Gaming Mouse Roundup: Corsair Sabre RGB, G.Skill RIPJAWS MX780, SteelSeries Rival 500
G.Skill RIPJAWS MX780 Gaming Mouse
G.Skill RIPJAWS MX780 Kit With Adapters, Adjustment Tool And Weights
The last critter in our round-up, but certainly not the least, is an eight-button ambidextrous mouse from G.Skill. This mouse is the only ambidextrous mouse of group, so if you are left-handed, this is the only option for you from the three devices we've tested here. The MX780 features an aggressive look with adjustable thumb rests, palm rests, and weights. The body is finished with a rubberized matte plastic and a brushed metal bottom. Since this is an ambidextrous mouse, the button layout is symmetrical. Two buttons are located on the left side, two on the right, one in front of the scroll wheel, and one on the scroll wheel itself.
Equipped with modular thumb rests, this mouse can be configured for right handed users or left handed users through the interchanging of its detachable grips. These grips snap on with magnets, and the good news is they remain secure and never feel loose or flimsy. The Avago laser sensor has the lowest DPI range of the three mice featured here, and therefore this mouse may not be geared towards users that prefer an extremely high DPI. The MX780 does feature a 1000Hz polling rate for responsiveness, however, and 512KB on onboard memory to store up to five button map profiles.
To change the DPI, there is a button behind the scroll wheel which can be pressed to adjust the settings. There are five different DPI settings preset to 800, 1600, 2400, 4800, and 8200 DPI. The software allows for adjustments to be made to polling rate and zone lighting. The polling rate can be changed from the default 1000Hz to 125Hz, 250Hz, or 500Hz. You can also choose from 24 different colors for each setting, and adjust the brightness of each to your liking. In terms of performance, this mouse is geared towards claw grip users due to its compact nature. The thumb buttons have a squishy feeling, which we found to be slower due to the large actuation needed to press them. The buttons on the right side are very difficult to press if you're a right-handed gamer but certainly come in handy for lefties, so some ergonomics are sacrificed for the sake of flexibility. The RipJaws' sensor was also very smooth and responsive, with no noticeable lag and satisfying accuracy.
Finally, through tweaking of the height of its rear palm rest panel, with its included adjustment tool, this mouse felt natural despite its aggressive styling. It's also the only mouse with additional counter weights that can be added for user preference and feel. The feature can come in handy for precision players that are prone to overshooting a target with lightweight mice. The extra weight can help increase precision in the heat of battle when adrenaline is high and nerd muscles are flexing.
G.Skill's software also has a similar functionality to the other two, with a very clean user interface. Users can create profiles with custom lighting options and button map macros based on their preferences. The user can switch between background lighting and effect lighting via a click box, which determines which other options can be selected. A third checkbox can be used to sync your lighting with other G.SKILL peripherals connected to the PC it's plug into. All told, G.Skill's software is solid, but perhaps not quite as polished versus what Corsair delivers with the Saber.
All told, the G.Skill RIPJAWS MX780 Gaming Mouse is a heck of a deal for the price. It's easily the most customizable mouse of the bunch and has a rich set of features as well. It also looks great in our opinion and in general felt great in-hand as well.
