Review of gaming mouse Cooler Master MM711 / Overclockers.ua

Even in such a specific area as gaming mice, there are fashion trends. And the year 2019 was marked not only by a bias towards wireless manipulators, but also by the mass appearance of mice with a “lightweight” body due to a large number of holes. We could be wrong, but it’s likely that Thermaltake was the first to introduce their mesh mouse variant with the Ventus series. True, this was not done to reduce weight, but rather to ventilate the palm. But all subsequent companies focused on the investment of the structure. The biggest “hype” among them was caught by Glorious, Finalmouse and G-Wolves. But Cooler Master did not stand aside either, releasing the MM710 model. She did not reach us, but she got MM711, which is the same thing, but with RGB backlighting.

Specifications

Contents of delivery

The mouse box is small and neat, framed in a corporate purple-black color. In terms of information content, everything is fine, right on the package it tells about everything that this device has to offer.

The package includes instructions and a spare set of Teflon feet. The perfect combination.

Appearance

Cooler Master MM711 has a classic symmetrical shape of medium size. This version of the coating uses a smooth matte plastic that is prone to picking up fingerprints. The entire rear part of the top panel and, partially, the LKM and PCM panels are perforated with holes in the form of oblate hexagons. The buttons of the main keys are separate, have a slight backlash, are pressed with medium force and a distinct sound of operation, without free play. Between the buttons is a small glossy resolution switch, which has a slight resistance to pressure and a quiet click.

The left sidewall is covered with the same plastic as the top panel. The back also has perforations that end below the two glossy side keys, indicating exactly where the thumb should rest. The buttons are triangular in profile and can be pressed by sliding your finger up or down. They work with a slightly above average force, without play and with a muffled click.

The signal cable enters the housing exactly in the center, at a sufficient height from the surface so as not to cling to it. There is a soft rubber anti-kink protection at the entry point on the wire. The scroll wheel is rubberized and covered with diagonal tactile notches. All fixation positions are worked out by the mechanism clearly, but rather quietly, regardless of the rotation speed. The middle button is elastic, with a ringing sound of operation. There is no backlash at the scroll, and this is positive.

The USB cable is made in the spirit of modern trends in gaming mice. It is very soft, due to the absence of a common layer of rubber insulation, and is covered with a nylon braid that resembles a sneaker lace to the touch. Such a cord does not create any resistance when moving the mouse and can be perfectly used without a holder. The cable length is 1.8 meters, there is a ferrite ring near the connector to eliminate signal interference.

The right side of the mouse is completely copied from the left, only devoid of side keys.

There is an illuminated Cooler Master logo on the back of the mouse. And since a white diffuser dome is built inside, the entire feed shines through the holes.

The mouse will be equally comfortable for owners of medium and small hands, both right-handed and left-handed, in any type of grip. The weight of the case does not exceed 60 grams, excluding the wire, and its distribution along the axes of symmetry is completely uniform. The manipulator is practically weightless, thanks to which it does not create unnecessary inertia even with very sharp movements.

The large back of the mouse base is perforated through which the sensor and circuit board can be seen. To the logical question of the public about how resistant such a design is to liquids and dust, the manufacturer claims that everything is covered with a protective varnish, with the exception of the switch mechanisms and the wheel encoder. Therefore, ordinary sweat and dust will not damage the device, although it is still not worth bathing it in water. Three correctly positioned white Teflon feet are responsible for sliding. A decent optical PixArt PMW3389 sensor with infrared illumination is installed here as a motion sensor.

The mouse has two backlight zones – a scroll wheel and, in fact, the entire stern. The zones are controlled separately, they can show the entire RGB color palette and a small set of visual effects. White is displayed as pale blue, yellow has a greenish tinge. The rest of the colors look correct.

Proprietary software

The Cooler Master MM711 mouse has a microprocessor and built-in memory that allows you to store up to five profiles and many different macro commands on board. To configure the mouse functions, the Cooler Master MasterPlus software is used, which can be downloaded from the official website. The start screen offers a button remapping menu. In base mode, when Mouse Combo is disabled, five keys and two scroll directions can be remapped. Mouse Combo – the second mode when the DPI button is held down and five alternative commands can be activated on the LMB, MMB, RMB and side buttons. Each button can be disabled completely, hang on it basic mouse commands, any keyboard presses and combinations, assign a macro, multimedia commands, Rapid fire commands, profile switching, resolution switching, and even the ability to turn off the sensor.

In the backlight settings, you can separately adjust the color and brightness of the two zones of LEDs under the scroll wheel and on the stern. There are five lighting effects (playback speed is adjustable) and the ability to turn off the backlight completely.

Sensor settings look rich. There are seven levels of resolution, for each you can separately set the values ​​\u200b\u200bof the X and Y axes. Although the maximum DPI for this sensor is indicated as 16000, it can be adjusted in the scale in the range from 200 to 32000. It is not clear whether this is a software error, or as intended by the manufacturer. You can choose from a polling rate of 125, 250, 500 and 1000 Hz. You can turn Angular Snap on and off. The tear-off height is set to High and Low, which is approximately 2 and 1 mm. For those who hold the mouse at a non-standard angle, you can adjust the angle of rotation of the sensor axes within 30 degrees to the left or right of the normal. It is better to leave the sensitivity setting of the operating system at the default number 6, so as not to connect software dividers and multipliers of the current resolution. Another parameter of the operating system is the double-tap reading speed. You can set it to your taste. But it is better to set the key response delay to the minimum possible, at which there is no accidental double operation. And the mouse can be calibrated under the surface.

To do this, add a new surface to the list and start the calibration. The mouse needs to be driven across the mat in zigzags, keeping the left button pressed until the end of the process.

The macro editor can record mouse and keyboard clicks, plus scroll wheel directions. 198 actions are placed in each command, taking into account the fact that pressing and releasing the button is perceived as two actions at once. For each operation, you can set the delay time, fixed, arbitrary or equal to zero. For the entire macro, you can choose the playback method – one-time, by pressing, or by releasing the button. Naturally, each command is given a name, it can be copied, deleted, edited, imported and exported.

The last tab is responsible for managing five side profiles. They can be switched, reset, renamed, imported, exported and saved as an executable file.

Ergonomics and testing

The Cooler Master MM711 mouse was tested on the Mionix Alioth M mousepad. Does it differ from other symmetrical mice of a similar shape? Not really. The presence of honeycomb holes in the case is practically not felt in any way, especially in the classic finger grip for FPS games. But another main characteristic of the MM711 is well felt – the weightlessness of the device. It is also complemented by a very soft and flexible cable that does not restrict the user’s movements in any way. Lack of inertia and medium friction legs allow you to make very fast and accurate mouse jerks, without shifting the sight. It is difficult to assess how much better the hand is ventilated due to the holes, because when gripping with fingers, it almost does not touch the surface of the case anyway. That’s all the main benefits. Everything else is standard. The nature of the operation of the keys is normal and informative. The scroll wheel can be assessed as good and clear, without unnecessary overtones and backlash. The bodywork leaves much to be desired. It feels good to the touch, but gets dirty pretty quickly. The build quality is generally not bad, but when compressed hard, the case still crunches and even the resolution switch may involuntarily work. The backlight looks good with the honeycomb grille and white diffuser, but as mentioned earlier it can’t show white and yellow properly. There are no questions about software and on-board memory, everything is simple and clear there.

There are no complaints about the operation of the PixArt PMW3389 optical sensor. We have encountered such sensors more than once and in tests they behave consistently well. No breaks, no linearity, no acceleration, no extra smoothing, no parasitic features. And in this case, it is also possible to calibrate the extremely low separation height. The only thing is that you should not drive the resolution to too high values ​​and try to compensate for this with the speed slider of the operating system.

Results

Based on the results of acquaintance with the MM711, it should be noted that Cooler Master turned out to be an excellent gaming mouse, fully suitable for competitive FPS games. Lightweight and balanced in weight, with a good sensor and soft cable, decent buttons and a scroll wheel. And even with a spare set of legs. In addition, there is a built-in memory and backlight.

Can the honeycomb structure of the openings in the case be considered innovative? No. This is pure marketing. Mainly because a weight of 60 grams can also be achieved with a closed case without any loss in strength. And so it only adds a stylish appearance to the product.

Of the shortcomings, a crunch of the case during compression is noticeable. However, if you do not use the mouse as an expander for training the wrist joint, this nuance will not cause problems. Also, the backlight looks good, but it can’t show white and yellow correctly. Otherwise, there are no questions.

In its price range of $60, the Cooler Master MM711 looks balanced against the background of its closest competitors and is definitely worth the attention of lovers of light gaming manipulators of a classic symmetrical shape.