I’ve had an off-and-on relationship with wireless mice over the years. I’ve shunned them for a long time as I never felt the wireless signal was fast enough to not introduce some latency into my gameplay, and I especially didn’t want to deal with it when playing competitively. However, over the last year or so my attitude has changed, thanks in large part to advancements in the technology in gaming mice to reduce this latency – or get rid of it altogether.
Corsair’s SABRE RGB PRO Wireless Champion Series mouse aims to do just that: bring tournament-ready, ultra low latency wireless performance in a super ultra-lightweight design. But does it succeed, and for non-esports competitors, is it a mouse that can find a home in your current set up?
Specifications
- Wireless Connectivity: Hyper-fast, sub-1ms 2.4GHz SLIPSTREAM CORSAIR WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, Bluetooth® 4.2 + LE
- Sensor: CORSAIR MARKSMAN 26,000 DPI optical sensor with 1 DPI resolution steps, 650 IPS tracking, up to 50G acceleration
- Programmable Buttons: 7
- Onboard Profiles: 3
- Backlight: 2-Zone RGB
- USB Report Rate: 1,000/2,000Hz
- Battery Charging: Charges via USB to computer
- Battery Type: Built-in lithium-polymer, rechargeable
- Battery Life:
- 4GHz SLIPSTREAM: Up to 60hrs w/out backlighting
- Bluetooth: Up to 90hrs w/out backlighting
- Color: Black
- Mouse Feet: 100% PTFE
- Wired Connectivity: USB 2.0 Type-A (Type-C to Type-A cable) Cable 1.8m / 6ft, braided
- Dimensions:0mm(L) x 70.0mm(W) x 43.0mm(H) / 5.08in(L) x 2.76in(W) x 1.69in(H) Weight (w/o cable and accessories) 79g / 0.17lbs
- Warranty: Two years
- MSRP: $109.99
First Thoughts
The Corsair SABRE RGB Pro Wireless Champion Series mouse, at first glance, looks like any ordinary mouse. There’s nothing really striking that would make the SABRE stand out in a line-up. And that’s fine, really, though when put side by side with my current mouse of choice, the Logitech G502 Wireless mouse, it looks plainer.
The matte black finish is accented by shinier points on the mouse body, typically where buttons are placed. There are seven programmable buttons on the mouse itself, allowing you to take full advantage of Corsair’s iCUE software. Want to program a side button to type a specific string of text whenever you press it? You can, and much, much more.
The one area that pops with color on the mouse is Corsair’s iconic logo, being backlit by the now-required on every gaming device RGB. It’s a nice pop of color, and can also be adjusted to work with iCUE to sync with any other Corsair products you might have (like in my case, my RAM, CPU cooler and a set of headphones).
I appreciate the fact that the Corsair SABRE RGB PRO uses a USB-C connection, and the braided cable is plenty long to facilitate my standing desk even when it’s at its highest. The braided cable feels strong enough to withstand even some intense gaming sessions where the mouse itself is charging.
Speaking of charging, in the course of my review testing (about five days now) I’ve only had to charge it once. The battery life on the Corsair SABRE is incredibly impressive, and the company states it can go even longer should you choose to not use the RGB lighting on the mouse itself.
The SABRE RGB PRO also utilizes a USB dongle to connect to your PC, but that’s not the only way it can connect, as the device also comes equipped with Bluetooth. This is such a smart design, and it opens the mouse up to a host of options where it might not otherwise be used if it was only connectable via the dongle. I’m really hoping more mouse makers take a look here and make this a standard practice in the future for sure.
Putting it through its paces
However, just looking at the mouse and it’s features on paper doesn’t exactly tell us how it is to use. One of my chief concerns with any wireless mouse is latency, as mentioned before. I’ve used countless mice over the years, from the A4Tech BloodY V8 Headshot, Razer’s lineup of mice, my G502 and even some of Corsair’s previous offerings. Each mouse, while functionally serving the same purpose, to point and click, vary wildly in their ergonomics and approaches to design.
One thing I’ve noticed with Corsair’s mice is how bulky they tend to feel in my hands. The hump of the mouse feels a bit too wide, especially with my vice-like claw grip I use on the mouse. It’s not uncomfortable, and over time I’ve felt myself getting used to it, but I prefer something a bit skinnier in my hand, I guess. It’s interesting too, because side by side, the G502 looks larger than the SABRE RGB PRO, yet it feels more ergonomic to my hand.
Because the whole mouse is a matte finish too, there isn’t really any texture to keep my hand firmly planted where I need it to be. As such, I’ve found my hand slipping during intense firefights in Deathloop this past weekend, forcing me to reposition my hand in the worst moments.
One of the key features I had to get used to is how lightweight this mouse is compared to anything I’ve ever used. And that’s by design – Corsair is aiming to have a mouse that reacts effortlessly in your hand, whether it’s when pressing one of the seven buttons and seeing instant response on screen, or simply moving it across your mouse pad at lightning speeds. At just 79g, it’s the lightest mouse I’ve ever personally used, and that took some getting used to initially. It felt like I was moving a feather across my mouse mat, though it didn’t affect my precision. In fact, as much as I prefer a bit heavier mouse, I can’t deny the ultra-lightweight design is growing on me. Snapping a headshot in Deathloop feels precise and the mouse itself glides effortlessly whenever I need to reposition it to line up that next perfect AOE spell cast in The Elder Scrolls Online.
The mouse itself feels outrageously responsive as well when you click the main mouse buttons. Corsair touts a switch that has zero gap between the button and the switch itself, meaning you should get an instantaneous response when you press them. This is coupled with the incredibly fast Slipstream Wireless tech, which Corsair states offers transmission speeds of under 1ms. This a mouse designed to operate efficiently, precisely, and effortlessly under the hardest circumstances during a tournament – and it shows. In my over 30 hours of testing since unboxing the mouse, I’ve never noticed any latency – every single time I’ve clicked my mouse button it’s performed as if it’s hardwired right into my system.
As such, each time I moved it across my surface, or fired off a round with a pistol in Deathloop, or commanded a squadron of ships to the Mediterranean in Europa Universalis IV, the mouse complied effortlessly. It’s not simply the two main mouse buttons that actuate precisely, either, as many of these games utilized the other buttons, such as the mouse wheel – everything felt as precise as it could be. This isn’t to say other mice I use are unprecise or unresponsive, but advancements in tech have helped Corsair make a strikingly good mouse.
This precision isn’t simply limited to its out-of-the-box performance, either. Like most mice nowadays you can cycle between predefined DPI resolutions with the click of a button, but through the iCUE software, Corsair gives you complete control over this feature, down to being able to adjust DPI in 1 resolution increments. This level of control allows you to hone in on exactly the resolution you need to maximize speed and precision to your liking. You can also calibrate your mouse to your specific surface using iCUE, enabling optimized tracking for your mouse itself.
Conclusion
With all this in mind, I’ve got no problem stating that the Corsair SABRE RGB PRO Wireless Champion Series is, simply put, the most precise and responsive mouse I’ve ever used, full stop. While I would prefer it to have the ergonomics (and if I’m honest, weight) of the Logitech G502 Wireless I’ve been using for months now, I can’t deny that in my 30 hours of testing across a wide swathe of games, the mouse itself performed effortlessly. I didn’t feel like I had to click things more than once to get a response, and snapping to a specific section of my screen felt lightning fast.
The fact too I’ve really only had to charge the mouse once in this entire time (I purposefully left the mouse on in-between sessions to see how long it will last overall) helps. At no point did I feel like I had to stop, plug it in and then keep going – it just simply worked.
iCUE helps to hone this mouse in and make it as great as it can be, as well, though I’m typically averse to programs filling up my hard drive like this. However, iCUE is rather easy to use and the program has come a long way towards feeling more responsive itself since the last time I used it.
It’s not perfect. I wish the mouse itself was textured just enough to where I don’t feel like my hand will slip off, especially when the mouse is so lightweight that it makes keeping the mouse grounded difficult during fast firefights. And while I am getting used to the lightweight nature of the SABRE, I still find myself yearning for the weight of my G502 to keep the mouse grounded.
But is it worth the price? I think so. At $109.99, the Corsair SABRE RGB PRO Champion Series is set in a rather interesting spot in the market. It’s less expensive than the Logitech G502 LIGHTSPEED mouse, as well as Razer’s Deathadder V2 Wireless mouse, and I would say the SABRE beats both in raw performance. The type of performance this mouse offers, while also being less expensive than some of the other popular options in the market, makes the SABRE RGB PRO a compelling option, and one you should seriously look at when shopping for that next mouse upgrade.
