Customer Ratings & Reviews

THE GOOD -Lots of programmable buttons for games and productivity -Sliding thumb grid great for fitting different hand sizes -Three onboard memory profiles -Affordable THE BAD -Clunky programming software -Hardware and software profiles are incompatible with each other -Can't program scroll up or down -No scroll tilt / side-scrolling -Thumb buttons use same button geometry and aren't easily discernible by touch -Bottom thumb buttons too close to desk THE DETAILS It's rather misleading that nearly all peripheral manufacturers market their mice of this type ( 10+ thumb buttons ) as MMO-specific mice. Yes, having a lot of readily accessible mouse buttons is helpful in games like World of WarCraft or LotR Online where you have rows and rows of skill buttons and attacks. However these kinds of mice are equally helpful in first-person action games, adventure games, MOBAs, real-time strategy, and any other game. The idea you want only two thumb buttons for an FPS game or six for a MOBA is rubbish to me. In an FPS I want commands for use/interact, reload, crouch/prone, and throw grenade on my mouse, as well as specific weapon swaps ( not just scrolling through a list ) and tactical abilities and kit/class swap where applicable. In Mass Effect I have all eight ability hotkeys and squadmate controls on the mouse. In XCom I'd put ability hotkeys and some map control on it. In games that support it, I map a lot of commands to Ctrl 1-5, Alt 1-5, and Shift 1-5. then I put Ctrl, Alt, Shift on my mouse so I don't need to shift my left hand on the keyboard as much. Having a big grid of programmable thumb buttons lets me do this, regardless what game I'm playing. The extra buttons are also just as useful for productivity work as for gaming. If you're buried in spreadsheets, word processors, or code editors when not gaming, you can use the extra buttons for things like cut/copy/paste, find/replace, page up and down, home and end, Ctrl Tab for web browser tabs, sentence and paragraph scrolling, or macros for common snippets of code you repeat every day. Performance-wise, comparisons to the Razer Naga and Logitech G600 are inevitable. The Scimitar's big advantage over those two is the sliding button pack on the side. This is an excellent feature that lets you put the thumb buttons exactly where you want, regardless how long your fingers are or how you hold the mouse. A locking hex screw on the underside ( a hex driver is included in the box ) holds the slider in place. However the bottom row of buttons, specifically 1 and 4, are quite close to the bottom of the mouse, and thus very close to the desktop surface. I can only press those buttons using the edge of my thumb rather than the center of the pad. Those with skinnier thumbs may not have this problem. The twelve buttons are all the same shape, size, and the faces are all on the same plane, making them difficult to tell apart by touch alone. The second and fourth columns have a minor diamond hash texture to help tactile button navigation, but it's not as effective as the Naga or G600 that use alternating cants and geometry for the buttons to quickly get your thumb where it needs to go. from a programming standpoint, Corsair's iCue software is not nearly as user friendly as Razer's Synapse or Logitech's G Hub. First you must make a profile for the mouse, then you must create new actions, and then you can pair those actions with a given button. For those that make a LOT of different mapping profiles and use the same button for the same command, this might be faster in the long run, since after you create the command list library, you don't need to recreate the action again and can just drag and drop the same commands to your preferred mouse button. But the initial setup is longer and feels clunky. You also can't remap the scroll wheel up or down function and the scroll whell can't tilt for horizontal scrolling ( or other remap features ). One bright spot is the mouse has onboard storage for three profiles, so you can use the mouse without iCUE and still have the gaming commands you want ( if you're playing games on a computrer other than your personal one, per se. ) However, you have to make a "hardware" profile in iCUE to do this, which is different from the regular "software" profile that iCUE manages. This has a few downsides. One, hardware profiles have limited RGB lighting options, which isn't a big deal. Two, in hardware mode one of the buttons below the scroll wheel is dedicated to profile switching, so it can't be remapped in a hardware profile. Third, you can't convert a software profile to hardware, or vice versa. Instead you have to create a hardware profile from scratch. In just about any other aspect, the Scimitar performs similarly to the Naga, G600, or most any other good mouse. It's smooth on the desk or mouse pad, the buttons are nice and clicky, it has ample lighting features, and the DPI range is far greater than you'll ever need. At around $80, it's a decent price too. Overall I still prefer the Naga as I find the software easier to use, the thumb buttons are easier for me to discern by touch, and it has a tilting scroll wheel. But if you're already in the Corsair ecosystem, or if the sliding thumb panel fits your hand better, the Scimitar is not a bad choice.

Bought this for the 12 mouse buttons which had a cool slide feature using a set screw. Well the set screw mechanism broke while adjusting the slide within a hour of the box being open. Pretty much worthless now so I bought a Razer Naga the next day.

The downward direction for the wheel started malfunctioning in 9-10 months of purchase. If you want to send it to Corsair for warranty, you'll basically pay 1/3 of the mouse price for shipping.

Mouse wheel squeaky after about 5 days of use. iCUE software is difficult to use.

Had to return it twice. First time the scroll wheel was making a squeaky noise. Second time the mouse was causing all the usb ports to stop working. Also when I returned it at a different store I didn’t get the full amount due to tax? That’s so stupid.

thought i would like it more but when playing any fps game the side buttons can really mess me up if not disabled

Hard to set-up and program. I have truble with all parts of this. It does fit my hand well

Like the over all feel of the mouse but the scroll wheel started to just stop working after a few months. Not worth $70-80 just for it to stop working after a few months. Don’t buy this tons of other people have had this problem.

scrool wheel broke after about a year of regular gaming

can't get it to save profile for steam games, side buttons are given me the blues. It's a good mouse I just can't get it to work

Scroll wheel broke within a month and a half of using it. Did some research after the fact and discovered that this is one of the most common complaints, and it appears the the manufacturer just gambles on whether the scroll wheel will survive until the warranty expires, hoping to require you to buy a replacement. Avoid this brand!

Was not the mouse for me, this has way too many buttons. Might be great for gamers.

This is an average mouse. Wish it was more like its other reviews. Price was ok for what it is.

The scroll wheel stopped working about 11 months later.

Was not easy to set up and didn't fully work with most games.

Scroll wheel failed after a few months now some side inputs are also failing. Light usage, kept very clean, tried air can duster, taking it apart, it's just broken. Get it with a warranty or don't get it at all.

I am exceedingly underwhelmed by this mouse. I paid $80 figuring I would get a good gaming mouse. It had good reviews, so I tried it. #1 It's "sharp". The rubber on it is physically sharp and hurts my fingers. no other mouse has done this. #2 The software is absolutely horrible. It's overly complex and "pretty" rather than functional. #3 The mouse loses it's functionality when it wants to on a whim. #4 Support is horrible. Most of the good answers I got were from the user forums. You would think at this price point they could be better.

Okay mouse...loved all the buttons but after a few month they started to stick

Great mouse, but not the same as a competitors product. Side mouse buttons feel differently.

Only 2 months old and the scroll doesn’t work at all. Second one I bought because the left and right click buttons also will wear out after certain amount of usage.