Introduction

SteelSeries have a established themselves a fine reputation as a solid producer of quality PC gaming peripherals, so as I review this mouse I have high hopes for a product which does exactly as it says it will at a high level. The Steelseries Kinzu optical mouse, described as being ‘in a league of its own’ with regards to reliability and stability, can be picked up for the relatively low price of £21 (or $33 US Dollars).

About Steelseries

“SteelSeries Kinzu was developed in close cooperation with professional gamers to set new standards for performance in optical mice. The Gaming Grade image correlation sensor has been optimized to improve stability and eliminate jitter.”

So What Does This Mean?

Expect a very high quality product! Steel series are very proud of the fact that they work with the consumers rather than just staying in the labs and doing what they think is going to be effective and work well (see their about pages on their website for more.) Some readers may be concerned/put off by the fact that this is an optical mouse rather than a laser mouse (the DPI count on mice made with the latter is significantly higher) but there are still many gamers who opt for the optical mouse. This too means that the price of this mouse can be kept much lower than any of the new laser mice – possibly a selling point for those on a budget – and with a good mat many argue that the difference is negligible at any rate.

Specifications

• Frames per second: 9.375
• Inches per second: 50
• Megapixels per second: 3.75
• Counts Per Inch (CPI): 400 – 3200
• Acceleration: 20 G
• Buttons: 3
• Cord: 2 m / 7,9 ft (braided to improve durability)
• Polling: up to 1000 Hz
• Lift distance: ~2.0mm
• Large pressure points that reduce friction for optimized glide
• Driverless, plug-and-play feature for LAN gamers
• Built-in memory for 3 profiles
• Measurements: 117 x 64 x 36 mm / 4,6 x 2,5 x 1,43 in
• Operating systems: Win XP / Vista / Win 2000 / Mac OS

*Configuration software only available for Windows operating systems

Features

• Ambidextrous lightweight ergonomic finger-tip / palm design
• Slip-resistant coating for superior mouse grip and control
• Gaming Grade optimizations for pro gaming CPI values
• CPI toggle for on-the-fly high & low sensitivity adjustments
• Customizable report rate between 125hz-1000hz / 1 ms response time.
• 3200 Counts Per Inch
• 9375 Frames Per Second
• Acceleration on/off toggle via software
• 50 Inches Per Second and 20G of acceleration
• Low-friction high-performance polyethylene feet

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