CONCLUSION

   COUGAR surprised us all when they announced their entry in the gaming peripherals market but we had every confidence in them since we never thought they'd jeopardize their name by releasing something mediocre. Well I’m sure that many of you have noticed by now so we can't deny the several obvious similarities to the R.A.T. line by MadCatz (aluminum frame, removable palm rest, adjustable palm rest height, sniper button) but that's a good thing since the 700M proved to be a very good gaming mouse. The aluminum frame gives it a very sturdy feeling, the Avago ADNS-9800 sensor is very fast and accurate (the 6 feet help with the very good gliding), the OMRON switches ensure you will not have any problems with the buttons, the removable palm-rest is a good addition (although the non-slip version was too small for our hands), the adjustable palm-rest height did come in handy when i used it and the weight system does offer a more "solid" feeling when playing games. Unfortunately even with the extra weights the 130g of the 700M are not enough if you have big hands (or if you've been using a heavier mouse until now) so it would be nice if COUGAR supplied people with heavier weights. The UIX control panel is also very thorough and allows you to adjust every setting you'd ever want including the lift off distance but the at best limited illumination system almost makes that section of the control panel feel unnecessary.

   The 700M gaming mouse by COUGAR is currently available in two different colors (silver & black) and retails for USD71.43 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 100Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) a price tag which although quite tempting on the other side of the pacific is indeed set quite high in the EU. Leaving out the price issue COUGAR has designed and manufactured a solid gaming mouse with very good speed and accuracy and surprisingly good grip thanks to the adjustable palm-rest, weight system and the non-slip textured areas. I do hope they eventually release something slightly heavier because i found it too light for my hands but that's just me since the others here found its weight to be almost ideal for long periods of gameplay. In the end we all have to remember that this is the first attempt by COUGAR to create a very good gaming mouse for serious gamers and although they still have ways to go before they can release the perfect gaming mouse still this is well worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Aluminum Frame)
- Design (For Some)
- Very Fast & Accurate (Avago ADNS-9800)
- Good Grip (Textured Non-slip Areas & Removable/Height Adjustable Palm-Rest)
- OMRON Switches
- Sniper Button
- Weight Adjustment System
- Braided Cable & Gold Plated USB Plug
- Current Price (USA)

CONS

- Current Price (EU)
- Weight (For Some)
- Limited Illumination System (For Some)