Cougar Gaming has worked tirelessly for over a decade to bring gamers the gear they want. Over the years its line has ranged from power supplies and cases all the way to mice, keyboards, and chairs. Always looking for new and innovative ways to deliver on that goal, Cougar has introduced their latest gaming mouse. The Dualblader is a fully customizable mouse and features just about every option imaginable to suit a gamer’s needs. With an array of hot-swappable buttons, grips, and ambidextrous ergonomics, the Dualblader aims to provide a mouse experience catered to each gamers specific style. After a week of swapping parts and putting this mouse through its paces, it’s time to see if it holds up to that promise. So grab that coffee, kick back and check out our review of the Dualblader fully customizable Gaming Mouse from Cougar Gaming.
Specifications
- Current Price: $89.99USD MSRP (Offical Site)
- Sensor: PMW3389 optical gaming sensor
- Resolution: 16,000 DPI
- Polling Rate: 2000Hz
- Programmable Buttons: 12
- Maximum Tracking Speed: 400IPS
- Maximum Acceleration: 50 G
- Interface: Detachable USB plug
- Cable Length: 1.8m
- Software: COUGAR UIX System
More than Meets the Eye
The Dualblader is one of the most unique mice I’ve ever worked with. In fact, at its core, it only faintly resembles a traditional mouse in look and design. This though is the beauty of the design behind the Dualblader. Unlike a traditional mouse, which locks you into one specific look and feel, this fully customizable piece of gear allows the gamer a plethora of design options to work with and choose from.
Customization is the name of the game with the Dualblader. The core mouse has an 8 button structure with 4 optional buttons able to be slotted in as needed. Each of these is magnetically attached and can be swapped on the fly allow you to quickly test different setups.
4 Removable side rests are also provided allowing you to adjust the rests to your needs. Using the same magnetic system as the buttons, each side rest can easily be exchanged and adjusted. The whole system is impressively easy to manipulate to fit your playstyle. As a fully ambidextrous mouse, You’ll never feel awkward holding the Dualblader either. I was able to customize the mouse for both hands and found that its mirrored design allowed for easy switching as needed. The included software also allows for quick button swapping and profile saving to make the switch that much easier (more on the software later).
The final customizable piece of this transforming mouse is the DYNASTRUT design. In essence, it allows you to easily adjust the height and angle of the palm rest on the backside of the mouse. This allows the mouse to easily cater to both palm and claw grip gamers without the need for swapping parts. Simply clicking a release switch allows you to adjust the position of the palm rest. There is even a bottom screw that allows for fine-tuning if needed.
I absolutely love this feature. I personally have a weird hybrid grip that lands somewhere between the palm and claw grip with about an eleven-degree angle thrown in there for fun. Don’t ask, I’m just weird. The Dualbladers adjustable palm rest has been the closest I’ve ever felt to a mouse feeling natural in my grip.
Structurally the mouse feels solid to use despite so many moving parts. All four of the custom buttons are made of metal and latch firmly to the core mouse when clicked into place. Each side rest is made of a smooth, hard plastic that feels durable to use. Even the included USB cable features an ultra flex material that doesn’t seem to drag or get caught up along the mouse pad when being used. The mouse feels solid and the design is both unique to look at and exceptionally functional to use. My only real complaint is that there is no included container to hold all the parts when they are not in use.
Putting It To The Test
Conceptually the Dualblader is a fantastic piece of hardware. It offers an exceptional amount of customization for all gamers and is built from the ground up for ease of use. After a week of testing, I can say that the concept works well in the real world.
The Dualblader isn’t just about customization. It comes equipped with a PMW3380 16,000 DPI optical sensor that focuses on precision tracking and accuracy. I found it to be reliably accurate in every game I threw at it. From DOOM Eternal to Destiny 2, the Dualblader kept up.
The 12 fully programmable buttons also allowed me some creative options for button mapping. Having the additional ‘wing’ button placements, for example, allowed unique mapping for chainsaw kills or grenade throws. Keymapping is an interesting affair with the Dualblader though as, unlike other mice I’ve worked with, the Dualblader relies entirely on the software for mapping.
In fact, all of the buttons aside from the primary ones have to be mapped in the UIX software before they are even recognized in a game. This, in essence, means that each game really needs a custom profile in the UIX software for you to really get the full functionality out of the Dualblader. Thankfully the UIX software can save multiple profiles but it does seem a bit cumbersome to work with.
Additionally, although it is a 12 button mouse, not all the buttons are really functional all the time. To clarify, due to the ambidextrous design some buttons become hard to reach based on which hand you are using to operate the mouse. This, in turn, means that no matter which way you hold the mouse you never really get the full use of the 12 button design. As a fan of MMO mice like the Razer Naga series or RedDragon M901 and M902, it was a bit of a disappointment to lose some of that button functionality.
Software
The Dualblader comes with Cougar’s UIX system. This software is designed to control every aspect of the mouse. Everything from button mapping to RGB color selection is found here. The software itself is easy to use and manage. Every aspect of the mouse’s controls is customized here and the aforementioned custom profiles allow you to really zone in on how you want the mouse to operate on a per-game basis. It’s a fairly straightforward affair to use but getting it installed is another thing altogether.
If you plan on using the UIX software, which I would recommend as the customization options really are great, you’ll need to make sure you have no antivirus program running. I ran into an issue while attempting to install the UIX software where it got flagged as malware and couldn’t be installed.
Even temporarily disabling the anti-virus software or flagging UIX as safe still caused an error during the install. It wasn’t until I did a full uninstall of my anti-virus that I was finally able to get the UIX system up and running. Thankfully once installed I was able to reinstall my anti-virus and, at least as of the time of writing, the two have decided to get along. It’s a bit frustrating to have to jump through extra hoops to get UIX up and running but once running it works fine.
Final Thoughts
The Dualblader Gaming Mouse from Cougar Gaming is an interesting piece of hardware. It offers some serious customization and comfort for every gamer as well as some nice functionality that is hard to find in other mice. A powerful and precise sensor coupled with a completely customizable design help set it apart from other mice on the market.
Unfortunately, a few minor issues like the odd button mapping system, loss of button use and software install woes prevent it from really achieving all it sets out to accomplish. Regardless it’s still a great option if you are looking for a uniquely customized experience. Priced at a competitive $89.99 USD, the Dualblader is a solid offering for gamers looking for a new peripheral experience.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.