The Redragon Cobra M711 FPS is an interesting case: advanced in some aspects, but dated in others. The years of the CPI race, when manufacturers were perpetually one-upping each other with even higher and more ridiculous CPI numbers, are well past us now. Yet, for some reason, Redragon felt the need to market the Cobra M711 FPS a 24,000 CPI mouse. This CPI count has been achieved by using interpolation, doubling the native 12,000 CPI of the PixArt PMW3360. Although the interpolation is fairly well done, with no ill effects below 12,000 CPI, there is absolutely no point in having it since the CPI count is entirely artificial and such high CPI unusable anyways. In a similar vein, the Cobra M711 FPS has a built-in internal weight, which not only ruins weight balance but also increases the weight from a very decent 84 g to a less decent 99 g. Furthermore, the cable is one of those extra-stiff braided types that thankfully have gone out of fashion by now.

On the flip side, the Cobra M711 FPS comes with optical switches for the main buttons. Lately, Razer has been marketing the inclusion of optical switches on their recent mice, but Redragon already did this way earlier on the Cobra M711 FPS. Though the implementation on the Cobra M711 FPS isn't quite on the same level as Razer's in terms of latency, the advantages of optical switches over mechanical switches when it comes to double-clicking are present all the same. It's rather rare to see optical switches in the price bracket of the Cobra M711 FPS, which makes their inclusion all the more commendable.

The Redragon Cobra M711 FPS does well in other regards as well. Buttons are mostly of high quality, including the scroll wheel. I have no complaints about the mouse feet, and the coating provides decent grip. Aside from the pointless interpolation past 12,000 CPI and above average CPI deviation, the PMW3360 sensor performs great. The RGB lighting is quite rich and varied, with plenty of customization options to choose from in the software. Speaking of which, the software offers a decent range of settings, although CPI adjustment can be quite finicky. Lastly, build quality is fine for the most part even though I managed to actuate the side buttons by pressing the side wall below them.

Alright, so how does the Redragon Cobra M711 FPS rank overall? In order to answer this question we better take a look at how it's priced. At $39.99, the Cobra M711 FPS doesn't have much competition when it comes to right-handed ergonomic mice. The Dream Machines DM5 Blink is $7 cheaper, has a top-tier sensor too, similar weight, and much better cable, but no optical switches and worse build quality. The Dream Machines DM4 Evo costs $5 more and improves on the Cobra M711 FPS in many aspects, but still lacks the optical switches. The Glorious Model D, ROCCAT Kain 100 AIMO, and Sharkoon Light² 200 all outclass the Cobra M711 FPS pretty much across the board, but are in a different price bracket altogether, costing $49.99 each. In conclusion, the Redragon Cobra M711 FPS is very competitively priced and performs well overall, especially if you're willing to get rid of the internal weight. Hence, it gets both the Budget and Recommended awards from me.