Corsair announces a new affordable wireless gaming mouse

Corsair came to CES this year armed with three new contenders for the best gaming mouse crown, including a wireless model and a late 2018 update to its longstanding M65 Elite. All three mice are blinged out with RBG lighting that's compatible with Corsair's iCUE control software, but probably the biggest news here is the pricing: they're all affordable for new gaming models. The brand new mice are the Harpoon RGB Wireless ($50) and the Ironclaw RGB ($60).

The Harpoon RGB Wireless uses Corsair's "Slipstream wireless" tech, which it says works at up to 65 feet and can handle poor network congestion like a champ. Wireless tech has gotten good enough that interference is rarely an issue these days, and neither is communication speed. Corsair says Slipstream can send a signal in .5ms, fast enough for the 1ms (or 1000Hz) polling report rate of most gaming mice. The Harpoon RGB is also nice and light at 99 grams, with a pair of thin thumb buttons on its left side.

The Ironclaw RGB looks like a bigger mouse, though it's still only 105 grams. It uses a new PMW 3391 mouse sensor we haven't seen in other models, which may be comparable to Logitech's high-end Hero sensor—hard to say until mouse fanatics have dug into it. The PMW 3391 supports up to 18,000 CPI. Corsair says this mouse is built for palm grips, and it has a fairly high arch to suit. Two meaty thumb buttons are on the left side, and there are a pair of buttons on top below the scroll wheel, as well.

Then there's the M65 RGB Elite, which actually released late last year. This new iteration of Corsair's mainstay also uses Pixart PMW-3391 sensor. The chassis is very similar to past M65 models, but Corsair has made big strides in the weight department, cutting down to 97 grams, compared to the previous M65 Pro RGB's 115 grams. The new M65 Elite does have addable weights to bring it back up to 115 grams. Another significant change is the layout of its thumb buttons: There are still three, with a "sniper button" and two longer buttons above it. Those two have been made larger and brought closer to the snip button, which should make them easier to press than the M65 Pro's overly small thumb buttons.

The M65 RGB Elite is available on Corsair's website already. The Harpoon and Ironclaw should start shipping later this month.

Wes Fenlon
Senior Editor

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).