The Scimitar is an MMO mouse with 12 mechanical side buttons and two more buttons on the top, in addition to the standard left, right and middle buttons (and wheel). It features customizable RGB lighting and has a solid braided cable for plugging it in. The 12 mechanical side buttons are adjustable in their position by using a hex key (included). This mouse works best with a palm grip and is for right-handed users.
This mouse is the successor to the M95. I have been using the M95 for a while now and have very much enjoyed using it. As the Scimitar is designed to completely replace the M95, a comparison is quite fitting. I’ll start with the hardware, then move onto the software.
The first thing I noticed upon receiving my Scimitar was that the build is not as good as the M95. The M95 is an extremely solid mouse – it feels fantastic, and has a thick plate of aluminium running along the bottom. I feel like you could use the M95 as an effective weapon in a zombie apocalypse. The Scimitar, in comparison, feels much weaker. It’s important to note that compared to any other mouse, I don’t think the Scimitar is weaker, or built badly – but it does take a step back compared to Corsair’s previous offering, which went beyond the mark.
Something else that doesn’t feel as good is the left and right click, at least to my preference. The M95 used a very light click, requiring very little movement for actuation. The Scimitar, in comparison, requires more movement to actuate. This was an issue at first. I adapted to it after a few hours, but if I try rapid-clicking, I can click the M95 faster than the Scimitar.
The side buttons on the Scimitar are overall better for me. The buttons are much more densely packed, and my initial concern was that I would have trouble with the accuracy of my button presses, however this has not been an issue for me, partly due to the nice texturing of the different columns. The sliding keypad is a genuinely good feature, so at least Corsair have redeemed themselves a little with this. I have it positioned all the way to the front of the mouse – depending on your grip or hand size, you may wish to position it elsewhere.
On the topic of positives, I find this mouse to be very comfortable, even more-so than the M95. This will depend on the user, but I love the new grip on the right side. The mouse has also been upgraded to use a very good zero-acceleration sensor, so that’s always nice. I do feel like I’ve been aiming better with this mouse.
Hardware wise, things probably are looking like a mixed bag right now. I think if you compare this mouse to any other plastic mouse, you probably won’t see why I’m complaining about the build. I’m being more critical here because Corsair have stepped back a little with their build quality. This is not what made me love Corsair as a company – I have been a good customer for Corsair largely due to premium build quality, and I would hate to see that fade away.
Onto the software – all of Corsair’s newer products are configured using the Corsair Utility Engine software, or CUE for short. CUE is extremely functional – it seems like you can make your Corsair products fly themselves to the moon with this software. It’s impossible for me to cover everything – for that, you’ll have to refer to Corsair’s 153-page manual.
RGB lighting is cool, but I’ve always viewed it as a gimmick. The mouse has several lighting zones, with a huge amount of customization. The effects are cool, but they aren’t really functional. There is an exception however – there is a lighting zone next to the keypad, on the left side of the mouse, toward the front. This zone faces you and changes colour depending on your DPI. If you like to switch DPI in-game, e.g. with a sniper mode for more controllable aiming, you can set this light to change colour to tell you that you are in sniper mode, or that you have increased DPI to the next level. It’s nice to see functional lighting.
What do you bind to 12 side-buttons? Pretty much anything you want. You can bind any keyboard or mouse key, and you can even create and bind complex macros – macros can even record mouse position, mouse clicks and the scroll wheel.
Although this is advertised as an MMO mouse, I use it for all my games, even fast-paced first person shooters – I very much enjoy Dirty Bomb for example, using this mouse. I think you should be able to hit several of the 12 side buttons quickly, in a ‘twitch’ or fast response situation. Using Dirty Bomb as an example, I bind a sniper button, my two special abilities and crouch. That’s only four out of 12 buttons – that’s fairly typical for most of my games. The idea is that in MOBAS, you will need all 12 buttons – however I don’t play these types of games.
In summary, it’s a good mouse. It’s just disappointing to see Corsair take a step back in some aspects of build quality when compared with the M95, however it still gets the job done. So where does this put the Scimitar? Overall – I would say it is an improvement, just not in all regards. The more plastic-y build isn’t a detriment to my gaming, and I do prefer the feel of the new adjustable side buttons. In terms of solid facts, the sensor is better – you should expect the mouse to respond 1:1 when you move it. The mouse is overall more comfortable, and as I use a palm grip, I appreciate the ergonomics.
I would recommend this mouse to any gamer and I do think it’s worth buying.
This review is also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1X3B2DXBH8XU9/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
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