A few months ago we reviewed the Raptor K2 keyboard , the cheap and less than cheerful followup to the excellent (and rather expensive) original K1. Unlike many companies, our less than positive review didn't deter Raptor Gaming from supplying us with their newest gaming mouse the "M3". The M3 is the highest specification mouse in their newest series.

Technical detail
• High resolution laser gaming mouse
• Resolution adjustable by hardware in steps (400 dpi, 800 dpi, 1600 dpi, 2000 dpi)
• Resolution adjustable by software in steps (400dpi up to 2400dpi)
• 9 different weight settings (120gr. - 140gr.)
• Special Design for right-handed use
• Special Soft-Touch Surface
• Flexible 2.5m USB cable
• 6 buttons incl. mouse wheel
• 2 sets of additional mouse sliders

The M3 is targeted firmly at the gaming market and as you can see from the picture above comes supplied in a nifty looking silver tin.

Opening the tin we are greeted with a plethora of additional goodies, aimed to enhance the experience which include: Raptor Mousebag, Raptor Weightbag, Quick installation guide, 2 sets of additional mouse gliders, application software CD.

Above you can see the aforementioned bags, which may very well prove useful to a gamer who attends lan parties on a regular basis and wants to ensure his mouse is transported safely. A little overkill for me personally but a nice touch nonetheless. You will notice there is also a smaller bag which is used for the transportation of the various weights supplied, but ill delve into that shortly.

The manual is clearly written and exceptionally easy to follow and details all the mouse functionality.

The mouse itself is a stylish affair, and for some reason reminded me initially of a Manta Ray. Not sure this is quite what Raptor Gaming have envisioned however! Impressions of the mouse are that it appears well built, although perhaps not quite in the same league as a high end Logitech mouse. This is primarily due to the chassis and the lightness of the unit. It weighs 120grams as standard with the option of adding various weights (into the chassis) to fine tune the gaming experience to individual requirements. I'll cover this shortly, but first lets take a quick look at the CD installation so we have the correct drivers installed on our system.

The CD is a "universal" disc with drivers and PDF documentation for all Raptor Gaming products - the inclusion of PDF's detailing the technical information of the entire product range is a welcome addition. Apart from annoying audio bongs and clicks during installation, the procedure is painless and didn't even require a reboot.

Once it is finished the familar sight of the Raptor "Eye" is evident in the taskbar and the screens above show the various options the mouse offers to the targeted gamers.

Raptor supply some high glide self adhesive "feet" which attach to the bottom of the mouse, if you like a quick moving mouse. Not everyone does, so the optional attachment is a nice addition and commendable. A total of 8 are supplied which will come in handy later if you end up losing a few during a sweaty fragfest.

One of the key elements of the M3 which I briefly mentioned earlier is the fact you can tailor the mouse weight to suit your hand and arm. Logitech were the first to bring this idea to the market with their successful G5 mouse, this used a weighted tray slot device which slid into the underside of the unit.

Raptor however use a different system to Logitech. Firstly the M3 is adjustable in 9 steps. (120 gr., 122,5 gr.,125 gr., 127,5 gr., 130 gr., 132,5 gr., 135 gr., 137,5 gr. and 140 gr.)

While the massive array of weights supplied certainly looks impressive, I cannot help but feel that Logitech's tray system implementation is somewhat more elegant.

To increase the weight of the mouse from the standard 120g, you simply pull on the front of the unit to detach and open.

Experimenting with the various weights you should be able to find one which will make the mouse suit your arm strength. I found the maximum 20g weight worked best for me, so once you insert the weight, you use one of the screws supplied to fix it firmly in place.

This is when I ran into some issues. Firstly, you really DO need to screw the weight firmly into place as it tends to rattle about when you attach the front of the chassis, which is annoying. To compound the problem further no screwdriver is supplied so you will need to have a tiny jewellers style phillips handy. Unfortunately, the screws supplied didn't seem to lock the weight firmly in place so some movement was still apparent, which again was irritating. Not wanting to resort to superglue and being the ingenious guy I am, I used a few of the spare self adhesive feet (mentioned above) under the metal weight to stop it rattling around when it was screwed into the unit. I am hoping Raptor decide at a later date to include some foam padding in the weight area to stop this from happening.

The shape of the mouse is certainly not going to appeal to left handed people, nor is it going to be a big seller for those with average or small hands as it is very wide. I however found it was a perfect fit for my large hands. It is really difficult to judge the size of a mouse in a review so I have included some shots with a Microsoft Intellimouse, Kensington Wireless, Logitech G5 and a Logitech MX518.

As you can clearly see, the mouse is no longer than the Logitech's however it is around 20% wider, with a fin style lip on the right. I found this extremely comfortable as I could rest my little finger here, however I could see those with small hands not being able to handle this mouse in a comfortable manner.

While we are on the subject of ergonomics, special mention must be made to the long 2.5 meters of USB cable which should prove a massive benefit for those who dislike wireless mice and have their PC far away from their desk.

The pictures above detail the DPI switching mechanism, similar in execution to the Logitech G5. To activate you press the large button at the bottom which turns from red to green. Once green, the mouse wheel raises and lowers the LED light. With each LED light increase it depicts another DPI "zone" within the software application above. Mouse sensitivity is adjustable from 400 dpi to 2000 dpi within the various zones. In real world conditions this works very well and offers a much higher level of adjustment than any mouse i have tried. You can also adjust the double click speed from 100ms to 1 second, this should safely cover all bases.

So is it actually any good?

All the tin boxes, bags, weights and novelty extras in the world are totally meaningless if the mouse optics suck, and thankfully I am glad to report that the M3 is a stellar mouse. The level of adjustable options are simply incredible and I can see die hard gamers adjusting each DPI zone via the software for almost every possible gaming situation. Personally I found 800dpi to be a perfect "real world" experience for using windows and for heavy Photoshop use. This is surprisingly an area I found this mouse really excelled in, that being design. You can really get down to some serious fine tuning if you find a specific resolution is too juddery and with every resolution from 400dpi to 2000dpi available at your fingertips (2400dpi via software) I can see this really appealing to not only gamers but designers/CAD users. 2000dpi is extremely sensitive and even for First Person Shooters I found this to be a little extreme, so I ended up settling on 1200-1600dpi for most gaming. Everyone will have different needs for their gaming styles, but with this sophisicated configuration you will be able to find a setting to suit.

As this mouse has just been released, pricing right now is sketchy at best, but Raptor PR have told me they aim to release it in the £35-40 zone. If this is the case and you have largish hands, even with the minor weight fitting issue I mentioned above, I suggest this is put on your shortlist immediately.

The Raptor M3 comes with a 3 year warranty

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