QPAD DX-20 Mouse Review

Overview

 

It’s been almost a year since we last took a look at a peripheral from Swedish manufacturer QPAD, back then (in June 2015) Iain took a look at their latest Mouse the QPAD 8K Laser. This time around it’s my turn to take a look at a QPAD mouse and, believe it or not this is the first QPAD mouse I’ve ever reviewed, strange! This time around QPAD have dropped the laser sensor in favour of an optical sensor, this is the new QPAD DX-20 (Pro Gaming Optical Mouse).

The QPAD DX-20 is a right-handed ergonomic mouse with a Pixart 3320 Gaming Grade Optical Sensor. The sensor has a maximum CPI (Counts/inch) of 3500, has a maximum acceleration of 20 G and a maximum speed of 80 IPS (inch/sec). In addition to this the DX-20 has seven programmable buttons and also sports an adjustable Polling Rate. All of this is supported by an ARM Cortex M3 processor with 128kb of on-board memory, while the mouse itself also sports RGB LED 16.8 million illumination.

 

 

The QPAD DX-20 (Pro Gaming Optical Mouse) arrived at pcG in a simple small white box with an image of the QPAD DX-20 on the front showing off its RGB illumination. In addition to the Windows 8 compatible logo QPAD have chosen to also highlight the following:

The back of the box features a small (very small, you can hardly read it!) specifications (see Specifications/Features below) table in both English (UK) and various other languages. Below this there’s a bit of blurb on the mouse, its ambidextrous design and the optical sensor. As well as a section on QPAD (founded in 1992) itself and the company’s focus on ESports. At the bottom of the back of the box we also find three images of the DX-20 highlighting the 7 programmable buttons, the fully customized color profile and the ambidextrous classical grip.

 

 

Within the outer sleeve we find a smart inner black box showing off QPAD’s E-Sport for Life tag. Opening the inner box allows us to see the lengths that QPAD have gone to both package and present the DX-20, and (as you can see) a good job they’ve done too! Within the lidof the box there’s also a Congratulations statement from Christer ‘Mr Mouse’ Kornback himself, founder of QPAD.

 

 

Delving deeper into the box and ferreting through that lovely packaging we find a QPAD branded carry-bag for the mouse and an extra set of glides for the mouse, but no user guide or instruction manual.

 

At the time of review the QPAD DX-20 is available from Overclockers UK for approximately £50 and comes with a 1 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of QPAD

 

 

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

 

First impressions of the QPAD DX-20 are a little underwhelming to be honest, especially when off! The shape of the mouse itself is simple yet elegant and resembles the Microsoft Intellimouse of years ago. But that’s no bad thing, after all the DX-20 is designed to be a Pro Gamer mouse, devoid of all things not necessary. What’s also apparent is that the mouse is well made and its ergonomic design will suit a variety of Grip Types.

QPAD describe the DX-20 as an ambidextrous mouse, but judging from what I can see (see images above) I’d say it wasn’t! The shape could well be described as ambidextrous but not the mouse itself as there are only buttons on one side (the left) making, it in my mind a right-handed mouse.

Both the left and the right sides of the DX-20 feature an indent allowing for a position of thumb and or pinky, it’s a design that seems to support all Grip Types well, which is both impressive and a little surprising. The left side sports two thumb buttons that are well placed and perfect for my bastardized Claw grip. Running around the bottom edge you can see the main illumination zone, one of three aboard the DX-20.

 

 

Looking at the QPAD DX-20 from the front we can see a simplistic design with buttons left and right with a centrally mounted scroll wheel and a centrally mounted cable. Again here we can see that lower strip that runs around the bottom edge of the mouse.

There’s very little to see at the back of the QPAD DX-20 other than the large QPAD logo. Both the logo and the strip at the bottom illuminate when the mouse is powered up via USB.

 

 

Looking at the DX-20 from above we can see the two main left/right buttons that are equipped with Omron switches with their 100 Million click lifecycle. In the centre we find the scroll wheel with its rubber type grip and subtle graduations, that are a little too subtle for my liking. The inner part of the wheel also illuminates and supports 16.8 million colours. Behind the scroll wheel we find a further two buttons, that by default are setup as CPI Up/Down but are fully programmable via the QPAD software.

Flipping the mouse over we can see the centrally mounted Pixart 3320 Gaming Grade Optical Sensor. There are four glides one in (effectively) each corner and there are four additional spare glides supplied.

 

There’s no doubt that the QPAD DX-20 sports a simple ergonomic design that’s ambidextrous in design but not necessarily in functionality. From just holding the DX-20 and appreciating is design and build quality, it’s soon apparent that this is a surgical precision instrument. Devoid of any frivolous extras this is a mouse for winning with and we all want to win right!? Well let’s see if it can help me (insert joke here)… 😉

 

Hardware Installation

 

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

 

For testing we will be using one of QPAD’s own mouse pads as well as our regular OCUK mouse pad (OcUK Mega Mat 3XL Elite Tactical Gaming Surface). Above left you can see the QPAD FX 44 a Pro Gaming Mouse Pad measuring in at 440mm (W) x 370mm (H). This 4mm thick fabric mouse pad has a surface speed rating of three an can be rolled up for easy transportation.

As you can see the mouse pad itself is mainly black with a metalwork/silver design and a nice QPAD logo in the bottom left corner. The back of the mouse pad is covered with a thick heavy-duty rubber making the bottom of the mat very grippy (bad word!) indeed.

 

 

The following games were used during testing:

Battlefield 4
Dying Light The Following
Portal Knights

 

Hardware Performance

 

Looking first at the ergonomics of the QPAD DX-20 let’s first take a look at the shape. The simplistic (yet elegant) shape seems to support all Grip Types well and suits my bastardized Claw Type grip well. The thumb buttons are also very well placed and the forward of the two (that’s normally too far forward) is almost spot on! To be honest there’s very little to dislike about the shape although I would say the mouse itself is a little on the small side. The scroll wheel also works well enough although I would say while the graduations are palpable they could do with a little more feedback IMHO.

 

 

From an illumination point of view the QPAD DX-20 scores well with three dedicated illumination zones all supporting 16.8 million colours. There are some basic effects (via the software) also such as Pulse, Wave and Color flow but these can only be applied at the mouse level and not the zone level. I also noticed that the LEDS were a little poor at recreating the colour white with both the logo and the wheel appearing more pink, while the bottom strip colour was a little better.

 

 

SOFTWARE

 

 

The software that accompanies the QPAD DX-20 is not supplied but can be downloaded here. I downloaded and installed the latest version (V1.29) and used it throughout testing, version V1.19 of the firmware was also pre-installed and used throughout testing. The software itself is a somewhat colourful affair and is something that you may either love or loathe, but I rather like its colour coordinated approach! The main screen shown above comprises of seven main elements, with the latter two just showing support information or taking you to the QPAD website. The other five are detailed below.

In addition to the main functions you can also create and manage Profiles from the main screen. Profiles can be created, named and stored on either the mouse itself (via Profile 1-4 & courtesy of the 128kb of on-board memory) or on disk.

 

 

The Button Assignment screen allows you to programme any of the seven buttons aboard the DX-20. The default setup sees the top two buttons setup as CPI+ and CPI-. Using the simple dropdown menu for each button allows you to simply assign a keypress, a Macro or a variety of other basic Windows functions.

Basic Settings allows for control over such things as Windows cursor speed and options such as Acceleration (perish the thought!), Scroll Speed and Double Click speed etc.

 

 

The Advanced Settings screen is where you can set your CPI (DPI) levels, up to three are supported by the DX-20. CPI levels can be adjusted in increments of 50 which is handy for fine control, and clicking on the coloured square allows you to assign a colour to a specific CPI setting. Note, to do this you must use the Lights screen to assign the Scroll Wheel to CPI Mode. In addition to this Angle Snapping can be turned On/Off (best left off) and Lift off Distance can be adjusted, I set mine to 10 as I’m a bit of a Lifter! You can also Calibrate your mouse mat, but I found that the software was happy to Calibrate thin air, so I left it at Auto! 😉

The Macro Recording screen is both comprehensive and easy to use, with both keyboard and mouse controls catered for. You first need to assign a Name and then you can record, recoding is done in real time (always) but can be Edited later to either fixed delay (50ms) or a delay of your choice. The editor also allows for manipulation of the recorded Macro with Copy/Paste and Edit functionality.

Finally we have the Lights screen where you can customise the three illumination zones aboard the DX-20. All Zones support On/Off functionality and 16.8 million colour illumination, with the Scroll Wheel additionally supporting a CPI Mode. This allows the Scroll Wheel to illuminate to your chosen colour when a particular CPI has been selected, and is very handy. There are also a couple of basic effects to choose from such as Wave, Pulse and Color flow, some of which support further basic options. Note that both the scroll wheel and the logo seem to struggle to reproduce the colour white.

 

Final Thoughts

 

I’m not normally a fan of the ‘Pro Gaming Mouse’ as it’s a term used all too often to inflate the asking price. But thankfully QPAD have come to the rescue with their latest QPAD DX-20 (Pro Gaming Optical Mouse). Not only (and most importantly) is this a tool of absolute precision, but if there’s was ever a mouse that’s likely to improve your game then I’d say, this is it!

The QPAD DX-20 arrived at pcG in a somewhat small and unassuming box, with the contents within nicely packaged and well presented. There’s also a carry-bag and additional Glides too, which is nice. Once out of the box and in the hand it’s soon apparent that the DX-20 is both a good looking and well made mouse. Although I’m unsure it’s truly ambidextrous (as suggested by QPAD) as there are only thumb buttons on the left side!?

The design itself is simple yet elegant and (somewhat obviously) takes its design cues from the original Microsoft Intellimouse of years gone by, that’s a lot of years by the way! The mouse itself sports an Pixart 3320 Gaming Grade Optical Sensor and seven programmable buttons. While the surface has a soft touch feel that has a good level of grip. The QPAD DX-20 also sports three RGB (16.8 million) colour illuminating zones, one on the Scroll Wheel, the QPAD logo at the back and a strip that runs around its base. The mouse is a little on the small side, but I found that it worked well with my bastardised Claw grip and is likely to work well with most other Grip Types too. Due to the simple design of the DX-20 there’s very little to dislike, well nothing to be honest; even the two thumb buttons are well placed.

Once plugged in the QPAD DX-20 comes to life, not only in the fact that it now works, but the 16.8 million colour illumination shines through nicely. With the QPAD logo at the rear and the LED strip around the base looking especially cool. The only drawback here is that the DX-20 struggled to reproduce the colour white, especially on the Scroll Wheel and the logo which is a shame. In fact to be honest it’s the only fault with the mouse full stop…

That’s because when it comes to talking about tracking there’s very little I can say other than it’s sublime. In conjunction with the QPAD FX-44 mouse pad that I used for testing the DX-20 produced what has to be the best tracking and movement of a mouse I’ve come across. It may be a step too far to say it’s the best, but there’s certainly no better that we’ve tested here at pcG! As I mentioned earlier it’s a bit like the mouse is no longer connected to your hand, the DX-20 appears to be directly connected to your brain and that’s certainly a good thing! 😉

The QPAD software is also good, although some may bulk at its colour coordinated approach, but I rather like it. It’s both simple in design and easy to use, yet supports all of the functionality even a Pro/Hardcore Gamer is likely to need.

As you may have realised, I’m rather impressed with the QPAD DX-20 and that’s probably an understatement. Especially as this style (Pro Gamer) mouse is not normally my weapon of choice, but when the weapon is this good and this accurate it simply cannot be ignored. In fact as of today this is my new weapon of choice and hopefully, that tells you all you need to know.

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to QPAD for providing this sample for review