Build Quality

Overall build quality is poor. When shaking the mouse, a significant rattle comes from both the CPI button and scroll wheel. The degree to which the latter rattles depends on which notch it is on. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking or flexing of the shell can be observed. Activating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is possible, but requires moderate force. Lastly, accidental clicks do occur when slamming down the mouse.

Buttons

Main buttons on the Hydrogen are poor. Both buttons suffer from massive pre-travel, along with moderate post-travel, leading to a spongy and mushy button response, along with a dull and muted click feel. A pair of Omron D2F-01F (Japan) switches is used.


Side buttons are lackluster. Pre and post-travel are nonexistent, and the pressure point is even across the entirety of these, but actuation is exceedingly stiff, accompanied by noisy actuation. The side buttons are positioned towards the front, resulting in the forward button potentially being out of reach for users with smaller hands. A set of two seemingly unbranded tactile switches (blue plunger) is used for these.

At the top of the mouse is a single button for cycling through the set CPI levels, which works just fine. Another tactile switch (yellow plunger) from Omron is used for this one.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is good to very good. Noise levels are mostly under control, and tactility is good, with clearly separated steps allowing for controlled scrolling. The encoder comes from Kailh (black, red core) and has a height of 11 mm. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires high force for actuation. Another Omron D2F-01F (Japan) switch is used here.

Surface

The Hydrogen has a matte surface all over, with the sides featuring a coarser texture. Grip is fine, and it doesn't attract fingerprints, dirt, or the likes too much. It is easy to clean, and there are no signs of wear left after doing so. All in all, very good materials.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the Hydrogen requires removing four screws, which are located beneath the three rear feet and the sticker, roughly in the middle vertically and horizontally right on the barcode.

The internal design is highly efficient. The side-button PCB is vertically mounted atop and directly interfaced with the main PCB. Three screws are used to affix the main PCB to the bottom, which is very thin to save as much weight as possible. The MCU is a Cypress CYUSB2024-BZXI, whose datasheet can be found here.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws.