Whereas the Lift 2 Ergo essentially only has a single serious competitor, the Razer DeathAdder V3, the Lift 2 Symm faces two direct adversaries, as the Endgame Gear OP1 8K is much smaller: the older Razer Viper 8K and the more recent HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2, both of which can be had for the same $49.99 the Lift 2 Symm goes for. In terms of weight, the Lift 2 Symm has the Viper 8K beat with ease: at 55 g, the Lift 2 Symm ends up being 14 g lighter than the Viper 8K. The 53 g Pulsefire Haste 2 manages to be even lighter, albeit while being smaller. Unlike the other two, the Lift 2 Symm utilizes an open-bottom design. While this can work well, build quality on the Lift 2 Symm is rather underwhelming. There is no creaking or flexing when applying lateral pressure, but when shaking the mouse, an easily noticeable rattle comes from the CPI button. Looking inside the mouse, it becomes clear why that is: the whole plastic piece is loose, which is why I'm inclined to believe that this'll affect all units, to some degree at least. Another build quality flaw relates to the forward side button, which can be actuated by pressing below it, and doing so doesn't require more than medium force, either. Hence, depending on how the mouse is gripped and with what strength, actuating this side button during regular use is very much possible, which is far from ideal.

Much like the Viper 8K, the Lift 2 Symm utilizes optical switches for the main buttons, albeit ones from TTC. These previously have seen use on many other releases, such as from ROCCAT, Corsair, and recently Fantech. Getting these switches "right" can be tricky, and this proves true on the Lift 2 Symm as well. Unlike on the Lift 2 Ergo, where the issue was with the above average variance in stiffness across the buttons, the Lift 2 Symm suffers from a poor switch. This is unit-specific, meaning that with some luck, one might get a copy that doesn't have a bad switch, or with really poor luck, one might get two of them. On my copy, the right main button is affected; that is, button response is noticeably dull and muted. The only thing one can do to remedy this, aside from initiating an RMA, is purchasing a replacement switch from a third-party seller, which at least doesn't require soldering, as TTC optical switches are simply clipped in. The left main button at least is quite good on my copy, with moderate pre and post-travel resulting in fairly firm and snappy actuation, and lateral button movement is pleasantly low even when provoking it on either button.

For the side buttons, regular mechanical switches from a manufacturer I'm unfamiliar with are used, and these aren't exactly stellar, either. The forward side button suffers from massive post-travel in particular, as it can be pressed into the shell almost in its entirety, and although the back side button doesn't have that much post-travel, pre-travel is high instead. The scroll wheel isn't all that great, either: an encoder from TTC sees use, which is borderline loud, and more importantly, the noise generated by it is of the unpleasant kind, and it makes the scroll wheel feel "cheap," for lack of a better word. Tactility is average at best, too, so the scroll wheel as a whole isn't exactly prize-winning material. I have little to complain about the cable, which can be difficult to get right on an 8000 Hz wired mouse, as it needs to have sufficient shielding to ensure signal integrity at 8000 Hz, without becoming overly stiff. While not as flexible as the cable of the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2, the cable of the Lift 2 Symm is decently flexible, and roughly on par with that of the DeathAdder V3. Lastly, the feet are quite good, though they do fall a bit short of the feet seen on the Razer Viper 8K or HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2.

Performance is largely in a good spot. CPI deviation is a bit higher than it should be, but rather easily corrected by lowering CPI accordingly in the software. General tracking is also fine, but weirdly enough, MotionSync seemingly only stays enabled up to 2000 Hz, whereas 4000 and 8000 Hz both have it disabled, with no way of changing that. This may actually be an oversight, but ultimately doesn't matter all that much, though due to the negative impact MotionSync has on motion delay, having it disabled all the way would be preferable. Polling is stable for 125, 250, 500, and 1000 Hz, but 2000 and 4000 Hz frequently have bouts of increased noise, and 8000 Hz often drops from the target interval of 0.125 us to 0.250 us, resulting in the target interval not being met on average. Motion delay at 8000 Hz sits at a very competitive 1.0 ms advantage over the Logitech G403 (control subject), and click latency fares even better: at 0.1 ms across all polling rates, the Lift 2 Symm is on par with the very best 8000 Hz mice such as the DeathAdder V3 or Zaunkoenig M2K.

The software for the Lift 2 Symm is NZXT CAM, which is similar to Corsair iCUE or ASUS Armoury Crate in that it is an all-in-one software suite for everything NZXT, including monitoring functions, RGB lighting control, and many other options. Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that the RAM footprint is rather substantial, topping out at close to 500 MB at times, and roughly half of that specifically for the mouse settings page. These are surprisingly barebones, as button remapping isn't possible for the left and right main buttons, and sensor settings such as MotionSync or ripple control are absent. Thankfully, saving settings to one of five on-board profiles is possible, so nothing prevents one from simply adjusting everything to one's liking and deleting CAM right after.

Overall, the Lift 2 Symm has a hard time standing out positively from the competition. Click latency aside, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 is the better mouse, and even the trusty old Viper 8K has the Lift 2 Symm beat in several areas. In addition, if we ignore size for a moment, the Endgame Gear OP1 8K annihilates the Lift 2 Symm on every level. Still, for $49.99, the Lift 2 Symm provides decent value for money, but between the button troubles, build quality woes, and lackluster scroll wheel, it definitely wouldn't be my first pick when shopping for an ambidextrous wired 8000 Hz mouse.