Bloody at COMPUTEX 2019: Light Strike RGB Mouse, X65 Keyboard, X650 Headphones

[Raevenlord]

Bloody, sprung from A4Tech, took to COMPUTEX 2019 to showcase come of its upcoming products. The company didn't seem to be much ready to play the part, though; its new peripherals, part of their new X series, were still in the works and identified using stickers, with not a lot of detail being available for us press to share with you. However, you can at least look at the designs of those we can identify. The X series attempts to provide cleaner aesthetics relative to the more aggressively designed Bloody brand as a whole.

The Light Strike RGB Gaming Mouse, for one, carries on the company's legacy of having a dedicated fire button, which can likely be programmed for either burst fire or single-shot mode. There's 5000 DPI of resolution available, which is likely more than enough for most casual gamers (32000 DPI seems slightly exaggerated now, doesn't it?). The X65 keyboard features a modular design, with the number pad being removable for users that want to either save space or simply prefer to use their keyboards' top numbers.





Next, the X650 headphones use a strikingly "gamer" design with their white, black and red color scheme. The headband is made of PU leather, and these are of the over-hear design philosophy, so they should help, from their design alone, to isolate your gaming environment from outside noises.



Lastly, the X5 gaming mouse features buttons that regulate most of the features, such as DPI and polling rate on the bottom of the mouse. This is an interesting, albeit somewhat strange design decision; the fact that they're on the bottom of the mouse means that on-the-fly changes are extremely difficult to pull, so it seems more like a set-it-and-forget-it kind of affair - and as such, it seems like a waste of development money, and materials, to install the buttons in the first place.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[bonehead123]

So many rodents and KB's, so little innovation...

I do like the headphone design though.

 

[HUSKIE]

Disgusting RGBS

 

[silentbogo]

There's 5000 DPI of resolution available, which is likely more than enough for most casual gamers (32000 DPI seems slightly exaggerated now, doesn't it?).

That definitely hints towards PMW-3360 (which is a good thing). A4Tech ain't the only ones to market interpolated 12K cpi as 32K (khm...khm...Cooler Master).

So many rodents and KB's, so little innovation...

Their products are not about "innovation" (though they do have some of that too on rare occasions). It's all about best bang for the buck, and that's why they are so popular in CES and Asian regions.
A4Tech is the only company who can offer aluminium sliders, optical switches, optical scrollwheel and decent braided cable paired with an adequate sensor, all in a sub-$20 package.
I think their only real issue, is software: they still have paid features which are standard in most modern mice, and there are still lots of bugs and technical issues (UI, firmware upgrades, wireless pairing etc.)

 

[bonehead123]

all in a sub-$20 package. I think their only real issue, is software: they still have paid features which are standard in most modern mice, and there are still lots of bugs and technical issues (UI, firmware upgrades, wireless pairing etc.)

So what good is a "sub-$20 package" if the stuff doesn't work right OOTB, have a decent UI, and is buggy ?

And what are these so-called "paid features" you speak of ? If you mean that I have to pay to enable certain functionality or get some outlandish config settings to work properly, then again, please refer to my question above

Over the past 20 years, I have had literally 500 or more mice/KB's/headphones etc wired, wireless, bluetooth etc, of almost every brand out there, and I have yet to have to pay for anything other than the device itself.... worst case, I needed to go to the mfgr's website & download a suite of software or a control panel & install it....but it was all F.R.E.E.E.E...........

I think what you were/are eluding to is "cheap is as cheap does"

No thanks, I will gladly pay a little more for stuff that I know will work OOTB and will last a long time

 

[silentbogo]

So what good is a "sub-$20 package" if the stuff doesn't work right OOTB, have a decent UI, and is buggy ?

* High-quality optical switches and scroll?
* Mid-range sensor usually found in $40-50 mice?
* Adjustable polling rate/sensitivity?
* On-board profile storage (limited to 2 profiles without paid license, but it's there)?
* Decent build quality (in some cases surpassing mainstream shit with double/triple price tag)?
Realistically you don't need more out of the gaming mouse.

And what are these so-called "paid features" you speak of ?

Out of the box you can pre-program a couple of profiles for your mouse. The rest (normally 4 profiles total) is unlockable if you purchase a license key for "Bloody" software. This also includes all questionable stuff ("ghosts of the past decade" I call them), like CS:GO "recoil compensation", some smoothing functions, extended macros functionality etc.
It's not critical, but makes them look like greedy dinosaurs from 90s...

Though, they do include some stuff that others usually don't, like sensor calibration, RF calibration with tons of settings (which I loved about the R70/RT7). And just like Logitech, they've implemented multi-device pairing for wireless mice/KB, which means you don't need a separate dongle for everything, and that RF receivers are replaceable.

No thanks, I will gladly pay a little more for stuff that I know will work OOTB and will last a long time

Yep, and all those new iterations of fragile omrons and low-end Kailhs paired with the cheapest of the cheap mechanical scrollwheel will also last a very-very long time... Just look at all those happy Razer and Steelseries owners who never had any problems with double-clicks, unresponsive buttons, faulty scrolls, damaged cables etc.
Hell, even Logitech dropped the ball on quality so low, that I'm genuinely starting to hate my overpriced G603 with tons of features that "work OOTB". I might actually sell it in favor of something more robust and quiet (if I don't break it by Christmas).