Title: Tech Review: Cooler Master Sentinel III Mouse – Solid, But Nothing Special
Author: Zakeroph
Recovered Author: Zakeroph
Published Date: 2016-03-29
Original URL: https://geeknode.co.za/2016/03/tech-review-cooler-master-sentinel-iii-mouse-solid-but-nothing-special
Wayback URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20170815044640id_/http://www.geeknode.co.za/2016/03/tech-review-cooler-master-sentinel-iii-mouse-solid-but-nothing-special/
Recovery Confidence: high
Categories: Tech
Tags: cm sentinel iii, Cooler Master, cooler master sentinel iii, coolermaster sentinel 3, mouse, mouse review, review, sentinel 3, tech review

- Zakeroph

- 1 year ago

- 2 0

Today I am cutting right to the chase, let me give you the highlights of the Cooler Master Sentinel III

Specifications

The mouse is designed as a right handed palm grip mouse, sized at 135mm x 83.6mm x 40mm. The only flaw I can see with this type of design is that it is limited to right handed use, which is pretty normal when it comes to buying a mouse. The size might get to you if you have slightly small hands, but was pretty much perfectly sized for me. If you prefer a claw grip on your mouse that would bug you as well as this mouse does not work with that grip.

The mouse is equipped with an Avago S3988 optical sensor which allows for up to 6400 DPI, it is configured with 4 incremental settings by default, 400-1200-4000-6400. I didn’t like this as I normally prefer at around 3200DPI. You get 8 configurable buttons, if the application works (we’ll get into that), so if you work with a standard 2 clicks, 2 function buttons this mouse works pretty well.

The mouse weighs in at 155g, with an additional 22.5g that can be added on with included metal weights at 4.5g adjustments. If you only use 3 of your weights though there is nowhere to store the additional 2 weights so I hope you are better at storing tiny metal battery sized objects.

The Sentinel III is a USB mouse with a 1.8m braided cable, withstands a sharp 90 degree bend quite well but I would be concerned with that strain on my own mouse for long periods.

The mouse is controlled by a 322 bit processor with 512 RAM, used for storing your 5 profiles and other settings. Ensuring your 2mm height detection works as well as it is meant to.

The Application

I had a lot of trouble with this application, whenever launching it, it kept telling me to plug in my CM mouse. Even the firmware update would not pick up the mouse was there. Tested it on three different machines and no dice.

The mouse can store 5 profiles, everything you configure in the application is assigned to one of these 5 profiles, which means just by changing the profile you can change what each button does, which macros are assigned to your mouse and what DPI increments are available on you quick change keys. Hell, color code your profiles as well so you know what to expect without using the handy LED display (that normally sits underneath a finger).

You can configure the lift off distance, this is useful if you run a fairly low DPI setting with very little desk space available, re-adjusting your hand would normally move your mouse, but with the lift off sensor it prevents that, it can be configured up to 5mm high. Personally I would never need to set it this high, but I am used to a low lift clearance.

You can configure the response times on your mouse clicks as well as the polling rate up to a maximum of 1000 hz. I don’t know why you would set this lower or setting the response times higher, but it’s great to be able to change that I guess? The polling time can effect machine performance but it should have such a low impact that I don’t see the point of it running at anything lower that max polling rate.

You can assign macros to your buttons which can include keyboard keys. Again this is a “nice” feature but in practice I don’t find it especially useful. I prefer my mouse buttons acting completely independently to my keyboard.

You have the option to do a standard backup of your profiles but from what I can tell it is all local backups which means you have to keep those files safe, I prefer a cloud stored backup but I might just be spoiled.

Hands on feel

Now that you know what this mouse can technically do, here is the down low on the experience of actually using it. It’s a really responsive mouse, feels reasonably comfortable. It does have a bit of a plastic-y feel which I think would bring down its overall score. The additional buttons respond as expected, but overall there is nothing great I can say about this mouse.

Why should you buy it?

- You are a palm grip gamer

- You like a good deal of extra features on a mouse

Why shouldn’t you buy it?

- At local prices there are far better options available at the current price range

- You are a claw grip gamer or use only fingertips

If I had to change one thing it would most likely be the default settings on the mouse, this sounds weird as if the app works correctly you can configure this to the n-th degree, but I would more likely use this as a moving mouse, and I wouldn’t always want to install the app and restore a backup before I am ready to game.

Today I am cutting right to the chase, let me give you the highlights of the Cooler Master Sentinel III Specifications The mouse is designed as a right handed palm grip mouse, sized at 135mm x 83.6mm x 40mm. The only flaw I can see with this type of design is that it is limited to right handed use, which is pretty normal when it comes to buying a mouse. The size might get to you if you have slightly small hands, but was pretty much perfectly sized for me. If you prefer a claw grip on your mouse that would bug you as well as this mouse does not work with that grip. The mouse is equipped with an Avago S3988 optical sensor which allows for up to 6400 DPI, it is configured with 4 incremental settings by default, 400-1200-4000-6400. I didn’t like this as I normally prefer at around 3200DPI. You get 8 configurable buttons, if the application works (we’ll get into that), so if you work with a standard 2 clicks, 2 function buttons this mouse works pretty well. The mouse weighs in at 155g, with an additional 22.5g that can be added on with included metal weights at 4.5g adjustments. If you only use 3 of your weights though there is nowhere to store the additional 2 weights so I hope you are better at storing tiny metal battery sized objects. The Sentinel III is a USB mouse with a 1.8m braided cable, withstands a sharp 90 degree bend quite well but I would be concerned with that strain on my own mouse for long periods. The mouse is controlled by a 322 bit processor with 512 RAM, used for storing your 5 profiles and other settings. Ensuring your 2mm height detection works as well as it is meant to. The Application I had a lot of trouble with this application, whenever launching it, it kept telling me to plug in my CM mouse. Even the firmware update would not pick up the mouse was there. Tested it on three different machines and no dice. The mouse can store 5 profiles, everything you configure in the application is assigned to one of these 5 profiles, which means just by changing the profile you can change what each button does, which macros are assigned to your mouse and what DPI increments are available on you quick change keys. Hell, color code your profiles as well so you know what to expect without using the handy LED display (that normally sits underneath a finger). You can configure the lift off distance, this is useful if you run a fairly low DPI setting with very little desk space available, re-adjusting your hand would normally move your mouse, but with the lift off sensor it prevents that, it can be configured up to 5mm high. Personally I would never need to set it this high, but I am used to a low lift clearance. You can configure the response times…

Tech Review: Cooler Master Sentinel III Mouse – Solid, But Nothing Special

Tech Review: Cooler Master Sentinel III Mouse – Solid, But Nothing Special

2016-03-29

Zakeroph

Solid, But Nothing Special

Total - 7

70
7

A solid mouse in many respects, but there isn't anything special that can be said of it. The application is unreliable and the build feels slightly low quality. However, it's a solid choice for a gaming mouse.

User Rating: Be the first one !

7

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Article Tags:
cm sentinel iii · Cooler Master · cooler master sentinel iii · coolermaster sentinel 3 · mouse · mouse review · review · sentinel 3 · tech review

Article Categories:
Tech · Tech Review
