Corsair mouses Review: Harpoon, Glaive & NightSword RGB

Performance & Software

Harpoon

If you take the Harpoon RGB in your hand, you will first notice the compact shape allow it to use with only claw and fingertips grip, as said by the company. Thus, if you are planning to use it for gaming for long hours, you could easily feel discomfort. The 85g lightweight mouse glides quickly and effortlessly over the mouse pad on its four mouse feet, although, it has inferior optical sensor PMW-3320 and supports less DPI as compared to Glaive and NightSword, however in reality for regular usage the moment the 6000 DPI is perfect for balance speed and precision of pointing.

Overall, the software is clearly structured. A macro editor can also be used. You can set different RGB lighting zone effects; the setting options in the DPI menu can be used to select the DPI level is selected in 5 steps from 250 to 6000, even each step can be customized & set to DPI between 250 to 6000. However, since few buttons and less customizable features are there, no hard and fast rule of using iCUE software until you want light effects or macro settings.

Corsair Harpoon RGB has been designed to keep the price in mind with the entry-level sensor, Omron switches, elegant mouse wheel, reasonable DPI and a switch to adjust the same. Thus, if you are looking for a good and light gaming mouse at a low price, Corsairs Harpoon RGB is a very convincing option.

Pros:

• Lightweight
• Compact design
• Budget price
• iCUE software support

Cons:

• Large handed people could face difficulty in usage

Glaive Performance

The optical Pixart sensor PMW 3367 is similar to the PMW 3366, however, has higher DPI support that is 16,000 DPI. Nevertheless, in practical 12,000 DPI of the 3366 sensors is enough to ensure the quick movement of mouse pointers on the high-resolution displays.

The surface calibration is another handy feature of the mouse that can be accessed through the iCUE software. The purpose of this is to use the associated driver software and optimize the mouse as per your mouse pad. To use this feature, install iCUE software if you do not already have then from the option field select Surface Calibration where select the yellow dot and move it in fast, circular movements. The whole process takes a few seconds- but we think it leads to a noticeable improvement in the precision of the mouse.

The sensor of the Glaive is pretty much of high precision and did an excellent job even with fast turns and therefore scores particularly well in fast shooters.

The Glaive RGB is recognized by excellent quality and material processing. The use of matt plastic and aluminium gives the mouse great value and also increases comfort.  The large Teflon pads on the underside allow the mouse to run smoothly. Thus, if you are right-handed and want a high precision mouse with all features of iCUE SOftware along with multiple LEDs then this upper mid-range mouse is one the best available option.

Pros

• RGB lighting (3 zones)
• Interchangeable thumb rests
• Optical sensor (up to 16,000 DPI)
• Sleeved cable
• Good grip

Cons:

Meant only for right-handed

NightSword RGB Performance

Before talking about something lets see the mouse in terms of software. Like other corsair gaming mice, the NightSword supports the iCUE too but with a coverage of far more than the usual basic functions such as key assignment and macro recording. You can decide using the program how the light should glow on four different RGB zones.

Apart from other options available for Corsair mouse on iCUE, the one extra which is not common is Weight Tunning, yes surface calibration is also there but we already talked about it in the Glaive section of this article, thus we will not repeat it. So, coming to Weight Tunning, the area of ​​weight adjustment shows in real-time where which weight is located – both directly in the graphics and in a small table. This table also provides information about the current total mass and where the centre of mass is located.

The three DPI or CPI levels can be adjusted independently including the dedicated Sniper one. However, the three DPI levels (plus sniper mode) can be freely configured. Adjustments are possible between 100 to 18000 and the colour of the DPI display can also be selected from the RGB spectrum.

Coming to the sensor used by the NightSword i.e PixArt PMW-3391 which is A1 class with a quite good Count per inch that is 18000 and maximum measurable speed of 10.2 m per second, however, slightly lower than the PixArt PMW-3389 but it becomes infeasible in the real world. Even all PixArt sensor of this family are exceptionally well. Nevertheless, one question arises here do we really need an 18000 DPI or CPI mouse? I don’t think so unless and until you have a very big UHD screen, for example, 55 inches where you want to cover whole display area in just a snap. Even on such large screen, 12000 DPI mouses are enough like Glaive.

Also, the weight management system is not something you want, die heartedly. Moreover, even without it, one can easily play FPS or MOBS games. Thus, from my point, it is not very much necessary at all.

Thus, a user should not blindly follow the hook of high DPI mouses moreover 16000 dots per inch devices go beyond the sensible usage. It is because the moment you increase the DPI, the accuracy of the mouse usage will go down and we start struggling on the screen.cTherefore, in terms of accuracy and usage, I didn’t feel any difference between Corsair Glaive and NightSword. Whereas if we consider the comfortability, design, RGB LEDs, extra buttons no doubt the high-end NightSword RGB triumphs over.

Hence, if you ask me to whether you should buy NightSword or not then it all on you; if you want overall comfortability with the high-end sensor, palm grip, loads of buttons, with weight management and RGB you will serve well. But those want a reasonable price with accuracy and balanced configuration for gaming, I would recommend the Corsair mouses such as M65 RGB Elite and Glaive RGB PRO. Furthermore, users need something in budget M55 and Harpoon wired are always there.

Pros:

• First-class optical sensor with high performance.
• Omron switches
• Dual DPI adjusting buttons
• Intelligent weight management System
• Four-zone RG lighting
• ten customizable buttons
• High comfortability and grip
• Numerous configuration options for macros

Cons:

• We exactly can’t consider it a con but weight management system is irrelevant in my point of view until you are well experienced to really understand how much you need where.
• Again only for right-handed just like Glaive
• Tad high in price.