So silver stone made a new entry level form for more in the base of the gaming Pc platform, but most of us mostly now being that you must buy the thing that will last you more than enough before something in the The SilverStone Raven is a surprising new entry in the high-end gaming mouse scene long dominated by Logitech’s tweakable G-series and Razer’s curvy, rubberized mice. Initial impressions of the mouse were positive and all around interesting, but the “big two” have set the bar rather high; killer ergonomics, insanely accurate sensors, and truely usable customization software have come to define both - but as of recently, so has stagnation. It seems like they have been running low on fresh ideas - only giving us higher resolution sensors and more questionable ergonomic changes. They’re either continually refining toward their ideal, as Razer has lately, or they’re hedging their bets like Logitech by letting you pick your own ergonomics, as Logitech promised, but their follow-through (they promised aftermarket mouse bodies for the G9 which sadly never materialized) is somewhat lacking. The problem here is that if the feel of the Razer doesn’t fit your hand and if Logitech’s mouse skins were your reason for your interest, then you’ve been left out in the cold. I want to believe that SilverStone could be the third major player in this field, introducing new ideas, competition, and disruptive technology that will keep the market fresh and innovative.
Unfortunately, as soon as you crack open the sleek, matte-black box you’re confronted with a hermetically sealed, ultrasound-welded polyethylene sarcophagus, which is actually the strongest material created by human engineering.This is due to the sheer number of carbon-carbon bonds - it’s like diamond, but more flexible!! You get to rip into that before you can play with your new toy. Good luck getting into it without resorting to barbaric rock smashing techniques. If you do however succeed in opening it without succumbing to a life-threatening packaging injury, you are treated to several things: First, the shiny new mouse, reeking of volatile organic compounds (think paint thinner). Second, a satisfying user manual - I swear, this thing is close to a quarter inch thick. True, it’s printed in a half dozen languages, but elsewhere that would yield a half dozen page thick manual. Lastly, the inevitable driver disk in obligatory paper sleeve. (Remember when jewel cases were the norm? Yeah, I’m starting to feel old.) While the packaging feels fussy, I expect it to do a better-than-adequate job protecting your new Raven during shipping.
Their engineers did, however, put together a technical powerhouse. It feels more like a tech demo at this stage of its development than a full production model. The laser sensor is capable of tracking some truly impressive accelerations and should be able to keep up with even the most violent whipping around - the sort of response one might have in a real-world game of Quake when being shot in the back. The laser also has one of the shortest hold-off distances, needing to be lifted less than an eighth of an inch to reposition it without it interpreting any motion as deliberate input. The OLED display is puzzling; while they get bragging rights over Microsoft’s LCD mouse, neither were really that useful. The segmented LED display favored by Logitech on its G-series, specifically the G5 and G7, prove more usable, quickly ‘glanceable’, and better positioned so they sit between the thumb and index finger. With this design, one does not have to move their hand at all in order to tell which setting is active.
