TRACER Battle Heroes Wingman Mouse [mini-Review]

[PLAfiller]

Tracer is a Polish company producing a wide variety of computer accessories and devices. Currently they have >500 products in their portfolio ranging from mice, gaming pads, steering wheels, tablets, smartphones, etc. Their primary focus is Central and Eastern Europe. Moreover, considerable part of their work is in the quite affordable range.

Specifications

• 7 buttons

• 2000 DPI

• Wireless

• lluminated body

• Avago 3000 optical sensor

• Speed: 30 ips (inch per second)

• Weight: 90 grams (with battery installed)

Price: ~ 13 Euro

Packaging and Closer Examination



First off, we fire up with a frustration bound packaging . You will definitely need scissors. Inside the box, you find: a driver CD, two "leaflets" in polish- mainly technical data and one alkaline AA battery (Yong HUA). Now, let's rewind a bit.

!!! Right at the back of the packaging we have the following installation instructions. Original wording kept: " Put Nano RF receiver to USB port. Hold two buttons by 3 seconds and system will automatically connect mouse with computer. To proper working of device will need 2 batteries AAA. " !!!

Now if you are like me, reading the labels before you eat/buy something you'd think the mouse operates on 2xAAA batteries and the company provides only one. Therefore, I grabbed a pack of AAA's, so I can optimally run my new mouse. I was a bit surprised when I actually opened the mouse at home to find out that it runs on a single AA battery. Without turning into a drama queen, the packaging is misleading. There are no 2 buttons to start the mouse and they don't mention if the 7 buttons are programmable. More on that a bit later.

Closer Examination



TOP: shiny plastic is hit and miss for a lot of people. I personally enjoy it a lot. The feeling on the hand is pretty suttle from it. Neutral grey color is a plus.

BOTTOM: Regular grainy plastic. Symetrically located sensor. On/Off/Lighting Switch. Battery and Receiver Compartment. One thing to note are the teflon feet. They are located at the top and bottom corners of the mouse. Still, what I noticed is the middle sections "drops". Dragging itself on the mouse mat. A bit bigger or more or higher teflon feet would make this mouse glide way faster and smoother. You could try and use teflon tape, but no results guaranteed.

LEFT SIDE: two buttons. First side button is embossed with small dots for conveniency. Second one is plain and glossy.

RIGHT SIDE: no buttons, just grainy plastic for better grip control

Scroll wheel: massive bumps and non-slippery material. Stable and relatively silent.

SHAPE: The mouse was designed to capture widest possbile audience with a symmetrical shape and a very high arc. That's a typical description for Palm Grip users, which represent about 50% of the market that is not limited to gaming. Yet, I am a claw grip user and I find the feeling way better, so I guess it depends. One thing however, I can't miss and that is the HUGE GAP between the clicks (where the scroll wheel and DPI butons are located). I don't know what they had in mind, but it feels like you are spreading your fore- and middle finger. It's painful. Not that bad in short usage time, but longer sessions will result in some pain.

Software and Performance



The software is No-frills Mouse options+windows mouse control panel. After installing it, a small icon with a mouse appears in the taskbar. It recognizes the side buttons and gives the ability to assign different functions to 5 buttons in total. The DPI switches at the top, can't be changed. They only act as DPI switches. One thing to note here, is you can "lock" the scrool wheel to only control the sound level.

If not used, the mouse goes into "sleep mode". In order to wake it you have to click a button- any one. Otherwise it will stay asleep/locked.

Conclusion

Value: you can get Battle wings for about 13 Euro across Europe or less (if you live in Polland)

Thumbs Up:

• Build Quality
• "Lock function"
• 7 buttons/ 5 programmable
• 2000 DPI
• Decent optical sensor
  
• Price
• Battery life (to be seen- expected with Avago 3000- 12 months on a single AA battery)
• Low Battery Indicator

Thumbs Down:

• Misleading Packaging!
• Space between clicks- painful to use
• Report Rate- non-adjustable
• Teflon feet- too small/ too low
• Glossy surface- (con for some people)
• Limited Software Functionality
• Lighting "bleeds" through mouse body

Depending on where you live the competition you will have for low cost wireless mice will dictate if this looks like a good mouse or not. At this price point there is hardly lack of choice. You can easily get a HAMA WiFi mouse with 6 buttons and 2400 DPI for as low as 8 euro. Sacrifacing any desire for quality. You can also get A4Tech mice, which for the 13 euros of Battle Wings will also offer you 2000DPI, adjustable Report Rate and a software package with way more functions.

As it stands though, it's not what is under the hood of this mouse that drags it down. It's the actual design. Should the monstorous gap be remedied, this mouse could easily be a very strong competitor at the low-end bracket. Right now is a decent choice, but nothing more.

 

[PLAfiller]

PS.

I bought this for my wife. She's not a gamer. And I haven't tested it in gaming environment. It seemed a good bang for the buck for office use. I am in no way related to Tracer, nor have I heard of these guys before. Only reason for putting the effort: . I am no overclocker, but I can hopefully help with a small review if someone ever stumbles upon this product again.

Patch coming: small edits on the text and a picture with the lighting on (I can't upload more pictures in the post above). So, it will be in this one.