CM Storm Reaper Mouse Review

Overview

 

The CM Storm Reaper is the third mouse that we have seen here at pcGameware from manufacturer Cooler Master, CM Storm being the company’s Gaming brand. The Reaper is an ergonomic right handed mouse with an 8200 DPI Laser sensor and 8 programmable buttons. One of these buttons is a new clutch button found near the front of the left side of the mouse. The mouse is covered in a soft rubberised coating with an aluminum (of course we would say aluminium!) palm rest. The mouse also features a 100Hz polling rate, 32KB of on-board memory and features a 1.8 metre braided cable.

 

 

The CM Storm Reaper (Aluminum Gaming Mouse) came well packaged in a predominately black box, with a large image of the Reaper on the front. The front of the box also highlights the following features:

• 8200 DPI LASER SENSOR WITH SUPERB PRECISION
• PROGRAMMABLE CLUTCH BUTTON
• ERGONOMIC RIGHT-HANDED MOUSE DESIGN

 

 

With the outer sleeve removed we can see the all black CM Storm branded inner box.

Within this black box we find the Reaper mouse itself and a user guide. No software is supplied with the Reaper, but is required for full operation of the mouse (get it here).

 

 

Once out of the box we can see the ergonomic shape of the Reaper in all of its glory.

At the time of writing the CM Storm Reaper is retailing for approximately £60 and comes with a 2 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of CM Storm

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

First impressions of the CM Storm Reaper is that the mouse looks good and ticks all of the right Gaming boxes, well almost! The Reaper does seem a little on the large size, when compared to mice that we have seen in the past. The low and wide ergonomic shape really seems to favour the palm style of grip (my grip is more of a claw style), and due to this a certain way of holding the mouse is almost forced upon you. The mouse surface itself also seems to be rather too smooth, meaning that the mouse feels a little like a bar of soap at times. A little more time with the mouse may see me settle in, but at this point I’m a little unsure about this one…

Let’s take a tour around the CM Storm Reaper and see what’s what.

 

 

• Top

The top of the mouse is the common setup of left and right buttons and a central scroll wheel, the wheel itself appears to be made from aluminium with a knurled surface. While the surface may be knurled, the wheel itself is not as grippy (not sure that’s a word!) as one would expect. Behind this we find the two central DPI switches (Up & Down), these switches while relatively easy to reach do not illuminate and there’s also no illumination/indication of what DPI setting is currently set, which is a shame. Between the black top and the aluminium back we find an illuminated strip (white), via the software (not supplied (get it here)) this strip can be controlled (Always On/Always Off/Breathing/Rapid Fire).

 

 

• Front / Back

The front of the mouse is dominated by the aluminium scroll wheel that sits between the two front LED (white) lights, these front lights can again be controlled via the software and feature the following modes (Always On/Always Off/Breathing/Rapid Fire). The cord attached to the front of the mouse is braided, of a good weight and is 1.8 metres in length.

The back of the mouse is dominated by the aluminium plate adorned with the CM Storm logo.

 

 

• Sides (left & right)

The left side of the Reaper features the same black soft touch (very smooth, maybe even slippery!) surface that is found atop the mouse. Here you will also find the two well positioned thumb buttons. In front of this we find the ‘Clutch Button’, that can also be programmed via the software.

There’s not much to say about the other side of the Reaper as it has no functionality, but it features the same black soft touch surface.

 

 

• Underside

On the underside of the CM Storm Reaper we see two large Glides (left & right) and a further Glide at the rear. In the centre we can see the 8200DPI Laser sensor.

 

 

First impressions of the CM Storm Reaper are mostly positive, it’s a good looking mouse with a good array of features. The lack of a DPI indicator is a shame and I have some concerns over its size/shape and the slippery nature of its surface. Only time will tell though, so lets get testing…

 

Hardware Installation

 

The CM Storm Reaper connects via its 1.8 metre braided cable and Gold-plated USB connection.

 

 

At first I was under the impression that there was no software for the CM Storm Reaper, as there is no mention of it in the user guide or on the box! But knowing that the buttons are programmable (see front of box) there should be some software somewhere. A quick visit to the CM Storm website reveals that there is indeed software for the Reaper and it can be downloaded here.

Version 1.0 of the Cooler Master CM Storm Reaper software was downloaded and installed.

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

The CM Storm Reaper was tested using our AMD Test Rig with a fresh installation of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (service pack 1) installed together with all the latest relevant drivers and software.

Mouse Surface:

The Reaper was tested using a Boogie Bug AimB.Pad “Extreme” XXL Gaming Mouse Surface (available here) and CM Storm’s mouse bungee the (CM Storm Skorpion).

The following games were used to help in the evaluation of the CM Storm Reaper:

• Battlefield 4 (Beta)
• Metro Last Light
• Blacklight Retribution
• Alan Wake

 

Hardware Performance

 

• MOUSE

I really enjoy reviewing mice as they really are so important when it comes to PC Gaming, without a decent mouse you’re sure to find yourself nearer the bottom than the top of the leader-board. At first I was a little uncomfortable with the CM Storm Reaper due to its ergonomic shape among other things. The issue with this, and any ergonomic mouse is that a specific style of grip is almost forced upon you. The Reaper seems to be designed for a palm style of grip and not a claw style, which is what I’m used to.

Over time (about a week) I found myself getting used to the Reaper and thus settled in and began to appreciate its finer features. Although I have to say I’m still not a lover of the low/wide shape and that somewhat slippery surface coating…

 

 

As far as performance goes the 8200 DPI laser sensor performed flawlessly in all games, and the 8200 DPI setting was certainly useful when jumping into a tank in Battlefield 4, allowing faster rotation of the turret. For all other Gaming I used a setting between 1600 & 2400 DPI.

All of the buttons (apart from the Clutch button) are well placed and easy to reach, the Clutch button could do with coming back about 5-10mm in my opinion. The mouse wheel, made from aluminium, although knurled is also a little slippery, but I have to admit it’s easy enough to scroll. I was a little disappointed to see that there’s no indication as to what DPI setting you may be on, so in the heat of a game if you get confused you’re just going to have to work it out yourself…

The lighting looks kinda cool, especially those front headlights with the Rapid Fire setting, but the only colour option is white, which I guess is at least universal. The 1.8 metre braided cable is of a great weight (not too thick or stiff!) and worked perfectly well with our CM Storm Skorpion Mouse bungee.

 

• SOFTWARE

Although there seems to be no mention of it in the User Guide or on the box, the CM Storm Reaper software can be downloaded from here. While on the CM Storm site I also noticed that there was a later firmware release (1.3.4), as the mouse was shipped with 1.3.2 I decided to update the firmware also. This was a simple matter of running the downloaded application.

Unfortunately once the application had finished updating the firmware and the mouse was re-started, the mouse stopped working entirely, meaning that I couldn’t actually accept the screen that was telling me that the mouse had been updated successfully! I actually ended up using another mouse to accept the update and the mouse was the re-activated and started working again… 😉

 

 

• SOFTWARE (Main/Advanced/Macro)

 

The first tab (Main) in the Reaper Software allows the basic assignment of buttons allowing all of the 8 programmable buttons to be assigned. Built in functions like Profile selection and Profile Up/Down selection is also supported, as there is no dedicated profile switch aboard the Reaper. The Advanced tab allows the each of the 4 DPI settings to be chosen both X & Y axis are supported along with a USB polling rate. Below this we find a section that allows the LED’s mode to be selected, choose from (Always On/Always Off/Breathing/Rapid Fire). Below this we find settings for LED Brightness, OS sensitivity, OS double click speed & button response time (surely this needs to be as fast as possible!). Finally we have the Macro tab, which is pretty simple to drive; from the image (above right) you can see a simple BF4 grenade throw that I’ve setup. The only thing I noticed missing was the ability to add in wait durations…

At the bottom of all of the tabs is where you can choose which Profile is currently being edited, a picture can also be assigned, which is a cool touch.

 

• SOFTWARE (Profiles/Library/Support)

 

The first of the second set of tabs is the Profiles tab; here you can manage your Profiles creating as many as you want and assigning one to each of the four supported by the Reapers 32K of on-board memory. The next tab (Library) allows you to manage all of your Macros allowing you to import and export to a file should you wish and assign a Macro directly to a Profile & Button. The final tab is the Support tab, with the main functionality just taking you to the CM Storm website (it may have been better to take you to the Reaper page, at least!). There’s also no reset/defaults functionality which is a shame as this is always good should you get yourself and or your mouse in a bit of a pickle… 😉

Overall I found the CM Storm Reaper software to be pretty slick, with the only obvious omission (well I couldn’t find it!) being the lack of ability to add a wait state to a Macro. The software application also seems to take a rather long time to start (almost 40 secs!), not sure why…

 

Final Thoughts

 

The new CM Storm Reaper is a damn good mouse with an excellent 8200 DPI laser sensor, performance of the mouse was excellent in all games tested whether fast paced or slow. Describing the mouse itself is a little more difficult but some words do come to mind; nice, pretty and a little safe! What I mean by this is that the Reaper has no real stand out features it’s simply a good mouse. My concern here is that as a Gamer you may want a little more…

Although I did get used to the low/wide shape of the mouse over time, I’m still not a lover of that ergonomic, palm style grip design and the surface, while your hands are dry does seem a little too smooth (slippery) for its own good. At around £60 I would have hoped for some more features too, like the ability to know what DPI setting is set, or what Profile is currently set, but unfortunately this is missing.

The software while no mention of it on the box or in the user guide is very good, it’s simple enough to use and supports pretty much all of the programmable functionality one could want.

Overall the CM Storm Reaper is a good mouse, but missing some of the features that a Gamer would want at this price range. The performance on the other hand is excellent with the mouse never faltering during my 10 day test period. If you’re on the the look out for a good looking (pretty!) mouse with great performance then the Reaper may well be for you, but for me I think Cooler Master have played it a little too safe this time…

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Cooler Master (CM Storm) for providing this sample for review