As evident from the title, Cooler Master’s Storm Spawn comes in a combination of red and black colour. The scroll wheel and all buttons are matted black; according to Cooler Master, Omron microswitches were used to manufacture these, which guarantees at least five million clicks - a mind-boggling piece of information, sufficient on its own to make you want to buy this mouse. The rest of the mouse’s upper body is coloured glossy red, which really has an effect on the overall visual impact.

The atypical thing about this mouse is its design on a global level, reminiscent of Logitech’s G9(x) by its dimensions and shortened backside. However, despite certain similarities, this is clearly a different model. Firstly, the ring finger rest. This is the first time that we’ve had the chance to see this sort of solution, and we have to admit that we find it likeable, and more importantly, practical, as the finger really does lie perfectly as imagined. This section also contains the fancy white Spawn logo, which breaks the monotony of the red and black. Besides the inevitable left and right mouse button, you also have the scroll wheel, two on-the-fly sensitivity control buttons and typical back & forward buttons on the side at disposal.

 

 

The bottom contains two Teflon pads and this kid’s heart, an optical sensor with a maximum sensitivity of 3500 DPI, to provide the ultimate comfort in use. The list of technical features doesn’t end there, but more about that later.

 

 

We were surprised at first to see that this model had an optical sensor and not a laser one, but as soon as we connected the mouse to the PC, using a two-metre long USB cable with a gold-plated connector, we discovered that our suspicions were ungrounded. With the help of the “anti-drift control” sensor, any undesirable behaviour of the Spawn model is prevented. This new technology is most helpful when the mouse is lifted from the surface, as it prevents cursor jitter upon “landing”. Add a very pleasant click on both mouse buttons, and the impression is improved even further. The polling rate is 1 ms, so that no lag is present, but in this product class, we wouldn’t have expected to see any in the first place. However, that isn’t to say that we shouldn’t applaud the quality and precision of the scroll wheel. Moderate in size, with a very pronounced texture, this scroll is undeniably one of the best, if not the best, we’ve ever had the chance to work with. It only goes to prove how much the folks at Cooler Master really perfected their craft. Furthermore, you have the Sentinel-X integrated memory with a capacity of 32 KB at disposal, so that you can store your settings, profiles and macros. The only potential drawback is that the sensitivity change occurs in only three predefined presets: 800, 1800 and 3500 DPI. The software, although excellent in its own right and packed with options, doesn’t have one which would enable the sensitivity settings to be tweaked. Also worth mentioning is the absence of any sort of display or other indicator as to what sensitivity the sensor is operating at in the given moment.