Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE review

When it's time to choose a gaming mouse, it's important to factor in exactly what kind of gaming you want to be doing with it. If you're aiming to be a pro sniper with pixel perfect flick shots your needs are likely going to be a little different from the MMO gamer maxing their cooldown potential. When looking at the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE, it seems clear which side this many-buttoned mouse will land, but the wild capabilities of these assignments reveal a rodent that could be ready for just about anything.

The Scimitar Elite SE from Corsair is a wireless asymmetrical mouse bursting with buttons and features. Visually, it's a bulky MMO mouse, but it arches welcomingly into your hand and isn't too heavy at 161 g. It sports your typical left and right click, scroll wheel, and DPI button as well as an RGB-lit Corsair logo on the back under the palm. On the left side where your thumb sits is where things get a little more interesting, thanks to the four by three panel of programmable buttons delivering a world of options.

The panel can be slid back and forth, and locked in place for comfort using a screw in the bottom of the mouse. Here on its belly you'll also find your switch that goes between Corsair's own Slipstream wireless tech and a Bluetooth connection. Importantly there's also a pocket for the USB-Type A receiver so you can make sure it's always with your mouse when you're not using it. Then on the front of the mouse you can find a USB-Type C port for charging.

Using Corsair's iCue software you can configure your lighting, DPI settings, as well as key assignments. The latter is obviously the most interesting here, as it unlocks so much potential that goes beyond gaming hotkeys. Of course, you still can do that, programming the buttons to perform standard keyboard functions, but you've also got options for macros, text, media controls, and more.

I wanted to start simple with my testing, so I assigned a few of these side buttons to number keys so I could quickly swap between slots in Fortnite. I turned off the RGB lighting as it feels rather pointless in that one spot, and then saved these changes to the mouse on one of its storage profiles, and shut down iCue. I then loaded up a game and was able to thumb these side buttons to go from pickaxe to slurp juice without having to scroll through everything else. As an added bonus it feels responsive and the optical switches have a satisfying click to them. All and all, this was a pretty basic scenario for the Scimitar, and it handled it with ease.

The next step up has to be macros, so I recorded myself jumping into a crouch slide. It took a little configuring to have it work how I'd like, but the typical multi-key press action now only required the press of my thumb. There's definitely some muscle memory training required to remember to use it and hit the right button, but the separated buttons, opposing textures, and grid layout makes it easy to feel your way around the panel.

Button assignments and macros are fairly basic, but seeing how simple they are to set up and save on the Scimitar is really encouraging. It's easy to assign different profiles for different games and swap between them too. But the real appeal of this versatile vermin is in the Stream Deck integration.

Image credit: Future

Image credit: Future

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Corsair is the parent company to Elgato so naturally most of their products work really well together. Where the Scimitar is a pretty unique mouse is its ability to be used as what is essentially a Steam Deck—Elgato's programmable button device. You'll need the software, but it gives you the option to set the entire side panel up as though it was a Stream Deck of its own, which leads to some pretty unique mouse control. In fact, it's got more buttons than my Stream Deck Mini and it's basically the same size. It also makes the $140 USD price tag super reasonable when you consider you're kinda getting two devices for one here.

The obvious test for me was OBS integration. I have buttons on my Stream Deck set up that essentially run my streams for me. Things like launching OBS, starting and ending the stream, swapping between different scenes, effects, and volume adjusting between mic and game. Having all of these on my mouse means I no longer have to move my hand to change, and everything appears that extra level of seamlessness. Again, it's a bit of effort to learn to use, but once you start it folds into your gaming muscle memory and becomes second nature, which can make a stream feel far more natural.

Thanks to this integration and its wealth of programmable buttons, the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is a gaming mouse that does things none of the others I own can. Better yet it does it comfortably, while still maintaining its position as a high level gaming mouse with great polling and responsiveness. It might not match the active use of lighter more FPS orientated esports mice, but it's a productivity and streaming powerhouse.