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SilverStone RVM01B "Raven" Mouse
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Usage and Impressions
Over the past few weeks we’ve been actively using the Raven to accomplish various things like web access, graphics, and desktop publishing. We even put in a several hours of gameplay, mostly fast paced games like UT3 and COD4. After all of this we can easily say the Raven is the more comfortable mice we have ever used however we struggled in actually using the mouse from the start.
We come from a traditional mousing background and grew up using the classic 2 button Microsoft ball mouse and quickly migrated to using all sorts of Logitech designs from the first generation ergonomic mice to the latest gaming designs like the MX 510 and G5. The one thing all of these mice have in common? They have a place to put your thumb. The Logitech gaming mice all have thumb buttons but they are positioned well away from what we would call the grip zone which is exactly where the DPI select button and thumb wheel are located.
During our testing it was possible to operate the mouse without too much trouble however in the heat of battle we found ourselves changing mouse profiles while trying to quickly avoid frag grenades or double tapping to avoid a rocket blast. This minor distraction almost always got us killed.
On a related note we also found many of the various mouse buttons to be rather distracting. The 2 extra buttons located near your index finger only required a quick flick to trigger. This is unlike the 2 buttons near your pinky finger, for these we needed to loosen our grip on the mouse to reach and every time we tried the mouse flew out of our hands.
Many of the issues we had with the Raven Gaming Mouse are not uncommon when learning to use a new device; console gaming controllers are a prime example. After you get over the learning curve they become almost second nature.
We come from a traditional mousing background and grew up using the classic 2 button Microsoft ball mouse and quickly migrated to using all sorts of Logitech designs from the first generation ergonomic mice to the latest gaming designs like the MX 510 and G5. The one thing all of these mice have in common? They have a place to put your thumb. The Logitech gaming mice all have thumb buttons but they are positioned well away from what we would call the grip zone which is exactly where the DPI select button and thumb wheel are located.
During our testing it was possible to operate the mouse without too much trouble however in the heat of battle we found ourselves changing mouse profiles while trying to quickly avoid frag grenades or double tapping to avoid a rocket blast. This minor distraction almost always got us killed.
On a related note we also found many of the various mouse buttons to be rather distracting. The 2 extra buttons located near your index finger only required a quick flick to trigger. This is unlike the 2 buttons near your pinky finger, for these we needed to loosen our grip on the mouse to reach and every time we tried the mouse flew out of our hands.
Many of the issues we had with the Raven Gaming Mouse are not uncommon when learning to use a new device; console gaming controllers are a prime example. After you get over the learning curve they become almost second nature.
