CONCLUSION

   If there’s one thing I can say about Mionix is that they make some of the finest gaming mice in the market and the Castor is not an exception. They may not focus much on bells and whistles like some other manufacturers do so their products may not be as “fancy” (the AURORA illumination system is obviously quite basic) but they do focus a lot in quality and so far I’ve never had a problem with any of their mice that found their way to our lab. Moving back to the Castor performance is excellent since the PMW-3310 optical/IR gaming sensor by Pixart is as always very fast and accurate (we are talking about the same ADNS-3310 after all). The ergonomic design is also very good not only because of the 4 layer rubber coating and the large thumb area but also because it looks a lot like a small NAOS model. Unfortunately once again the zero acceleration feature of the PMW-3310 sensor means that it will take quite a bit for anyone to get used to the Castor much like the NAOS and AVIOR 7000 models. That’s not a bad thing and we did get used to all of the mentioned models in just a matter of hours but at first the feeling is a bit strange and that does affect accuracy in a negative way. Gliding is also excellent something which I didn’t expect by just two feet (not even two as large as these) so chances are you will have no issues no matter what mat your pair the Castor with.

   Although just out of the factory the Mionix Castor Optical Gaming Mouse is already available worldwide for a price of USD69.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 69.99Euros inside the EU (Mionix) a price tag which lands it right next to the NAOS and AVIOR 7000 models (actually it’s USD10/10Euros cheaper compared to when those were launched). This means that you’re getting a faster gaming mouse than the NAOS/Avior for less but compared to the NAOS the body of the Castor is quite smaller so if your hands are large speed is not going to do much for you, at least not even close to what a larger body will. Overall the Castor is a very good gaming mouse and well worth of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Size (For Some)
- Accuracy/Grip (4 Rubber Coat Layers)
- 10000DPI/215IPS (Pixart PMW-3310 IR-LED Optical Sensor)
- Surface Quality Analyzer
- 32Bit ARM Processor @ 32MHz with 128kb of Onboard Memory
- 6 Programmable Buttons
- 5 Profiles
- Illumination Control (2 Individual Zones)
- Braided Cable with Gold Plated USB Connector

CONS

- No DPI LEDs
- Size (For Some)