i-Rocks Rock Series M09 Gaming Mouse & C10 Gaming Mousepad Review

10:30 PM gaming , i-rocks , mouse , mouse pad , review , tech 1 Comments

REVIEW

   
     Checking out the M09 from the little window view of the box, the mouse bears a striking resemblance to the infamous Razer Deathadder. The black matte finish, the green accents, the shape and the list goes on and on about why it looks like the aforementioned, but today we are not here to talk about things like that, we are here to find out what the M09 is all about.
     Lets first give attention to the supporting role in what makes a wired mouse, the USB cable. Like you expected, we are given a gold-plated USB header, giving us the liberty to plug in and out as much as we like. The USB cable is also braided, making it easier to untangle if it does eventually tangle among itself. We also get a Velcro strap to manage the USB cable if one would like to bring the mouse along with them. Rejoice, people with OCD!
   
     After plugging in the USB, the M09 greets us by activating its LED lights. The LED illuminates the scroll wheel and the "ROCK" logo situated right under your palm when using the mouse. The LED illumination gives the M09 a boost in aesthetics, one minor complain though, is that there is a bit of "overshine" (coined that term), you can clearly see the shape of LED backlight, a square PCB I guess. Under bright light, you wouldn't be able to make out this shape clearly, but still, once you see it, you won't be able to unsee it.

     At the side of the M09, there are 2 side buttons. Unfortunately, it only functions as a "Back" and a "Forward" key to ease your web browsing since there is no software functionality to map macros onto the side buttons. The only saving grace is that games still recognize the two buttons as Mouse Buttons 4 and 5, giving you the option to remap simple controls onto it via game settings.

     When you learnt that the M09 has no software functionality, you might be gasping in fear, exclaiming your need to tweak the sensitivity of the mouse across all games and do not want to resort to shitty Windows settings. Fright not, flipping the mouse around, you are greeted with 2 switches, 1 for DPI settings, another for polling rate settings. There are only 3 settings for both DPI and polling rate, 500/1000/1750 for DPI and 125hz/500hz/1000hz. While it may seem a little scarce of choice, if you adjust the polling rate and DPI accordingly, you should surely meet your match, well unless you are running 4 monitors... And before I forget, the M09 sports a laser sensor but there is no information on exactly what laser sensor it uses.

     Now we come to the most important part, the ergonomics of the M09. If I were asked to describe the shape of the M09, I would be baffled for words. So I will put it in a simple way, this mouse sports the shape of your normal everyday mouse. The size of the mouse fits my hand nicely with a little bit of margin, but I have small Asian hands, so that might be a concern for you. After a long day at work using the M09, I feel no strain and the matte rubber finish feels nice. One gripe of mine with the mouse is that I wished that the sides were a little bit rougher compared to the other parts of the mouse, giving me a better grip for the mouse, but that differs from person to person.

     To enhance ones experience of using a great mouse, one should get a mousepad of equal quality. Fortunately enough, i-Rocks also released a mousepad, the C10, alongside with the M09. The C10 sports a design with more sharp edges than one would normally find on a mousepad. There is also a big "Rock series" graphic on the mousepad to let people know what mousepad you are using. Personally, I like simplistic designs like my QcK Mass, but each to his/her own of course.
     The C10 is made to be pretty silky smooth for the mouse to glide through with its fabric top. Other than making your mouse glide with almost no resistance, the smooth top of the C10 allows your hand to sit comfortably on it while in usage. Personally though, I prefer surfaces with a rougher finish for the higher resistance while using a mouse.

CONCLUSION
     If you haven't notice, I have still yet to mention the price of the M09. So if you haven't ran off googling, the M09 comes in at only SRP RM95. For it's price, I am pretty sure the M09 is a killer deal at that range. In my honest opinion, if you are looking for a value oriented mouse and don't fancy any of the software functionality that other name brands provide, the M09 presents itself as a pretty good pick for you. The mouse is also a pretty good pick-up for those who are picking out their first gaming mouse, as it will quickly introduce you to the world of gaming peripherals, especially its keyword, "Quality".
     For the C10, it comes it at SRP RM59, which in my opinion, is not to my liking. At that range, I would probably get a SteelSeries QcK Mass, but for those who prefer a much more smoother surface for more glide, the C10 is probably suitable for your taste.

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