The day when a computer peripheral company partners with a Seven Eleven is the day I will dress in a pink leotard.

Well, I guess I am going to dress in a pink leotard, because that’s exactly what SteelSeries has done.  For a limited time only, you can choose PayNearMe as a checkout option and receive free shipping.  You then print out your confirmation, and pay at your local Seven Eleven.  Who would have thought that us gamers would actually have to leave our houses…

Full PR: Click Here

Ladies and ladies, and some guys, ZOWIE has officially announced the ZOWIE Divina collection and it’s starring the MiCO.  This is an RTS mouse designed by STARTALE, and was first seen used in the ZOWIE DIVINA tournament.  There seems to be more of these products on the way, so check out the links and the gallery!

Now all we need is those pink/blue BenQ XL2410Ts!  GET TO IT!

Review: Click Here

Full PR: Click Here

[Show as slideshow]

Alright guys, I have some good stuff for you this time.  FRAGBOSS will be hosting two contests this month, the winners will be chosen on the final day of January.

The first contest is for a new SteelSeries Kana Black 1.1.  This is a FRAGBOSS.com contest, so all registered users are able to win, the winner will be notified via private message on this site, so please keep active.  There are some guidelines though, and you have to follow these if you want to win:

• You must be a registered user on the site
• Your profile has to have an uploaded picture, no profanity
• You have to have at least commented once on any topic, or posted in the forums
• All residents of Earth welcomed

The second contest is a FaceBook contest.  All you have to do is simply like FaceBook, and you will automatically be entered to win a new SteelSeries Kinzu v2 Pro Silver Edition.  The winner will be notified on FaceBook via FRAGBOSS, but there are some guidelines to this contest as well:

• You must have liked FRAGBOSS on FaceBook
• You must have commented, reposted, or posted on the FRAGBOSS wall
• All residents of Earth welcomed

Thank you for reading, and I will try to do these monthly.

Any questions, please email me, ethan@fragboss.com

Winners!

All winners were chosen at random, and had to follow the guidelines of the contest. With that said, here are your winners:

Winner of the SteelSeries Kana is Don Frain!

Winner of the SteelSeries Kinzu v2 Pro is Logan Montgomery!

I will be contacting each of you within 24 hours of this post, if I don’t get a response in 48 hours, I will pick new winners. Stay tuned for a new contest tomorrow!

Thanks guys for viewing the site!

[Show as slideshow]

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

First Impressions

The box is basically the same, it has a nice window of the product on the front, and is clearly meant for retail shops. It’s a shame there really aren’t any shops around in the USA that carry SteelSeries’ products, or gaming products in general.

Taking the mouse out of the package, I get a sign of deja vu. I’ve used this mouse before, I’m certain of it, but I haven’t. I couldn’t have possibly used this mouse yet, since it’s new. It just resembles the Kinzu in every shape, because it’s literally the exact same shape as the original. There isn’t a single design aspect that has changed, as far as ergonomics are concerned. The only thing externally that has changed is the appearance and the nice teflon mouse feet on the bottom.

The Kinzu v2 Pro comes in three different colors: Black, Silver, and Red. I have the Black and Silver editions to review. There is also another flavor of this mouse, and that is the plain Kinzu v2. The regular version does not have teflon mouse feet, or the Omron switches. The Kinzu v2 comes in Rubber Black, Orange, Yellow, and White. I wish the Kinzu v2 Pro came in a Rubber Black finish, like the original. The Kinzu v2 comes with three mouse buttons, mouse 1, mouse 2, and mouse 3; there are no side buttons.

With the Kinzu v2 Pro, I can definitely feel the differences in the main switches, which are now Omron switches. They take less force to press down, and last a lot longer than traditional TTC switches, which both the Kinzu v2 and Kana have. The mouse wheel has a little play in it, which causes some scrolling at the slightest touch, another issue with the original Kinzu in my opinion.

As mentioned earlier, the three large mouse feet on the bottom are a nice teflon. They are actually teflon, not plastic. On cloth, the glide is pretty fast, and on plastic the glide is even faster. It’s not uncontrollable, but it is a complete step forward over the original plastic mouse feet on the old Kinzu.

As for customizations, you get a CPI toggle button which will allow changes from 400, 800, 1600, and 3200CPI. You can assign the different profiles in the SteelSeries Engine, and you can also adjust the polling rate from 125, 250, 500, and 1000Hz. Unlike the Kana, only 3200CPI is interpolated and pretty much unusable. I would stick to 400 and 800CPI for best performance, but 1600CPI is a viable option.

Performance

The “v2” signifies much more than just an external redesign, there are different workings internally that makes this mouse an improvement over the original Kinzu. Both Kinzu v2, and Kinzu v2 Pro use the same sensor, which is a variant of the Kana. Unfortunately the performance is less on the Kinzu v2 than the Kana. It’s clear this is SteelSeries’ lower mouse when it comes to performance and size.

I’ve updated to the latest firmware, just to make sure I will get the same experience as the customer, and this sensor is not particularly fond of multi-colored mouse pads. Plain mouse pads have a higher malfunction speed, and do not have the bug that is associated with multi-colored mouse pads. If you swipe past the malfunction speed, instead of hitting massive negative acceleration, your crosshair or pointer will shoot to the sky. This does not happen with a regular black mouse pad, like a QcK. It only happens with the team QcK+ mouse pads, like the Fnatic or NaVi mouse pad.

I regularly use the NaVi QcK+ mouse pad, and this proved to be an issue with the Kinzu v2 and a lower sensitivity. While deathmatching, I often found myself shooting to the sky when flicking a lot. This doesn’t bother me too much, because I’ve played Counter-Strike long enough that you don’t have to position yourself the same way you would in a deathmatch. However, that is not to mask the flaw here, which is clearly apparent. With the Enotus mouse test program, I achieved an average of 2.47m/s or 97.24in/s. That is not the perfect control speed, it’s the malfunction speed. I would say the perfect control speed is within 60-70in/s. This is within the range of SteelSeries’ 65in/s claim, which is well within target to be deemed acceptable. Oddly, like the Kana, I couldn’t achieve a true 1000Hz, but was stuck at 964Hz and couldn’t go past that mark.

The accuracy is pretty nice, but the sensor only supports 3600FPS, which is quite low compared to some of the new mice out there. If you play at the suggest CPI levels, you will have no accuracy issues whatsoever. There is very little prediction, if any at all, which is a complete reversal from the original Kinzu which had a massive amount of prediction.

There is a pixel jumping bug associated with this sensor, but with the latest firmware it has vanished on all of the settings I tried. It’s nice to know SteelSeries kept this mouse updated, since it’s one of my favorite mouses of all time.

Conclusion

It’s clear SteelSeries has deemed this mouse number three out of six that they offer. First is the Sensei, Kana, Kinzu v2 Pro, Kinzu v2, Ikari Optical, and Ikari Laser. Though, one could argue that there are better features on the Kinzu v2 Pro than the Kana, but with a lesser sensor that is all speculation. Where some features thrive, others have been purposely tuned down. As a consumer, again, I am confused with how SteelSeries decides to placer features in certain mice, and bog down other features in the same mouse. Regardless, the Kinzu v2 Pro is an incredible mouse. Its design is simple and perfect. The mouse feet are teflon and quick. The switches are Omron and sensitive.

This mouse is perfect for the RTS player or an FPS player. There are no side buttons, so communication will have be sought after in a different way, like mouse 3. I would not recommend this mouse if you communicate a lot, since it’s difficult to without side buttons. If you use a multi-colored mouse pad, with a medium to low sensitivity, this mouse is unusable for you.

2011 brought us some great matches, great events, and some exceptional outcomes.  However, no single company that sponsors eSports teams can say they have accomplished what SteelSeries has done in the year 2011.  They seemed to have brought over $2 million, that’s $2,000,000, from prize winnings of their sponsored teams.  That’s a lot of zeros, and a lot more ones.

SteelSeries has also just announced new products from CES as well, make sure you check those out!

Full PR: Click Here

[Show as slideshow]

The Flux is a new gaming headset, designed specifically to use with your PC as well as mobile gaming systems. It features an in-line microphone, and two sets of jacks to plugin to different devices.

The Siberia v2 Frost Blue headset is the same headset we’ve all come to love, but overdosed with design. It screams TRON, but that is never a bad thing. The colors are subtle, but the appearance is vibrant. The light blue color on the side can bet set to pulse in different patterns, and it also seems to have some new ear pads.

The Ion is a new product altogether, which is a mobile gaming controller. It supports Bluetooth and can be connected to smartphones, tablets, PCs, etc. This product will allow developers to finally start designing games around a controller for mobile devices. Until now, there really hasn’t been a mainstream controller for the mobile guys. The Ion features a rechargeable battery, capable of holding up to a 20 hour charge.

The Kinzu v2 and Kinzu v2 Pro are completely revamped versions of the Kinzu. The Kinzu v2 uses an all new sensor, and a slight design change. The ergonomics remain completely unchanged, apart from the top coating which is glossy on all of the models except one. The Kinzu v2 Pro features Teflon mouse feet, whereas the Kinzu v2 does not. The normal edition is available in Orange, Yellow, Black, and White. The Kinzu v2 Pro is available in Silver, Red, and Black.

Finally, the Kana makes its official announcement. This mouse is a completely new design from SteelSeries, and one that received over 60,000 likes on Facebook. The design is very close to the Microsoft Intellimouse 1.1. It features an ambidextrous design, one side button on either side, teflon mouse feet, and a Pixart sensor capable of 130 inches per second.

[Show as slideshow]

First Impression

Just like every other headset SteelSeries sells, it is boxed in retail packaging.  Though there are no stores in the USA really that stock SteelSeries’ products, Internationally there are quite a lot of shops that do, and this packaging is perfect to showcase the product inside the box.  Taking the 7H Fnatic edition out of its packaging revealed the headset (duh), the micro USB to USB cable, the 3.5mm extension cable, and a set of plain cloth ear pads.  I was a little shocked that they did not include the leatherette ear pads as well, but beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.

Putting the headset on for the first time was quite an experience.  The level of tightness is a little overwhelming, but after about an hour of gaming, I could feel the headset getting more comfortable.  Eventually it got to the point I didn’t really notice it was there, and this was partially due to the ear pads.  They provide a much better experience compared to the plain cloth, or the leatherette pads found in the normal 7H headset.  The Fnatic ear pads are cloth, but they have a hole pattern, like mesh.  This allows some air to come from the outside of the headset, into your ear.  It makes your ears cooler, but does allow some external noise to come through, but I would rather have cool ears than sweaty ones.  On a side note, frequent adjustments of the 7H caused creaking plastic some times.  That is to be expected when the headset is almost all plastic though.

The 7H offers a 50mm driver, basically the biggest you can fit into normal-sized over-the-ear headphones.  With drivers that big, you can expect to hear great mids and highs, with good precision.  There is also a dimantling aspect to the 7H, which is one of my favorite features of this headset.  The 5Hv2 dismantled into three pieces: two ears cups and the headband.  The 7H takes that a bit further and dismantles into four: two ear cups, headband, and the detatchable cord.  Being able to detatch the cable is a really nice feature, since so many gamers roll over it with their chair, or get up without taking their headset off.  I am guilty of both, and the detatchable cable kind of acts like a safety feature.  If you pull on it hard enough, the cable will detatch without ruining the plug or breaking the cable.  This is perfect for LANning because many times I’ve become too excited when participating in LANs, and I can see this allowing the headset to last longer.

Performance

As I said before, I’ve used this headset quite freqeuntly, and I enjoyed it every time I got a chance to review it.  However, everything is not golden when it comes to the 7H, in particular with the sound.  For a gaming headset, it’s among the best in my opinion, but as a pair of music headphones, it can be quite lacking.

In games, you can hear just about the entire soundstage that the game was designed to give.  You can hear the subtle sounds very clearly, and you can pinpoint exactly where they came from with no confusion.  There is a little more bass than the Siberias v2, but not much more.  In a gaming headset, you want low bass, or at least precise bass, which the 7H offers the first of the two.  There is not a lot of bass, and that is a good thing, because it’s not precise at all.  Listening to music you can hear the true colors of the headset, the highs and mids are quite decent, but the lows are muddy.  Any sound that drives a bit of bass you can hear it getting lost, but you are buying a gaming headset and not a pair of audiophile headphones.

The microphone is really good, and it’s a nice feature that it can be tucked away when not using it.  In voice communication software, my team could hear me quite nicely and had no issues with static whatsoever.  In-game was treated just as nicely, with great detail in the microphone and no static.  Overall, one of the better microphones from a gaming headset.

Conclusion

In my book, the 7H Fnatic edition is a winner.  I’ve always loved my Siberia v2s, but the 7H I think offers a bit more precise audio when it comes to games.  The 7H is a bit more enclosed, and that allows the audio to be a little more precise over the Siberia v2, it also gives the audio a different sound.  Both headsets use the same 50mm driver, and both have their own positives and negatives.  If you are looking for a really nice and comfortable headset, I would chose the 7H over the Siberia v2s.  If price does become a factor, the Siberia v2s are always an excellent choice, but for gaming the 7Hs will give you some advantages.

[Show as slideshow]

First Impression

The retail box is the same, but with Fnatic all over it. The documentation is the same; everything is the same as the original Sensei except the actual mouse. The original Sensei has a glossy top texture with a rubber finish on the left and right side of the mouse. I’m not a fan of split designs, meaning one half glossy, the other half matte/rubber. If I were to make a mouse, it would be all glossy or all rubber finish. There isn’t a middle ground for me because it causes my hand to sweat more. With that said, if you are going to split the textures, they should be rubber top and glossy sides, that is my personal preference. I feel myself maintaining a much better grip with the Fnatic Sensei over the original.

The top coat of the Fnatic Sensei is like the Xai or Kinzu, but the texture is a little smoother. The sides are a glossy plastic, but they seem to be a little “stickier” than normal glossy plastic. It feels like its painted plastic, but I can’t be certain, almost like the Intellimouse 1.1 SE. The color scheme is changed as well, Fnatic colors in all of their glory! Black and orange is not a bad looking combination, that’s for sure. The top is black, the sides are white, and the scroll wheel and side buttons are orange. You can customize the scroll wheel LED, the CPI toggle LED, and Fnatic logo LED. The bottom of the mouse is largely unchanged, just with Fnatic printed on the logo, and you can still customize the LCD on the bottom with a bitmap of your own. I was a bit shocked to see the logo included was not a Fnatic one though, but a SteelSeries one.

Performance

Since this is the first review for my new site, I am going to take a different approach to the performance section. I am going to list raw numbers that are generated by Enotus’ mouse test. They will each be run five times and then averaged. I will compare them to the Kinzu in this case, since it is the other offering from SteelSeries.

This is the first mouse I’ve done these tests with, but every mouse will have this test done on different DPI levels as well. First up we have 400DPI, averaging 5.12 m/s. The highest was 5.92 m/s and slowest was 4.7 m/s. Out of all three DPI tests, 400DPI was the most consistent. At 800DPI we have 4.66 m/s, with a high of 5.10 m/s and a low of 4.21 m/s. Lastly we have 1600DPI averaging at 4.42 m/s, with a high of 5.29 m/s, and a low of 3.56 m/s. This test did not perform well at higher DPI levels, and I would suggest sticking to the lower values with the Sensei. All of these tests were done on a SteelSeries QcK+ NaVi edition. I know, NaVi mouse pad and Fnatic mouse… Max tracking speed did not change much when I switched to a hard mouse pad like the 9HD, just made the numbers a little more consistent. The mouse performed rather well actually, much better than I thought given how poorly the Xai tracked on cloth pads. To compare the Sensei to the Kinzu is kind of a joke, since my Kinzu topped out at 2.49 m/s. Yet, my preferred mouse is the Kinzu, oh well.

I will attach a paint file showing different settings of prediction as well. I will also note that the acceleration plague with the Avago 9500 seems to be dampened, and the performance on cloth pads has improved. Also on a side note, which I did not test on my other Sensei review, higher DPIs are extremely bad. There is bad interpolation and horrible tracking on 3200+DPI. Just look at the paint picture and you will see.

The glide of the mouse I think is more important than a max tracking speed, in my opinion. Without a good glide, you will go bonkers trying to get precise movements anyway. With the ACTUAL Teflon mouse feet on the Sensei, there is no need to worry about a poor glide. You get a smooth, somewhat slow glide from the large mouse feet on the bottom. There are no issues on hard or soft mouse pads, it simply glides like you would expect a gaming mouse to.

Each button performs well too, especially mouse one and two. They both utilize Omron switches. All other switches use TTC switches. Mouse one and two are a much softer click than the others, obviously because of the Omron switches, but I figured I would share my thoughts. The scroll wheel is nice, it did scroll with a slight touch though, which I don’t like since I use mouse3 for voice chat. Regardless, not too many people will do that with the four other side buttons to use.

Conclusion

I think the Fnatic Sensei is an upgrade over the original Sensei. Not necessarily from a performance point-of-view, but a comfort aspect. The rubber finished top helped me maintain a better grip, while the glossy sides allowed easy repositioning of my fingers. This is what the Sensei should have been, or at least two versions: glossy or rubber. If you are looking at a Sensei, look at the Fnatic version if it is available, as it has become one of my favorite mice so far.

[Show as slideshow]

First Impressions

As always, I look at the box first. I am used to plain boxes from ZOWIE, just barely big enough to fit the product. The MiCO proves to be no exception, and the only contents actually in the box are the mouse and a sticker. There is nomanual, because there doesn’t need to be one, it’s 100% driverless. On the back of the box you will find some specifications and an overview of the mouse. On the one side, it explains how to change the DPI on the mouse, and it’s quite clever. All you have to do is hold mouse 1 and 2, then scroll up or down. The mouse wheel will change color indicating which DPI you are on, and those increments are 400/800/1600.

The texture on the mouse is like a matte plastic, not soft touch. I like that much better than soft touch, because the rubbery finish always makes my hands sweat more. Along the sides there is a shiny plastic groove, which wraps around the mouse. I am assuming this is just for design purposes, as I see no real practical use for it. It does make the mouse look a lot more sophisticated though. The mouse wheel is a clear rubber, with small indents all the way around. The actual scrolling could be better, it doesn’t seem to set in each detent very well, more so skip over each one. Regardless, each scroll is affirmative and registers very well. The only two buttons on this mouse are the two top ones: mouse 1 and mouse 2. Both have a really clicky feel, and this is for the RTS players out there. Every click you make with this mouse will register without any issues. There is also a pretty good amount of travel to the clicks, which I like a lot.

Now onto the design of the mouse, the physical shape. The mouse itself is incredibly tiny, almost about 45% smaller than a normal gaming mouse. That’s tiny, but more and more companies are realizing that’s what a lot of gamers want. This is also a no holds barred claw grip mouse. There is absolutely no way around it, you can’t palm this mouse. If you do try to, your index finger will hang over the mouse buttons, making the grip very awkward. With that said, I am a claw grip player, so this mouse feels like it was designed for me. It’s just wide enough at the base to hold comfortably, and just narrow enough in the front for your two fingers. As far as I have experienced, this is the best claw grip design I have personally used. I can say that with confidence. On the bottom of the mouse is where I also believe the RTS-inspired design shows. Instead of having large mouse feet, you have very tiny ‘dots’. The dots allow less friction and more speed. It allows total, uncomprimised movement of the mouse, which is exactly what RTS and FPS gamers alike will want.

Performance

I tested this mouse on the new ZOWIE G-TF Speed mouse pad, which works exquisitely well. The first thing I noticed was how fast the glide was. It’s much faster than most of the recent mice that have been released, and that is just because of how tiny the mouse feet are. They actually aren’t even mouse feet really, more so than mouse toes. Anyway, since the mouse feet are so tiny, the glide is slightly rougher. The good thing about a rough glide is you can tell the distance you traveled on the mouse pad much easier, which will help with quick flicks or long strides.After testing the acceleration or negative acceleration and malfunction speed, I can say without a doubt this is one of the best sensors on the market. I actually couldn’t get this mouse to malfunction, and that is a first out of all of the mice I’ve used. I put my sensitivity all the way down to 1, and I still couldn’t get it to malfunction. It got to the point where I was flicking so hard I smashed my hand into the wall, and that’s when I stopped. ( -_- )

As for acceleration and negative acceleration, with my extremely scientific test, which consists of moving it from one side of the mouse pad to the other, I couldn’t find any. The slowest turn resulted in the same position as the fastest swipe I could achieve. I can’t say if this sensor is technically the best on the market, but in real world experience, it is the best I have used. Aside from the fact there was virtually no positive or negative acceleration that I could tell, and I couldn’t get the MiCO to malfunction, this mouse has very little prediction! The perfect mouse? Perhaps, definitely one worthy of any serious gamer’s attention.

Conclusion

I like ZOWIE products, and that isn’t because they were a smaller company, but because they make truly incredible products. They are refreshing their products, and learning from their mistakes more than any other company on the market. They have remarkable support, and truly care for gamers. The MiCO is the best claw grip mouse on the market, whether you use it for RTS or FPS. It simply works, and it exceeded all of my expectations I had for this micro mouse. ZOWIE hit another homerun with this mouse, and I hope they continue to release products at the rate they have been doing so!