Corsair M55 RGB Pro Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse

Extremely happy. As a left handed gamer, have always had mouse issues. This is a nice size and is great shape. If you want a mouse for general use and casual gaming this is perfect.

The Basics:

Large 86g, ambi mouse in the vein of the Sensei 310 but with a 3327 sensor that goes up to 12400 DPI. Two-zone RGB. Utilizes iCue software. Single DPI button on top. Thumb buttons on both sides for 8 total. Time in use prior to compiling notes was two days. This is an unusually short period of time for me to test a mouse, 4-8 days is the normal range, but I did not want to delay the review while others were considering a purchase. The TL:DR is that there are some things to like here but LOD is unacceptably high, the sensor is entry-level and the product is overpriced at release relative to the competition.

The Good:

+ Safe shape. Unlikely to be horrible for palm, fingertip or even large claw. Wide compatibility here.

+ This is a mouse that can easily work well with a 1-3-1 grip as well as a 1-2-2 due to shape, grip and weight.

+ Nice texture materials. Rough textured plastic on top, nice rubberized sides that provide decent grip despite a bit of a concave shape. Some will think it’s a bit rough. The materials serve their purpose. It’s a very subjective category, but I find myself thinking that Corsair mice consistently have my favorite materials of any brand. It’s just too bad that said “awesome feels” aren’t paired with better overall products.

+ No pretravel on primary clicks. Nice tactility. 50M omrons used. No pre-post travel despite being connected to shell.

+ Primary buttons are not bulbous like Rival 110/Sensei 310. Not really comfort grooves, but much better than the bulbous approach used on the Sensei/Revel types.

+ Middle click is light. Scroll resistance is light, decent tactility for FPS and browsing.

+ Scroll wheel is set low, easy access for quickscoping duty.

+ DPI button is very flat with good tactility. No worries about inadvertent actuation.

+ Average to good mouse feet. Not the smoothest glide, but zero issues here.

The Middling:

* The sensor feel of the 3327 is ok…when it’s on the mat. To me it feels similar to the 3330 in performance, but with a variable frame rate as opposed to the 3330’s fixed. The sensor sensor felt less direct and less responsive than the 3330 and 3360 while also feeling more “jittery,” but that could be related to the high LOD involved. The good news is that from a tracking/precision standpoint, this is a step up from the 3325 and the mouse won’t stay at $40.

* Primary click force is on the light side of moderate, would have likely been lighter with buttons separated from the shell. Moderately spammable.

* Good placement of thumb buttons for primary side, concave shape on opposite side makes it increasingly possible to actuate with a squeeze a button unintentionally, only happened a few times and you are able to disable/enable buttons with software. I would have appreciated a toggle switch for left/right/none/both on the bottom instead of relying on the software for this function.

* Glossy finish on bottom. May scratch easily.

* Slightly tail heavy in the hand, not a major note but I found myself holding the mouse farther to the rear to compensate. It is not grossly tail heavy and it will not register as an issue for many.

* Unlike some ambi mice with the controls on the mouse itself, this mouse lets you enable all mouse buttons, unfortunately you have to dig into the settings tab that is not on the left side of the software interface where the majority of the mouse controls are located.

* “Dual Zone RGB” amounts to the logo and the tiny, sliver-like DPI indicator behind the scroll wheel. It barely qualifies, but you can control the color of both lights. RGB transitions are a little rough and colors from software do not translate very directly to the mouse in terms of hue. For example, the software will need to display distinctly red hues to get a solid orange to show up on the mouse.

* The rear hump of the mouse will make a lot of palm grippers happy, fingertip players may find it gets in their way. I had no issues, but even though this mouse is significantly shorter than the Model O, it definitely feels like it has more volume overall due to the hump. While the basic dimensions hint at a medium mouse, I’d say this is in the large mouse range.

* Even compared to the lighter Model O, the M55 feels a little hollow. I think this has something to do with the greater volume and weight distribution over a larger area. Personally I don’t think this should be an issue for people even if they notice it.

The Bad:

– Some play between scroll steps. Not enough to mess anything up, but an annoyance coming from anything without that play (like the Glorious Model O, for instance)

– Scroll wheel rattle when mouse is shaken. Not noticeable in-game with headphones, but an issue without them. The scroll on my copy is loose and wobbles laterally. Combined with the play between scroll steps, the scroll wheel alone counts against generally decent build quality.

– Significant pre and post travel on DPI and thumb buttons. Tactility is good, but there’s a little mush before and after. Minor drawback, there are much worse out there.

– iCue software. Huge, unintuitive, questionable EULA. Yuck. I don’t see the point in typing out the same gripes again as I’ve done in the past with all other recent Corsair mice…take my word for it or try it out yourself.

– The cable is quite stiff. I’ve seen better on several $15 mice at this point. Definitely undershoots expectation for the price range.

– DPI button is too far aft of scroll to be very practical in-game. They could have put the DPI indicator behind the button instead of the other way around and made the thing much more practical for my flashbangs.

– The worst physical aspect of this mouse is lift off distance. LOD is a solid 3+ DVDs out of the box. Tried it on on hard and soft dark surfaces. Worse, I did not see an option to adjust LOD in the software, even after ensuring the latest version was installed. Perhaps an option can be added later because this single aspect of the mouse makes it annoyingly non-ideal for gaming and introduces massive amounts of sensor jitter to correct for when placing the mouse back on the pad. Perhaps it can be fixed via firmware, but for me, for now, the LOD is a deal breaker even without considering relative sensor performance or pricing. To be clear, this LOD is worse than any 3325 mouse I’ve tried and right up there with the worst of the older 3050 mice.

The Conclusion:

Disappointment. Ok shape and clicks, meh sensor performance, good materials, average build quality, horrible LOD, uncompetitive price ($40) upon release. This is the first mouse I’ve tried with the 3327 sensor. I almost didn’t bother and kinda wish I hadn’t. Let’s get into some brutal facts.

Corsair has essentially taken the basic Sensei/FK1 design, made it feel a little more like the Harpoon with the side grips and called it good. Two years or more after those companies made their mice, Corsair has finally copied their winning formula with an inferior product.

– For $10 more and the sacrifice of a couple thumb buttons, the Glorious Model O can be had with better sensor, ergo, RGB, software, clicks, build quality. The Model O currently holds the highest mark I’ve given for a Nit-Noid score. This mouse wants to be in the same league when it grows up…in a future life.

-For $8 more you can get the vastly superior Sensei 310.

-For the same price you can get the unrefined but competitive Eluktronics Luminosa with a 3389 sensor and paracord.

-For the same price, you can get the Logitech G403, which objectively blows this mouse out of the water in most if not all categories for the vast majority of people.

-For $10-15 less you can get the Rival 110 with an equivalent shape, marginally inferior buttons, and materials but with better software and RGB plus a more competitive sensor.

Hopefully you’re seeing the point here.

If you are a casual gamer that just “must” get this mouse, just stay away until it hits $25. If you are a serious gamer, just stay away period. I also take issue with some of Corsair’s marketing here. The box says “high performance sensor” but does not specify the 3327 is used because they want you to think 3360. Pixart’s own page says the 3327 is an “entry level” gaming sensor. How did Corsair improve performance on the sensor by blowing the DPI value up to twice its native of 6200? It didn’t. In fact, it likely it hurt performance, but at least they can say “12400 DPI” on the box, right? If you are a company unwilling to identify the type of sensor used on the box, what is the sensor doing in your mouse? Grinds me gears mateys.

Granted, maybe (obviously) Corsair didn’t set out to make the “best mouse ever,” and maybe they are just now “catching up” with mice released two years ago (or not). But regardless, Corsair had to know the market the mouse was being released into. With this product, they are being a little deceptive, a little greedy and definitely banking on ignorance if they think they can market this product as-is at $40. There is no rational ethical or economical means by which this mouse stays at $40 for any appreciable amount of time. (Then again, Californians are becoming known for their math skills when it comes to economics…and Corsair is based in Cali…coincidence??) There is always the possibility that something is wrong with my copy, but I doubt it. Will have to see if other reviewers will be able to confirm the same issues.

The M55 is a fully functional mouse, so on that basis, it’s impossible to give it an “F” in terms of value, but hopefully the examples above give an example of why this mouse is rated the way it is. The M55 is not a mouse that is legitimately competitive in the current mouse market above the $25 price point and it is at a disadvantage in any competitive E-Sports arena I can imagine. It does not deserve the word “Pro” in the name, it is more deserving of “Amateur.” I like rooting for U.S. companies, but I don’t even bother with Razer products at this point and Corsair really needs to up their game.

Bang for $40: D+
Bang for $25: C+

Nit-Noid Rating: 7.7

Maus ist sehr gut zu handhaben und leicht zu installieren. Ich bin sehr zufrieden. Die Lieferzeit war aber sehr lang!
(aus den USA). Lieferroute jedoch interessant zu verfolgen!

Update: 4 stars from 1:
Amazon replaced my lemon mouse and the replacement works MUCH better! NO complaints so far, and none of the issues below.

Item is defective. Extra mouse buttons rarely work, requiring frequent computer restarts to get the buttons to work for another 15 minutes or so. Mouse does not save your preferred “Speed” making it so you have to choose the setting each time.

For $30, I would choose something else if I were to do it over again. Mouse also has connectivity issues when plugged into Corsair mouse pad and I had to plug it directly into the back of my computer, where it still has issues.

Amazon wants me to send the mouse back, but unfortunately, I don’t have the original packaging nor a mouse to use in the meantime.

I use this mouse on my home desktop for gaming and other various tasks.

Overall, Very frustrated with this purchase and regret buying it.

This mouse works great. The ability to program the side buttons combined with the 5 profiles allows me to switch hands as needed. I’m left handed and prefer to use the mouse with my left for games and apps that are mainly mouse driven, but I switch to right handed use for fps games like Ark, State of Decay and the like. The responsiveness took a little getting used to as I found I was over controlling at first but getting dizzy was worth it!.
The RGB is quite limited as it is only the Corsair logo that is illuminated. It would have been nice if the mouse had been underlit or something like that.
Overall, the Corsair M55 Is worth the price and I would buy it again.

Ive been using this for about 3 yrs now and i love it, only thing i have problems with is that it got stained with blue dye when i first dyed my hair and didnt know i had to actually use gloves