CM Storm's Spawn might be small but its good enough for claw grip users.
Good rubber grip on the sides, nice shape for a claw user. Let's check out how she is...
Packaging and Specs
https://i.imgur.com/IIYpf.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/iSSSo.jpg
CM storm follows the same standard packaging that they did with the other mouses I evaluated before. The cables are not braided, rather its the thick plastic insulation that is used. Personally, I prefer plastic insulated cabled over braided- but whatever works for you! CM doesn't mention the warranty period on the packaging. Why do some companies slowly (and quietly) removing the warranty period on the packaging? Buyers should know what they're getting when they buy. If you can mention which country is this product made in and you can put up graphic designs, you can and should mention warranty period.
Do note that the information behind does say that this is specialised for claw grip users- and that's exactly whom is made for. If you want to know what grip style do you use for your mouse, read this guide.CM storm also does it right by stating that its made for right hand users. Alas, I am not aware of any mouse for right hand users- or even for those who are ambidextrous.
CM storm mouses come with 2 years warranty period for those who do not know.
Model Number SGM-2000-MLON1
Available Colour Black + Red
Material Rubber Grip / ABS Plastic
Dimensions (L)107x (W)75x (H) 35 mm /
(L)4.2x (W) 4x (H) 1.3 inch
Net Weight 142 g / 0.313 lbs
Sensor 3500 DPI Storm Tactical Optical Sensor
Maximum Tracking Speed 60 IPS
Maximum Acceleration 20g
Polling Time 1.0ms
Speed Measurement 6400 fps
Onboard Memory 32Kb
Form Factor Right Hand Ergonomic
Button Assignment 7
Weight System No
Initial Impressions and User Experience
From the top the Left/Right Click buttons have a soft feed touch, same goes for the DPI buttons. Notice the right hand side of the mouse. It helps to rest your ring finger on it. The base has 2 piece of Teflon feet. The ones I reviewed earlier had slick feets, this one has a matte finish. I can feel the friction even on Razer Goliathus Control edition that is meant primarily to create friction. Should be very smooth for smooth mousepad surfaces.
The mouse uses Omron Micro Switches.
Towards the right and the left, there there is generous size of rubber grips for your thumb and your pinky finger. The IE forward/back button has a rubber-ish feel to it.
---
The mouse does look small compared to other mouse types but its not a con.
The mouse is specially made for claw grip users. To claw grip, you need to arch your hand grab the mouse via your fingertips like a claw and their palm does not touch the mouse.
The built quality is great. The red paint job is very nice and the rubber grip is always appreciated. Remember, its not rubber-ish feel that gives an impression of a "smooth finish"- Its an actual rubber grip.
Moving on, There is a feature called angle-snapping. According to CM's own blog:
There are many names for it, but Angle Snapping is essentially prediction. It can be used for various reasons such as drawing straight lines, making accurate flick-shots in FPS games, and other purposes.
However, angle snapping did more harm than good in my case when I played Unreal tournament 2007, L4D, Half Life 2 and Mass effect. Angle-snapping in a way "mis-aligns" the cross-hair for you. Even during sniping a moving target or going trigger-happy, its not going to keep you happy.
The mouse feels as if made keeping FPS gamers in mind, as far as my experience goes. The mouse comes with 32kb onboard memory. There's no screen where it can display DPI levels/Profile. There's no multiple profile setting on the mouse. All it seem to store are the DPI level (there is no x axis/y axis DPI setting) Macro settings with other settings such as pointer acceleration. It would have been nice to have some indication (LED) to know which DPI level you're using. Its not a con for those who will stick to a single DPI setting.
The DPI setting on the mouse has 3 DPI presets by default: 800dpi, 1800 DPI and 3500 DPI. It doesn't end there. DPI level feels different due to the firmware as well. CM Storm has 3 firmwares for this mouse: 30a, 31 and 32.
F/w Version Breakdown:
F/W ver. 30a - Surface detection improvements including update for correct 800dpi. Stock LOD.
F/w ver. 31 - Very low LOD, great for dark mousepads
F/w ver. 32 - Slightly higher LOD, great for dark mousepads
The only way I was comfortable playing with 800dpi with this mousepad was 32. Do note, there is a surface detection different between 30a and 31/32, but 800dpi via 30a feels "sluggish" and you end up dragging a lot. But firmware 32 with dark mousepad (cloth mousepad to say the least), it does a great job. Firmware 31 is also good provided you have lesser lift-off distance. My liftoff distance is usually more than 2 cms. from the mousepad. Anything lower, 31 is the one for you. I am not really sure what Coolermaster meant by saying "Stock lift-off distance".
There are lot of dark surface mousepads out there so most of the FPS players will be sticking to 32firmware. I don't really have any other pad (dark/light- with prints/without prints with/without hard/cloth surface). Clearly, a feeling and response of the gaming mouse depends a lot on grip, surface and firmwares but if you ask me, we never had this much thought to be put up atleast with older mouses.
This mouse uses optical sensor- and I am glad. Unlike the previous mouse I tested with twin laser mouse which had drifting issues on a cloth surface mousepad, this worked the way it should. Yeah- stick to optical sensors, atleast away from twin laser surface if its really required or if you can those that issue fixed.
The mouse is incredibly lightweight. Con for some, Pros for some. I found it to be more agile and didn't really make much different for. It felt to be somewhere around how my MX518 weighs.
Concise, yet everything an FPS player needs. You can remap all the 7 buttons on the mouse. It lets you make 4 macro settings, each allowing 10 keyboard-only keystrokes for macro. Custom is where you can change the 3-step DPI setting on your mouse.
Conclusion
You'll need to spend some time with the initial setup (figuring out which firmwares work well for your surface) but other than that, this is a good to go claw grip mouse. Remember, my conclusion is limited because I don't have other mousepads to evaluate with AND I am only FPS gamer.
If you don't bother yourself with those advanced macro and multiple profile setup, exhaustive software options, right-handed claw grip and really want a good built mouse with nice grip, surprisingly (I am using this word purely because of my recent hands-on with CM Storm Sentinel Zero-G and Inferno) this is a good hassle-less mouse that you should shortlist.
This costs about Rs. 2,129- give or take.
My personal thanks to Coolermaster not using THOSE twin-laser sensors. Inferno can be in the same league if it uses the same optical sensor- atleast I do not believe why not!!
Good rubber grip on the sides, nice shape for a claw user. Let's check out how she is...
Packaging and Specs
https://i.imgur.com/IIYpf.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/iSSSo.jpg
CM storm follows the same standard packaging that they did with the other mouses I evaluated before. The cables are not braided, rather its the thick plastic insulation that is used. Personally, I prefer plastic insulated cabled over braided- but whatever works for you! CM doesn't mention the warranty period on the packaging. Why do some companies slowly (and quietly) removing the warranty period on the packaging? Buyers should know what they're getting when they buy. If you can mention which country is this product made in and you can put up graphic designs, you can and should mention warranty period.
Do note that the information behind does say that this is specialised for claw grip users- and that's exactly whom is made for. If you want to know what grip style do you use for your mouse, read this guide.CM storm also does it right by stating that its made for right hand users. Alas, I am not aware of any mouse for right hand users- or even for those who are ambidextrous.
CM storm mouses come with 2 years warranty period for those who do not know.
Model Number SGM-2000-MLON1
Available Colour Black + Red
Material Rubber Grip / ABS Plastic
Dimensions (L)107x (W)75x (H) 35 mm /
(L)4.2x (W) 4x (H) 1.3 inch
Net Weight 142 g / 0.313 lbs
Sensor 3500 DPI Storm Tactical Optical Sensor
Maximum Tracking Speed 60 IPS
Maximum Acceleration 20g
Polling Time 1.0ms
Speed Measurement 6400 fps
Onboard Memory 32Kb
Form Factor Right Hand Ergonomic
Button Assignment 7
Weight System No
Initial Impressions and User Experience
From the top the Left/Right Click buttons have a soft feed touch, same goes for the DPI buttons. Notice the right hand side of the mouse. It helps to rest your ring finger on it. The base has 2 piece of Teflon feet. The ones I reviewed earlier had slick feets, this one has a matte finish. I can feel the friction even on Razer Goliathus Control edition that is meant primarily to create friction. Should be very smooth for smooth mousepad surfaces.
The mouse uses Omron Micro Switches.
Towards the right and the left, there there is generous size of rubber grips for your thumb and your pinky finger. The IE forward/back button has a rubber-ish feel to it.
---
The mouse does look small compared to other mouse types but its not a con.
The mouse is specially made for claw grip users. To claw grip, you need to arch your hand grab the mouse via your fingertips like a claw and their palm does not touch the mouse.
The built quality is great. The red paint job is very nice and the rubber grip is always appreciated. Remember, its not rubber-ish feel that gives an impression of a "smooth finish"- Its an actual rubber grip.
Moving on, There is a feature called angle-snapping. According to CM's own blog:
There are many names for it, but Angle Snapping is essentially prediction. It can be used for various reasons such as drawing straight lines, making accurate flick-shots in FPS games, and other purposes.
However, angle snapping did more harm than good in my case when I played Unreal tournament 2007, L4D, Half Life 2 and Mass effect. Angle-snapping in a way "mis-aligns" the cross-hair for you. Even during sniping a moving target or going trigger-happy, its not going to keep you happy.
The mouse feels as if made keeping FPS gamers in mind, as far as my experience goes. The mouse comes with 32kb onboard memory. There's no screen where it can display DPI levels/Profile. There's no multiple profile setting on the mouse. All it seem to store are the DPI level (there is no x axis/y axis DPI setting) Macro settings with other settings such as pointer acceleration. It would have been nice to have some indication (LED) to know which DPI level you're using. Its not a con for those who will stick to a single DPI setting.
The DPI setting on the mouse has 3 DPI presets by default: 800dpi, 1800 DPI and 3500 DPI. It doesn't end there. DPI level feels different due to the firmware as well. CM Storm has 3 firmwares for this mouse: 30a, 31 and 32.
F/w Version Breakdown:
F/W ver. 30a - Surface detection improvements including update for correct 800dpi. Stock LOD.
F/w ver. 31 - Very low LOD, great for dark mousepads
F/w ver. 32 - Slightly higher LOD, great for dark mousepads
The only way I was comfortable playing with 800dpi with this mousepad was 32. Do note, there is a surface detection different between 30a and 31/32, but 800dpi via 30a feels "sluggish" and you end up dragging a lot. But firmware 32 with dark mousepad (cloth mousepad to say the least), it does a great job. Firmware 31 is also good provided you have lesser lift-off distance. My liftoff distance is usually more than 2 cms. from the mousepad. Anything lower, 31 is the one for you. I am not really sure what Coolermaster meant by saying "Stock lift-off distance".
There are lot of dark surface mousepads out there so most of the FPS players will be sticking to 32firmware. I don't really have any other pad (dark/light- with prints/without prints with/without hard/cloth surface). Clearly, a feeling and response of the gaming mouse depends a lot on grip, surface and firmwares but if you ask me, we never had this much thought to be put up atleast with older mouses.
This mouse uses optical sensor- and I am glad. Unlike the previous mouse I tested with twin laser mouse which had drifting issues on a cloth surface mousepad, this worked the way it should. Yeah- stick to optical sensors, atleast away from twin laser surface if its really required or if you can those that issue fixed.
The mouse is incredibly lightweight. Con for some, Pros for some. I found it to be more agile and didn't really make much different for. It felt to be somewhere around how my MX518 weighs.
Concise, yet everything an FPS player needs. You can remap all the 7 buttons on the mouse. It lets you make 4 macro settings, each allowing 10 keyboard-only keystrokes for macro. Custom is where you can change the 3-step DPI setting on your mouse.
Conclusion
You'll need to spend some time with the initial setup (figuring out which firmwares work well for your surface) but other than that, this is a good to go claw grip mouse. Remember, my conclusion is limited because I don't have other mousepads to evaluate with AND I am only FPS gamer.
If you don't bother yourself with those advanced macro and multiple profile setup, exhaustive software options, right-handed claw grip and really want a good built mouse with nice grip, surprisingly (I am using this word purely because of my recent hands-on with CM Storm Sentinel Zero-G and Inferno) this is a good hassle-less mouse that you should shortlist.
This costs about Rs. 2,129- give or take.
My personal thanks to Coolermaster not using THOSE twin-laser sensors. Inferno can be in the same league if it uses the same optical sensor- atleast I do not believe why not!!