One of the staples of ASUS mouse releases has been the ability to hot-swap the main button switches. While omitted on the recent ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition, this feature makes a return on the ROG Strix Impact III. Compared to the Strix Impact II, the execution is less convenient: The screws on the bottom are still exposed, but whereas the Strix Impact II had small rubber covers for the screws, which could be reapplied with ease, the Strix Impact III has stickers on them, reapplying which is possible but hardly optimal, and thus leaving one with two not particularly sightly bare screws. Functionally, the switch sockets are still first-generation and therefore restricted to 3-pin mechanical switches. In practice, this isn't a meaningful difference, since the 5-pin optical switches allowed for by the second-generation switch sockets aren't available for purchase anyway. Accordingly, though no different from the Strix Impact II in this regard, the Strix Impact III does introduce a very important novelty elsewhere. In order to ensure no double-clicking at a wide range of different switches, the Strix Impact II ran a very high minimum debounce time, which, since the defer-type was used, resulted in very high click latency. The Strix Impact III remedies this by utilizing eager-type debouncing, resulting in exceptionally low click latency of just 0.4 ms, without being more prone to double-clicking or so-called slam clicking.

By default, the Strix Impact III comes with ROG main button switches, which previously have been featured in several other ROG mouse releases as well. Although on the stiffer side, the switches themselves are totally fine, but the button design leaves something to be desired on the Strix Impact III. Due to significant pre-travel, button response is rather mushy and muted, and they're also quite loud. The side buttons aren't all that great, either, with the back button in particular suffering from above average pre-travel and uneven actuation, along with an unpleasant auditory feedback. Surface-mounted switches from Kailh are used for these, which may not be the best choice. The scroll wheel too comes from Kailh and fares better in comparison, as noise levels are under control and tactility is good, allowing for controlled scrolling. The feet are very similar to the ones used on the Harpe Ace, including their material properties, size, and shape, and hence glide equally well. The cable too is identical to that of many recent ROG mouse releases, and is easily among the most flexible cables available, which too is a massive improvement over the stiff rubber cable found on the Strix Impact II.

Compared to the Strix Impact II, the Strix Impact III is a whopping 20 g lighter. The weight of 59 g has been achieved without resorting to externally visible holes, and most importantly, the build is incredibly solid. On my unit, there is no rattle whatsoever, no creaking or flexing of the shell, and actuating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is impossible regardless of the force used. This is doubly impressive considering that the Strix Impact III is physically a bit larger than the Strix Impact II. In fact, the shape of the Strix Impact III has been altered significantly, to where the differences are more numerous than the similarities. The Strix Impact III is longer, the hump has been changed, the rear is slimmer and more tapered now, the sides have a different angle, and so on. Overall, the Strix Impact III is an even bigger departure from the "egg" shape the original Strix Impact was known for than the Strix Impact II was.

Another significant upgrade over the Strix Impact II is the sensor. PixArt's PAW3311 is used, which is a lower-spec variant of the PAW3335, though this mostly concerns things such as a lower maximum tracking speed, which still is plenty high and therefore not relevant in practice. The only meaningful restriction compared to the 3335 can be found in regard to lift-off distance, which isn't adjustable on the 3311 and hence stuck at a height of between 1 and 2 DVDs. The PAW3311 may be a wireless-focused sensor, but ASUS has made sure that wired performance doesn't suffer: There is no onset motion delay due to slow framerate scaling, CPI deviation is nonexistent, and polling stable across the board. Of particular note is that as per PixArt's specifications, the 3311 is only capable of CPI adjustment in increments of 100, yet somehow, ASUS has found a way to make increments of 50 possible, which is a first. The only flaw relates to smoothing, which is typically applied to lessen jitter at higher CPI steps, albeit at the cost of increased motion delay. PixArt recommends applying smoothing at and above 5000 CPI on the 3311, but for whatever reason, on the Strix Impact III, smoothing already kicks in at 2500 CPI, increasing motion delay to around 4 ms beyond that point. Accordingly, the CPI range at which the Strix Impact III can be used without any latency penalty due to smoothing is rather narrow, and for no good reason.

All in all, when it comes to the hardware, the Strix Impact III is another very solid piece of technology from ASUS. The same cannot be said of Armoury Crate, however. Between a lengthy installation, unresponsive UI, excessive resource usage, and a bug that almost prevented me from progressing with the review, Armoury Crate once again made me long for the permission to finally hit the uninstall button. The only redeeming factor is the fact that using Armoury Crate isn't mandatory. There is no CPI deviation that would need to be corrected, a firmware update isn't necessary, and basic RGB lighting control is possible through button combinations. Hence, the best way to use Armoury Crate is to not use it at all.

Overall, the Strix Impact III excels in terms of performance, and is a massive improvement over the Strix Impact II in the cable, weight, and click latency department. For $49.99, the ROG Strix Impact III is priced the same as the ASUS TUF M4 Air, which does come with a PAW3335 sensor, but performs identically in practice, while lacking hot-swappable switches. In addition, compared to competitors such as the Corsair Katar Pro XT or Logitech G203 LightSync, the Strix Impact III is in an entirely different league altogether. As such, the ROG Strix Impact III earns our Recommended award.