Introduction

At some point in 2019, a few of the leading heads at Zowie found that as they grew older, their priorities had begun to shift: Playing CS for 12 hours straight was no longer the norm. Even though still committed to esports, they felt that it was time to try something new and venture out. VAXEE is the result of this decision. VAXEE won't just be producing gaming mice, however—VAXEE is also a commercial platform, an ecosystem for joint ventures, and a supplier of general lifestyle products. In terms of gaming mice, the focus will be on designs which are built for competitive use—to that end, VAXEE has joined forces with ZYGEN for the NP-01. ZYGEN is run by noppo, former CS pro player. The partnership between VAXEE and noppo is part of VAXEE's ongoing commitment to esports—co-operations with other esports figureheads are to follow.

Much like Zowie mice, the NP-01 is focused on performance and reliability. Accordingly, there is no fancy RGB lighting, no bloated software suite, but instead an extensive range of on-device configuration options—namely, CPI, polling rate, button response time, and LOD. In terms of other specifications, VAXEE did not compromise, either, using PixArt's PMW3389 sensor, Huano switches (10 M) for the main buttons, a more flexible, soft, and braided cable, 72 g weight, and 24-step scroll wheel. Additionally, the NP-01 is their first design with main buttons separated from the shell.

Both on the mouse and the box, you'll only see the ZYGEN logo with a coy "Powered by VAXEE" hidden in a remote corner. This goes to show that the NP-01 is the result of a joint creative process. Still, for the sake of simplicity, I'll exclusively refer to VAXEE throughout the review. The review is based on the version with a non-glossy coating. A glossy one is to follow within the first quarter of 2021. The NP-01 is exclusively available through VAXEE's own store.

Specifications