Pwnage StormBreaker Review - Magnesium Mouse 10

Pwnage StormBreaker Review - Magnesium Mouse

Sensor & Performance »

Build Quality

Overall build quality is very solid. When shaking the mouse, a minor rattle comes from the main buttons. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking or 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, unless the slam-click prevention setting within the software has been enabled.

Buttons


Main buttons on the StormBreaker are good to very good. There is some pre-travel, and post-travel is moderate, but button response is fairly firm and snappy nevertheless, albeit more high-pitched compared to most other mice. While the buttons are visually separated from the shell, lateral button movement is fairly low even when provoked. Button stiffness is medium. A pair of Omron D2FC-F-7N (20M) (OF) switches are used.


Side buttons are excellent. Both pre and post-travel are minimal, leading to a very snappy and pleasing, yet surprisingly stiff actuation. The pressure point is perfectly even across the entirety of these. Button size and placement are good, as actuation is possible rather easily by rolling one's thumb across. A set of surface-mounted Omron switches (white plunger) is used for these.

A simple on/off-switch can be found at the bottom, which works fine.

Scroll Wheel


The scroll wheel is very good. Noise levels are elevated, especially when scrolling up, but tactility is great, providing very distinct steps and controlled scrolling. The encoder comes from TTC (yellow or "Gold") and has a height of 13 mm. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires medium force for actuation. A seemingly unbranded elevated tactile switch is used here.

Surface

The StormBreaker has a smooth matte surface all over. Grip is fine, and it doesn't attract fingerprints or dirt too much. It is easy to clean, and there are no signs of wear left after doing so. That said, the engravings on the main buttons do pick up dirt quite easily. All in all, very good materials.

Button Sound Test


Disassembly


Disassembling the StormBreaker is very easy. Only the two rear skates and the screws beneath them need to be removed. The front is additionally locked in with clips, which are dislodged quite easily. When doing so, make sure not to rip the cable connecting the PCBs.

The internal design is efficient. The side buttons sit on their own PCB screwed to the top shell and connected through a ribbon cable to the main PCB. The sensor likewise sits on its own PCB connected to the main PCB through a ribbon cable. Two screws are used to affix the sensor PCB to the plastic assembly used to adjust sensor position. The plastic assembly is attached to two rails positioned laterally, and by loosening and tightening the screw associated with each rail the sensor PCB can be moved around. Everything else sits on the thin main PCB, which is affixed to the bottom with four screws. The MCU is a Nordic nRF52840, whose datasheet is found here. The Bluetooth capability of the chip remains unused. Production date for the main PCB is the 11th week of 2023.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws.
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Nov 25th, 2024 17:22 EST change timezone

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