Cooler Master MasterMouse MM520 & MM530 Review

1. Introduction2. Unboxing and First Look3. Testing4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

The MasterMouse MM520 and MM530 are two new, budget-oriented mice from Cooler Master.

They are essentially identical products, the main (and obvious) difference between the two being the shape – the MM520 is designed to be used by claw grip users, while the MM530 is designed for palm grippers.

In practice, I was equally comfortable with both grips on either mouse, but it is likely users will prefer one shape over the other so it is good Cooler Master has provided choice to the consumer.

For me, the most disappointing thing with both mice is the RGB lighting. For both devices, the lighting is just quite dim and underwhelming. There is a good level of control to be had using the software, but the overall effect is just a bit lacklustre.

However, considering the £35 price, any lighting – let alone RGB – is quite frankly an added bonus, so I do not think it is fair to be too critical here. If it were a £70 mouse, absolutely – but not for these £35 gaming rodents.

Elsewhere, I am very impressed to see both mice feature the PixArt PMW 3360 sensor. This is generally seen as the best optical sensor out there, so it is great to see it included with both mice. In the real world, I had no issues at all with tracking or anything like that, so the 3360 clearly justifies its inclusion with perfect precision tracking.

So, overall, I think both the Cooler Master MasterMouse MM520 and MM530 mice are very, very good options. They may not be overly feature-rich, but for £35 you are getting a PMW 3360, very solid build quality and comprehensive software. In my eyes, that is a very good deal so I am happy to award our ‘Must Have' award to these mice. If you are an aspiring gamer on a tight budget, look no further than these mice.

Both mice have launched today with a UK MSRP of £34.99. We will update the review with a buy link when we have one.

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Pros

• Choice of shape.
• PMW 3360 sensor is class-leading, and an excellent inclusion at this price.
• Only £35.
• Software is pretty good.
• Rugged built quality thanks to PBT panels.

Cons

• RGB lighting is underwhelming.

KitGuru says: If you are looking for top performance on a tight budget, look no further than the new budget kings – the MM520 and MM530. Just pick your preferred shape!

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