Mionix Naos 8200 Gaming Mouse Review

Overview

 

Here we have a new product from the Swedish Gaming peripheral connoisseurs Mionix. Much like our previously reviewed products the Nash 20 Headset and Naos 3200, the Mionix Naos 8200 Gaming Mouse is a peripheral crafted with innovation and a high attention to detail. Ok, so the Naos 8200 may not be that much of an innovation style-wise as it’s nigh on identical to the Naos 3200 and Naos 7000, but it does have a few notable improvements. Mionix have upped the mouse sensor to an 8200 DPI Avago Gaming laser sensor and reduced the weight to 99g (151g inc cable). With the addition of Omron switches, ergonomic design, 4 layers of rubber coating, a 32bit ARM processor, 16.8 million colour customizable LED lighting system and 7 programmable buttons.

On paper Mionix have certainly got a Gaming mouse to be reckoned with, but how does it play???

 

 

 

The Mionix Naos arrived in a predominantly matte black and rather understated sleeved box. On the front we have an angled depiction of the mouse itself, the Mionix name and logo, model name, the description ‘High Performance Gaming Mouse’ as well as the Mionix company slogan ‘Light Years Ahead of the Game – Mionix.Net’. It’s nice and simple, but does the job with style.

Flipping the box over gives us a products description, technical and sensor specifications in various languages. Normally I’d type these out for you as I see them, but they are all listed elsewhere in the review. 😉

 

 

Sliding open the box reveals the Mionix Naos 8200 for the first time. As you can see it’s well protected in a clear plastic blister with a simple black cardboard bumper to hide and protect the cable.

 

 

Once out of the packaging we get a much clearer look of its contents as follows:

Mionix Naos 8200

Get Started Guide

It’s a nice and simple no frills package, but what more would you need? 😉

 

At the time of writing the Mionix Naos 8200 Ergonomic Gaming Mouse is on Amazon £56.83 and offers a 2 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Mionix

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

Out of the box we get a much clearer picture of the Mionix Naos 8200. It’s a rodent of the wired variety. The cable of which is nicely braided in black and perhaps a little stiffer than I’d like, but should get the job done more than adequately. The Naos 8200 itself oddly feels larger and heavier than its 99g of weight when gripped from above (how else would you use it?!?), but the ergonomic shape and four layers of coating seem to make the mouse feel like a natural extension of your hand, it really is that comfortable!

The Naos 8200 given measurements are 130.84(L) x 84.72(W) x 38.67(D)mm which are down to its heavily ergonomic design, with support for all five fingers (or four fingers and a thumb).

 

 

From the right the Mionix Naos 8200 looks incredibly sleek and stealthy with its matte black finish. The most notable features here are the finger rests, which seem to be slightly more contoured and wider than other mice of a similar design I’ve used before.

On the left we can see the gentle curving thumb rest, three colour customizable DPI indicators and two shoulder buttons. The shoulder buttons are well sized, but depending on your grip style, may be a little too far forward for some.

 

 

The front shows us very little we haven’t seen before. Left and right clickers, colour customizable mouse wheel, DPI shifts and braided cable. You may have noticed the DPI shifts are of a glossy material and slightly stepped instead of flush. This should help you quickly find the DPI buttons in-Game and then just as quickly get straight back into the thick of things.

The back shows of the ergonomic design to its fullest. If you look closely you’ll notice it isn’t just the outer rests that are contoured, but the top of the mouse as well. Lastly right at the back we have the Mionix logo, which will light up in your choice of 16.8 million colours.

 

 

Underneath the Naos 8200 isn’t hugely different from many mice. We have the typical information sticker, four large PTFE glides that follow the contours of the Naos. Whilst in the dead center we have the Avago 8200 laser sensor. Although it has no tangible benefit, I rather like the way Mionix have broken it up a little by surrounding the sensor with their logo.

From above the elegant and sleek ergonomic design shines, whilst clearly showing the same matte finish across the body of the mouse. Looking more closely at the mouse wheel shows a rubber tyre like tread, this is both non slip and unlike some mice I’ve recently reviewed, stuck firmly to the actual wheel.

 

Hardware Installation

 

The Mionix Naos 8200 features a gold plated USB plug with the Mionix logo moulded on the shield. This simply plugs into any available USB slot and as a plug and play device, your ready to go

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

The Mionix Naos 8200 was tested on the pcG Intel Test Rig, A fresh installation of Windows Home Premium 64bit (service pack 1) was performed prior to testing. The Mionix Naos 8200 is plug and play, but to gain the full benefits you’ll also need the Mionix Naos 8200 Software Version 1.01, available here.

 

The following games were used during testing:

• Warface
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
• Survarium (BETA)
• World of Tanks

 

Hardware Performance

 

Have I mentioned how comfortable the Naos 8200 is? No? Well it is the most comfortable mouse you’ll most likely ever hold in your hand! Many mice take a little while to get used to, yet the moment I put my my hand on the Naos 8200 it felt immediately familiar and incredibly natural, almost like an extension of your arm. Of course comfort alone isn’t going to make for a great or even good Gaming mouse…

Luckily the Mionix Naos 8200 has an 8200 DPI Avago laser sensor, which has been tuned to surgical like precision (this doesn’t make Surgeon Simulator any easier by the way), whilst the seemingly typical industry standard Omron switches used on the left and right mouse buttons, feel very reactive and satisfyingly clicky. Add to this the non-slip rubber scroll wheel, some perfectly sized and well placed thumb buttons and two glossy slightly stepped DPI shift buttons, then suddenly you’ve got not only something as comfy as a reclining chair, but a Gaming tool that is instantly intuitive to use because everything feels naturally placed. That’s without going in depth on the technical side, I don’t need to, everything works so well that the Mionix Naos 8200 is a refined work of craftmanship.

Of course this mouse will not be perfect for everyone (I’m sure you don’t all have hands like shovels with five fat sausages a piece). If your left handed and consequently use your left hand to control your mouse (may seem a bizarre statement, but I know of at least six lefties who don’t), you’d probably best stop reading… The Naos 8200 is naturally contoured for a right handed palm style grip. Anyone with a claw grip may also have a slightly longer bedding in time as the wider clasp, although comfortable at first, will likely become uncomfortable and give you cramp through prolonged use. For me with my slightly dodgy palm/finger grip, the Naos 8200 is nigh on perfect.

Will it give you extra frags in game? Sadly it’s unlikely, but you will be a hell of a lot more comfortable when you die! 😉

SOFTWARE

 

 

The Mionix Naos 8200 software suite styled in black and green (the Mionix colours in case you were wondering). It is fairly simple, robust and offers five different profile settings and five different settings tabs. The first being ‘Mouse Settings’, which allows us to re-assign all seven mouse buttons, polling rate, double click speed, scroll speed and pointer acceleration. Through ‘Sensor Performance’ we can adjust DPI settings increments of 200 from 200 to 8200 DPI, pointer speed, lift distance and a rather cool tool called SQAT (Surface Quality Analyser Tool), which does exactly what it says and allows the Naos 8200 to analyse your chosen Gaming surface (my slightly worn cloth matt gave me an unimpressive 60%, yet my wooden desktop 50%). ‘Colour Settings’ allows LED lighting on, off or selective (which are on and off), LED effects through solid, blinking, pulsating or breathing all of which work well. This tab also allows the choice of 16.8 colours as a single solid colour or a colour shift. Of the twenty pre-set colours, all bar red and blue seem to be represented well. You can of course adjust these with the Custom RGB Colour (custom rgb colour) to get an exact red or blue, but one colour that doesn’t work well is bright white (this always comes out either a very pale pink, green, blue or a greyish colour).

Within the ‘Macro Settings’, as the name implies this is a nice and simple Macro recording software. Lastly is ‘Support’ in which there are linked short-cuts for F.A.Q (Frequently Asked Questions), Support, Product Registration and Downloads for the software suite and Naos 8200 firmware on the Mionix website.

 

Final Thoughts

 

So have Mionix come up trumps yet again with the Mionix Naos 8200 Gaming Mouse high performance Gaming mouse?

The Naos 8200 arrived in a rather small, sleek and uncomplicated black sleeved box. The front of which shows off a depiction of the Naos 8200, but describes none of the features for the mouse inside. The back offers a small description of the Naos 8200 and lists the mouse and sensor specifications, whilst opening up the box shows the mouse to be adequately protected within a clear plastic blister with a cardboard bumper.

I’ll admit my hesitancy after unboxing the Naos 8200 and finding a heavily ergonomic Gaming mouse, but once in hand this faded away fast. The thumb and finger rests of this ergonomic mouse are obvious, but subtle enough to make it feel like a natural extension of your arm (no small feet as most ergonomic ‘full palm’ mice seem to force a specific grip style). This coupled with a light weight 99g, fantastic build quality and an incredibly soft feeling grip make this wired rodent THE most comfortable mouse I’ve ever laid my hand on. It even has a subtle stealthy appearance with its matte black finish, which although unassuming I rather like.

The Mionix Naos 8200 fares extremely well when Gaming. The 8200 DPI Avago laser sensor is custom tuned to surgical precision, both Omron switches are highly responsive and satisfyingly clicky. The scroll wheel is well fitted with its non slip rubber tyre grip (many mice I’ve recently used with the same feature haven’t been as well fixed and slip from the wheel) and both thumb buttons are large and well placed. I especially liked the DPI shift buttons (odd I know). These unlike the rest of the matte black ultra grippy mouse, are gloss black and slightly stepped, which means you can easily find the DPI shifts and do so quickly in game without a worry.

The software again works well, looks good, works without a hitch (after downloading the correct Naos software and not the Avior…) and is easy to work with. In regards to LED lighting, a few of the twenty pre-set colours are very pale and washed out (red and blue), but inputting them manually shows a very good colour representation for every colour apart from white (couldn’t quite crack a bright white without it looking slightly pink, green or blue I’m afraid), of course there are also 16.8 million available. While all of the five lighting effects work well (even ‘breathing’ which is smooth and not stuttery like on some other peripherals out there).

So is the Mionix Naos 8200 a great Gaming mouse? For me it is yes and I’ll openly say it’s now my ‘go too’ mouse of the moment. However subtle the five finger ergonomic design is, it will only suit right handed Gamers and some claw grippers may find it isn’t quite right for them. For anyone with a palm grip it’ll be great, or even a lazy palm/finger style grip like me, it is nigh on perfect and at just under £60.00 great value.

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Mionix for providing this sample for review