ZOWIE EC2 (Black) Review
Overview
Today I will be looking at the ZOWIE EC2
ZOWIE according to their website are ‘an innovative manufacturer of competitive gaming gear, founded in late 2008 with a mission to develop the best competitive gaming gear available’. They state ‘If we can develop products that will increase a gamers performance by just 1%, we will do it’. Bold statements indeed, so it will be interesting to see how the EC2 actually performs. Note: The EC2 does not seem to appear on their official website for some reason!? Only the newer Evo edition is currently listed which comes with a newer sensor supporting different DPI settings and a few other upgrades.
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The ZOWIE EC2 comes packaged in a grey/silver box with an opening at the front to allow you to view the mouse itself. On the front are four round images showing the adjustable DPI functionality; including the DPI adjustment switch and the scroll wheel lighting for the three DPI settings that can be set (500, 1000 & 2000 DPI).
On the back of the box is a list of some of the more interesting features of the EC2, together with the specifications covering various different languages. At the bottom is a statement from Emil ‘HeatoN’ Christensen, a pro-gamer who used to compete professionally in both World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike, with regard to his involvement in helping co-develop the EC-series (the EC relating to his initials) of mice.
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The ZOWIE EC2 comes surrounded by a black cardboard tray which slides out from within the main outer packaging, as shown in the picture above. The mouse is encased within a moulded clear plastic covering which allows you to feel how the mouse will fit in your hand prior to removing it from its packaging, a similar plastic moulding came with the Mionix Naos 3200, it seems quite a popular packaging design choice!
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Lifting the black cardboard tray up, reveals the contents underneath. Inside is the EC2 mouse together with a large silver ZOWIE sticker, there are no drivers, software or other accessories included with the mouse.
At the time of writing the ZOWIE EC2 is retailing for approximately £45 and comes with a one year limited warranty.
Specifications/Features
courtesy of ZOWIE
- Features
- 100% stable optical mouse developed by HeatoN
- Ergonomic designed right-hand gaming mouse
- 1.5mm lift-off distance
- Improved mouse wheel system
- Plug and play! No drivers or software
- DPI adjustment: 500/1000/2000
- Operating system: Win2000/XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X V10.2 after
- Gold-plated USB connection
- Specifications
- Color: Black
- Coating: Full rubber paint
- DPI (Dots Per Inch): 500/1000/2000
- Frames Per Second: 6,500
- Inches Per Second: 40
- Max. Acceleration: 15G
- USB report rate: 1000 Hz
- Connector: USB
- Buttons: 5
- Length of cable: 2m/6.6ft
- Weight without cable: EC1, 97g – EC2, 93g.
- Dimensions: 120 x 40 x 58-65 mm / 4.72 x 1.57 x 2.28-2.56 in
* Additional details available here
First Impressions
On initial inspection the ZOWIE EC2 seemed to be smaller in size (the EC1 version is apparently larger) when compared to mice I have used previously. The top outer casing comes with a black rubber coating and the sides of the mouse have a non-rubber glossy coating (the white edition of the EC2 comes with no rubber coating at all). The mouse design is probably more suited to a palm or claw type grip and is for right handed use only, so hopefully this mouse will be better suited to my inherent claw type grip than the Mionix Naos 3200 was previously.
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- Top (front)
On the top of the mouse is the scroll-wheel (this seems slightly larger than normal and gives nice tactile feedback when used) and the usual left and right mouse buttons. The scroll-wheel also functions as a mouse button when pressed (default within Windows is set to auto scroll) but there is no left or right click functionality unlike my Logitech G5 which is a shame. The top of the casing is coated with moulded rubber as mentioned previously which makes the mouse easier to grip and the design of the overall casing seems very ergonomically friendly.
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- Top (back)
The rear of the mouse has no functionality surprisingly enough and contains just a single white picture of the ZOWIE company logo. The EC2 also has a relatively high profile at the back, although the mouse is still quite small in comparison to others, but this does help the ergonomics of the mouse which in turn should make it quite comfortable to use.
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- Sides (left & right)
On the left hand side of the mouse there are two additional relatively large thumb buttons, these are set as default to be ‘Forward’ and ‘Back’ buttons in a Web Browser which seems to be a common standard now. The left side has no rubber coating, its surface is of a glossy nature instead and is moulded slightly inwards to keep your thumb lifted off the surface to prevent drag. The thumb buttons are also relatively high up and well placed and so there should be no issues using them during gaming sessions.
The right hand side casing of the mouse, also of a glossy nature, has again been slightly moulded inwards to ergonomically allow your ring finger to rest along the side, with just enough room for your pinkie to sit below. Holding the mouse feels quite natural and in no way feels awkward and it doesn’t try to force you to hold the mouse in any particular position like some other mice do which is certainly a design choice I like.
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- Underside
On the underside of the mouse is the 2000 DPI Avago optical sensor along with with some technical details about the mouse including power rating and serial number detailed across the bottom. The sensor has a 1.5mm lift distance, 15g acceleration, tracking speed of 1.02m/sec and a sampling rate of 6500 FPS.
Also on the underside of the mouse to the right hand side of the optical sensor is the DPI adjustment button. This allows the DPI to be set to either 500, 1000 or 2000 DPI with the current setting being reflected via the colour of the scroll-wheel (see later). The downfall of having the button on the underside of the mouse however, is that it makes it impossible to change the DPI setting quickly while gaming without resorting to turning the mouse over! This will cause issues if you like using different settings for different scenarios e.g sniping or vehicle use while playing FPS games and this in my opinion was a bit of a bad design choice. If however your happy using the same DPI setting (with the ability to change it on the fly between sessions) and have no reason to want to change it in a hurry during a game, then this won’t be an issue.
There are also two large ultra low resistance teflon removable feet (no replacement ones are provided) at the top and bottom to allow the mouse to easily glide across your surface of choice. In my case, I am currently using a Boogie Bug AimB Pad XL.
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- Lighting (scroll-wheel)
The scroll-wheel comes with built-in lighting functionality and is lit in either red, purple or blue (see the pictures below) depending on what DPI setting the mouse is currently set to (red – 500 DPI, purple – 1000 DPI, blue – 2000 DPI). There is no additional functionality to change the specific colour used for any of the DPI settings or to turn the lighting off. The lighting itself also isn’t really that bright and is definitely more visible while gaming in the dark than during the day (the blue and purple can sometimes be a bit hard to distinguish from each other during the day).
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Hardware Installation
The ZOWIE EC2 mouse connects directly to any available USB port on your PC via its single gold-plated USB connector. The connector is attached to a 2 metre non-braided cable with surprisingly no additional Ferrite core on the end. The cable itself does seem relatively sturdy however and very flexible!
The mouse works straight away once it’s plugged in and recognised by Windows and there are no additional drivers or other software required or available to install.
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Testing Methodology/Setup
The ZOWIE EC2 was tested using my rig with a fresh installation of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (service pack 1) installed together with all the latest relevant drivers and software.
A variety of games across different genres were used to evaluate the mouse’s performance and comfort including:
- Dungeons & Dragons: Online
- Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Diablo 3
- Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War
Hardware Performance
- Mouse
The most important factors for me when using a mouse for gaming are how comfortable it is and how does it perform across different genres of games. The ZOWIE EC2 certainly ticks the comfort box, but the lack of any software or programmable buttons, does let it down slightly when playing MMO and RTS type games.
The EC2 weighs in at approximately 93g and seems extremely light to hold. Although there is no weight management system, I didn’t at any point feel the need to want to change the weight of the mouse anyway. Together with the rubber moulding on the top and the ergonomic design, the mouse was very comfortable to use over each of the 2+ hour gaming sessions. The fact that the mouse is also designed with a right handed palm/claw type grip in mind also helped a lot when it came to comfort and unlike the Mionix Naos 3200 I had no issues with adapting to the mouse design. The only things I found were that the mouse became quite clammy over long gaming periods as the rubber coating was causing my hand to sweat and I felt the mouse was just a touch too small for my large hand (people with larger hands may prefer the larger EC1 version).
The thumb buttons are slightly higher than I would have liked but I had no issues actually using them during gaming for things like crouching, melee and using special abilities. The scroll-wheel also worked well when bound to keybinds which made changing weapons and using abilities when playing both MW3 and Diablo 3 a breeze. The only problem I had with the position of the buttons was with the DPI adjustment one on the underside of the mouse. This makes it impossible to change the DPI setting in a hurry while gaming without physically turning the mouse over. This is fine if you like using the same DPI setting for everything or don’t mind changing it on the fly during a down period but will certainly cause issues if you want to switch between the DPI settings in a hurry for things like sniping or vehicle use.
I can’t really fault the mouse on its performance. It performed well over various different genres of games and overall I found the 1000 DPI setting was more than satisfactory for most of my gaming needs, especially during MW3 sessions. The mouse worked well on both a wooden desk surface and a gaming mat and the two large ultra low resistance teflon feet on the bottom ensured that the mouse glided well across both surfaces with no issues. The lift-off distance of 1.5mm also really helped while using the mouse at lower DPI settings (500 DPI) which required larger swipes of the mouse when for example turning around.
The lighting of the scroll-wheel was a nice inclusion, but its only use is to tell you what your current DPI setting is set to. The brightness is also affected while gaming during the day and it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between the purple and the blue lighting (1000 & 2000 DPI settings). The lighting does however work really well in the dark and is certainly a nice additional feature to have if you like things to be lit up.
Final Thoughts
The ZOWIE EC2 has certainly made its mark during my time with it and if a few improvements had been made to the mouse there would have been nothing to complain about!
The EC2 has a solid overall design and build and I really like its black looks. It was very comfortable to hold for long periods of gaming, although I did feel that the mouse was slightly too small for my hand, but the soft rubber moulding on top and its ergonomic design made it a pleasure to use. My hand did however begin to sweat after long gaming sessions due the rubber moulding and the glossy finish on the sides is now full of fingerprints! The mouse is certainly very light weighing in at 93g and although it doesn’t feature any weight management system, I never felt the need at any time to want to adjust the weight. The design of the mouse is more suited towards Palm/Claw type grips and right handed gamers, so for me it was very easy to adapt to the mouse which made things easier.
All of the top buttons were well placed and although none are programmable, this wasn’t really an issue while playing certain games like MW3. This may be something to consider however if you play a lot of MMO or RTS type games and like to bind macros to buttons etc. The scroll-wheel also worked well when bound to keybinds which made changing weapons and using abilities while playing both MW3 and Diablo 3 a breeze. The placement of the DPI adjustment button on the underside of the mouse however seemed like a strange design choice. This makes it difficult to access quickly if you like to switch between DPI settings in a hurry e.g when sniping.
The ZOWIE EC2 mouse at around £45 does seem slightly expensive for what you are getting compared to some of the other current mice out there. However with the excellent performance and comfort you are getting maybe the price can be justified if you can forgive the lack of any programmable buttons or included software.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the ZOWIE EC2. If your looking for a mouse with excellent performance that is comfortable to use but does seem more suited towards FPS gamers then this mouse might just be one to add to your list.
Verdict
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