In today’s market a company cannot maintain a single vertical portfolio and survive. We have seen this more times that we can count. You just cannot do it. If all you make is motherboards, you are eventually going to get left behind. If all you make is power supplies… well you get the point I am making. So it is not surprising to see companies begin to branch out and manufacture different products. Sometimes these products do not even seem to be related, but if they are good they can increase sales and also bring in new customers for the core business. Cooler Master did this not that long ago. The branched off their PC Enclosure business and created a new “gamers” line of cases dubbed CM Storm. Almost right after this line launched they began making peripherals for gamers as well. These products have included Mice, Head Sets, and Keyboards. So far we have spent some quality time with three of their mice and the Sirus headset. Today we are looking at another gaming mouse called the Xornet. This product shares a similar style with their Spawn mouse but not the same level of hardware. Let’s take a look and see if the new Xornet is a worthy addition to the CM Storm line.
The CM Storm Xornet -As we told you in the introduction the Xornet is built along the same style as the Spawn. This means it is an ergonomically shapped “claw” style mouse. This style of mouse allows you to relax your hand over the mouse instead of gripping it. It works with smaller and larger hands and is controlled primarily by your thumb and ring finger (for side for side to side movement). There is a sloped surface along the right hand side of the mouse that you can rest your ring finger on while your pinky sits comfortably on the padded rubber surface on the right side of the mouse. Your thumb rests on another rubber pad on the left side.
Just above where your thumb rests are two buttons, these are forward and back buttons for browsing (but can be customized if your game allows). The right and left mouse buttons have a slightly rough texture to them which gives a good grip and a tactile response to your fingers. Underneath these are five million-click Omron micro switches which means you can do a lot of clicking before these will go out. In-between the two mouse buttons is the scroll wheel (which acts like a third mouse button also) and the DPI adjustment buttons. The Xornet has a three DPI options 500, 1000, and 2000 DPI, its image processing capabilities are listed at 2600 FPS. This means you do not have to worry about your GPU out performing your mouse.
Flipping the Xornet over on its back we get a glimpse of the 2000DPI optical sensor. Again this is identical to the Spawn in placement (if not in resolution). You get the same large Teflon feet to prevent the mouse from grabbing if you run a little beyond the limit of your mousing surface. Over all the Xornet is a well-built mouse with plenty to offer n paper, including a 6.6 foot USB cable. Now we just need to see if it works well for gaming, general usage and productivity work.
