Build Quality

Overall build quality is very solid. There is no rattle when shaking the mouse. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking of the shell can be observed. It is impossible to activate the side buttons by squeezing the sides with any amount of force. Lastly, no accidental clicks occur when slamming the mouse down. There is a major issue, however—that is, at least for those sensitive to it. The PRIMER constantly emits a high-pitched noise ("coil whine"), which is moderately loud when not tracking and loud when tracking. I'm fairly sensitive to these high-frequency sounds and was quite annoyed by it when testing.

Buttons

Main buttons on the PRIMER are excellent. Pre-travel is very low and post-travel low, resulting in a firm and satisfying click response. Since the main buttons are separated from the shell, minor button movement can be provoked, but it's not noticeable during use. Button stiffness is light. Omron D2FC-F-7N (20M) (China) switches are used here.


Side buttons are very good. Both pre and post-travel are rather low, but the actuation point isn't entirely even, resulting in a somewhat flimsy feel. Button size and placement are good as actuation is possible rather easily by rolling one's thumb over these. There is a major issue with the back button on my copy, however. Unless actuated right at the front, this button is essentially defunct and doesn't register at all. A broken side button right out of the box is frankly unacceptable in my book. Upon closer inspection of the internals, it become clear why—the button stems weren't fully clipped in. After clipping them in, the button worked as expected. Still, I find such a QC lapse unacceptable. Two tactile switches are used here.

At the top of the mouse are two buttons. The first one cycles through set CPI levels, while the other moves through RGB lighting modes. Their click feel is remarkably poor. Two small tactile switches are used for these.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is very good. Scrolling isn't too noisy, and the individual steps are fairly well-separated. Noticeable is how small the wheel is, especially in relation to the size of the mouse itself. The encoder is a black F-Switch. The middle scroll wheel click requires medium to high force for actuation. I do not recognize the brand name of the switch.

Coating

The PRIMER has a fairly rough-feeling matte coating all over. It's very grippy and doesn't attract fingerprints, dirt, or the likes too much. It's easy to clean, and there are no signs of wear left after doing so. All in all, an excellent coating. The sides feature a riffle-like pattern, which too provides great grip.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the PRIMER is very easy. All screws are plainly accessible. Unscrew them and the top and bottom shell should come off easily. The internal design is pretty straightforward as well. Nearly everything sits on a single PCB. The side and top buttons have their own PCB screwed into the top shell and connected to the main PCB through a ribbon cable. All PCBs are noticeably thick—going with thinner PCBs would've been a viable approach to shave a couple of grams off. The main PCB is affixed to the bottom with five screws in total. Production date for the main PCB is the 14th week of 2020. The MCU is a Vision VS09M20A, which I haven't seen used elsewhere so far.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws.