In the gaming world there are few things as annoying as not having the right tools to keep up in your favorite game. Just ask any gamer about trying to play with a bad internet or LAN connection, or a slow keyboard or a buggy mouse and you will get an earful. Because of this an entire new industry sprang up a few years ago just to address this. This is the eSports industry and it is a monster. Right now we have a ton of items that are listed as “for gamers”, but the question is: what is really a gaming peripheral and what is not. In most people’s minds a gaming peripheral should be high-end in terms of performance and build quality. It should have features that benefit gaming in multiple ways while having a sense of style and customization. Today we check out a peripheral from Genius named DeathTaker that is allegedly meant just for gaming. Let’s find out if it really deserves the name.
Performance -To test the performance of the DeathTaker I stacked it up against my G5 laser gaming mouse the original Sentinel and the Thermaltake Level10M. I played through several levels of Batman Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 3, and Call of Duty Black Ops and Bioshock Infinite. I played each of these for one hour using each mouse to gauge hand and wrist fatigue and also accuracy and ease of use. I then sat down for some detailed Photoshop CS5 editing. These tests would be using the eraser tool and the cloning tool to edit and clean up small details in images. Unfortunately as these tests are all subjective I can only offer you my experience with it at this time.
Gaming -Our gaming experience was good, but due to some comfort issues it could have been better. During our testing we had good accuracy and response when moving around, we did not see some of the typical lift-off issues (when you have to pick up the mouse to reposition) that are present in other mice. Where we did have an issue is with the cover for the weights. After about 30 minutes our hand began to feel like it was cramping. The reason for this is that there is a ridge in a place where most palms will want to fold over the mouse. Sadly this made our gaming experience less than what it could have been.
Photoshop Editing -Editing with Photoshop was clean and easy with the DeathTaker, but again we have a feeling you will experience comfort issues if you are working with it for a long period of time.
Comfort -This was the big issue with the DeathTaker as we have mentioned. It was simply not comfortable to use for extended periods of time. The biggest issue was with the ridge along the weight cover. This one flaw in design gave us cramps after about 30 minutes of continuous use (like during gaming). Other items that we had an issue with, comfort wise, was the length of the mouse from front to back. The DeathTaker is a little on the short side for most normal sized hands which puts your fingers or your palm in an awkward position on the mouse. For smaller hands this length of the mouse was not a concern, but the ridge still is.
