Buttons, Scroll Wheel

No pre-travel, no disturbing post travel, no uneven clicks—there are simply no cons to mention. This describes the main buttons. I haven't encountered such great-feeling clicks in a while, to be honest. The stock switches are the Omron D2FC-F-Ks rated for 50 million clicks. As you could see on the packaging, there is another set of microswitches in the box, the D2F-01Fs. These are manufactured by Omron as well, but are made in Japan, and even though their lifespan is only rated for 1 million clicks, they tend to last way longer than the Chinese versions. These also actuate at a lighter force and have a less sharp, more soft sound.


But why am I talking about two different switches when you need to solder the stock ones out in order to get these in anyways? Well, there is no need for soldering this time. ASUS features the same socket-switch design as in the previous Gladius and Sica models. This is one of the best innovations in my opinion. There are just so many micro-switch brands and models out there, and these switches are cheap, which means you can finally easily try many of them out by just popping out the old ones and putting in the new. Some of these switches also die way before their nominal lifespan because manufacturers obviously cannot quality check every single one. To start an RMA process because of this is irritating and annoying, and usually takes a long time. Well, there is no need for that with this socket design.


The side buttons are quite good as well. As I mentioned earlier, the rear one has some annoying play before actuation, but the click-feel is still pretty good. They are a bit stiffer than the main ones, and these switches are made by Kailh. The design of these buttons is a thing I don't really understand as they both have a sharp ledge. It did not bother me that much, but it is definitely strangely overdesigned in my opinion.


The CPI changer, which is located at the top of the mouse, can be used comfortably and most probably uses the same switch as the scroll wheel button. It doesn't require much force to actuate; it's roughly the same as for the main buttons, only a bit stiffer.


More and more companies are choosing the brand Alps when they pick a scroll wheel encoder nowadays. This is a development I very much fancy because Alps makes the best encoder out there in my opinion. The steps are well defined, yet easy to scroll through, and the encoder itself is very durable and lasts a very long time. The scroll wheel itself has the same Mayan design as the side grips and is mainly made out of the same material as well.


The middle click is again operated by some kind of a tactile switch I could not determine the brand of. It feels nice and light, and the middle button is actually pretty much spammable, which is rare, but I love it. If you are like me and use this button a lot, you might want to consider using a switch as light as this one.

I also made a video in order to demonstrate how the buttons sound:

Cable

ASUS was kind enough and provided not one, but two cables with the mouse. But honestly, both cables have some disadvantages. We get a braided one, which is 2 meters long, and very stiff, thick, and heavy. I guess this one is probably very durable, but I did not like it at all because of its stiffness. The non-braided PVC one would be quite great, but is only 1 meter long. I cannot see the logic behind this, but if that length is enough for you, I would strongly recommend using the latter. Both cables have gold-plated USB connectors.

Mouse Feet

There is a protective film on the bottom of the mouse, which should be removed before use. Four smaller mouse feet take care of the gliding, and they do so quite nicely. I really like their design, which is extremely similar to the feet of the old Microsoft IntelliMouse (IO1.1, WMO, IME3.0, etc.) series. Many people prefer bigger skates as they tend to glide more smoothly on slightly uneven or very thick, sinky mousepads. Honestly, I don't think you would have any problems with this one even though the mouse is quite heavy and can sink into softer mousepads. I did not have a single issue during testing, which included some FPS games as well, of course.

Disassembling

You can disassemble the mouse by removing the four rubber plugs and unscrewing the screws that hold the mouse together. Then, gently pop the underside off, carefully to ensure nothing inside comes to harm. The shell is made out of two bigger parts, a bottom and a top. There is no cable attaching them because the top part doesn't have any electronics.