INTRODUCTION

   Much like most hardware components and peripherals choosing the right mouse for the job has become way more complex lately. You see once upon a time (10 years ago is not really so long) the only two things consumers needed to check when out to get a brand new mouse were its shape (ergonomic/ambidextrous and of course based on the type of grip one preferred to use) and the specifications of the optical/laser sensor under its hood. Today however consumers need to check on numerous things including the number of buttons and the type of switches used, shape, optical/laser sensor specifications, RGB lighting and number of zones, type of cord and even the ease of use and available settings accessible from within its customization software. The Nightsword RGB is the latest gaming mouse to be released from our friends over at CORSAIR and today we're checking it out to see exactly what it has to offer.

   Founded in 1994, CORSAIR has grown from pioneering the high-performance DRAM market into one of the world’s leading providers of high-performance PC peripherals and components. CORSAIR offers a complete range of products to equip gamers, enthusiasts and e-sports athletes, including mechanical keyboards, precision gaming mice, wireless headsets, high-performance components that gamers use to build gaming PCs, and the CORSAIR ONE fully-integrated gaming PC. With a company-wide commitment to quality, innovative design, advanced features and high performance, CORSAIR products have won thousands of media and industry awards, earning their place in gamers’ hands and PCs following years of development and engineering by a team dedicated to building great products they themselves would want to use.

   For the brand new Nightsword RGB Performance Tunable FPS/MOBA Gaming Mouse CORSAIR decided to use the same custom PMW3391 optical sensor by Pixart as they did with the GLAIVE RGB PRO (review here) and IRONCLAW RGB (review here) and RGB Wireless (review here) models which features a maximum native resolution of up to 18.000DPI (dots per inch - adjustable in single DPI increments), maximum speed of 400IPS (inches per second) and 50G's acceleration. This was probably a good move by CORSAIR since the PMW3391 is among the best sensors we've used lately both in terms of performance and accuracy. The Nightsword RGB is also equipped with OMRON switches for its primary buttons (up to 50 million clicks), a total of 8 fully programmable buttons (10 including the front/back of the scroll wheel), smart tunable weight system (21g extra via 6 weights - the center of gravity is automatically detected via the iCUE software), 3 DPI modes/presets (4 with the sniper one), 1000Hz report/polling rate and a 4-zone RGB dynamic lighting system with a total of 13 different effects. Finally, as with most of their peripherals CORSAIR covers the Nightsword RGB with a 2-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

CORSAIR continues to use their black and yellow box that has a large product picture at the front right beneath their logo and above the product name and the iCUE logo.

Another product picture is located on the left side.

The product features and the system requirements are listed at the rear of the box in 6 languages.

Along with the Nightsword RGB you are also getting a small weight carrying/storage box, warranty guide, WEEE paper and the user guide.

THE NIGHTSWORD RGB

CORSAIR has placed rubber coating over half of the Nightsword RGB (excluding its buttons) which as you can all see is a medium sized gaming mouse.

Three programmable buttons (including the Sniper button), a large rubberized textured area with a thumb grip/rest and the DPI selection LEDs are all located on the left side.

Two extra programmable buttons are placed on the top left side of the primary button.

Once again, the company logo is located at the rear of the mouse and is of course part of the dual zone RGB lighting system.

At the top of the Nightsword RGB we find two profile/DPI selection buttons.

A large rubberized textured area is also located on the right side of the mouse.

The rubberized clickable scroll wheel is as always placed right Infront of the DPI selection switches.

Turning the mouse over we find 5 large PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) feet and the PMW3391 optical sensor.

The PMW3391 optical sensor is placed in the center of a removable cover.

This cover hides the weight compartment which has a total of 6 holes for use with the bundled weights.

These six weights are placed in the storage box and as you can see are not the same (the ones with the hole in the middle are 2.8g weights whereas the others are 4.5g weights).

You can of course use all 6 weights (120 different weight configurations) in the Nightsword RGB (that increases the weight of the mouse from 119g to 141g).

A regular (not gold plated) USB plug is located at the end of the 1.8 meter long braided cable.

ICUE SOFTWARE

As always you can download the latest version of the iCUE software from the official CORSAIR support page.

Once you install and launch the program it will check to see if there's a new firmware available and if there is one an updates button will appear on the lower left corner.

The entire procedure takes less than a minute to complete.

There are 4 different mouse pictures available on the main tab from where you can see the current RGB lighting color and mode.

Just like with previous mice by CORSAIR from the actions tab you can program all 10 buttons with actions, macros and software shortcuts.

Everything related to the 4-zone RGB lighting system is placed in the lighting effects tab so from here you can change colors and choose one of the available effects (13 available ones).

From the DPI tab you can assign a color for each of the 3 DPI presets (4 including the sniper one) and set the preferred DPI levels for each.

Inside the performance tab you can adjust the pointer precision and enable angle snapping.

The surface calibration tool ensures optimal performance on any surface.

This is the first time we've seen the smart tunable weight system by CORSAIR and as you can see not only does it detect the weights you add but it also displays the center of mass.

We do have to mention that the software failed to detect the weights accurately a couple of times which is why CORSAIR probably placed a manual input option here.

Here you can see some of the colors of the 4-zone RGB system (rainbow mode).

CONCLUSION

   As usual we tested the mouse at hand with a wide range of game titles (including Devil May Cry 5, STAR WARS Battlefront II, Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, Rage 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance and Hitman 2) for a total of two weeks with excellent results. Starting with the PMW3391 optical sensor by Pixart things are just like with past models so once again you have an incredibly fast and amazingly accurate sensor in your hand which doesn’t take much time getting used to (although we feel that even 12k is overkill let alone 18k). The good news is that thanks to the shape of the NIGHTSWORD RGB, its 5 PTFE feet and its adjustable weight system you are also getting a gaming mouse with an incredible grip and gliding properties and those combined with the PMW3391 optical sensor make for a deadly combination (game-wise). True the rather large size of the NIGHTSWORD RGB may need some getting used to but we found that to be a lot quicker compared to both the IRONCLAW RGB and GLAIVE RGB models. As for the 4-zone RGB lighting system pictures speak for themselves and yes, we also feel that CORSAIR has done an amazing job here as well (as with the entire design of the NIGHTSWORD RGB).

   The CORSAIR NIGHTSWORD RGB Gaming Mouse has been around for less than a month and it currently retails for USD79.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 78Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) a price tag which is actually somewhat fair for a top-of the line model with a unique weight adjustment system. That being said there’s no doubt that some potential buyers may opt for a lower-cost model without weights and with a less impressive RGB lighting system (or with an ambidextrous shape) but we do feel that the NIGHTSWORD RGB delivers on every single area it should and for that it also deserves our Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality
- Design
- Excellent Grip
- PMW3391 Optical Sensor (18000 DPI / 400 IPS / 50G)
- OMRON Switches (Primary Buttons / 50 million clicks)
- Tunable Weight System (Automatic Weight Detection / Center of Gravity)
- 4 Zone RGB Illumination System
- iCUE Software

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Inaccurate Automatic Weighing