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Testing a mouse such as the Gamdias Zeus requires many hours of gaming – it is a tough job, but someone has to do it!
I used the Gamdias Zeus throughout 2 weeks of gaming, alongside general use and work related tasks such as photo-editing. I played multiple genres of games, tried different sensitivities and even played on different surfaces and came up with a final conclusion.
As always though, we would recommend trying before you buy, if you can.
The Zeus lights up in most of the usual places
I will start off by saying that I find the Zeus a bit of an enigma. It is capable in many ways, but a lot of its features feel either redundant, or unnecessary.
For example, this is a highly sensitive, pretty accurate gaming mouse. It works well in shooters, RTS games, MMO titles and in a large number of other game genres. I used it to play through most of my STEAM Sale titles however it was in MOBA games, (the genre of game that this mouse is aimed at) that I found myself questioning the design.
The Gamdias Zeus is designed specifically to give you access to keyboard shortcuts on the mouse itself – that is what the side buttons are for. Remapping them to your QWER keys is a no brainer, but the execution is strange. You can play a game with only the mouse and do quite well – but it is just not as good as using keyboard shortcuts.
First there is absolutely no way that a single thumb moving between buttons, can be as fast as four individual fingers. Likewise they are on a different hand altogether, so benefit from a separate part of the brain controlling them, which means they can be operated independently.
Beyond that – lifting your thumb to press any of these buttons, means moving it from the control point on the mouse: the thumb rest. Without that anchor, you can't move the mouse as effectively, which means that when you are using just the Zeus for a MOBA match, you are less efficient while using abilities … which is the worst time for that to happen.
The software has a lot of options, but can feel overly busy and hard to navigate around
The other issue is that really, there are not enough buttons on the Zeus. That might sound ridiculous, but consider that most MOBAs have four abilities – plus one or two global abilities, alongside items that require activating. Chances are I am using the keyboard for the latter of that group, in which case why wouldn't I just use the keyboard for all of it?
There are a couple of instances I could see the Zeus' buttons being of some benefit however: 1: if you happen to be an amputee or can't use your other hand for whatever reason, then this would potentially be a saving grace, as you can continue to play your favourite game as usual.
You could also conceivably drop all pretense and just use the buttons for other functions, such as recall. You could also activate certain items, but again it means reducing mouse control for a second, which will get you killed at high level play very quickly.
In other games, or by ignoring the side buttons altogether you can have a relatively competent gaming mouse. However, the Zeus does have some other issues which need to be addressed. Due to its design – with split sides and added buttons, the two main left and right clickers are very narrow. You do not tend to find yourself slipping off, but the edge can creep up on you and distract during the most tense moments, which a mouse should never do.
The side rests are also troublesome. As much as I experimented, I just could not get them to be 100 per cent comfortable. Perhaps it is because you can adjust them that I have not settled properly, but I always find myself resting my ring finger somewhere it should not be. I have used this mouse for two weeks and it still does not feel completely natural.
It isn't uncomfortable though. Nothing stabs or irritates and I applaud the attempts to innovate, but there is not enough customisation to really put the rests where you want them. Give me an ambidextrous side grip over this any day.
You can also set up sounds when you change profiles and track all of your clicks and scrolls
Unfortunately, I also ran in to a few problems during photo-editing with the accuracy of the mouse. It was not necessarily to do with the sensor itself, but more the teflon pads, which when performing very small movements would seem to almost stick, requiring more force than you wanted to give – this could cause you to overshoot. Lowering the sensitivity helped avoid this, but it is a shame it happened at all.
The Gamdias Zeus seemed bogged down with issues however it performed reasonably well and was not much of an inconvenience during general day to day use. It is also worth noting that thanks to the laser sensor, the Zeus works on both mousemats and desk tops, so you do not need an expensive mat to get the most from it. That said, if you are spending upwards of £75 on a gaming mouse, I would be surprised if you did not already own a quality mat.
