KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
The Software
The mouse works well without the dedicated install, however the proprietary software does offer fine tuning and configuration options. The main panel above has specific configuration options for five separate modes, and every button can be configured in the panel. It worked well for us during testing and didn't crash once.
Negatively, I do feel their software package is much too cluttered and gaudy with at least 6 different fonts and sizes used, I much prefer the FUNC MS-3 interface panels, which are clean and easy to read. This is very much a personal taste decision and if you like a lot of ‘bling' then the Shogun Bros software package should hit the spot.
The Macro Editor seems quite sophisticated and plenty of settings can be tweaked to suit your own tastes. A full range of recording can be tied into any of the programmable buttons, in five customisable profiles.
It would be fair to say that this mouse will appeal to gamers who like extremely high dpi settings. The laser sensor is extremely accurate and sensitive and it is possible to configure four separate settings in the software panel.
The software allows for separate X and Y resolution settings, and angle snapping. Our mouse had a default report rate setting of 1000hz which is ideal for gamers (I always set mice at this because I find the quality of the overall sensor tracking improves). Settings can be backed up to hard disk, and restored later if desired.
Mouse liftoff seems to be around 1.5mm-2mm height and I experienced no problems during testing.
Using the mouse
When the mouse is lit up, it looks great. We don't feel they have went overboard with the lighting on the mouse, suiting a wide gaming audience.
We know it is difficult to ascertain the physical dimensions of a mouse when simply viewing pictures on a webpage, so we took a few pictures of the Ballista MK1 next to our long term wireless Logitech Laser mouse and the white R.A.T. 7, which several of our team use on a regular basis. The R.A.T.7 is a very well designed mouse and while I know it has received mixed reviews they have proven reliable in our labs, long term.
The Shogun Bros Ballista MK1 is a very comfortable size for a wide cross section of users, and fits firmly in the ‘jack of all trades' sizing.
To test the Shogun Bros Ballista MK1 for the review today, we used a variety of surfaces from Steelseries and Razer. My personal favourite is the Razer Vespula and tracking was simply beautiful on this surface, as it is with many other high grade mice.
There is no question that the main talking point will be the 8,200 dpi sensitivity however I found this setting to be unusable in my clumsy hands. Try as I might, even deep breathing during a game session could erratically move the mouse pointer. This is not a fault of the Ballista MK1 however, as I find settings above 5,000 dpi to be rather tricky to use successfully.
5,600 dpi on this mouse was borderline for me, however a younger clan gamer said the tracking was perfect for him at this setting. Although even he said that 8,200dpi was ‘hardcore, but unusable' in any of the games he uses.
Still, someone may find it useful, and we can't knock the engineering team for pushing the dpi boundaries as far as they could. If its unusable, lower the resolution, simple as that.
Switching between dpi settings in game takes a little practice, but after a while it becomes intuitive, the buttons are just positioned out of reach in a normal hand resting position, so you can't accidentally toggle them.
This moves me onto the biggest strength of this mouse. The laser tracking. I am old enough to never fall for marketing gimmicks and ‘buzz words', which are a dime a dozen on the box artwork of the Ballista MK1. I was initially annoyed to see so much text crammed over the mouse chassis, and I felt that perhaps the company were trying to cover up a substandard laser engine. This couldn't be further from the truth however as the laser engine is right up in the top 10 percent, at any given price.
Sadly, the Ballista MK1 feels rather lightweight in my hand. After using the R.A.T. 7 with all the weights inside, it feels around 50% lighter. If you like a heavy mouse, best to look elsewhere because this will not suit.
Obviously incorporating a variable weighting system would add to the price, so I can understand why it was omitted. Sadly, even at the close of this article, and after many days working with the sample I still felt the mouse needed to be slightly heavier. It became an irritant over the course of the review and I simply wouldn't want to live with the Ballista MK1 long term.
That said, I can't let my personal desire for a heavier mouse impact the review too negatively. Many people would be more than happy with the default weighting.
I found that the Shogun Bros Ballista MK1 worked better on harder surfaces such as the Razer Vespula, offering a little resistance, but still moving very easily and tracking smoothly as well.
I loaned the mouse to a UK clan for 3 days and overall feedback was very positive with almost 90% of the user base finding the Ballista MK1 very comfortable. Compliments were also fed back to us in regards to the laser tracking. Even though I didn't raise my opinions at the time, several gamers also said the mouse was too lightweight. It wasn't just me then.
