a look at the Cyber Snipa Intelliscope Gaming Mouse, accompanied by the Cyber Snipa Microfibre Gaming Mouse Matt.
Every gamer knows that their in-game performance is directly related to the accuracy and reliability of their input devices. And for FPS gaming there's nothing as important to your performance as a good mouse at your hand. As with any job, you're only as good as the tools that you use, and the Intelliscope aims to be the ideal tool for this.
FlexiGlow know that first impressions make sales, so subsequently the packaging of both the Intelliscope and Pro Gamer Matt are visually appealing, informative and adequately packaged.
The Pro Gamer Matt features a Microfibre surface for a soft yet accurate surface. Mice glide easily over the surface, comparable to most hard surface mats, however being a soft surface eliminates the problems of dirt build-up on the surface and allows for easy transport (ie: to LANs). The extra-large size is great for gaming, however possibly a little too large for those with small spaces. This matt has now replaced my FlexiGlow XRaider as I prefer the surface feel and flexibility.
The Intelliscope is designed to compete with the cut-throat market of gaming peripherals at a competitive price. So, you ask, what makes this mouse any different to your average $5 job at the local computing store? Well to begin with the Intelliscope used a laser sensor as opposed to your standard optical sensor. This means increased accuracy over a wider variety of surfaces. In this case it also means no typical red glow from under the mouse. Other outstanding features include the max 2400 dpi sensor resolution and 6 programmable buttons.
Finally, the most impressive feature, and its main selling point, is the On-The-Fly dpi switching. Using the Intelliscope button located just behind the scroll wheel you can switch between the fast paced 2400dpi ATAK mode, or the precise accuracy of the 1000dpi STEALTH mode. What's more, the internal mouse lighting changes to indicate the dpi mode, with red light for STEALTH and blue for ATAK.
Installation of the mouse was smooth without any issues. Being USB only, windows picked it up straight away, but the software provided allows for greater control and use of the advanced features. The software allows the user to assign functions to all six buttons (ie: all buttons except the Intelliscope button) from a list including the usual click functions, all F_ keys, Pg Up/Down, browser back/forward, plus commonly used control combos (ie: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, etc). Also these buttons can be programmed in-game for desired functions. The software also allows for sensitivity control, scroll wheel settings and double click speed.
So, to give the products some real world tests I fired up UT2004 and sat in for some solid gaming using the Intelliscope on the Pro Gamer Matt. Coming form regular use of a Razer Diamondback I was interested to see how the Intelliscope would compete. While this mouse only has 2 sensitivity levels I found that after some tweaking of the in-game sensitivity settings I had it working to my advantage. The mouse was reliably, accurate and sturdy throughout play, and I found the colour indication useful throughout gaming. The mouse cable was slightly heavier than the Diamondback's, however if flowed nicely and kept out of the way, and it didn't even catching on the back of the desk like the Diamondback does. The side buttons were reasonably placed, especially for a right hander having 2 buttons at the thumb side and only one on the far side. With the Pro Gamer Matt I never ran out of space, and it performed as good as any hard surface pad I've used, but with the advantages of a soft pad.
The only problems I had with this mouse was the main click buttons being a little hard to get at first. Being used to my fingers sitting into the buttons like on the Razor, I had to get used to having my fingers wrap around the top/front of the buttons and sort of pulling back at the same time as pushing down. This was just a personal problem I ran into, but after some playing I started to get used to it.
To test the mouse's flexibility I also put it though the paces of RTS gaming and general Windows work. Through all this I proved reliable and handy; however most of this was done using the lower dpi STEALTH mode. ATAK mode did come in handy to move quickly in RTS though, but was generally too fast for average play.
So, to conclude, this mouse has many useful features and lives up to its claim of a gaming mouse. Both the Mouse and the pad are sturdy, reliable, and perfect for gaming. Personally I have replaced my previous XRaider pad wit this Pro Gamer Matt, but have kept both my Diamondback and the Intelliscope to use whichever I feel like at the time. I would definitely recommend both this matt and mouse to anyone in the market for a new set, and at such a great price for the features their hard to go past.
Intelliscope Laser Gaming Mouse
Pros: Sturdy, comfortable casing
On-The-Fly dpi changing with internal lighting indication of state
Well placed side buttons
Total of 6 programmable buttons
Easy, reliable software
Cons: Takes a little to get used to main click buttons
Only 2 dpi modes
Pro Gamer Muse Matt
Pros: Large Surface
Soft type matt for easy transport and no dirt build-up problems
Microfibre surface for smooth and accurate movement
Cons: Very Slight Fraying around edges (no real problem unless picked at)
Special thanks to FlexiGlow for providing us the opportunity to review their great products. text
