The longer you spend behind a mouse and keyboard, the more likely it is you’ll realize that you’re going to need to upgrade your equipment. Sure, the mouse that you got in a package deal a decade ago will still work for gaming, but eventually you’re going to want move up to some tools that feel just a bit better under your fingertips. The GX Gaming Series Maurus X is Genius’ latest device, and while it may not be the most unique mouse on the market, it’s certainly a nice little tool to add to your collection.
Right off the bat, I have to admit it’s extremely hard to find a mouse that really feels comfortable to me. I’ve got some massively big paws it seems, and to further complicate things, I feel much more comfortable using the palm grip. While it’s not at the point where I can’t use certain mice, there are a few that have just been uncomfortable for long-term use. Luckily, the Maurus X is a bit on the larger side, coming in at about 4.7 x 3.2 x 1.6 inches, which makes it a perfect place for me to rest my gangly hand appendages. It is a bit smaller than the Logitech G700 I use on a day-to-day basis, so there was an initial period of discomfort, but within an hour it felt almost perfect.
Alongside of the larger dimensions, the Maurus X has a 50 gram weight built into it, giving the mouse a solid feeling of heft. I personally would have liked a bit more weight to it, but as many of my exes can attest to, I’m also the type of man where subtlety is pretty much nonexistent. As it stands, this is such a minute “flaw” that comes down to my personal opinions on what a mouse should weigh. So, unless you’re like me and you’re demanding something a bit bulkier, you can completely ignore this complaint.
A small detail that’s often overlooked with wired hardware is the wire itself, and Genius has done a fantastic job here. The 1.8 meter cable is fully braided and feels incredibly sturdy. I wouldn’t recommend swinging it around over your head, but I feel pretty confident that the cable won’t be fraying anytime soon from ordinary usage.
The mouse buttons are also extremely robust. We delayed this review a bit in order to give it a thorough beating while testing out other games, day-to-day usage and an extended period of time playing Cookie Clicker, and after an estimated 50,000 clicks, the Maurus X still feels as responsive as it did on the first one.
The M4 and M5 side buttons are comprised of a very sturdy rubber; however, this isn’t as good of a thing as you’d first imagine. The M4 button feels fine under my thumb, but the M5 falls under my ring finger. It simply requires too much force for me to assign it to anything useful while gaming. Had both of these buttons been on the thumb side, this problem could have been avoided altogether.
My major complaint with almost any gaming hardware is the bundled software. More often than not, the software is bloated with features that are absolutely useless in any terms of practicality, cumbersome to navigate, or just plain annoying to use. The included Scorpion Gaming User Interface safely avoids two of these three pitfalls, which is worth noting.
I’ll start with the bad right up front: The Maurus X falls into the same caveat almost all gaming hardware trips over with its insistence of being able to customize the LED on the scroll wheel. There’s a subtle red glow that emanates from the scroll wheel and GX logo on the body of the mouse, and through the UI you can set its intensity and how quickly it pulsates. At the highest intensity levels, it’s still fairly subdued. I’m pretty sure that my router and USB hub put off more light, so there’s no worry about it blinding you. However, it’s also completely useless outside of looking kinda cool when gazing at your battle station from across the room. These are small details, sure; however it still takes time and resources to put them into a product. Time and energy that could have been spent improving the device in other places.
On the plus side, the rest of the software is pretty fantastic and was a breeze to set up and navigate. Right off the bat, it gives you the option to change the function of any of the buttons, allowing for a decent amount of customization. One of the more interesting options was being able to set one of the buttons as a “Fire Key” that would click the left mouse button anywhere between 1 and 20 times per push. I’m not sure how much use this has, outside of very specific situations (I mostly used it to play Cookie Clicker), but it’s a nice touch.
All of the more standard options can be found under Advanced Settings, allowing you to alter sensitivity based on the x or y-axis, the mouse speed and DPI. While there are five levels available for DPI settings, ranging from 800 to 4000, it would have been nice to have been able to set a custom amount if my preferred number fell in-between two of the available settings. Granted, this is a pretty minor gripe all in all. Of course, this can be set to cycle through as one of your mouse buttons, allowing you to adjust on the fly depending on the current situation.
There’s also a pretty detailed, built in macro manager, allowing you to set up macros that run the gauntlet from your standard key presses to mini programs that swap windows, zoom in and out, or even lock your PC. I’m not quite sure how much use most people will get from them, but I do have to claim a bit of ignorance when it comes to heavy macro usage. I’ve used them to test programs, but I haven’t bought into macros for gaming. I’ve noticed that the players concerned enough about APM to necessitate macros are either at the competitive level or watch those who are, and at that stage macros are generally banned in order to level the playing field. I’m sure I’ll get some use out of this feature, but probably never in the way that was intended for a gaming mouse.
All in all, the GX Gaming Series Maurus X is a really solid launching point for people looking to get into the hardware side of PC gaming. Had the guys over at Genius spent a bit more time working on some of the issues I’ve mentioned, as well as not dedicating resources to features such as backlighting, this would easily be the go to mouse for its price point. As it stands, though, it’s still a fantastic little tool. It won’t compete with the upper echelon brands, but I can definitely see this as the mouse of choice for the middle of the road crowd.
This review is based on a piece of hardware that we were provided with.
