| Corsair Vengeance M60 Laser Gaming Mouse |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Input Devices | |
| Written by Joey Peng | |
| Monday, 09 April 2012 | |
Corsair Vengeance M60 Laser Gaming Mouse Review
Manufacturer: Corsair Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Corsair. The Vengeance M60 FPS laser mouse is Corsair's latest addition to its line of products. The M60 has 8 configurable buttons aimed at maximizing the FPS gaming performance. The dedicated "sniper" button is one of its most interesting features with the promise to help accurate aiming. Benchmark Reviews will be testing out the Vengeance M60 and see if it's a worthy buy. The Corsair Vengeance family has two pairs of mice/keyboard combinations. The K90/M90 are designed for MMORPG games with macro capabilities. The M60 is aimed at FPS gamers. The K60 the keyboard counterpart to this mouse with wrist rests and textured WASD keys. Making this split was a great choice for Corsair to capture both enthusiast groups while being able to differentiate the Vengeance series from numerous competitors. 
One thing great about this lineup is the slick metalic and matte black plastic. Also because they were designed to be a family, each mouse/keyboard pair look great next to eachother. The metal gives a solid feeling to the product and offers a new level of durability. Benchmark Reviews will be taking a closer look at this new FPS mouse in the next section. Corsair M60 Features
Corsair M60 Specifications
Closer Look: Corsair Vengeance M60The Corsair Vengeance M60 did not come with too much in the package. You get the M60 FPS mouse and a quick start guide. Drivers are available for download only from their website. 
Initial impression of the mouse was great. The design looked great and the construction was solid. Not too many gaming mice feature metallic shells like the Vengeance M60. Also immediately noticeable is the DPI/profile toggler right underneath the scroll wheel, a very intuitive design. Just from the looks itself, the mouse seemed to be worth the money. 
In addition to the main buttons, the M60 also has 3 additional auxiliary buttons on the side. What's great is under normal circumstances, it is almost impossible to accidentally touch them. The contour and shape of the mouse allows a comfortable hold yet easy reach for the additional buttons. Many gaming mice fail to meet usability standards due to the shape of the mouse, placement of the buttons, or resistance for each button. The Vengeance M60 doesn't have any of those problems. 
You won't find a mirroring of the buttons on the pinky side. This mouse is designed for right-handed use. Even for right handed people I've seldom felt that extra buttons positioned on the pinky side were frequently used. They could be used for quick profile toggling but in general it's awkward to use in game, and so omitting them outright is fine. Since this isn't an MMO mouse the need for large amounts of programmable buttons is unlikely. 
The Vengeance M60 is large enough to be a full hand rest, and the buttons and scroll wheel all feel very comfortable to use. The M60 is fairly wide compared to other gaming mice. The exact dimensions are 118(L) x 77(W) x 39(H) mm / 3.6"(L) x 3.0"(W) x 1.5"(H). 
Taking a closer look from the back we see the nice contoured shape for a natural thumb rest. The curvature of the M60 also matches the natural hand shape for maximum comfort. If you look closely at the side pieces you'll also notice that it's a very rough surface compared to the top piece. This is for giving that extra grip as well as giving it some anti-sweat measures. 
The Vengeance M60 has a lot going for it in terms of look and feel. The design has been optimized for right-hand usage and is very comfortable. Positioning and resistance on the buttons is also ideal. In the next section we'll take a closer look at the detailed features and see what else the Vengeance M60 is capable of. Corsair Vengeance M60 Detailed FeaturesThis section we'll take a closer look at the details of the Corsair Vengeance M60. The biggest FPS feature going for the M60 is its dedicated snipe button. What they really mean by "sniper button" is a button that can instantly toggle DPI to a much lower setting to set up for aiming and micro adjustments. This could be used in applications like photoshop when making fine adjustments. The true advantage is how easily accessible it is during game. 
While not widely advertised, the M60 also has adjustable weights, elegantly placed within compartments at the bottom of the mouse. For easy access a screwdriver is needed although technically you could pry it open with nails. They add some level adjustment but won't be a huge impact like some mice since the metallic shell still has its weight. 
The driver available for download at the time of this review was version 2.12 beta. That being said, there are definitely major improvements that can be made in terms of software. At least Corsair has the UI down for the M60 driver. 
The first major drawback is that the auxiliary keys are not truly programmable (yet). There's a set of predefined functions related to DPI, multimedia, and general click functions. However the function assignment process is very odd. Even worse, they let you customize the left and right mouse buttons. Because of the confusing UI I accidentally set my left click as something else and could not revert until I plugged in a different mouse. 
Under "Manage Performance" you'll find all the common controls, including DPI, polling rate, and lift-height management. One of the more fun tools to play with is the surface quality test. Somehow it was very difficult to get highest quality as even my Steelseries mousepad only generated 4/5 bars. 
The mouse also lets you manage different profiles, though given that macro buttons pretty much don't exist, I feel this functionality is more for show. How many people are out there that really use different DPI settings per game? 
The Vengeance M60 is a great piece of hardware. However on the software support side it's a little lacking. One could argue that for FPS, macro buttons are not necessary, which is generally true, however it would've been nice to still have that functionality in a $69.99 mouse. Testing & ResultsTesting MethodologyThis mouse was used as the primary mouse over a period of 3 weeks. In addition to producitivty software and everyday browsing, the M60 was tested in several games including: Crysis, StarCraft 2, League of Legends, and Might & Magic VI. Test System
Test Software
Test Results
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Comments
The Corsair M90 also has this feature, but it can be programmed into any of the thumb buttons.
Corsair's mouse hardware is quite good. They really know how to make great hardware. However, I agree that their weak spot is actually their software. When I first got the Corsair M90 (MMO mouse)I couldn't get the thumb buttons working at all (and I wasn't alone). It wasn't until about a month later that they released a new software version and an actual manual. The mouse comes with neither, and early adapters were mostly left to guess how the mouse was supposed to work.
Their new software finally works properly, and the instructions available from their website are actually pretty good. The M60 doesn't have many buttons to worry about, but the M90 has lots of buttons, and you have to basically do a little dance to get them working. A visit to the Corsair forums, reading the top post in the mouse forum, should get you up and running.
Personally I find it inexcusable for a company, especially a company like Corsair who is trying to convince people that they make superior products, to not include software and a manual (paper or file) in their packaging.
In my opinion, it being the 21st century and all, it's time to include some flash RAM in the devices that contains the drivers and software so, when plugged in, the mouse automatically installs the driver and software. We're talking expensive mice here (anything over $50). I don't see why, at those prices (and more) they cannot include such a simple feature. Of course, it helps if the software actually works out-of-the-box.