A beginning is a very delicate time. Accordingly, when starting a new peripheral company, it makes sense to enter the market with a popular shape to minimize the risk already involved with a new product. Glorious did it, G-Wolves did it, HK Gaming did it, and now Gamesense does it, too. The Meta is modeled after Zowie's ever-popular S2, but offered at a lower price, and improves on it in several ways.

At just 64 g, the Meta is remarkably lightweight even though no visible holes whatsoever have been utilized to achieve that weight. The build is really solid, too, with side-button actuation being impossible no matter how much force is applied. Kailh GM 4.0 switches are used for the main buttons, which typically are known for their tactile yet somewhat heavy click, but have been binned to be lighter on the Meta, resulting in a snappy yet not overly heavy button response. In fact, Gamesense didn't skimp at all on the buttons of the Meta, and also outfitted the side buttons and scroll wheel click with Kailh GM 4.0 switches, which is a rare thing for a manufacturer to do. The scroll wheel, on the other hand, is less of an attraction: The individual steps have decent separation, and I didn't experience any accidental scrolling, but the wheel feels a bit flimsy. On the second sample I received, the main buttons also suffer from significant pre-travel, which muddies the button response somewhat. By contrast, the Meta scores much better in the feet and cable department: The feet glide very well, are of above average thickness, and a set of replacement feet is included. Roughly on the same level as the Xtrfy MZ1 cable, the Meta's "Strafecord" is appreciably flexible, which is great.

PixArt's trusty PMW3360 is used for the sensor. While not the most recent model, the 3360 is still a perfectly capable sensor for wired mice, and performs just fine on the Meta, but for two exceptions: There is some CPI deviation, and polling stability suffers when certain RGB lighting effects are selected. The sensor excellency is complemented by the click latency, which is very low at roughly +1.2 ms (Ikari scaling). For the record, when slamming down the mouse, unintended clicks sometimes do happen, but one really needs to force it, so it's not something one would encounter during regular use. Furthermore, I recommend updating the Meta with the most recent firmware, which lowers the lift-off distance to the expected level.

While hardly groundbreaking, the Meta is a well-executed, highly dependable mouse, and no doubt among the better S2-"inspired" mice thus far. The original Zowie S2 cannot compete at all as it weighs significantly more, has a worse scroll wheel, genuinely stiff cable, and the same sensor, yet costs $69.99. HK Gaming charges the same for their Naos-M, but it has high CPI deviation, thin feet, holes all over, and its scroll wheel lacks tactility. Aside from the stiffer cable, the Sharkoon Light² 180 is by and large as good as the Meta and only costs $39.99, but availability outside of the EU is limited. Finally, there is the VAXEE NP-01, which is right-handed ergonomic instead of ambidextrous, too has great performance, but a somewhat stiff cable and horrid scroll wheel, for $64.99.

Just recently, it has been announced that the Meta will be discontinued and all leftover stock sold off at $44.99. At that price, the Meta is highly competitive and rightly earns both our Recommended and Budget awards.