CM Storm Spawn Gaming Mouse Review

When Cooler Master made a splash into the competitive gaming market with its CM Storm subsidiary in 2008, they had the sole goal of "Arming the gaming revolution." After creating successful cases and mice, CM Storm has added yet another product to its line. The CM Storm Spawn gaming mouse is aiming at the more mainstream gaming crowd by providing great features but at a more affordable price. These features include a anti drift 3500DPI sensor, Japanese Omron micro-switches, and 32KB of onboard Sentinel-X memory all for a reasonable price of $49.99. Benchmark Reviews will look if all of these features add up to a great mouse for a reasonable price or if the CM Storm Spawn is just another generic gaming peripheral in the sea of gaming peripherals.

In the old days mice had one uniform look and everyone had the same design, two buttons, a scroll wheel (sometimes not even that) and a mechanism for picking up your movements. As time progressed, companies went on to create ergonomic mice while at the same time charging twice the price. However, nothing could compare to the price hike that "gaming" peripheral would bring with some products quickly surpassing $80 to help you frag better. The CM Storm Spawn is an attempt to bring things back to the basics, cutting out much of the fat of traditional gaming peripherals and leaving you with a gaming mouse with all of the essentials.

When it comes to testing mice it is best to not only look at one area or you may overlook flaws that a peripheral has in another area. That is why when testing a gaming mouse it is best to look at many aspects of your daily experience on a computer. This means that you should not only look at one type of game but multiple styles such as RTS, FPS, and MMO's along with making sure that the mouse is usable in non-gaming situations such as web browsing or photo editing.

Manufacturer: Cooler Master
Product Name: CM Storm Spawn
Model Number: SGM-2000-MLON1
Price As Tested: $49.99

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Cooler Master.

CM Storm Spawn Features

• Anti-Drift Control Sensor - The Spawn gaming mouse utilizes a high performance optical engine and ensures extreme stability. Built with an anti-draft architecture, it provides lossless performance under mouse lift and drop, with a built in angle snapping option one can formulate the perfect flick shot and maximize their kill rates with sheer accuracy.
• Onboard Sentinel-X 32 KB- The Sentinel-X microprocessor safeguards your mouse setting by storing button assignments, advanced macros and other mouse customization - allowing gamers to plug and play on any other system without losing their initial settings.
• Omron Micro Switches (5 Million clicks) - Ultra tactile mouse clicks for in-game fragging is afforded through the utilization of Omron's patented micro switch technology. Backed by a minimum guarantee of 5 million clicks, the Spawn gaming mouse offers an extended gaming life-span for the avid gamer.
• Japanese-Made Ultra-Step Wheel Encoder -Ultra precise stepping encoder allows gamers to navigate small distances with the scroll wheel while establishing great control and precision.
• DPI On the Fly- Comfortably placed under the scroll wheel, gamers can switch DPI settings easily to 800, 1800, and 3500.
• Superior Anti-Slip Rubberized Grip Design- Sweat proof and highly slip resistant, Spawn includes two thick rubber grips that have been deployed on both sides of the mouse. This affords fullcontrol to lift-off style gamers during game play.

SGM-2000-MLON1 Specifications

Closer Look: CM Storm Spawn

Cooler Master uses a red and black theme on many of their products in CM Storm line. Staying true to this the CM Storm Spawn has a metallic red exterior with black accents.

The box that contains the CM Storm Spawn is designed to show potential customers what this product offers. Although not as showy as some companies displays the design employed is well thought out allowing a potential customer to try out the mouse to see how it fits in their hand while at the same time presenting all of the features that the CM Storm Spawn provides.

From the rear, you can see that the CM Storm Spawn has a body shape that is ideal for long gaming sessions. The Spawn is a smaller mouse measuring only 4.3" long. Although this is smaller than many mice I have worked with in the past, I found it comfortable in its use. From this view the metallic red finish that covers the Spawn helps give the Spawn a distinct look is very apparent and in my sea of black peripherals the Spawn definitely stands out.

From the left side you can see that the profile of the Spawn is a smaller mouse with an egg shaped body. This shape lends to holding Spawn in a palm grip that is comfortable for long periods of gaming. On the side, you can see that the Spawn also has two smaller buttons that can be programmed for many other purposes or left as their default mouse five and six functions. Under the two buttons is an indented rubber strip that is one of the primary areas used to grip the spawn.

From the right side, you can see that the Spawn is molded in an ergonomic fashion to make sure that users are comfortable even after hours of use. At the same time, the textured rubber grip used on the bottom gives a user the ability to keep a firm grip even in the most stressful, sweat inducing gaming moments.

On the bottom, you can see that Cooler Master has included two large Teflon pads that help the Spawn keep smooth operations across any surface. At the same time, the 3500DPI optical sensor provides great tracking on the many surfaces I tried it on.

From the front, you can see that the two main mouse buttons are relatively large helping making sure that the amount of pressure required to actuate them is as low as possible giving a user incredibly quick reactions times. In between the two main buttons is the scroll wheel, and two DPI adjustors.

CM Storm Spawn Detailed Features

Without the software to support it, great hardware is nothing but lumps of metal. The same can be said of gaming peripherals in the sense that most gamers will expect to be able to customize their newly acquired hardware to fit their tastes. Understanding this fact Cooler Master created a easily navigable interface for the Spawn that will allow its users to customize the Spawn to fit their every need.

On the first page, you have everything you need to modify the way in which the Spawn interacts with your system. On the left Cooler Master has given users, the options to program the Spawns buttons to anything a user may want. From changing your DPI, to using a pre-written a script or even disabling the button, users are able to modify every button on the Spawn to fit their need. On the right, you have the controls used to modify the movement behavior of the Spawn. One option that all users should be aware of is the angle snapping which uses prediction to help a user's draw straight lines or make circles a task that can seem nigh impossible to most users. Although this can be great if you are working in some type of artistic program it is a bane all games as it can throw the your aim off as the mouse will autocorrect the small imperfections in your movement.

Macros can be of particular importance to MMO gamers and with the Spawn, they will be glad to know that Cooler Master has provided an easy to use interface that allows users to make macros that once applied will be saved directly to the 32kb of internal memory that the Spawn has. This feature allows gamers to program the Spawn at home then take it to a LAN and use all of its features without the need for any software to be installed on the systems.

The third page of the Spawn configuration lets you adjust the three quick switch DPI steps to your liking while at the same time also allowing you to increase the default polling rate of the Spawn.

Lastly, a nice feature contained within the final page of the configuration is a page that will automatically update the drivers for your Spawn a nice feature that saves you one more jaunt onto the internet to find that update yourself.

Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

As with any peripheral, the testing of the Spawn is unique to the individual using it, what I like or dislike in my review may not reflect your personal feelings about a product. Since the Spawn is touted as a gaming mouse, I wanted to test the Spawns ability to accurately track even in the most stressful of situations. In order to do this I used the CM Storm Spawn to play through EA's newest installment of its survival horror game Dead Space 2. Dead Space 2 has many scenes that are unforgiving and a minor screw up can cost you your life. For this reason Dead Space 2 is an excellent way to gauge the effectiveness of the Spawn in stressful situations. Just as importantly though is the ability to use this mouse for long periods outside of gaming comfortably so in order to test this I also used it in my daily life for two weeks to test comfort and usability outside of a purely gaming environment. environment.

Software Tested

• Dead Space 2
• Minecraft
• Photoshop CS5

Results

I played through Dead Space 2 from beginning to end with the Spawn and found overall it to be a great addition to the CM Storm mouse line. Tracking and comfort was spot on even during stressful and long gaming sessions. I found that hitting the limbs of the necromorphs was easy with the excellent tracking that Spawn provided. This is especially important as during Dead Space 2 you are provided with very limited ammo meaning that every shot counts and every shot missed is one that could be used on a necromorph. Along with Dead Space 2, I have spent a great amount of time playing Minecraft, which helped provide me with a way to judge the Spawn under less stressful gaming sessions but in general a bit longer. The comfort of the Spawn provided an enjoyable experience even after hours of gameplay. Outside of gaming I also did all of the Photoshop work for this article using the Spawn and found that the quickly adjustable DPI settings allowed for me to quickly shift between large edits, and smaller edits while keeping my accuracy for both.

Gaming Mouse Final Thoughts

When it comes to gaming peripherals, many companies add lot of features that a user's may or may not need and in doing so position their products in a price range out of the reach of many gamers. With the Spawn Cooler Master has brought a gaming peripheral back to its basics by providing a mouse that has all of the necessary parts but no extras. This means that for $49.99 you get a 3500DPI sensor, 7 fully programmable buttons, and 32KB of onboard memory. These features all work together to provide a good experience that many types of people can afford and gives Cooler Master one more notch to put in their belt.

CM Storm Spawn Conclusion

The performance of the CM Storm Spawn is fantastic for the price you pay tracking flawlessly across any surface that I threw at it, along with giving me pinpoint accuracy for the most effective killing of necromorphs. Outside of gaming, the Spawn keeps its comfort up even during long sessions of work on a computer and the customizable DPI is great for photo editing where a quick change in sensitivity can really make the difference between an easy edit and something that could be painfully tedious.

The appearance of the Spawn may appeal to some, personally I like my peripherals to be a darker color. The metallic red exterior is of the Spawn really stands out on your desk but for some they may like this with especially with the black accents as it will go well with other CM Storm peripherals that can be found around a user's desk.

Through my day in and day out use, I found no complaints about the build quality of the Spawn and although being a very lite construction I found no complaints about the quality of the build. There was no flexing if I gripped the Spawn a bit too hard during times of duress, and all of the seams fit together in such a way that there is no overhang or sharp edges where materials meet.

The Spawn is very functional with very little in frills to get inthe way of this peripherals sole goal of helping you frag the competition this means that it has all of the boxes checked for a gaming but nothing more. For many users this will be perfect because they do not need the screen on the bottom of the mouse, the removable weights, or lights that can be changed to any color they would like. On the other hand you still get a 3500DPI optical sensor, 32KB of onboard memory, and 7 buttons which pretty much is everything a great gamer needs in their mouse.

At a MSRO of $49.99, the CM Storm Spawn provides great features for a bargain price that is hard to beat. It has some competition like the Razer Deathadder 3.5G but even that does not have the quick switch DPI settingson it. This puts the Spawn in a unique place that has set it up to succeed in away that other gaming mice may have not been able to but providing a great gaming mouse that has all of the essential for a good mouse but without the high price that comes with the innovation that other mice have.

Cooler Master has had a strong line up so far with the CM Stormline and the Spawn continues this while bring the CM Storm name to themasses.

Pros:

+ Affordable price
+ Good Entry Level Performance
+ 7 Buttons
+ Easy to use software

Cons:

- Nothing to make it stand out
- Appearence may not appeal to some

Ratings:

• Performance: 9.00
• Appearance: 8.50
• Construction: 9.00
• Functionality: 9.00
• Value: 8.50

Final Score: 8.8 out of 10.

Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.

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