Build Quality

Overall build quality is solid. There is no rattle when shaking the mouse. When applying lateral pressure, minor creaking but no flexing of the shell can be observed. Activating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is impossible. Lastly, accidental clicks do occur when slamming down the mouse irrespective of what the debounce time is set to within the software, albeit not readily so.

Buttons

Main buttons on the Meta are very good (first sample) to good (second sample). On the first sample I received, pre-travel is low, but post-travel is high, resulting in a firm and satisfying button response nonetheless. On the second sample, post-travel is still high, but pre-travel too is high on the left button in particular, leading to a somewhat spongy button response. Button stiffness is medium to light. A pair of Kailh GM 4.0 (60 M) switches is used, binned for lower actuation force.


Side buttons are very good. Both the forward and back button have little pre-travel, but the back button has quite a bit of post-travel, resulting in a snappy and pleasing button response on the forward button in particular. The pressure point is even across the entirety of these. Button size and placement are good as actuation is possible rather easily by rolling one's thumb across. Another set of Kailh GM 4.0 switches sees use here.

At the top of the mouse is a single button for cycling through the set CPI levels. Its click feel is good. The switch comes from Huano (white plunger). The button at the bottom cycles through all of the available RGB lighting effects.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is good. Scrolling up and down is rather noisy, but tactility is fairly decent, providing well-separated steps and no accidental scrolling. While my first sample suffers from a loose wheel, the second one doesn't, which is expected given how the loose wheel is supposed to be fixed on the second batch. Most curiously, however, the encoder is the same on both: a TTC (yellow core) with a height of 11 mm. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires medium force for actuation. Another Kailh GM 4.0 switch is used for this one.

Coating

The Meta has a smooth matte surface all over. 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, excellent materials.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the Meta is easy. The screws are located beneath the two skates at the front and back. Once those are taken care of, top and bottom shell can be separated with ease. The internal design is equally simple. Everything except for the side-button PCB screwed into the top shell and connected through a 4-pin connector sits on the fairly thin main PCB. Four screws in total are used to affix the PCB to the bottom shell. The MCU is a Holtek HT68FB560, whose datasheet can be found here.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws. However, on my second sample, the side-button PCB is connected through a 3-pin plug with the fourth pin being inserted (soldered) directly into the 4-pin connector. This is something I've never seen before and hopefully will never see again.